9 Haunted National Park Trails You Can Hike (if You Dare)

America’s national parks preserve some of the country’s most spectacular natural assets. And these protected areas also often have a rich past – but sometimes, that past is terribly tragic.

Morbid historical events in many of these parks have inspired spooky legends that endure today, from tales of murder to mysterious illnesses. Though these haunted trails are great for Halloween hiking, they’re also fascinating places to check out year-round, especially for hikers on the hunt for spooky specters (or who love nerve-rattling local legends.)

The Heritage Trail (or guided tours)

• Park: Mammoth Cave National Park
• State: Kentucky
• Distance: .8 miles
• Elevation gain: 40 feet

Anchored by the longest cave system on earth, Mammoth Cave National Park has a reputation for ethereal encounters — so many that several park rangers wrote a book about the park’s otherworldly occurrences: Scary Stories of Mammoth Cave.

The subterranean wonder first opened as a tourist attraction in 1816, and a couple of decades later, physician John Croghan purchased the cave and created an underground sanatorium (place to treat chronic disease) for patients with tuberculosis. Five patients died in residence in just five months, and the subterranean facility closed after half a year in operation.

At the same time, a cave guide named Stephen Bishop was charting miles of the sandstone labyrinth using only a lantern. First brought to Mammoth Cave in 1838 as an enslaved man, Bishop spent nearly two decades exploring the cave system. And he accomplished quite a lot. Today, more than 420 miles of Mammoth Cave have been charted, although an estimated 600 miles remain unexplored.

Since the park opened 1941, rangers leading tours have reported encountering Stephan Bishop — suggesting the legendary guide may still be exploring the cave’s unchartered corners by lantern light. The park’s Heritage Trail is one of the most haunted trails in any US national park as the .8-mile route skirts the Old Guide’s Cemetery — Bishop’s final resting place.

Visitors can only go inside the actual Mammoth Cave as part of a guided tour. The Violet City Lantern Tour is guided only by lantern light for an extra spooky factor, but the Extended Historic Tour goes by the area where tuberculosis patients were treated (as well as “corpse rock,” where the deceased bodies were laid out for months).

The Transept Trail

• Park: Grand Canyon National Park
• State: Arizona
• Distance: 2.9 miles
• Elevation gain: 280 feet

Designated as one of the planet’s seven natural wonders by the aptly named Seven Natural Wonders Foundation, the Grand Canyon is America’s most spectacular geological marvel. Forming the centerpiece of the Grand Canyon National Park, the two-billion-year-old chasm etched into the Colorado Plateau features in plenty of local legends.

Humans have inhabited the region since the last ice age, and today, there are still 11 tribes associated with the protected area. For more than a century, the jaw-dropping spectacle has also drawn tourists — and sometimes, visits have ended tragically. So naturally, there are a few haunted trails.

Along the Grand Canyon’s loftier North Rim, hikers and park rangers have reported encountering a bereaved apparition in a white dress wandering the Transept Trail and the site where the Grand Canyon Lodge once stood. The lodge, rebuilt after a 1932 fire, was tragically lost again in the 2025 Dragon Bravo Fire.

Nicknamed the “Wailing Woman,” the tearful specter is believed to have been a guest at the park’s original lodge — a getaway perched on the North Rim from 1928 until 1932, when it first burned down during a kitchen fire.

Although there is little historical documentation, anecdotes suggest the woman’s husband and child perished while hiking the Transept Trail, disappearing on a day when foul weather made conditions especially treacherous. And now, it’s known as one of Arizona’s most haunted trails. The trail clings to the edge of a ravine splintering off Bright Angel Canyon, extending from the lodge’s former footprint to the North Rim Campground — meaning there’s still a chance to encounter the footpath’s legendary spirit.

West Beach Three-Loop Trail

• Park: Indiana Dunes National Park
• State: Indiana
• Distance: 3.4 miles
• Elevation gain: 220 feet

Spread along the southern edge of Lake Michigan, Indiana Dunes National Park is a patchwork of prairie grasslands, wildlife-rich wetlands, and forest-tufted sand dunes.

Today, the protected area is one of the most biodiverse national parks in the country. But a century ago, the wilderness was almost squeezed out by local industry. The region’s largest dune — the 200-foot-tall Hoosier Slide — was hauled away by glass manufacturers before 1920. When the area was finally protected as a state park in 1926 (and a national park in 2019) it was partially thanks to a vocal champion: Alice Mabel Gray — better known to history as “Diana of the Dunes.”

An intellectual who worked as a stenographer, Gray became disenchanted with her urban existence — so, on Halloween night in 1915, she boarded a train bound for the southern shore of Lake Michigan. Gray spent the remaining nine years of her life living beside the lake, studying native flora and fauna and becoming an advocate for the region’s fragile ecosystem. She died in 1925 under mysterious circumstances, but her fierce independence and defiance turned her into a local legend.

Today, visitors can walk in her footsteps on the Diana of the Dunes Dare — a self-guided interpretive loop at West Beach that celebrates Gray’s life and the landscape she fought to protect. The short route forms part of the larger West Beach Three-Loop Trail, winding through shifting dunes and offering clear views of the Chicago skyline across the lake. A portion of the loop is paved and wheelchair-accessible, and interpretive signs recount her story along the way. It’s a lovely place for a short stroll even without any unexplainable phenomena — though some visitors still claim to glimpse a woman in white drifting through the sand at dusk.

Spruce Railroad Trail

• Park: Olympic National Park
• State: Washington
• Distance: 11.2 miles
• Elevation gain: 400 feet

Olympic National Park’s Lake Crescent has long inspired both legends and investigations. Covering the northern end of the Olympic Peninsula, the lake was once said to have formed when part of Mount Storm King collapsed during a great battle, burying the warriors below — a creation story passed through local lore.

In 1940, that mythic history collided with a grim reality. During the summer, a trout fisherman discovered an eerily preserved body floating in the lake. Dubbed the “Lady of the Lake,” the corpse was eventually identified as Hallie Latham Illingworth, a local tavern server who had disappeared in 1937. After three years underwater, her remains had taken on a waxy, soap-like texture — a result of natural saponification, where fats turn to a soap-like substance in cold, mineral-rich water.

Investigators traced the crime to her husband, Monty Illingworth, who was later convicted of her murder. Though the case was solved, park visitors still claim to spot Hallie’s spectral figure near the water’s edge, making the lakeshore one of Washington’s eeriest stretches of trail.

To follow the legend — and take in Lake Crescent’s sapphire-blue waters — trace the Spruce Railroad Trail, an 11.2-mile route that’s now fully restored, paved, and open to both hikers and cyclists. The trail follows a former rail bed and forms part of the Olympic Discovery Trail system, passing through two historic railway tunnels and offering constant views of the lake. It’s a beautiful, peaceful ride or walk — unless you happen to notice a shadow keeping pace along the water beside you.

Noland Creek Trail

• Park: Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• State: Tennessee
• Distance: 18.5 miles
• Elevation gain: 2,500 feet

Straddling the border between North Carolina and Tennessee, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has plenty of nerve-rattling legends. After all, the Cherokee have lived in the mountain-rippled region for more than a thousand years. And European settlers descended on the Smokies beginning in the late 1700s. Remnants of these early inhabitants are sprinkled throughout the protected area, including ghost towns, former homesteads, and more than 200 cemeteries.

Around the same time the park was created, the Tennessee Valley Authority built Fontana Dam, flooding Fontana Lake in the process. When the lake filled with water in the early 1940s, more than a thousand residents were expelled. A road was promised through the park to provide access to historic homesites and graveyards to accommodate these displaced residents, but only six miles of motorway ever materialized.

Today, the route is known as the Road to Nowhere and is known for being one of Tennessee’s most haunted trails. Also called “Lakeview Drive,” this incomplete stretch spans approximately 6.5 miles but never reaches the north shore as intended. Hikers traversing the lake’s northern shore have reported observing a spectral settler who seems to be searching for someone. According to local legend, the lingering spirit is a settler who died looking for his missing daughter — and today, the apparition appears as a sphere of light, guiding hikers along the trail.

Search for the glowing orb on the Noland Creek Trail, north of Fontana Lake. The footpath passes both the Lower Noland Cemetery and the Upper Noland Cemetery within the first six miles, and while the full hike is too long for one day, there are plenty of backcountry campsites spread along the route.

Editor’s note: As of 2025, sections of Lakeview Drive and nearby trail access points are under temporary closure for road rehabilitation work. Check current park conditions before planning a hike.

Goler Canyon Road

• Park: Death Valley National Park
• State: California
• Distance: 11 miles
• Elevation gain: 3,500 feet

The largest national park in the continental United States, Death Valley National Park is a land of extremes. Cradled by the Amargosa and Panamint ranges, the park is renowned for mysterious phenomena — like the moving rocks and singing dunes.

But in the late 1960s, the vast protected area also harbored a cult-like troop of drifters led by Charles Manson. Nicknamed the Manson Family – yes, that Mason Family — the gang occupied the Barker Ranch site, a former mining camp turned rustic getaway for a few months in 1968–1969.

After damaging a handful of spots throughout the protected area — then designated as Death Valley National Monument — the squatters were arrested in early October of 1969 and charged with vandalism, arson, and auto theft. However, a few months later, four members of Manson’s gang were tied to a series of murders committed in Los Angeles during the summer of 1969. Victims included actress Sharon Tate, Folgers Coffee heir Abigail Folger, stylist Jay Sebring, and author Wojciech Voytek.

Today, hardy hikers can still make the 10.5-mile, out-and-back trek to the barebones hideaway used by the Manson family, following Goler Canyon Road into the Panamint Valley. It may not be one of California’s most famous haunted trails, but it’s at least one of the creepiest.

Corbin Cabin Trail

• Park: Shenandoah National Park
• State: Virginia
• Distance: 2.9 miles
• Elevation gain: 1,000 feet

Spread over the flanks of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the hills and hollows of Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park are brimming with Appalachian legends. The park has more than 900 years of human history, meaning plenty of people lived in the mountains when park service protected the area in 1935.

In the early 1900s, George Corbin was one of these scrappy pioneers living in the area. He settled in Nicholson Hollow, carving out an existence farming fruit and grains and slinging home-brewed brandy during the dry days of Prohibition. But in the winter of 1924, his wife died during childbirth, and he again faced hardship when his family was among the more than 450 families evicted to form the park.

But today, Corbin’s sturdy cabin remains, maintained by the non-profit Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. From Skyline Drive (the motorway bisecting the national park), it’s just a short hike to the homestead. Hikers can even rent the cabin for the chance to sleep in the historical building — and for an extra-spooky addition, check out the family cemetery just down the trail from the historic homestead.

Canyon Rim Boardwalk Trail

• Park: New River Gorge National Park
• State: West Virginia
• Distance: .6 miles
• Elevation gain: 90 feet

West Virginia’s New River Gorge National Park and Preserve might be the country’s newest national park, but the protected area is bisected by one of the oldest waterways on the planet—the New River. Once a hotbed for regional mining operations, the protected area is still scattered with the remains of abandoned railroad and mining towns, like Kaymoor and Thurmond.

The landscape also provided the backdrop for one of the most monumental engineering catastrophes in United States history — the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster. In the spring of 1930, laborers began digging a tunnel through Gauley Mountain to channel water from the New River to a plant downstream. While excavating the sandstone mountain, workers were engulfed in clouds of silica dust — and very quickly plagued by a fatal lung disease, eventually diagnosed as silicosis.

Workers completed the tunnel in 18 months, but more than 2,900 of then, most African-American, died from silicosis in the months and years to come. Today, the national park’s New River Gorge Bridge is about 10 miles south of the Hawk’s Nest Dam. While it may not be known for being one of America’s haunted trails, it’s certainly a fascinating place to go to see the landscape and mountains the workers were tasked with drilling through.

For expansive views of the landscape and the third-highest bridge in the country, hike the short Canyon Rim Boardwalk Trail near the Canyon Rim Visitor Center. Visitors can also explore the ghost town of Thurmond on a walking tour or hike one of several trails around the abandoned coal-mining town.

Grouse Lake Trail

• Park: Yosemite National Park
• State: California
• Distance: 19-20 miles
• Elevation gain: 3,500 feet

In the summer of 1857, Galen Clark — Yosemite’s first official guardian — reported hearing high-pitched wails coming from deep in the forest near Grouse Lake. He initially believed the cries were from a lost dog. But when he asked local Ahwahneechee people, they told him the sound came from the spirit of a young boy who had drowned in the lake. According to legend, the ghost continues to call out to passersby, luring them toward the water’s edge.

The trail to Grouse Lake is a strenuous backcountry route that begins near Bridalveil Creek and covers nearly 20 miles round-trip through forested granite ridges. The route passes close to Bridalveil Fall, where local Ahwahneechee stories speak of Pohono — a malevolent wind spirit said to lure people toward the edge when the mist rolls in. The hike is remote and physically demanding, and due to its length and elevation gain, it’s recommended only for experienced hikers.