Halloween travel has quietly become a season of its own, and the fastest-growing niche in it is the haunted rental. A new roundup from Matador Network collects 10 US Airbnbs where guests go hoping for a flicker of the paranormal — and, judging by the listings' popularity, plenty of people do.
The range of scares is broad. In New Orleans, the Parks-Bowman Mansion rents out a third-floor bedroom ($147 a night) where visitors claim to have seen a young girl in a yellow 1890s dress. In Saint Paul, Minnesota, the Manor Master Chamber ($99) sits in a house once voted the city's most mysterious. And in Ozark, Missouri, you can sleep in a former morgue converted into a six-person loft ($99) that loans guests actual paranormal research equipment.
Pop-culture fans have their own options. The original Poltergeist house in Simi Valley, California rents for $1,559 a night, and its reputation got fresh fuel in April 2025 when the Ghost Adventures crew filmed a two-hour special inside, reporting cold spots, flickering lights, EVP responses, and a vintage TV snapping to static overnight. The host's house rules are strict: no Ouija boards, no spirit-summoning.
Screen-famous homes elsewhere include Oregon's Twilight Swan house in St. Helens ($490, sleeps eight), the Georgia home used as Caroline Forbes' residence in The Vampire Diaries in Covington ($405), and a full-scale Stranger Things replica of the Byers house in Fayetteville, Georgia ($450). That last one is a detail-lover's dream — wood-panelled walls, a vintage Zenith TV, 80s vinyl and VHS in Jonathan's room, an Upside Down-themed bunk room, a Dungeons & Dragons corner, and the alphabet Christmas lights wall, which you can genuinely use to try messaging the Upside Down.
There are also larger homes for groups: the Henry Derby House in Salem, Massachusetts sleeps 12 across seven bedrooms for $595 a night — ideal if you want a group ghost-hunt in America's most witchy town — plus Linville Manor in Upper Marlboro, Maryland ($416, sleeps eight) and a Haunted Mansion-themed home in Fullerton, California ($548, sleeps eight).
Why care? Because this is a genuinely fun way to anchor a fall trip. Several of these homes sit in towns worth visiting anyway — New Orleans, Salem, and the Georgia filming locations that cluster around Atlanta — and most price out below a mid-range hotel room when split between friends. Book early for October weekends: these listings spike fast as Halloween approaches. And whether you believe in ghosts or not, a morgue loft with ghost-hunting kit on loan beats another beige chain hotel.
