Skip the Queen Mary and the Stanley Hotel — the spookiest spot in America, according to USA Today's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards, is a museum full of cursed objects in Downtown Las Vegas. Zak Bagans' The Haunted Museum has taken the top haunted-destination title every year since 2020, and in 2026 it did it again, with travel writers and paranormal fans compiling the shortlist and readers casting the votes. Neither the Queen Mary nor the Stanley Hotel — the Colorado inn that inspired Stephen King to write 'The Shining' — even made the 2026 list, which also included the Lizzie Borden House.
The museum opened in 2017 and is run by Zak Bagans, host of the long-running TV series 'Ghost Adventures.' It sits in a 1938 mansion a few miles from the Strip, with gargoyles guarding the entrance and more than 30 rooms packed with murder memorabilia, ritual objects and allegedly cursed items. The star exhibit is Peggy, a doll the museum's website calls one of the most haunted objects in the world. There's also the Dybbuk Box, a wine cabinet said to carry a attached entity — rapper Post Malone visited in 2018 and later told Seth Meyers he believed it affected him.
Visitors should know this isn't a casual walk-through. Everyone signs a waiver before entering — there's a sign stating the museum isn't liable for 'actions by these unseen forces' — and guests regularly report odd experiences. Google and social media reviewers describe being touched, hearing growls with no obvious source, and Peggy apparently answering questions through a spirit box. Dim lighting and fog machines crank the atmosphere up further.
Practicalities: tours are guided and run about two hours or more, with general admission starting at $54 online. The museum is open Wednesday to Monday. Photography is banned inside, though you can rent a Polaroid camera on site — handy if you fancy trying to catch something on film. Kids 12 and up are allowed, but reviewers warn some exhibits are genuinely graphic, so think twice with teens. For a deeper dive, the Late Night Flashlight Ghost Tour Experience lets you ghost-hunt the mansion after hours in the dark.
If you're building a spooky Las Vegas trip, the museum pairs well with Nevada's other eerie stops — abandoned ghost towns scattered across the state and the famously unsettling Clown Motel, where you can actually spend the night. Even sceptics seem to rate the museum: one Tripadvisor reviewer called it 'Horror Heaven,' while another said it was fun for a non-believer. Whether or not you leave as a convert, it's one of the more memorable ways to spend a night off the Vegas Strip.
