Haunted Summer Getaways
This content originally appeared in the 2025 summer issue of Spooky Little Halloween—The Magazine.
Think haunted houses are best left for Halloween? Think again. Summer might be the season of sunshine, road trips, and beach days, but it's also the perfect time to explore the eerie side of travel.
There's something uniquely disorienting about seeking out the supernatural when the sun is blazing overhead — no fog, no bare trees, no seasonal excuse for the goosebumps crawling up your arms. Just you, the heat, and whatever else might be lurking.
From misty mountains to deserted islands, the world is full of haunted spots that turn up the chills even in the sweltering heat. If you're craving a getaway with a supernatural twist, these offbeat destinations will satisfy your spooky sou
1. CHILLINGHAM CASTLE – NORTHUMBERLAND, ENGLAND
Touted as the most haunted castle in Britain, Chillingham is open for summer tours and overnight stays. With a history of torture, war, and ghost sightings — including the infamous "Blue Boy," a young spirit said to materialize through the walls of the Pink Room accompanied by flashes of light — this medieval fortress offers all the gothic ambiance your dark heart desires.
The castle's torture chamber is particularly notorious, housing original instruments that documented centuries of brutality. Those who've spent the night report cold spots, disembodied footsteps, and the unsettling sensation of being watched.
Bonus: the surrounding Northumberland countryside is stunning in summer and perfect for a ghostly picnic between frights.
2. HOTEL MONTE VISTA – FLAGSTAFF, AZ, USA
Summer in Arizona might sound like a scorcher, but the cool mountain town of Flagstaff — sitting at over 7,000 feet elevation — offers welcome relief and some equally restless spirits. At the Hotel Monte Vista, opened in 1927, guests have reported phantom bellboys who knock and vanish, the ghost of a prostitute said to still haunt Room 305, and otherworldly music drifting from empty halls in the dead of night.
The hotel leans into its haunted history with gusto, decorating hallways with old photographs and newspaper clippings documenting the strangeness within. Grab a local craft brew in the hotel's cozy lounge, swap ghost stories with fellow brave travelers, and try not to dwell too much on what might be sharing your room.
3. POVEGLIA ISLAND – VENICE, ITALY
This small island near Venice was once a quarantine zone for plague victims — over 160,000 people are estimated to have died and been buried there — and later served as an asylum where a controversial doctor is rumored to have conducted experiments on patients before, allegedly, going mad and leaping to his death from the bell tower. It's earned its reputation as Italy's most haunted island many times over.
Though officially closed to visitors, some brave (and sneaky) travelers have found their way there by hiring private water taxis. Since we don’t condone trespassing for ghost adventures around here, just take a gondola ride at sunset and ask your gondolier for tales. They have plenty — and most will lower their voice when they tell them.
4. THE CRESCENT HOTEL – EUREKA SPRINGS, AR, USA
Nestled in the lush green hills of the Ozarks, this turreted Victorian-era hotel is notorious for its ghostly guests and grisly past. Built in 1886, it cycled through lives as a women's college and a cancer hospital run by a fraudulent doctor before settling into its current incarnation as a beloved, beautifully creepy hotel. Former patients and staff are said to wander the halls still.
Summer tours include guided ghost walks through the property's winding corridors and overnight packages for those who dare. The surrounding town of Eureka Springs is a charming slice of quirky Americana — all Victorian storefronts and winding streets — if you can ignore the flickering lights and spectral sightings long enough to explore it.
5. MONTE CRISTO HOMESTEAD – JUNEE, AUSTRALIA
Traveling Down Under this summer? Though it is now closed for tours and stays, you can still drive by what's widely considered the most haunted house in Australia. Located in the rural New South Wales town of Junee, the Monte Cristo Homestead is a grand Victorian mansion steeped in tragedy: a caretaker's son burned to death in a stable, a maid fell from the balcony, and a young woman was kept imprisoned in the house for years.
The Ryrie family, who restored and owned the property until 2025, openly embraced its dark history and offer ghost tours year-round. The warm Australian summer made for a particularly atmospheric stroll through the grounds, especially when the light began to fade and the shadows stretched long across the homestead's wide verandas.
6. THE ANCIENT RAM INN – GLOUCESTERSHIRE, ENGLAND
If you like your hauntings extra intense, the Ancient Ram Inn is for you. Built in 1145 and rumored to sit on a pagan burial ground — skeletal remains and ritual daggers have reportedly been unearthed beneath its floors — this former inn is one of the most paranormally active sites in the entire UK.
Ghost hunters report everything from poltergeist activity to unexplained cold spots, shadow figures, and objects hurled across rooms by unseen hands. The owner has invited paranormal investigators for decades and the evidence they've collected is difficult to dismiss.
Summer is an ideal time to visit because the surrounding Cotswolds are impossibly picturesque by day — rolling hills, honey-stone villages, flower-draped pubs — making for a jarring and thrilling contrast when you return to one of the creepiest places in England by night.
7. FORT GARRY HOTEL – WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA
Canada's prairie province heats up beautifully in the summer, but inside this grand château-style hotel, a chill often lingers that no season seems to touch.
Built in 1913 and designated a National Historic Site, the Fort Garry Hotel has long been the subject of ghostly rumors, particularly surrounding Room 202, where guests have reported apparitions of a woman in white, disembodied voices, and beds that shake on their own in the middle of the night. Staff are famously tight-lipped, which somehow makes the stories more believable.
The hotel's historic charm, sweeping views of the Red River, excellent dining, and haunted reputation make it a uniquely compelling summer stop — one where a nightcap in the elegant Ten Ten Tapas lounge takes on a whole new atmosphere after you've heard what happened upstairs.
The bottom line: haunts have no off season.
The best thing about haunted travel in summer? The world feels alive and bright right up until the moment you step across the threshold — and then something shifts. The contrast makes it stranger, somehow. More unsettling than any foggy October night.
These destinations prove that the paranormal doesn't punch a time clock or observe seasonal hours. History doesn't sleep, and neither do the stories embedded in old stone walls, creaking floorboards, and isolated islands. Whether you believe in ghosts or simply love a good story with texture and atmosphere, these places offer something that most travel simply can't: the sensation that the past hasn't entirely let go.
So as you plan your summer itinerary, consider leaving a night or two open for the unexplained. Pack your sunscreen, charge your camera, and maybe — just maybe — bring an EMF detector along for the ride. Your haunted summer getaway awaits, and whatever's waiting for you at the other end of the journey? It's been there a long time. It can wait a little longer.
