Delightfully Spooky Kentucky

By: Ben Mackin

Published: September 19, 2024

For those who love spooky stories and experiences, Kentucky has plenty of paranormal destinations all over the Commonwealth.  

The Eastern Kentucky Appalachians are just brimming with tales of haunted coal camps. Eerie and abandoned mines, like Blue Heron Mine in McCreary County, offer not only a chance to see what life was like for miners and their families, but also to learn about local folklore. In addition to year-round tours, every October visitors can attend Blue Heron Ghost Mine and listen to spine-tingling stories about the mines, hills and hollows in the region.  

Want to take in some nature with your ghost stories? Don’t pass up on Lovers Leap at Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, where in the 1950s a newlywed bride, still in her wedding dress, fell 80 feet into the Cumberland River and was swept over the falls, never to be seen again. Over the decades since, many visitors have reported seeing a beautiful woman in a white wedding dress wandering the area around the falls.   

Owensboro, situated just down the Ohio River from Louisville, is a city that is home to more than a few eerie happenings. Schedule a Haunts of Owensboro walking tour and listen to chilling accounts of inexplicable footsteps in empty rooms, lights and faucets turning on and off on their own and ghostly figures appearing in doorways and windows. 

In Ashland you will find the Paramount Arts Center, a thriving theater and event venue. However, according to local legend, in 1931 a workman, “Paramount Joe”, died in the theater while it was still under construction, and his spirit still haunts the premises. Since his demise, theater employees say Joe is known to show up in hallways, cause cold drafts, and make items around the playhouse disappear.  

Regardless of the time of year, Kentucky is the perfect place to find hair-raising, pulse quickening things to see and do. For more spooky trip inspiration, look up Kentucky After Dark. Visitors may plan their route through 19 paranormal destinations spread throughout the Bluegrass, and Kentucky After Dark Passports are available at each of the locations.