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1. General Wayne Inn
Merion Station, Pennsylvania.
Built in 1704, this English-style coaching inn housed remarkable guests, including George Washington and General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, for whom the place was named. Edgar Allan Poe stayed for five years, revising his classic The Raven. Adding to its canon of lore are hundreds of reports of paranormal encounters, mostly with the spirits of Hessian soldiers. In 1848, the inn served as a polling site and a worker reported bumping into a green-coated soldier in the cellar. Hessian soldiers wore green jackets and, in a well-known Revolutionary War murder, patriots are said to have killed and buried one in the inn's cellar. Another popular spirit is that of a beheaded soldier whose head appeared on a shelf in the 1990s, vanishing only after sending the inn's maitre d' into a frenzy. The 1990s proved a particularly bad decade for the inn; co-owner James Webb was found dead in a third-floor office in 1996. Guy Sileo, friend and business partner to the victim, is currently serving a life sentence for the murder. MORE: Haunted Historical Houses -
2. LaLaurie House (The Haunted House)
New Orleans, Louisiana.
Delphine LaLaurie was the well-known wife of a doctor, and a socialite who threw glamorous parties in this massive Creole-style home. But, she's gone down in history for her violent sadism, and the abuse and murders of hundreds of the estate's servants. In 1834, a cook set the kitchen ablaze with hopes that the visiting fire brigade would expose the LaLauries. It was then that the mangled and tortured bodies of servants—some apparently used in medical experiments—were discovered in a locked attic room. The LaLauries fled before they could be tried and punished for their crimes. More recently, human remains dating back to the 19th century have been found in the home's floorboards. The property is now believed to be haunted and is privately owned by actor Nicolas Cage, who bought it for more than $3 million. MORE: Best Family-Friendly Old House Neighborhoods (ie NOT the neighborhood this Murder House is in) -
3. Conrad Aiken House
Savannah, GA.
This 19th-century row house was the childhood home of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Conrad Aiken. In 1901, Aiken listened from his room as his parents argued, then heard his father count to three before shooting his wife and himself. The young Aiken emerged from his room to find the lifeless bodies of his parents, a scene that would influence his future writings. Years after the murder-suicide, Aiken moved back to Savannah and purchased the house next door to this one. The current owners agreed to a paranormal investigation, documented by Court TV's Crime Library where an infrared video revealed over fifty orbs, and digital voice recording captured a man's voice whispering, "Do you want to know what I know?" MORE: Protect Your Home in a Zombie Invasion -
4. Kreischer Mansion
Staten Island, NY
This Queen Anne was built by wealthy brick manufacturer Balthazar Kreischer in the 1800's as part of a family estate, along with another mansion for his son, Charles. Shortly after a filial blowout between father and son, Charles' mansion mysteriously burned down, with the younger Kreischer and his wife perishing in the flames. Locals are convinced that the spirits of the couple continue to dwell at this mansion. More recently, Gino Galestro of the Bonanno crime family ordered an affiliate, Robert McKelvey, killed in 2006. Former marine Joseph Young took the job for an $8,000 paycheck. At the time, Young served as the caretaker for the desolate mansion and decided to make it the backdrop for this modern-day murder for hire. Young, along with four accomplices, strangled and stabbed McKelvey, evenutally drowning him in an ornamental pond on the property and cremating his body in the house's incinerator. The incinerator has since been replaced and the property may become part of an assisted-living complex for senior citizens. MORE: The World's Wildest Houses See even more American Murder Houses at thisoldhouse.com
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