Southern Living writes about Anderson Hotel in Spooky Season story.

Love Spooky Season?

Head To The Bluegrass State For Kentucky After Dark

Haunted hotels, wailing infants, and paranormal terrors await you.

By 

Brandee Gruener for Southern Living

Published on September 22, 2023

If spine-tingling lore and hair-raising history get your blood pumping, consider heading to the Bluegrass State for Kentucky After Dark this October.

Sure, sipping bourbon is nice and rolling green hills and bright fall foliage can be beautiful. But after the sun goes down, Kentucky’s landscape turns dark and strange things emerge from the shadows. There are a shocking number of ghosts that have been haunting the Bluegrass State for generations, not to mention legendary sightings of werewolves and little green men.

There are 12 sites around the state participating in Kentucky After Dark. The state is debuting a passport that you can have stamped at each one, if you can manage to survive all 12. Let us give you a preview of a few of the eerie sights you can see in Kentucky this month:

  • Join the Battletown Witch Festival in Brandenburg the last weekend of October to help legendary witch Leah Smock rest a little easier. Hear ghost stories, drink spirits, and take a hayride around the cemetery.
  • Stop in Oldham County, the reputed site of a highway murder, fatal family feud, and infamous Sleepy Hollow Road. They say you can hear an infant shrieking on a still night on the Cry Baby Bridge. There are also ghost walks, cemetery tours, and more family-friendly Halloween events.
  • In Georgetown, take a driving tour of Dead Man’s Hollow, witness a wreath made of human hair at historic Ward Hall, and step onto bloody dueling grounds.
  • Mayfield-Graves County hosts Haunted Graves events all month long, from festivals and spooky performances to markets and parades. While there, stop at the Maplewood Cemetery to witness a strange procession of stone figures from the late 1800s—we swear they don’t move.
  • Visit Louisville, the reputed home of lingering ghosts. Step into the Waverly Hills Sanatorium on weekends in October for a haunting experience, then stay in the storied Seelbach Hotel—you probably won’t mind if the Lady in Blue floats by.
  • If haunted hotels are really your thing, the Anderson Hotel Haunted House in Lawrenceburg should thrill you. This hotel has been featured on TLC’s Paranormal Lockdown, so you know it’s the real deal. In addition, there are ghost walks in town, and locals claim to have caught glimpses of Bigfoot in this county since the 1700s.
  • Even seed mills are haunted in Kentucky, or so they say. Find out for sure at the Trigg Terror Haunted Seed Mill in Cadiz—and by the way, the Dogman a.k.a. werewolf could be lurking nearby.