All states / Iowa
Explore 50 haunted places in Iowa. Read ghost stories, local history, source notes, and visiting information in the PHASM Haunted Atlas.
Des Moines, Iowa · Other
Haunted Places recounts a story about an upstairs area behind Air Lanes where conversations and rolling dice are heard without visible players. A voice is also said to call visitors by name, giving the sounds the character of an unfinished card or dice game.
Akron, Iowa · Historic house
An account credited to Angela Price by Haunted Places connects the museum's spirit with former resident Lucille Ross. Volunteers describe unexplained sounds and cold air by the staircase and dining room. One reported feeling a hand push from behind while descending from the upper floor.
Davenport, Iowa · Historic house
Callum Swift's Haunted Places submission describes a gentleman in an old suit seated in the parlor. Lights reportedly change and doors slam without anyone operating them. Former residents also described a voice and abrupt cold patches in the basement.
Cedar Falls, Iowa · Other
A campus story collected by Haunted Places says a Halloween attraction acquired unplanned effects: lights flickered, doors banged and temperatures shifted while students prepared it. In the tale, the students let the building's ghosts supply the scares. Attempts to repeat the experience supposedly failed.
Clear Lake, Iowa · Other
Haunted Places collects reports of a spectral aircraft reenacting the 1959 crash near Clear Lake. Its account also mentions three luminous orbs said to have been recorded at the place where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died.
Burlington, Iowa · Other
Haunted Places describes hoofbeats and footsteps heard at night, doors moving by themselves and a particularly striking reflection. A witness reportedly saw a man with a curled mustache in a computer screen, then turned to find nobody behind them.
Ames, Iowa · Theater
Performers reportedly regard a sighting of C. Y. Stephens as a lucky omen. Haunted Places locates his supposed apparition in the basement passages or at the rear of the third balcony, accompanied by unexplained footfalls and sudden pockets of cold.
Sioux City, Iowa · Cemetery
The Calvary Cemetery story collected by Haunted Places centers on an unusual tree-shaped grave marker. Visitors describe ringing ears and a sensation of cobwebs brushing their faces, becoming stronger as they approach it.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa · Other
Local lore collected by Haunted Places tells of Hazel, a familiar library visitor seen walking through the building one day in the 1960s. The unsettling discovery came later: she was said to have died in a fire before dawn that same day.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa · Other
Coe's Helen legend ties a student's ghost to a grandfather clock reportedly donated by her parents after she died in the 1918 influenza outbreak. Haunted Places says she sometimes leaves the clock to play a parlor piano or tug bedding away from sleeping students.
Indianola, Iowa · Other
Haunted Places recounts College Hall lore about a young man and woman who died in separate tragedies linked to troubled romances. Their spirits are said to be heard, seen and sensed in the old chapel building.
Newton, Iowa · Historic house
Haunted Places attributes the Ryan House's reputation to a local paranormal group. Investigators describe footsteps and voices inside, including apparent speech noticed on recordings.
Davis City, Iowa · Cemetery
Haunted Places describes a sudden oppressive sensation reported by people entering Davis City Cemetery. Its short local account also mentions bright streaks crossing the grounds late at night.
Maquoketa, Iowa · Hotel
A Callum Swift submission to Haunted Places describes a mischievous presence at the Decker Hotel. Its signature prank is interfering with the lights, with the building's illumination behaving as though someone unseen is playing with the switches.
Sioux City, Iowa · Other
Dormitory lore collected by Haunted Places includes sounds of choking at night and the figure of a weeping woman moving along the corridor. Storytellers connect the woman with a student's death in the building.
Des Moines, Iowa · Other
Observatory folklore collected by Haunted Places imagines a resident astronomer still helping students with their work. People in the basement reportedly feel watched, while an unseen influence is said to correct their calculations. The story identifies the presence as Morehouse.
Scotch Grove, Iowa · Hospital
A former Jones County care institution has become a bookable paranormal investigation site, with stories of a playful child and a vanishing woman in white.
Vinton, Iowa · Cemetery
A woman dressed in white is said to ride a horse beside the railway near Evergreen Cemetery. Haunted Places also records apparent soldiers wandering the unknown-soldier section and strange occurrences around a statue.
Farrar / Maxwell, Iowa · Other
Haunted Places recounts sightings of a small boy on the stairs and an apparent child in a photograph of the auditorium stage. Recorded voices resemble children chatting and laughing. One witness describes an invisible hand steadying her as she nearly fell.
Strawberry Point, Iowa · Hotel
A Callum Swift submission to Haunted Places describes Lily, a woman seen dressed for a ball on different hotel floors. Her presence is associated with singing and objects shifting on their own. The account also identifies a former merchant among the hotel's supposed ghosts.
Larchwood, Iowa · Natural landmark
In a Haunted Places submission, Ivy B. reports voices and apparitions during repeated visits to Gitchie Manitou, as well as an unexplained scratch. The preserve's ghost stories are often associated with the fatal 1973 attack there.
Muscatine, Iowa · Cemetery
The Blue Angel's local legend shifted from a kindly guardian to a sinister omen, according to Haunted Places. A dropped rose supposedly predicted death. Later versions say the statue's missing hand returns as a glowing shape still holding that flower.
Fort Dodge, Iowa · Theater
A Haunted Places submission by Callum Swift describes a young girl's apparition sitting inside after hours and brushing past people in the corridors. The entrance chandelier reportedly sways and switches on or off without anyone touching it.
Charlotte, Iowa · Cemetery
Haunted Places recounts an apparition of a little girl who points toward the cemetery gates, apparently urging people to leave. Visitors also report the cries of infants where no child can be found.