Professional assassin Harry Orchard planted a fatal bomb in the Cripple Creek District but wound up in the Idaho State Penitentiary after assassinating Idaho Governor Frank Stuenenberg. Orchard was sentenced to life and died at the prison in 1954, says Colorado Restless Native. Orchard’s spirit and plenty of other notorious ghosts have stayed on at the prison. Idaho Haunted Houses reports that the pen, which operated for over a century, exudes “feelings of unexplainable sadness, high levels of dread and anxiety,” and other creepy stuff like “whispers and flickering lights.”

One of the most famous ghosts is Ray Snowden, “Idaho’s Jack the Ripper” who was convicted of stabbing a woman to death after she refused to submit to rape. Snowden also admitted to murdering two others, according to Definition. Possibly because it took him over 15 minutes to die when he was hanged in 1957, Snowden’s death rattles can still be heard near the location of the old gallows today. The Travel Channel verifies that guides and guests alike hear strange sounds and can sense “dark entities” as they walk among the old cell blocks, especially near the solitary confinement cell they call “Siberia.”

Clayton, New Mexico has had a busy history. Most notable is the hanging of outlaw Black Jack Ketchum. His executioners had trouble with the noose, causing Ketchum’s head to snap off when he dropped, according to the Vintage News. Ketchum’s ghost is said to hang around Clayton’s courthouse and even his old jail cell, but KCBD reports that several buildings in town are haunted as well. The Ecklund Hotel, for instance, is a former gambling hall and saloon haunted by a hotel maid named Irene. Clayton is indeed considered to be the “most haunted city in the state.”

Clayton’s museum, the Herzstein Memorial Museum, is housed in the 1919 Methodist Episcopal Church. Visitors can see the original stained glass windows and kitchen, as well as an amazing array of artifacts from the Hersztein family and others. Antique furnishings, Native American artifacts, and early day photographs apparently are still attached to Clayton residents of the past. The museum also has at least one ghost, described by Clayton’s city website as “an older ‘sassy woman.'” New Mexico’s official website offers more information, explaining that in 2018 paranormal investigators heard “strange, unexplained noises” in the museum such as footsteps on the stairs and poltergeists who knocked items over.

In 1916, philanthropists successfully worked to construct the Cleveland Museum of Art, a rambling neoclassic structure with oodles of galleries for enjoying paintings by some of the greatest masters of our time. It wasn’t until 2015, however, that staff were assembling a special exhibit dedicated to Claude Monet that museum director Jeffrey Strean took a photo of the work in progress—and realized he wasn’t the only one overseeing the project. Above the group, casually leaning over the balcony, was an older man with a long white beard and wearing a hat, who bore an uncanny resemblance to the famed artist. The picture was published in Today, drawing much interest.

Monet’s spirit is not the only one to appear in the museum. Mental Floss reports that former museum director William Mathewson Millikan, who died in 1978, has been spotted wandering around with a folder under his arm, as well as Jean-Gabriel du Theil whose likeness was painted by Jacques André Joseph Aved, and who apparently enjoys gazing at the painting of himself. Electrical issues in the gallery space where the painting hung stopped when the artwork was put into storage. Interim director Leslie Cade put it this way in 2016: “The museum has had so many people come and go that they are still here telling their stories, and every now and then they let us know they are here.”

If staying overnight in a haunted house isn’t your thing, how about a haunted ship? The U.S.S. Lexington’s history begins in 1943, when the ship was first called the U.S.S. Cabot. The name was changed when another ship of the same name sunk during WWII. During its time in the water, the newly named ship spent a collective 21 months in battle and was reported sunk four times by the Japanese, but it kept going. “Tokyo Rose,” a group of Japanese radio broadcasters spreading propaganda, called the U.S.S. Lexington “The Blue Ghost.” The Lexington remained resilient, destroying over 800 enemy crafts. Sometime after being decommissioned in 1991, the ship sailed to Corpus Christi, Texas and became a museum.

These days, a “terrifying tour” includes over 80 “compartments,” as well as a chance to see Lady Lex’s ghostly inhabitants. One of them, according to Visit Corpus Christi, is a guy identified as Charlie, who wears a naval uniform and enjoys leading the tour. And although overnighters have been welcome for over 20 years, the night time stays were made more comfortable in 2018 when the Coastal Bend Community Foundation donated $21,000 for 300 new mattresses on the ship, according to 3 News.

 Still guests should expect “extra” staff members during their stay. The Caller Times identifies them as a sailor who helps lost guests, another who explains how the engine room operates before “vanishing into thin air,” and plenty of “ghostly touches and shadowy figures roaming the decks.”

In 1890, the imposing Dumas Brothel was built on busy Mercury Street in Butte, Montana. At three stories including the basement, the Dumas was at one time the longest-running free standing brothel in U.S. history. The Dumas finally closed in 1982, leaving a long list of shady ladies who worked there over time. One of them, madam Elinore Knott, never left. According to the Dumas Brothel’s website, Elinore became the proprietress of the Dumas in 1950. Five years later, the madam was found dead in her second-floor room. The coroner ruled the cause of her death as “coronary occlusion,” but most everyone agreed, including those who knew her, that Elinore committed suicide after her lover failed to show up as expected.

Elinore’s spirit remained at the Dumas. In 2006, the Montana Standard interviewed Rudy Giecek, who purchased the building from the last madam, Ruby Garrett, and turned the bordello into a museum. Giecek said he began “seeing furniture rearranged, unexplained photographs and several sightings” of the ladies who once graced the fancy bordello. Giecek also found part of a diary, which he used to write Venus Alley, a book about Elinore and other women who worked at the Dumas. Today, according to Mel Magazine, people still believe Elinore continues to haunt the hallways of the iconic brothel museum.