Creepiest Haunted Place in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa
Halloween isn't the only time people go searching for ghost towns and ghostly appearances, but it certainly does drive up the population of some spooky places - temporarily.
Our tri-state area is full of spooky haunts and Thrillist, an online lifestyle company that offers all kinds of travel advice, city guides, event information, and more, has made their choices for the creepiest spots in our states for this year.
For South Dakota, they chose the abandoned ghost town of Mystic. It is located about 20 miles west of Rapid City and 12 miles north of Hill City in Pennington County. Mystic began as a placer mining camp named Sitting Bull in 1876.
In addition to panning for gold, some mineshafts were also dug and the town brought in multiple railroads. The name of the town was changed in 1889 for reasons that remain unknown.
The 1900s began a downturn of Mystic's fortunes thanks to multiple floods on Castle Creek and other economic woes. In 1983 the final railroad line closed and today it is considered a ghost town. Although the town's original site has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Minnesota's creepiest place according to Thrillist is the ghost town Forestville. It was founded in 1852 and for a while continued on a growth path, adding a general store, a post office, and even a couple of mills.
Then in 1868, the railroad passed it by and that was pretty much the death of the town. In 1910, the last residents moved on and it officially became a ghost town.
In 1949 Forestville State Park was created and Mystery Cave was added to the park in 1987. Today Forestville is a historic spot operated by the Minnesota Historical Society.
Iowa's creepiest spot needs no introduction for most people as it is the infamous Gitchie Manitou State Preserve. This spooky area in Northwest Iowa is closer to Sioux Falls than any Iowa city and has a storied and horrific history dating back to a multiple murder in 1973.
Thrillist notes that the park does have beautiful areas of "woodlands, wetlands, and a prairie dotted with bright pink Sioux quartzite and at least 17 Native American burial mounds."
But for many people just hearing Gitchie Manitou sends shivers down their spine.
Sources: Thrillist, Wikipedia (Forestville), and Wikipedia (Mystic)
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