Americans Are Seeing Ghosts: Inside the Boom of the Paranormal Industry
- Hauntica
- Jun 23
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 24
It starts the way so many ghost stories do: a cold spot, a flickering light, a whisper in the dark. But for a growing number of Americans, the paranormal isn’t just entertainment—it’s a personal truth.
On a frigid night aboard the USS Salem, a decommissioned warship known as the “Sea Witch,” a group of amateur ghost hunters gathered below deck. They weren’t there for thrills—they were there to make contact. Moments later, one of their devices—a Rem Pod—flared to life, blinking wildly in response to a question posed to a long-deceased sailor.
Scenes like this are playing out across the country, from the haunted streets of Savannah to abandoned hospitals in the Midwest. The demand for ghost tours, haunted house experiences, and paranormal investigations is surging. Industry experts estimate that Americans spend over $300 million annually visiting haunted locations, with many destinations reporting months-long waitlists.
This rising interest in the supernatural isn't just a passing trend. It reflects a deeper cultural moment: a desire for mystery in an age of information. Haunted hotels, escape rooms, spirit photography, and EMF meter readings are no longer fringe curiosities. They're part of a broader category—paratourism—that now rivals traditional heritage tourism in parts of the country.
But not all ghosts tell the truth.
Some haunted attractions, especially in the American South, are raising eyebrows among historians. Former plantations now offer ghost tours that blur—or outright erase—the grim realities of slavery. As historian Tiya Miles has documented, many of these narratives romanticize former slaveholders while turning the suffering of the enslaved into
entertainment. It’s a reminder that every ghost story is also a story about the living—about what we choose to remember and what we choose to rewrite.
Yet the allure remains powerful.
Part of it may be psychological. In uncertain times, belief in the paranormal offers a form of agency. If you’ve seen a ghost, you’ve glimpsed a world beyond rules—beyond institutions. You become part of a hidden order of knowledge, of knowing. For some, that’s a comfort. For others, it’s a calling.
Aboard the Salem, were people from every walk of life: couples, retirees, skeptics, and true believers. One young woman said she had been in a nine-year relationship with a spirit she first encountered as a child. Her boyfriend, standing beside her, nodded quietly. "He knew what he was signing up for," she said.
These stories aren’t disappearing—they’re multiplying. And behind each one is a town, a building, or a family business opening its doors to the unknown.
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