Looking for a spooky adventure that will send chills down your spine this October? Bluff Mountain, a section of the Appalachian Trail near Buena Vista, has been recognized as the No. 1 most haunted trail in the United States in an analysis done by used bike retailer Buycycle.
Buycycle conducted an analysis of the trails with “a history of haunting,” according to a news release. To create the ranking, the company looked at U.S. Google Search Volume for over 100 trails, focusing on which trails had been searched the most. Bluff Mountain came out on top, with a search volume of 218,000.
Bluff Mountain in Rockbridge County is about a three-hour drive from Dulles.
This 4-mile out-and-back trail has a chilling history. It’s the place where Ottie Cline Powell, a 4-year-old boy, disappeared and was later found dead in 1891. As legend has it, Powell went missing one day and was only discovered months later, when the snow on the mountain began to thaw.
Since his disappearance well over a century ago, hikers have reported “hearing eerie noises and feeling a strange presence near his memorial stone,” and the trail has a “deeply unsettling atmosphere,” Buycycle said in a news release.
If you brave the trail, expect to find an incline hike to a peak elevation of 1,276 feet, with panoramic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains from the top. Along the way, you’ll pass by a memorial site for Powell. The inscription reads: “This is the exact spot little Ottie Cline Powell’s body was found April 5, 1891, after straying from Tower Hill School House November 9, a distance of 7 miles. Age 4 years, 11 months.”
Whether you believe in the paranormal side of things, the history here is surely enough to make for a creepy hike perfect for the Halloween season. (And great views of the fall foliage are an added bonus.)
Other spooky spots on Buycycle’s list include the Hollywood Sign Trail in Los Angeles, The Stanley Hotel Trail in Colorado, the Mammoth Cave Trail in Kentucky, and Bonaventure Cemetery Trail in Georgia.
Feature image of Appalachian Trail by Tim Mossholder via Unsplash
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