Are you interested in the most haunted hikes in New England?
Want to experience the terror of coming face to face with the Flesher Witch, deep in Maine’s Haynesville Woods?
Do you feel brave enough to night hike into New Hampshire’s Devil’s Den, home of the Fell Man?
Updated 2/9/2020 – New England has numerous haunted hikes.
All of them have their own legends and unexplained disturbances.
But I chose the following 10 spots based on both the gripping experience and the history of the locations.
If you can muster enough courage to try one, or more, of these haunted hikes in New England…
…keep both eyes open and bring someone to watch your back.
Maybe even bring your DSLR camera to capture lasting images.
But one wrong step…one word spoken too loud…and you may be the next victim.
And now, I present for your pleasure in terror…
The 10 Most Haunted Hikes in New England
1) Freetown – Fall River State Forest, MA
Stretching 5,441 acres in the southeastern corner of the state, the Freetown-Fall River State Forest is rampant with paranormal activity.
So much so that it has been nicknamed the Bridgewater Triangle.
It’s a reference to the Bermuda Triangle which is also known for unexplained phenomena.
However, the Bridgewater Triangle has a much more sinister history.
There are documented testimonies of hikers reporting three-armed creatures, satanic rituals, and sacrifices in these woods.
On more than one occasion a hiker has gone missing; their mutilated body turning up days later.
One of the most haunted, and disturbing, hikes in New England.
Photo credit: flickr/kairauer
2) Old Narrow Gauge Trail – Randolph, ME
From the 1890’s to the 1920’s a railroad brought passengers and goods through here to the homes of veterans.
Often, their senior years were spent here in solitude, abandoned by family and country.
Due to the lack of medicine and care, many of these veterans died lonely, painful, agonizing deaths.
Ghostly apparitions are often spotted just beyond the tree line.
The sounds of footsteps are commonly reported, intruding upon the otherwise eerie silence.
According to the local legend, should you hear footsteps behind you, turn quickly and face the source.
If you hesitate, and the footsteps reach you, the spirit takes possession of your body.
In exchange, you become imprisoned in the forest for eternity.
You’ll be taking hikes in New England forevermore.
Photo credit: flickr.com/dcdead
3) Mount Chocorua – Albany, NH
In the early eighteenth century, and young man named Chocorua chose to stay on his family’s ancestral land, while the rest of his tribe relocated to Canada.
Chocorua’s son stayed behind as well.
Soon the pair befriended a white settler name Cornelius Campbell, who had a son of his own.
Returning from a hunting trip, Chocorua found the lifeless body of his son.
The son had eaten poisoned meat that was meant for a fox.
His mind clouded by despair and rage, Chocorua blamed Cornelius for his son’s death.
Believing that his white friend had harbored a hidden agenda and poisoned his son deliberately.
Incensed, Chocorua brutally murdered Campbell’s entire family while he was working in the fields.
Chocorua scalped the wife and cut out the heart of Cornelius’s son.
In retaliation, Cornelius shot Chocorua to death at the top of the mountain now bearing his name.
With his dying breath Chocorua cursed all white settlers.
In later years, the death of crops, famine, and disease were attributed to Chocorua’s curse.
Photo credit: flickr/27310492@N07
4) Dogtown – Gloucester, MA
Due to its unique boulders and rock formations, Dogtown has been called a cross between Easter Island and Stonehenge.
This 5-square mile community was established in the 1600’s and quickly began to prosper.
The residents began carving inspirational sayings into boulders, which are still visible today.
Yet, for reasons unknown the prosperity waned and the residents abandoned the town in droves.
By the 1830’s the only residents left were the Revolutionary War widows and their packs of wild dogs.
Which is where the name “Dogtown” comes from.
While no one knows the exact reason the town was abandoned, it’s believed by some that the widows were engaged in witchcraft, and took the town for their own kind.
Stories tell of late night gatherings in the forest, blood rituals, and the summoning of “men made from shadow”.
Photo credit: flickr.com/jimrohan
5) Devil’s Den – New Durham, NH
Hiking trails here are strewn with huge, odd looking boulders, and monstrous crags.
Massive slabs can be found here in shapes of inverted V’s.
It is said that the devil himself sits upon these rocks, trying to tempt those with weak resolve.
The lesser known, but much more sinister feature of Devil’s Den is this cave.
Years ago, the owner of the land attempted to determine the depth of the cave.
Climbing down a rope, and crawling through a narrow section of the cave, he suddenly heard hissing from the darkness.
Not willing to go further, he climbed out of the cave.
He later returned with his brother and they fastened a tire iron to a rope, and dropped it down to the same spot where the owner had tried crawling through.
The same hissing sound from earlier was heard and there was a violent jerk on the rope.
The rope had inadvertently became tangled between the brother’s legs and pulled him down into the cave.
Within moments the brother began screaming and crying for help.
The owner frantically struggled to pull his brother up.
With a jerk, the rope came free and the owner fell backwards.
The only thing left of his brother was bloody rags and a bent tire iron.
As recent as the 1980’s there have been reports of a hissing within the cave and a massive shadow in the darkness.
No one knows for sure what it is.
Some refer to it as the “Fell Man”.
If you decide to hike to this cave and check it out, use your head and be very careful.
One of the more dangerous hikes in New England.
Photo credit: mindat.org
6) Blood Forest – Lancaster, MA
A forest infested with evil spirits.
Originally named after Arthur W. Blood who donated land to the town.
Once known as a philanthropist, for reasons unknown Arthur’s good-nature took a sudden change.
He began murdering other town members and hanging their bodies from the trees.
Some say he went insane, others say he was possessed by spiteful spirits, some believe something far worse was at hand.
In more recent years, young couples trying to sneak away for a private moment have gone missing.
One couple was found decapitated and their bodies drained of blood.
The cause remains unknown.
Hikers report strange white apparitions walking along the stone walls, as well as sightings of a large, hairless, black humanoid creature that crawls through the brush.
Hikes in New England don’t get much more insane than this (except for what you’re about to read!)
Photo credit: naturalbalancephotography.com
7) Becket Quarry and Forest – Becket, MA
The Becket Quarry was in use from the 1860s to the 1960s.
Today it’s filled with water and beset by unexplained phenomena.
UFO sighting, “large headed figures”, and strange pulses of light emanating from the water at night have been reported here.
Within 24 hours of visiting the quarry at night, some people report a gap in their memory.
They are able to remember arriving at the quarry, and leaving, but are unable to recall the time between.
Photo credit: H. David Stein
8) Greenleaf Huts, NH
Ben Campbell, the former hutmaster on this White Mountains route, died on a hiking trip in Scotland.
He loved taking hikes in New England but he left his duty at Lakes of the Clouds unfulfilled.
Many believe he seeks to achieve in death, what he failed at in life.
Hikers often report hearing heavy footsteps at night and seeing tracks of footprints that suddenly begin, and just as suddenly end.
Photo credit: flickr/nandorszotak
9) Bash Bish Falls – Mount Washington, MA
Plunging almost sixty feet into a pool below, Bash Bish Falls has a reputation for tragedy.
Tales tale of a young Mohican woman murdered by her lover.
Upon returning from a vision quest the male lover accused his woman of infidelity.
Though she denied it and professed her love for the warrior, he bound her to a canoe and pushed her over the falls to her death.
Years later, her daughter jumped over the edge of the same falls, ending her own life.
Today, hikers are often startled and unnerved when they spot a ghostly silhouette of a Mohican woman behind the water.
Photo credit: flickr/photos/louis-8
10) Haynesville Woods – Haynesville, ME
Perhaps the most terrifying of all the haunted hikes in New England.
In the late 1800’s John Wilcox moved his family from New York to Maine, and purchased a plot of land in what’s now known as Haynesville.
The Wilcox’s had three children; the youngest was their daughter Annie at age 8.
One day, as John was travelling through the woods he found a woman hunched over as if she had been snapped in half.
He called to her but there was no response.
As he moved closer something startled him and he accidentally shot his gun into the air.
The woman suddenly turned and her face had the appearance of melted wax.
She vanished and Wilcox thought he must have imagined it or perhaps had too much beer earlier.
But later that night John’s daughter Annie reported hearing “scratching” sounds outside her bedroom window.
Upon investigation John found nothing.
Each night however, Annie would report the sounds getting louder.
And each night Wilcox would rush to see who was outside but found no one.
In the following days, Annie began to wake up frightened, complaining that something was nibbling her toes and pulling the bed sheets off her.
This soon led to faint whispers that sounded like an old woman praying.
The following night Annie was brutally attacked in her sleep.
Annie was left with deep scratches on her face and said it was done by an old woman who looked like her face had melted.
She told Annie she wanted her face.
The family enjoyed hikes in New England forests, and a month later on a family outing, Annie ventured into the bushes to pick berries.
He mother reported that she was “less than a dozen paces” away.
The family heard Annie scream and rushed to where she was, expecting to find an animal. But instead they found nothing.
A thorough search proved fruitless.
Local townspeople aided in the search but Annie was never found alive.
Her lifeless body was discovered miles away by hunters, more than a month later, next to the body of the old woman John had run into the months before.
The skin on Annie’s face was missing.
Witnesses stated it “was as if someone had cut it off with old shears”.
John’s wife hung herself soon after.
Their two other children drown in freak accidents less than a year after the tragedy.
After the death of his family, John went insane.
He mutilated his own face, cutting the skin away and sewing on patches from bodies he dug up in the local cemetery.
He was last spotted heading into the forest and was never heard from again.
His body was never found.
However, to this day terrified hikers and campers report seeing a young girl with a “face like melted wax”, standing just beyond the light of campfires.
No one is certain of her motive or who she is.
But several incidents of missing children and small dogs with their skin removed from their face have been attributed to her.
Terrified locals have dubbed her the “Flesher Witch”.
Photo credit: flickr/brookeshaden
Your Next Step
Grab a map, get a strong flashlight, and round up your friends.
Then explore these haunted hikes in New England if you dare.
But be forewarned…you might not come out alone.
