Most campgrounds get a little eerie after the campfire goes out. At a few places around the country, though, the stories go much further.
Some of these campgrounds sit on Civil War battlefields or other historic sites. Others have decades-old reports from campers, park employees, and rangers who say they experienced things they could not explain. None of those accounts prove anything paranormal happened, but they make for some interesting places to spend the night in an RV.
Here are seven RV campgrounds with some unusual stories attached to them.
1. Artillery Ridge Campground & Horse Park
Location: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
When a campground offers its own historical ghost walk, its paranormal reputation is not exactly a secret.
Artillery Ridge Campground sits on historic ground connected to the Battle of Gettysburg. Campers can walk directly from the property to the George Spangler Farm and Field Hospital, which served as a Union field hospital during and after the battle.
That history is also behind many of the campground’s ghost stories. Artillery Ridge hosts guided ghost walks through the campground, where the guide discusses people and events from 1863, local paranormal research, and firsthand experiences reportedly occurring on the property. The campground leaves visitors to decide for themselves what they believe.
Campers have added plenty of stories of their own. One camper described an especially unusual night at Artillery Ridge, claiming to have heard marching soldiers, cannon fire, horses, gunfire, shouting, and snippets of conversations around 1 a.m. The camper said the sounds seemed to repeat for roughly an hour, while other people camping with them apparently heard nothing.
It is one person’s account, so there is no way to verify what caused the experience. Still, stories like that fit neatly with the campground’s long-running connection to Gettysburg’s paranormal folklore.
For RVers, Artillery Ridge is a full campground rather than a primitive place to park near the battlefield. The campground offers water and electric sites, full-hookup sites, 30- and 50-amp electrical service, and accommodations for larger RVs. Campers also have access to bathhouses, a camp store, a swimming pool, mini golf, a playground, fishing, and other activities.
Registered campers can even join the campground’s seasonal Friday evening ghost walks at no additional charge. You can tour Gettysburg during the day and then hear some of the area’s stranger stories without leaving the campground.
2. Lake Morena County Park
Location: Campo, California
Lake Morena’s ghost stories have circulated for decades, and some of the most interesting accounts come from people who worked at the park.
The campground sits in eastern San Diego County at about 3,000 feet in elevation. San Diego County operates Lake Morena County Park as a camping and recreation area with RV sites, cabins, hiking and biking trails, fishing, picnic areas, and access to Lake Morena.
Its paranormal reputation can be traced back at least to an October 26, 1983, article in The San Diego Union titled “More Than Fish Haunt Morena.” A reproduction and discussion of the original newspaper story includes accounts from park volunteers, employees, and rangers who described experiences they could not explain.
One of the most unusual came from park volunteer Walter Stucker. According to the 1983 account, Stucker woke inside his motorhome and saw a tall man outside the window. He said the figure turned toward the lake and appeared to move several inches above the ground. Outside later revisited the Lake Morena stories and noted that park volunteers and rangers had reported floating figures, unexplained footsteps, and other strange experiences around the campground.
Another story from the same period involved overnight guests staying in the former dam keeper’s house. According to the account preserved by San Diego Haunted, one guest reported hearing heavy footsteps around the bed. On another occasion, a guest claimed to have woken up and seen a baby’s christening gown floating across the room before it disappeared.
Then there is the “woman in white.” Reports collected about Lake Morena describe a young woman in a long white dress appearing near a wooded area by the campground. Other campers have reported a woman’s voice laughing or singing and footsteps around their tents that abruptly stop.
What makes Lake Morena unusual is how far back some of the reports go, and that park workers were among those describing them.
RVers have several camping options at the park. San Diego County lists full-hookup, partial-hookup, and non-hookup camping, along with cabins. Visitors can also fish, hike the park’s trails, or spend the day around the lake.
After dark, the decades-old stories about unexplained footsteps, floating figures, and a woman in white give Lake Morena a very different reputation from the typical county campground.
3. Bannack State Park
Location: Near Dillon, Montana
Bannack gives RVers an unusual place to spend the night: right beside one of the best-preserved mining ghost towns in the West.
Gold was discovered along Grasshopper Creek in 1862, and Bannack’s population grew to more than 3,000 people by the following year. More than 50 historic buildings still line the old main street. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks says Bannack State Park is open year-round and allows RV camping.
The best-known ghost story involves 16-year-old Dorothy Dunn. A Montana Outdoors feature published by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks recounts how Dorothy drowned in a dredge pond near Bannack in 1916 after stepping off a ledge into deeper water.
Dorothy had lived and worked at the Hotel Meade. Years after her death, visitors began reporting what they described as a girl in a blue dress wandering through the hotel or elsewhere in town. Others have reported sudden blasts of cold air inside the hotel, even during warm weather.
The same Montana Outdoors account describes another strange story from the Bessette House. The building was once used to quarantine people suffering from influenza, scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping cough, and other diseases. Some visitors have reported hearing what sounds like babies crying inside or around the building.
Each October, the park holds an official Bannack Ghost Walk. Actors portray people from Bannack’s past while visitors are guided through the old town after dark.
RVers should expect a fairly rustic stay. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks lists RV camping among the park’s activities, but the sites lack electrical hookups. A state campground guide lists a maximum RV length of 50 feet. Potable water is available seasonally, and the campground stays open year-round.
Sleeping in an RV near a nearly empty 1800s mining town would already feel unusual after dark. Add more than a century of stories about a girl wandering the Hotel Meade, and Bannack earns its place on this list.
4. Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park
Location: Mandan, North Dakota
Fort Abraham Lincoln has a curious twist to its ghost stories. The building at the center of many of them is a reconstruction.
George Armstrong Custer and his wife, Libbie, lived at Fort Abraham Lincoln while he commanded troops there during the 1870s. Custer departed the fort in 1876 on the campaign that ended at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The original fort buildings were eventually dismantled by area settlers, according to North Dakota Parks and Recreation. The Custer House visitors tour today was later reconstructed on the site.
That reconstructed house has developed its own paranormal reputation.
North Dakota Tourism reports that tour guides and other employees have described an unexplained presence inside the Custer House. Reported experiences include people feeling a tap on the shoulder and employees finding dishes or candlesticks moved. One account even involves mysterious marks appearing on valuable linen.
These stories are especially interesting because they come from people working at the historic site rather than an anonymous internet post. They still remain personal accounts, and North Dakota Tourism presents them as local legend rather than proof of paranormal activity.
The park has also become home to Haunted Fort, a large Halloween attraction. That event is staged entertainment and separate from the stories told by Custer House employees.
RVers have plenty of camping options. North Dakota Parks and Recreation lists 51 modern campsites with electricity and water, along with 15 modern group campsites and 15 primitive campsites. The park also has showers, flush toilets, and an RV dump station. Electrical upgrades have added 20-, 30-, and 50-amp service to modern campsites.
During the day, campers can tour the Custer House, military post, and On-A-Slant Mandan Indian Village. Back at the campground after dark, they stay only a short distance from the reconstructed house, where employees have reported some very odd experiences.
5. Fort Robinson State Park
Location: Crawford, Nebraska
Fort Robinson has plenty of history behind its ghost stories, but one paranormal investigation makes this entry even more interesting.
The fort was established in the 1870s and became the site of several major events in Western history. Crazy Horse died there in 1877, and the Northern Cheyenne Breakout took place there in 1879. The post later served several other military roles before becoming a Nebraska state park.
Reports of unexplained activity eventually attracted investigators.
A 2022 article in Nebraskaland magazine, published by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, says four investigators from the Nebraska Paranormal Society visited Fort Robinson in 2010. They went after hearing reports of phantom cavalry soldiers, Native American figures, and horses.
Their conclusion was considerably less dramatic than what often appears in haunted-location stories.
The investigators classified Fort Robinson as “inconclusive.”
RVers also have a wide range of campsites to choose from. According to Nebraska Game and Parks, Red Cloud Campground has 74 full-hookup sites. Soldier Creek has 77 Electric Plus sites and 22 basic sites, while Mare Barn offers 28 full-hookup sites and 20 Electric Plus sites.
Modern restrooms, showers, drinking water, a dump and fill station, and laundry facilities are available as well.
Campers can spend the day touring the fort’s historic buildings and learning about events that took place there more than a century ago. Some of those same buildings and grounds are where visitors have reported seeing figures associated with the fort’s past.
6. Fort Worden Historical State Park
Location: Port Townsend, Washington
Fort Worden is a former military installation filled with old barracks, gun batteries, tunnels, and other historic structures. Over the years, those buildings have also picked up a paranormal reputation.
The Army developed Fort Worden as part of the coastal defense system protecting Puget Sound. Today, Washington State Parks operates it as Fort Worden Historical State Park, allowing visitors to walk through old military structures, gun batteries, and other parts of the former post.
Rather than rely on some of the more dramatic ghost stories repeated online, there is better evidence that Fort Worden has a longstanding local reputation for unexplained activity.
Fort Worden’s reputation has attracted organized paranormal investigations, including one conducted at Alexander’s Castle in January 2024.
Investigators from Ghostly Activities reported several incidents they considered unusual. While asking questions about people connected to the fort’s history, the group said electronic devices appeared to produce responses, and a REM pod repeatedly activated after investigators asked about the 1908 murder of Cpl. Henry Johnson.
Later, equipment in an upstairs bedroom activated during questioning, and the group said a camera recorded what they classified as a Class A EVP after the experiment ended.
The investigators interpreted some of those events as possible paranormal activity, but the results were not independently verified. What their report does provide is a documented example of people going into Alexander’s Castle looking for unusual activity and recording exactly what they said happened.
There are many wilder Fort Worden stories online involving dead soldiers, apparitions, and specific ghosts. Many of those stories are difficult to trace to reliable historical records, so they are better left out. What is clear is that reports of unusual experiences at the fort have persisted long enough for organized investigations and local haunted-history events to take place there.
For RVers, Fort Worden is one of the more developed campgrounds on this list. Washington State Parks says the Beach Campground has full-hookup sites, while the Upper Forest Campground has partial hookups. Both camping areas have access to restrooms and showers.
Some campsites can accommodate RVs up to 75 feet, although the park notes that spaces for rigs that large are limited.
You can spend the afternoon walking through old concrete gun batteries and military buildings, then return to a full-hookup campsite on the same property. If you already find abandoned military structures unsettling, Fort Worden probably gets considerably more interesting after sunset.
7. Holy Ghost Campground
Location: Near Pecos, New Mexico
With a name like Holy Ghost Campground, the ghost story sounds almost too convenient. In this case, though, the legend has been circulating for generations.
The campground sits deep in the Santa Fe National Forest near the Pecos Wilderness. The National Forest Foundation describes Holy Ghost Campground as having a “scary history” tied to a story from the time of conflict between Pueblo people and Spanish colonists.
According to one version of the legend, a Catholic priest remained in the area during the Pueblo Revolt and was killed. His spirit was then said to haunt the creek and canyon.
There is a problem with that story: people do not agree on what supposedly happened.
KOAT in Albuquerque examined the Holy Ghost Campground stories in 2025 and spoke with members of the Duke City Paranormal Research Society. One version says the priest killed Pueblo people. Another says Pueblo people killed the priest while resisting Spanish colonization. Both versions eventually become the same local legend: a priest’s spirit remaining in the canyon.
What can be established is that the legend has been repeated for years and has become closely associated with the campground. KOAT also covered the Holy Ghost story in 2023, again speaking with paranormal researchers about the accounts surrounding the canyon.
Camping here is considerably more primitive than at most of the other places on this list. According to Recreation.gov, individual campsites include a picnic table and fire ring. Vault toilets and trash collection are available, but there are no hookups and campers need to bring their own drinking water.
The road into the campground also gets narrow in places, and Recreation.gov advises drivers to use caution because of the curves and limited visibility. RVers with larger trailers or motorhomes should check current road and campground conditions before heading into Holy Ghost Canyon.
There are no rows of full-hookup sites or bright resort facilities here. Instead, campers get a small forest campground beside a creek in an isolated mountain canyon, along with a ghost story people in New Mexico have told for a very long time.
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