Final Project: Haunted Places in America

The United States is full of haunted places ranging from large cities to small towns. These haunted locations range from schools to restaurants to cemeteries and gravesites. Some states come across as more haunted than others, but is this the case? Does a higher state population mean more observed hauntings? Are there places that are considered to be haunted because there are more people around to witness these hauntings? These questions can be answered by looking at the data from the 2010 United States population and Tim Renner’s “Haunted Places in America” datasheets.  

With this information, it is important to note that the state population has most likely changed in the past ten years. Some states might have population increases while others might have had population decreases. These charts are based on the 2010 population numbers. The same can be said from Tim Renner’s “Haunted Places in America” datasheet. These are considered to be observed haunting. Meaning that people who have witnessed these hauntings reported them. This means that there could be more hauntings at these locations in these states that have not been reported. It also does not account for any false accounts of observed hauntings in these places. It is important to keep this in mind when looking at these charts. 

State population has a lot to do with the number of observed hauntings in each state. If a larger state, say California, reports a large number of observed hauntings it would make sense because California has a large population. Yet, sometimes this is not always the case. This can be seen in the State Population sheet and the Number of Observed Hauntings sheet. In terms of haunted places, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and New York are the top six states that have the most observed hauntings. But then, looking at the state population one can see that California, Texas or, New York, Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania are the top six most populated states. 

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When looking at the top six most Haunted States v. Population of those states, it is clear to see that larger states like California and Texas have larger populations and as a result, have more observed hauntings. When looking at somewhat smaller states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan, it is clear they have fewer observed hauntings compared to the larger, more populated states. But, overall for the most part the relationships are fairly equal. 

The one difference, in this case, is Michigan and Ohio. When looking at this chart, one can clearly see that Ohio has a larger population compared to Michigan. Yet, for some reason, Michigan has more observed hauntings. One theory as to why this is the case is that Michigan’s population is more densely packed compared to Ohio. This means that having more people in one location would result in the number of observed hauntings being larger compared to a more spread out population, which would result in a lower number of observed hauntings. 

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By breaking up each of these top six most haunted states into categories of haunted locations we can see that population does have an effect on observed hauntings. Most people would think that cemeteries, gravesites, houses, and hotels would be some of the places that have the most observed hauntings based on what we hear and see on things like haunted television shows. However, based on this data, schools are actually some of the locations where hauntings are observed. This is clear across all six of these states, California, Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. Not to mention that the more populated states have more observed hauntings in schools. 

But why are schools of all places considered to be some of the most haunted locations? It all goes back to the population of a state. Schools are places where there are people around every day and as a result, are more prone to witness these hauntings. Whereas like a cemetery, for example, there are fewer people around it on a daily basis so there are fewer observed hauntings. 

Plus, the “Haunted Places in America” dataset is about observed hauntings. This does not necessarily mean that a school location is more haunted than a cemetery location. It just means that more people have witnessed hauntings at schools than cemeteries. And again, this all comes back to the idea that more populated locations are going to have more observed hauntings.  

Overall, based on these charts it is clear to see that population has an effect on the number of observed hauntings in each state. Those states with larger populations tend to have more observed hauntings. Basically, more people means more witnesses to these hauntings. Just like how California has the largest population which correlates with it having the most observed hauntings. Although that is not always the case as with Michigan and Ohio. The same can be said for each haunted location in these states. Places with higher foot traffic result in more observed hauntings. State population and the number of observed haunting are not directly connected, but based on this information from the charts, there is some form of a relationship between the two.