Haunted place · West Virginia, United States

Shepherdstown, West Virginia

Updated November 202610 sources How to visit

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One of West Virginia's two oldest towns, on the Potomac, branded America's most haunted town by a 2016 TV series; its Entler Hotel museum hosts ghost nights.

The story

Shepherdstown is a small town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, set in the upper Shenandoah Valley along the Potomac River. Settlement here goes back to 1734, and the town was formally established in 1762, the same year as Romney, which makes the two the oldest towns in the state. It once served as a county seat, and today it is best known as the home of Shepherd University. At the 2020 census it had 1,531 residents, and in 2012 it marked its 250th anniversary.

The town's most consequential moment came in September 1862. After the nearby Battle of Antietam, fought on September 17, Shepherdstown was overwhelmed with casualties: every building was pressed into use for wounded and dying soldiers. That episode is the historical bedrock most often cited for the town's ghost stories.

One building sums up much of the town's history. The Entler Hotel grew out of structures put up between 1786 and 1790. From 1809 part of it operated as the Globe Tavern, and the Entler family ran a hotel there from about 1823 to 1873. During the Civil War it served as a hospital and later housed Union troops. Afterward it became the Hotel Rumsey and then a dormitory of what was then Shepherd College, known as Rumsey Hall. Since 1983 it has been home to the Historic Shepherdstown Museum.

The legend

Shepherdstown likes to call itself the most haunted town in America, and Wikipedia repeats that the town is known as much for its ghosts as for its arts scene and university. It is worth being clear about where the label comes from. It was popularized by Ghosts of Shepherdstown, a Destination America series that premiered on June 12, 2016, with Nick Groff, Bill Hartley and Elizabeth Saint as its leads. Its premise was that local police joined forces with paranormal investigators after a surge of activity, and its opening episode was titled Welcome to America's Most Haunted Town. Promotional material claimed the town had a long record of hauntings, odd accidents and crimes never solved, and that nearly everyone among its roughly 1,700 residents had had a supernatural experience. That is television marketing, not a survey, and the most haunted title should be read as a nickname rather than a measurable fact. The series ran for two seasons: seven episodes between June and October 2016, and eight more in July and August 2017.

The best-documented ghost lore today centers on the Entler Hotel. The museum itself lists the spirits it says share the building: a lady in white, an amorous Frenchman, Civil War soldiers and an unlucky duelist. Not one of them carries a name or is connected to a documented person, and the museum describes them as friendly but curious. Some consider the museum's Traveler's Room the most haunted space in the building. The Civil War soldiers at least have a plausible historical anchor, since the hotel did serve as a hospital after Antietam.

The old record is richer than the television brand suggests. The oldest report we found is in the town's own paper, the Shepherdstown Register, on July 28, 1921, in a column signed Observer, whose author claimed to have lived in a haunted house. Were there haunted houses in so old a town? "Most assuredly there are." One building, filled with wounded soldiers after Antietam, was said to keep the amputated limbs that had been carelessly buried there: "the spooks of the soldiers" groaned at night, and arms and legs were seen moving over the floor. In a second house came a woman's footsteps, "the swish of her silk skirts," furniture thrown about, "mocking laughter" and a child crying from an upper room down into the cellar. A third had a little old lady in "a brown silk dress." The column names none of the houses and never mentions the Entler Hotel.

What is still missing is just as important. For the Entler itself there is no specific, dated description of what witnesses see or hear, and, as far as we found, no independent investigation beyond the television series. The official visitor center site does not mention ghost tours at all. Shepherdstown's haunted reputation, in other words, is real as a local identity and older than television, but its fame as America's most haunted town rests on a 2016 TV brand and on the museum's own seasonal programming.

What remains today

Shepherdstown remains a living college town rather than a ruin, and its old core is protected as the Shepherdstown Historic District. The Entler Hotel survives as the Historic Shepherdstown Museum. A Civil War-era photograph shows Lock 38 of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the ruins of a bridge across the river at Shepherdstown.

Visiting

Shepherdstown is an open public town, and the Historic Shepherdstown Museum in the Entler Hotel is the natural starting point for both history and ghost lore. The museum runs seasonal paranormal events, usually in October during its BooFest season, with local investigators and mediums; in 2026 these evenings sold out, so book early. Check the museum's own site for dates and opening hours. Remember that most houses in town are private homes: admire them from the street and do not wander onto porches or into yards in search of ghosts.

The ghosts

Soldier

Civil War soldiers

Said to be Soldiers wounded or quartered in the Entler Hotel after Antietam (1862)

The museum includes Civil War soldiers among its ghosts. The building was used as a hospital after the Battle of Antietam and then housed Union troops.

Reported by: Historic Shepherdstown Museum

Ghostly lady