Many stories and legends speculate strange occurrences around certain locations of the Hoosier State, especially the Northwest. So, when looking for a few good shrieks this Halloween season, it may be more exciting to choose from many haunted sites of Indiana rather than pay to get into haunted houses. To add an extra AGH! to this Halloween, check out some of these sites for yourself, if you dare.

The ghost of Reeder Road is one of Indiana’s most popular ghost stories. The story goes that a young woman is hitchhiking down Reeder Road. If someone decides to pick her up, she sits in the back of the car and says she needs to get home. As the car passes by Ross Cemetery, the hitchhiker vanishes. Reeder Road as of now is closed to passing cars. The only way to reach the road is by foot.

Crown Point also has its fair share of tales from the grave. Gypsies’ Graveyard has a legend dating back to the 1800’s. According to the story, a group of gypsies made camp on a hill just outside of Crown Point. Their new guests outraged the townspeople. They gave the gypsies two days to leave. But the flu outbreak of 1820 had begun its run, and many of the gypsies came down with the deadly disease of that time. When the townspeople came back to rid the town of the gypsies, they found only gravestones. Reports have stated that upon leaving the graveyard, red stained blood can be found on the bottom of pants and shoes.

Another famous story of Crown Point is that of the Old Sheriff’s house. Built in 1882, the house is located one block south of the main square. But, what makes this location so scary? Right behind the house stood the Lake County Jail where convict John Dillinger made his great escape. While in his cell, he took what was either a wooden washboard or a bar of soap and carved it into the shape of a gun, staining it with shoe polish. Dillinger was incarcerated for the suspected murder of a Chicago police officer. Reports have stated that voices and footsteps can be heard, lights go on and off and cell doors open and close by themselves. The house is currently under renovation, but guided tours are available in June.

Northwest Indiana is home to yet another eerie ghost story of a wandering woman. In 1915, people began reporting the siting of a nude woman at the Indiana Dunes. The woman had been seen several times and was given the nickname Diana of the Dunes. She finally granted an interview and was identified as Alice Mable Grey, graduate with honors from the University of Chicago. She had become a hermit living with her lover Paul Wilson, suspect of a murder on the beach. To avoid commotion at their dune-land home, the two moved to Michigan City. After the birth of “Diana’s” second child she had been found dead due to blows to the stomach and head and poisoning. Her body was buried at Grace Park Cemetery. After her death, people began telling of a nude woman running along the beach and then disappearing, or a nude woman coming out of the water and vanishing. Hikers have also reported seeing a nude woman in the woods and when they look back she’s gone. “Diana of the Dunes” is one of Indiana’s most sited ghosts.

The final story, takes place at the once Salesian Prep School for Boys on Cline in Cedar Lake. By the order of St. John Bosco of Rochelle in NY, the school was built in 1959 for grades seven through twelve. Abandoned since 1979, the school has had numerous reports of haunting. Sophomore Mark Humpher has had his own personal experience there. “When I was on the fourth floor of the high school, I heard a little boy laughing down the hall from where I was, and I was positive I was the only one in the building.” Salesians property is now used as a paintball field; Mark was there as a referee for four months. Not only did he hear the voice of a little boy, but he also saw many disturbing things. “The basement in the old cafeteria had dead cats in it, and we found a decapitated deer head,” Mark says. Others have also stated that they’ve seen students writing in blood on a desk, and then disappearing. Rumors have also speculated about a priest who worked at the school and murdered several of the students. When the school was turned into a haunted house for public display two years ago, employees complimented on how the priest in the basement was the scariest person there. Employees later found out that there was no man employed at the house in a priest’s costume.