Many of us grew up on a steady diet of haunted corn mazes and episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and therefore the supernatural seems like nothing more than a harmless form of amusement. Ghost tours and haunted bed and breakfasts are just ways to part a fool and his money… or are they?

Some say the spirits of the deceased imprint themselves on the house in which they lived and died. The energy left by the dead manifests itself in strange noises, objects moving by themselves, shadowy figures, and other phenomena associated with haunting. Could the terrible events that took place in these houses have left a "spiritual residue" behind?

Above: The Lizzie Borden House

San Francisco, CA

Built in 1887 for silver tycoon and senator Richard Chambers, this mansion is now known as one of San Francisco's most haunted sites. Rumor had it that Chambers' fortune was the result of a pact with the devil and it was at the house that the devil came to collect his due. When Chambers died, he left his house to his two quarreling nieces, one of whom moved next door.

Niece Claudia stayed in the mansion and met a gruesome end when her body was cut in half in an alleged "farm implementation accident." Nothing could stop the whispers that Claudia had, in fact, been murdered by her vengeful sister. The mansion has since become a hotel where guests have reported ghostly incidents.

St. Francisville, LA

In the early 19th century, Clark Woodruff was carrying on an affair with Chloe, one of his slaves. One day, Clark discovered Chloe eavesdropping on his family and had her left ear cut off. Seeking revenge, she made a birthday cake laced with poisonous oleander, which killed Mrs. Woodruff and two of the children. Chloe was hanged and her body dumped in the Mississippi River. If that wasn't enough drama, the next owner of Myrtles Plantation was shot on the front porch and staggered into the house to die.

The Myrtles is now a bed and breakfast haunted by the spirits of the dead. Mrs. Woodruff and her poisoned children are said to be trapped in an oddly-stained mirror in the entrance hall. Guests claim to have seen Chloe loitering on the grounds or have lost a single earring to her thievery (after her forced amputation she obviously only needs one.) The staircase is also known to ominously creak even when no one is around.

Fall River, MA

One bloody day in 1892, someone brutally murdered Andrew (above photo) and Abby Borden with an axe. According to the gruesome nursery rhyme, their daughter Lizze was the culprit:

Lizzie Borden took an axe

Gave her mother forty whacks.

And when she saw what she had done,

She gave her father forty-one.

Borden (above) was acquitted after a sensational trial, but the unavenged spirits of Lizzie's parents are said to haunt the house, which is now a bed and breakfast. Guests have seen a woman in Victorian garb straightening up the house or heard her weeping. Other ghostly sounds include footsteps, doors opening and shutting, and muffled conversations.

Washington, D.C.

The home of the First Family is famously haunted. The ghost of Abigail Adams is seen in the East Room hanging her laundry to dry. Dolley Madison protects the rose garden she planted, Jefferson's violin plays his violin, Andrew Jackson swears up a storm in the Rose Bedroom, and William Henry Harrison haunts the attic. President Lincoln is the most famous ghost.

Prominent people, such as Winston Churchill, Dwight Eisenhower, and Queen Wilhelmina have seen Lincoln's ghost or felt his presence. Even if they don't see a ghost, something always seems to be lurking just out of sight.

Pittsburgh, PA

Colloquially known as the "house that hell built," the Congelier has a strange and bloody history. It started in 1871, when Lyda Congelier stabbed her cheating husband to death and beheaded his paramour. The house was mostly vacant until 1900, when Dr. Brunritcher moved in. After a gas explosion brought firefighters to the property, they discovered the good doctor had been experimenting with keeping severed heads alive. Five headless women were found rotting in the house, their heads buried beneath the foundation.

In 1915, workers from the nearby Equitable Gas Company were lodged in the house, unaware of its evil reputation of the house until two of their own were found dead in the basement. One man was staked through his heart and the other hung from the rafters. In 1927, another gas explosion rocked the house. Some say the house stood for many years after the explosion and was only torn down later for a development project. Others say the explosion was the maw of hell opening to suck the house back to where it belonged.

San Diego, CA

"Yankee Jim" was hanged in 1852 on the site where the Travel Channel's "#1 haunted house" now stands. Thomas Whaley, who bought the property, soon heard heavy footsteps around the house, and many visitors since then have claimed to have seen Yankee Jim; the ghost of Anna Whaley, Thomas's wife; and an unknown woman of a "swarthy complexion."

Yet another ghostly presence is of a long-haired little girl, perhaps a Whaley friend who broke her neck while playing in the backyard. And the specters aren't even all human: there's been a ghost terrier trotting around the house.

San Jose, CA

Though she inherited a fortune, Sarah Winchester also believed she inherited evil spirits. After the death of her husband in 1881, she began building a new home, not stopping until her own death, 38 years later. The house is a 160-room monstrosity on the outskirts of San Jose. It was built with money from the sale of Winchester rifles and is said to be haunted by the ghosts of all who died at the end of a Winchester barrel.

Sarah consulted a medium who advised her to build the residence with lots of twists, turns and dead ends to confuse the malevolent spirits. This tactic didn't work. The house is now open to the public and visitors and employees report footsteps, closing doors, ghostly music, cold spots, moving lights, orbs seen in photos and doorknobs turning on their own.

New Orleans, LA

In the 1870s, rumors circulated about a mysterious renter of a Greek Revivial house in the French Quarter. This wealthy man, known as the Sultan, supposedly had a harem full of women and engaged in activities that even the Big Easy found depraved. One morning a passerby noticed a stream of blood running under the front door. Inside was the harem — chopped into pieces. The Sultan himself was beaten and buried alive.

The murder was never solved; some say it was pirates after the Sultan's fabled eastern wealth. Others say the sultan was just a pretender and the real master of the harem came to claim his revenge. Whoever did it, shrieks of the slaughtered women are said to still echo through the house's haunted corridors.

Fort Lauderdale, FL

The oldest house in Fort Lauderdale is also one its most haunted. Owner Frank Stranahan committed suicide nearby when his bank failed during the Great Depression. His wife Ivy rented the first floor to a restaurant but continued living upstairs until her death in 1971. Up to six family members may have died here in all.

The house has now been restored to its early 20th century charm and is a local history museum. But visitors report strange activity at the site, like burglar alarms going off without apparent cause. Employees of the museum have quit because of the paranormal activity, and vagrants sleeping on the porch have been shooed away by ghostly banging on the house walls.

Cleveland, OH

Hannes Tiedmann built this 30 room Gothic mansion in 1865 to house his growing family. Then, one by one, every member of his family died: first his children, then his wife of over 30 years, and finally Hannes himself, by stroke. His house was soon rented by the German Socialist Party. It is rumored that 20 Nazis were gunned down in one of the house's secret rooms.

An occupant in the 1930s fled after hearing a child crying in the night. When a new family moved in in the 1960s, a small girl appeared crying and ghostly organ music, footsteps, voices, and ghostly clinking glasses echoed in the corridors. In 1975, the owners of the house found a secret cupboard full of children's bones that the investigating coroner pronounced "very old."

To this day no one knows the origin of these bones. The house has changed hands numerous times since then, with owners reporting strange sounds, moving chandeliers, and other unexplained phenomena.