6 Most Haunted Mansions in Mississippi: Antebellum Houses You Can Tour
The largest octagonal house in America has been standing unfinished since 1861. Its upper floors are still bare brick, with the workmen’s tools left where they were put down when the war started.
Visitors keep reporting the sound of hammering from those empty floors.
We pulled this list from our directory of haunted places across Mississippi. These houses were built with wealth produced by enslaved people, and the better tours say so plainly. A ghost story that leaves that out is not telling you the history of the building.
Here are the 6 most haunted mansions in Mississippi, what people report inside them, and how to visit each.
Why Mississippi Mansions Are So Haunted
Natchez and Vicksburg held an extraordinary concentration of wealth before the Civil War, and that wealth came directly from cotton and from the people forced to produce it.
The houses that money built are still standing because the war ended the fortunes without destroying the buildings. There was never money to modernise them and never a reason to knock them down.
Then the war itself arrived on top of them. Vicksburg endured a siege of nearly seven weeks, and mansions across the state were commandeered as hospitals and headquarters. Suffering and death happened inside these rooms at a scale the architecture was never meant to hold.
1. McRaven House, Vicksburg
McRaven House is routinely called the most haunted house in Mississippi, and it was built in three separate sections across different decades, so the building itself is a layered record.
It was caught directly in the siege of Vicksburg and used as a field hospital. Cannon damage is still visible on the structure.
Guides describe at least nine distinct presences and expect something unexplained on most tours. Reports include gardenia perfume and cigar smoke with no source, conversations from empty rooms, doors slamming, shadow figures in doorways, and batteries draining within minutes. Mary Elizabeth Bobb is the most frequently reported figure.
2. Longwood, Natchez
Longwood is the largest octagonal house in America, six storeys under an onion dome, begun in 1860 by Dr. Haller Nutt.
The northern craftsmen building it left when the war broke out and never came back. Only the basement was ever finished. Nutt died in 1864 and his widow Hattie raised their children in those basement rooms.
The signature phenomenon is phantom construction, hammering and sawing from the unfinished upper floors, heard during tours and after closing. Visitors also report a man in 1860s dress on the bare brick levels, looking up at the dome, and heavy cold in the basement dining room.
3. Waverly Mansion, West Point
Waverly Mansion was completed in 1852 and is known for its octagonal cupola and a self supporting spiral staircase rising four storeys.
After the family left, the house stood abandoned for around fifty years before being rescued and restored in the 1960s, which is part of why it feels so untouched.
Reports concentrate on the staircase and second floor bedrooms: footsteps climbing and descending, children heard laughing on the upper floors, doors slamming in a sealed building, and furniture found moved overnight. Colonel George Hampton Young is the figure most often described.
4. Stanton Hall, Natchez
Stanton Hall was commissioned in 1851 by Frederick Stanton, an Irish born cotton broker, and took over four years and around $83,000 to build.
It occupies an entire city block in Natchez. Stanton died within months of moving in, having barely lived in the house at all.
He is the spirit most often reported, a man in 1850s business dress near the library fireplace who vanishes when addressed. Staff describe the second floor master bedroom as the room they will not enter alone after dark.
5. Merrehope, Meridian
Merrehope has stood in Meridian since 1858 and is one of the few buildings in the city to survive the war intact.
Sherman’s forces burned much of Meridian in 1864. Merrehope was used by officers, which is likely why it is still there.
Its best known figure is called the Captain, a man in grey uniform seen at the windows, described as sad rather than threatening. Staff report boots climbing the main staircase in the same slow pattern in the early morning before opening.
6. Anchuca Historic Mansion, Vicksburg
Anchuca was built in 1830 and expanded in 1847 by Richard Archer, who added the Greek Revival columns it is known for.
Jefferson Davis once addressed a crowd from its balcony. It is the only property on this list where you can sleep, because it now runs as a bed and breakfast.
The second floor master suite draws the most reports. Guests describe pacing on the upper floors, cold spots, and a woman in mid 1800s dress in the old main parlour, apparently still hosting. Some guests decline to sleep in that room after the first night.
How to Visit Mississippi Haunted Mansions Safely
Most of these are museums rather than hotels, so the practical question is tour hours rather than room availability.
Stanton Hall, Longwood, Waverly, Merrehope and McRaven all run guided tours with set schedules and last admission times. Check days of the week before travelling, since several close early in the day and some are shut on Sundays and Mondays.
Anchuca is the exception and takes overnight bookings as a bed and breakfast. If you want to actually sleep in a haunted Mississippi mansion, that is the one.
Ask the guides about the enslaved people who built and ran these houses. The good ones will tell you, and it is the part of the history most worth hearing.
If you want to record anything, our ghost hunting equipment guide covers the EMF meters, recorders, and cameras that actually capture evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most haunted mansion in Mississippi?
McRaven House in Vicksburg, by a clear margin. Its guides report multiple distinct presences and expect unexplained activity on most tours.
Can you stay overnight in any of them?
Only Anchuca in Vicksburg, which operates as a bed and breakfast. The other five are museums open for daytime tours.
Why is Longwood unfinished?
Construction began in 1860 and the craftsmen, who had come from the north, left when the Civil War broke out. Only the basement was ever completed, and the upper five floors remain bare brick.
Plan Your Mississippi Haunted Mansion Trip
Natchez and Vicksburg hold four of the six and sit about seventy miles apart along the river, which makes them a natural two or three day trip.
Base in Vicksburg for McRaven and Anchuca, then run south to Natchez for Longwood and Stanton Hall. Waverly and Merrehope are both in the eastern half of the state and belong to a separate loop.
For everything beyond the mansions, browse our full directory of haunted places in Mississippi or read our roundup of the most haunted places in Mississippi.
