Where Do I Go To Get Scared in Arizona?

Most of the creepiest places are isolated, as well. This definitely adds to the mood factor. This list is by no means the final list, as I keep discovering more places that draw me back over and over. 

The Domes 

(South Thornton Rd near Hwy 8, Casa Grande, AZ)

This abandoned semiconductor factor is made of a bunch of kiva-like buildings that are in various degrees of collapse (that last picture's building did collapse). Every sound echoes so loudly it's like gunshots. It carries local legend and lore or murder and satanic rituals and over the year has been inhabited at various times by indigents. Several ghost shows have filmed there. It's high on the creepy factor down a long dirt road with no witnesses, ahem, people around. *This is a private property*

Stanton, AZ 

(Ghost town outside of Wickenburg)

This town is found 6 miles down a washboard rugged road.  The buildings still stand.  The ghosts - well, I'd call this one of the most haunted places in AZ. There is also a "crypt," a dirt hole under the building where they kept dead bodies cool before burial.

"The Thing" 

(Dragoon, AZ off I-10 East of Tucson about a half hour's drive from Tucson, past Texas Canyon)

When I first moved to AZ in 1977, on the road trek somewhere around West Texas, I believe, we started seeing teasing billboards for "The Thing!"

I wanted to stop soooo much, but my parents wanted to get the caravan of cars to the new home and we passed right by.

Fast forward decades later and I finally made the trek!

This is around Texas Canyon area in Dragoon, AZ, considered a point between Tucson and New Mexico on I-10.

It is so worth the visit!

If you loved the made-for-tv film "Gargoyles" this is the closest feeling thing to that old codger's roadside attraction.

You pay $1 and walk out the building to follow a path into huge hangers that have bizarre mannequins covered in dust, weird art, Hitler's car (supposedly) and when you finish the buildings you come to "THE THING." This "mummy and her baby" are in a glass case.

This has a bizarre middle of nowhere creep factor like "Tourist Trap" meets "Gargoyles." 

Kirkland Steak House

The Kirkland Steakhouse seems to be in the middle of nowhere, but the building was once the seat of a Wells Fargo in the old stagecoach days, as well as a brothel. The building is creaking, spooky, dark, and it has a bar and steak nights there. It also rents rooms off a corridor that is dusty and creepy and haunted.

This place lingers in my mind. It was beyond rustic, but also had this vibe that was disturbing. In fact, the old Wells Fargo safe in the concrete room still sits there.

There is a legend that a madam named Mary had her throat slit. Her face supposedly shows up in the woodwork, becoming more pronounced over time.

And the 18-foot ceiling had finger print drags on it. The floor above had burned down when it was a brothel. 

Definitely a creepy lonely drive to an isolated creepy place. I suggest for more interesting mood, take the 7-mile drive further down the road to Skull Valley and eat at the diner. They make an excellent breakfast and the town has this weird Twilight Zone thing going on where it's like a town that forgot time. 

The Hills Have Eyes

Texas Canyon in Southeast Arizona along the I-10 outside of Tucson provides a boulder-infested landscape that feels like a mix of the movie "Tremors" and "The Hills Have Eyes." 

There are stretches of the highway to the town of Sonoita in wine country in Southern Arizona that feels very much like The Hills Have Eyes and you begin to wonder what would happen if you broke down in the middle of these stretches.... You can almost feel the eyes on you.