
How to Prioritize Locations for a Ghost Hunt in a Cemetery

Before we get into prioritizing plots, there are a few things to know about ghost hunts in a cemetery:
First – You can hunt during the day. The place is still haunted and you can get good results for EVP collection.
Second – New plots usually do not have activity (since the 1990s) and old plots (over 200 years old) rarely have activity. The ‘sweet spot’ tends to be plots over 50-years-old and under 150-years-old (the 1860s through 1960s).
Third – Look for graves outside the cemetery walls. We’ll explain the reason why after the jump.
How To Prioritize Haunted Cemetery Locations

In general, you can hunt as long as you want during visiting hours, which is usually sunrise to sunset. You’ll probably get some weird looks from visitors – don’t worry about them. We have some previous posts on ghost hunting in cemeteries, so go back and review those, too.
This is how you should prioritize your plot investigations:
- Visit plots with a documented history of activity
- Graves outside the cemetery walls – These tend to be people that were considered ‘trash.’ This means prostitutes, transients, suicides and criminals. They weren’t ‘good’ enough to have a proper burial or their families didn’t want to claim them. This type of trauma usually leads to some ghostly activity.
- Neglected graves (for example, the headstone is knocked over or it’s old and damaged)
- Graves with a lot of inscriptions, engravings and symbols – There’s usually a good story behind all the markings. Check the family genealogy, if you can, to see what you discover.
- Victorian-era graves have great details engraved on them and some are strongly related to the Spiritualist movement.
You may want to bring a psychic along with you. They can give you real-time feedback on the plots and you can focus on a location with their guidance.
We also recommend using cemeteries for training. If you’re new to ghost hunting, a cemetery is an easily accessible location. You can spend your time perfecting your research methods, testing equipment and honing psychic abilities.