What is it about human nature when Halloween is in the air? We seek out the weird, the creepy, the macabre, all the things we avoid like the plague any other time of year.

If you're in search of some spirited adventures in the tri-state area, there is no shortage of places to go. I mean, for example, time and time again, Deadwood shows up on lists of the most haunted places in the country.

In fact, South Dakota has more than its share of ghoulish goings on in hundreds of locations. Heck, Sioux Falls is lousy with haunted spaces & places!

This time we'll leave it to the writers at Thrillist to pick what they think are the most hair-raising spaces in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa, because sometimes outsiders have insight that we residents don't. Or not. Agree to disagree.

Spookiest Place in South Dakota is - - Sica Hollow State Park/Sisseton

Sica Hollow State Park collage
Google Earth
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The very name Sica, means evil or bad in the Dakota language. The water in the park runs blood red at times, thanks to iron deposits in the land, so there's that.

The twisty, narrow, county road that runs through the park is enough to unnerve you from the get-go.  And what you might see around every curve, who knows?

According to Dakota legend, a classic battle between good and evil ended well, but malevolent spirits remained.

Spookiest Place in Minnesota is - - The Wabasha Street Caves - St. Paul

Wabasha Street Caves - St. Paul, Minnesota
Google Street View
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...it’s an underground speakeasy from the '30s that still hosts weddings and parties so good that the original folks never seem to have left. That apparently includes the ghosts of three gangsters who, in the caves' bootlegging days, skipped out on their check by getting murdered and buried in the floors. To this day, people report seeing uninvited, very dapper guests roaming the halls, along with the ghost of a bartender and a madame. - -Thrillist

Spookiest Place in Iowa is - - The Villisca Ax Murder House - Villisca

Villisca, Iowa Ax Murder House
Google Earth/street view
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Two months after the Titanic hit the bottom of the North Atlantic, a murder of Titanic proportions occurred in this tiny Iowa town.

On June 10, 1912, a still unknown assailant murdered all the members of the Josiah Moore family (Moore, his wife, and 4 children) and two neighbor children who were overnight guests.

The murder weapon was assumed to be the axe that remained at the scene and all the victims had been sleeping when they were killed.

The Villisca home is one of the most active and visited paranormal investigation sites on the planet and if you're brave enough, you can even spend a night there!

Sources: ThrillistVillisca Ax Murder House, Wabasha Street Caves, South Dakota Game Fish & Parks/Sica Hollow State Park, and Wikipedia

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