Welcome to the Weird, Queer World of the Paranormal & Unexplained

The word queer can mean different things to different people at differing times. Anything strange or weird can be referred to as queer. But what was once a derogatory term for LGBT people is now an identity. Queer can mean peculiar, transgressive, and outside the cultural norms of sexuality.

This is the place where you’ll find the queerest of the queer.

Both sexuality and the paranormal are often considered taboo subjects, and each can be a mysterious “gray zone” fraught with folklore, confusion, and disagreement. According to a 2017 fear survey by Chapman University, 52% of Americans believe that places can be haunted by spirits. A study by Ipsos conducted in late 2017 found that only 57% of Americans believed that transgender persons are a ‘natural occurrence’ and 32% said they believed transgender people have ‘a form of mental illness.’ (Which means that whether you’re reassigning your gender or using an EMF meter at a historical battlefield, at least a third of Americans are likely to think you’re crazy.)

But where’s the overlap between the queer and the queer? Supernatural tales reside in every corner of the globe; each ghostly legend has its own unique messages. Yet these narratives often fail to consider or even mention the sexuality of the dead. What about the LGBTQ men and women of the past? Do all hauntings require a heterosexual phantom? Are gay-owned businesses somehow immune to paranormal activity? Is the occult void of sexual diversity? Are all alien abductees straight?

Ever since a possible encounter with the ghost of a gay male friend who committed suicide, I have been searching for information on specters and other preternatural beings of a not-so-straight nature. Slowly, the veil separating the supernatural and sexual orientation has been lifted.

From the haunted scene of the brutal murder of a gay couple in rural Georgia to an account of multiple alien abductions by a lesbian couple in California, this site is intended to encompass the other—more colorful—side of the unexplained. Through painstaking research and accidental archival discoveries, a strange, wild, weird—and yes, queer—paranormal history has finally been brought into the light.

The majority of haunted locations featured here are accessible to the public. Many even offer overnight accommodations, allowing the curious reader to experience any possible paranormal activity for himself or herself. Whether you wish to see spirits beyond the bottled variety at a quaint watering hole or spend a night in a big city accompanied by a ghostly guest, you may decide for yourself if there’s anything going bump in the night. Perhaps you will gain a new appreciation of “queer haunts” along the way.

Or perhaps it even might inspire the next LGBTQ paranormal investigator to view the paranormal realm in a new light.

Enjoy.