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A worker was cleaning a basement at the Spooky World in New Hampshire, when a spine-chilling figure of a “haunted spirit” emerged from the shadows, the haunted theme park’s owner told The Post.
“This big burly guy jumped like he had seen a ghost and ran out of there,” said Mike Accomando, who runs the sprawling attraction in Litchfield.
The worker soon learned the basement — which had formerly been a restaurant — was the site of an unexpected death decades ago, he explained on the eve of Halloween.
Most of his employees are now convinced the space is home to a ghost — a belief that a new study shows is more likely to happen in New England than any other part of the United States.
New England residents, especially those in Maine and New Hampshire, are more prone to ghosts, hauntings and “the metaphysical,” the study that rated “America’s “Most Superstitious States” found.
Maine was ranked No. 1 based on factors such a belief in “the unexplained,” which includes haunted locations and psychic-related topics, according to the Manhattan Mental Health Counseling.
New Mexico, meanwhile, ranked second “most superstitious,” followed by New Hampshire, which placed third. Florida ranked fourth and Arizona scored fifth.
“I’d say the history of the Salem witch trials plays a role in why New England loves this stuff,” said Accomando, whose “scream park” offers spooky attractions such as a haunted hay ride and a “horror maze.”
“It’s been a tradition in New England to sit by the fireplace and tell tales of hauntings,” he said. “We have more history — so we’ve had more time to come up with these stories.”
For the study, researchers compared 48 states to rate them for how prone to “superstition” they are.
They surveyed subjects and considered factors such as number of metaphysical shops, belief in the spiritual beyond the natural world, “haunted places,” interest in psychics, and bad-luck-related internet searches.
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Researchers found Maine had a head-spinning 874 superstition-related “mentions” per 100,000 residents and 5.14 psychic services per 100,000 people.
In New Mexico, a bone-chilling 86% of residents believed in spiritual happenings “beyond the natural world,” the study found.
New Hampshire, meanwhile, stood out for its concentration of superstition-related businesses, with 4.28 metaphysical shops and 6.61 psychic services per 100,000 residents.
