Paranormal Poll Shortchanges Boston, Ghosts Bridgewater Triangle

Yet another company has waded into the paranormal polling pool, and it’s sent me off the deep end.

Last week, I got an email in my inbox from a company called “Lawn Love” with the subject line “2023’s Best Cities for Paranormal Activity.” I found it odd that a company whose business is lawn care would be offering up paranormal info, but nonetheless I opened it up and gave it a read.

“We compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on four categories,” the email read. “We looked at paranormal sightings, Bigfoot sightings, haunted sites, and paranormal conventions and events, among 14 total otherworldly metrics.”

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Naturally, the top three cities for paranormal activity were also the top three cities for population: Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Technically, NYC has more – ahem – living residents than L.A., but the City of Angels got the ghostly nod over the Big Apple.

Considering all of its history and haunts, where does Boston come in on the list?

No. 26. Pathetic.

It’s understandable that New Orleans (No. 5) would come ahead of Boston. Perhaps the same can be said for Philadelphia (No. 6) and even Las Vegas (No. 10) and Savannah, Georgia (No. 15). But Phoenix (No. 12)? Baltimore (No. 23)? Jacksonville (No. 25)?

Clearly, Lawn Love knows nothing about the paranormal.

Other nearby cities showing up on the list include Springfield (No. 91), Worcester (No. 97) and Providence (No. 108).

Nothing about New Bedford, which just got a high ranking from another study recently when it comes to hauntings?

Lawn Love tried to explain its convoluted methodology for these rankings, factoring in things like “lifestyle” and “community,” whatever those mean.

An infographic shows Boston tied with a number of other cities for “fewest paranormal sightings” with one reported. Where they were collecting data from, I have no idea, because I could probably walk down the street in Boston right now and collect more paranormal sightings than just one.

While the list covers cities and not towns, it does have a section of what it calls “horrorable mentions” that includes towns such as Littleton, North Carolina and its Cryptozoology & Paranormal Museum; Middletown, Maryland and its Snallygaster Festival; and the Sasquatch Outpost in Bailey, Colorado.

Heck, it even mentions Willow Creek, California as the “Bigfoot Capital of the World,” and that’s not even a town. It’s a census-designated place.

So since towns worked their way into those “horrorable mentions,” why no love for the Bridgewater Triangle?

Stick to the grass and leave the paranormal to the experts, Lawn Love.

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