The Scariest States in the U.S. Will Surprise You

When I think of the scariest states in America, my mind immediately goes to Alaska, because polar bears, and New Mexico, because Breaking Bad. Not necessarily Florida — or what I had previously thought of us as the “Sunshine State.” Welp, I was wrong. According to Estately, Florida topped the list of scariest states in the US based on a number of surprisingly reasonable criteria . And by "surprisingly reasonable," I don't mean retired couples and sunny weather — I'm talking about hurricanes and clowns.

(Even Google is confused:)

SunSentinel reported that Estately recently released "The United States of Fear": a list ranking of America's states in order of how "scary" they are. The blog used 15 fairly practical criteria points, or "common American fears," including a few more predictable factors, like murderers and hurricanes. Less obvious (yet potentially scarier) factors on the list include clowns, meth labs, and dentists. Take a look at the entire list of what Estately qualifies as "scary":

1. Bears

2. Clowns

3. Prison

4. Flying

5. Hurricanes

6. Shark Attacks

7. Spiders

8. Snakes

9. Dentists

10. Tornadoes

11. Heights

12. Meth Labs

13. Lightning

14. Volcanoes

15. Murderers

Makes sense, right?

However, unlike the criteria, the list of states is a bit more head-tilting. The top three scariest states include Florida, followed by Georgia and Texas (OK, Texas does make sense. Is "Republicans" on the list of criteria?). The least scary? South Dakota, North Dakota, and Vermont. Wild cards include North Dakota and Massachusetts. Though it ranked as one of the least scary states, North Dakota actually has more clowns per capita available for hire than any other state in America. Oh, and did you know that Massachusetts is just ridden with dentists? And of course there's the reason, or should I say, reasons, why Florida made the top of this list. The "Sunshine State" actually ranked first for hurricanes, shark attacks, AND tornadoes, and is also in the lead for prison, flying, spiders, and lightning. Perhaps we should re-nickname a few of these states.

Here's the list of Estately's "scariest states" ranked in order from most horrifying to least:

For more commentary and information regarding the criteria, visit Estately.com! And for those of you living in Florida and North Dakota, good luck with those sharks and dentists.

Images: Estately/Estately.com