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People from up North love to pretend to be afraid of Florida because of its crazy conservatives, dangerous gun laws, and general WTF-ness. But according to a new study, Florida really is the scariest state in the U.S. – for far different reasons.
Real estate blog Estately published a ranking of the scariest states in the nation Tuesday, and yep, the Sunshine State landed in the lead, beating out Texas (#3), Louisiana (#4), and Mississippi (#9).
The list is based on statistics related to common fears: “bears, clowns, going to jail, hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning strikes, shark attacks, meth labs, murderers, volcanoes, lightning strikes,” for example.
Here’s your silver lining: Florida’s ranking isn’t due to clowns and meth labs – at least not substantially. According to Estately, “Florida earned top spot due to high rankings in these categories: hurricanes (1st), shark attacks (1st), tornadoes (1st), lightning (3rd), and spiders (9th).”
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First place for meth labs? That honor goes to Missouri. First place for clowns? North Dakota. Let’s all take a moment to appreciate the vast stretch of land separating Missouri from North Dakota.
Fine, so Florida is a terrifying place to be. But on the upside, maybe Florida can turn this into an opportunity for Halloween tourism. Florida-themed haunted houses could be this year’s big trend.
