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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).”
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.
