If you're an adventure junkie who wants to take it to the next level or if your idea of bringing life to a dead conversation are ghost stories, this article is just for you. Before heading, brace yourself to have sleepless nights. These places are sure to send chills down your spine.
Here is a list of 20 Most Haunted Places in the World:
SourcePicture this, instead of treating a city inflicted with Plague victims; you dump them on an isolated island, devoid of any civilisation to rot and die. This is precisely what happened in the infamous island of Poveglia where thousands of black plague sufferers were 'disposed'. Listed as one of the world's illegal places to visit, this island has stories from thousands of years ago that will leave you questioning humanity. In the medieval era, when the plague was killing almost two-thirds of Europe, Poveglia was flooded with the sick and dying. Dead bodies soon overcrowded the island and thousands were dumped into huge, common graves. Any suspected sign of the disease in a person resulted in them being quarantined here and dumped atop piles of rotting corpses. As if this wasn't enough, they built a psychiatric hospital here, resulting in more tortured souls. A demented doctor is said to have his own brutally bizarre ways of treating patients on a bell tower, such as lobotomizing them with hammers and chisels, without anaesthesia of course. Eventually, the doctor got to taste his own medicine when the ghosts wreaked vengeance on him. The screams are still heard today with a heavy, malignant atmosphere. Charred human bones continue to wash up on the island's shores. Oddly enough, this island has thriving grapevines due to massively fertile soil composed of human ash. Grape and cheese, anyone?
Legend has it that this fort in Alwar, Rajasthan, is cursed by a black magician when his persuasion of the fort's princess went in vain. Another narrative says that this fort is doomed by an ascetic who didn't want the shadow of this fort to fall on his abode. Whatever the context is, this fort is thriving in all its paranormal glory once darkness prevails. The haunt is not only in rumours, but even the Archaeological Survey of India has unsanctioned any locals or tourists to visit this fort after day hours. The notorious ones, who dared to do the otherwise, never returned and if they did, they made incoherent sense. The most recurrent sighting is of a young man seated near a window with iron grills. Other eerie occurrences reported in this fort are screaming, wails of women, anklets jingling and an odd smell in and around this fort. Want a nightmarish adventure? Here you go.
No one ever thinks that a place bustling with innocent kids could be on this list, right? Not until you come to this shady school surrounded by graveyards and tombs. It is believed that this is the place of Japanese massacre during the Second World War and the destitute souls linger around the strange and spooky premises. The locals also believe a teacher was raped by the students and murdered in one of the washrooms and since then, a mysterious lady in red is seemed to be spotted now and then. This abandoned school is not visited by any. A group of curious youngsters decided to venture into the school's haunted-ness and to their shock, found the same red-clad lady choking herself with her own hands. When the young men tried to save her, she bit one of them, and the girl accompanied passed out after seeing this. Even taxi drivers refuse to pass by Tat Tak School's road.
The Emirates seem lush and fancy, don't they? Guess not! Thus abandoned village in Ras Al Kheima has a different picture to tell. Islamic beliefs have it that there are two distinctions of creations; humankind and the Jinn. Plainly, the spirits fall into the category of Jinns. Folklore here conveys that this village was like any other until one peaceful night, there were violent sounds of celebrations from a distance, and when two youngsters dared to encounter with the noise, they returned baffled by the unexplainable occurrence. After few days, the duo met death, and on the night of their funeral, the village again witnessed the demonic commemoration on their graves. Since then, the village was uninhabited and the rest in history. People who visit this place witness dogs and cats behaving unusually and may also get possessed by the Jinns. The locals have complained spotting naked Jinns so scary that they have sleepless nights for weeks.
This island has amputated dolls hanging on almost every branch. A man named Julian Santana Barrera heard the cries of a little girl drowning and gasping for breath, but until he could reach her, he found her corpse floating in the canal. Soon after this, Julian began hearing footsteps and painful wailings of the little girl's cry. The little girl had left behind her doll, which Julian hung up to please her soul. After being convinced that the girl had possessed the doll, he hung more and more dolls as a sign of respect and appeasement to the girl's spirit and now the entire island is hanging with dolls, so much so that there are hidden dolls beneath the newly grown branches of the trees in this island. The visitors here claim to have heard the dolls whispering, and there have also been narrations of the dolls' eyes following the travellers.
Along the Arabian sea lies the Dumas beach which is just like any other beach in the day but once the last ray of the sun fades, the entire shore hovers with a blanket of negativity. A part of this beach is also a burial ground for Hindus. Another peculiar specific of this beach is that it has black sand. Commoners believe that the sand turned dark due to the burial of corpses. They also complain that the souls of the dead, shrithe around the coastline which maligned the sand and turned it black. Visitors often encounter whispers and loud laughter of a woman. Even dogs behave unusually around this beach, howling and whining and often showing discomfort. When a bunch of people tried to capture the unnatural happenings here, their cameras turned dysfunctional, and the images were inaccessible. Even if they did, the images had pictures of spirit orbs in it.
This pool is settled in all the beauty and splendour of Queensland, Australia. Three streams flow down to form this magnificent devil's pool which has a rather dark reputation. History has it that an aboriginal woman gave her life by drowning in this pool in the result of unrequited love. Since then, the pool has been rather fond of young men. There have been several cases of men dying here in strange circumstances. Companions of the deceased have shockingly reported that the young men had been pulled by a mysterious force beneath the waters and many reported that something that seems as invisible hands aggressively forced them to slip and fall, resulting in either death or serious injuries. Careless negligence or paranormal powers? You decide.
Commoners believe that this hall has a white witch residing in it. Legend has it that the mistress of this mansion Annie Palmer was an expert in Voodoo and an active adulteress who often kept her husband in the dark about the various encounters with her slaves. After murdering her husband, she continued taking slaves as lovers and killed them too when she was tired of them. Annie eventually fell in love with an Englishman who was but attracted to her servant's granddaughter. This lead Annie killed the girl, and at last, the servant killed Annie. Since then, people have witnessed a white lady strolling around the mansion without any purpose. Henceforth, subsequent owners have met early, and gruesome deaths and the mansion has been stood ownerless for more than a century now.
At the base of Mount Fiji, is the Aokogahara Forest, infamously known as the suicide forest where people practically come here to die. People who visit this forest are sure to find dolls hung up upside down with curses nailed on them, and if you're unlucky, you may also find a body or two hung up on trees, given up on life. People use ropes to guide themselves into the forest because compasses and GPS do not work her for weird reasons. Shockingly, the ropes are cut by notorious ghosts. Also, dreadful and bloodcurdling screams are heard by the already dead and hanging bodies. Perhaps these are called by the spirits or Yureï, as the locals call it. Yureï sighting is also a frequent phenomenon where white figures are noticed drifting between trees. Now you know which forest to trek next.
Perhaps the largest abandoned mental asylum in the whole of Australia, Aradale has a colossal, inhumane history. Before being an asylum, this place was a prison. The main aim of this was to disregard any mentally ill individual by sending them here. The asylum had 13000 deaths and stood up to 130 years, with a rough estimation of 100 deaths a year. Now that's a lot of spirits to be in one asylum. There are still nurses in white uniforms moaning and crying for help and footsteps of frantic speed being heard. There are sudden banging on walls with nobody's presence, senses of being touched, and visitors getting locked inside with no latches on doors. People who visit here also report of strange, unexplained pains and mysterious jerks of cold winds on the old men's operation theatre.
This plantation in the states has a spirit of a young woman slave hovering around it. General Bradford, the owner of the Myrtles, took one of the slave girl Chloe, as his mistress. On eavesdropping, he cut off Chloe's ear to punish her. In return, Chloe misjudged the dosage of a poisonous herb in Bradford's kid's cake. This resulted in his wife's and kids' death. In retaliation, Bradford hung Chloe from one of the plantations and when she died, cut her body down, stuffed her pockets with rocks and drowned her in the river. Since then, Chloe's presence has been circulating the house; chairs appear to be rearranged just like how Chloe wanted them, often one earring from the visitor's gets snatched from an unseen hand denoting Chloe's love for earrings. There is often one earring found at odd places since Chloe only had one ear.
This massive hospital stands in the south-east of Seoul, South Korea. Once a hospital of Psychiatry, now is a building of grey concrete walls and smashed windows and shabby doors. It is said that the patients in it suddenly succumbed to death without any signs. Rumours have it that there was an insane doctor who treated his patients insanely, without any mercy whatsoever. Entry to this hospital is now restricted for obvious reasons. The ground floor is barricaded and boarded up with bars of metal, crisscrossing the doorways and windows. However, this hasn't stopped the adventure-seeking enthusiasts to explore this place. The insides of the hospital are drowned in pitch black. The aura of this place is sorrow filled, and visitors here witness a woman run screaming through the corridor, another scrubbing a window frantically and shadows moaning with a sound of excruciating pain.
Despite its spectacular beauty, this beach is heavily haunted by the spirits of Chinese POWs and civilians massacred during the Sook Ching Massacre. Changi beach was the killing ground for any Chinese who went against Japanese's political interests. Not only Chinese but Australians, Brits and Indians too were shown no mercy. Soldiers in thousands were tormented, beheaded, and their bodies were cut into vertical halves by Japanese Kempetai (similar to German Gestapo). Even now, visitors of dawn and dusk witness painful cries of women and soldiers, blood stains on sand are a frequent occurrence, despite the shores washing them off. Another dreadful sighting is of headless bodies lingering aimlessly. At nights, people find holes dug deep that seems much to be as graves.
This land of beauty is seldom known for its eerie hauntings. Lawang Sewu, which translates into 'Thousand doors' is an infamous building known for its haunted spirits. Although the exteriors have impressive architecture, the insides of this building give you a sense of heavy negativity and discomfort. During World War II, this habitat was temporarily used as a prison hub and its basement, for executions. It is believed that all the beheaded heads were piled in the corner of this mansion and to this day, people report of headless souls walking around the place. There's also a narration of a Dutch woman who committed suicide and now, wanders in the house, while her feet are off the ground.
This little village in Kent is said to be the spirit-hotspot. So much so, that even the Guinness Book of World record has identified it as the world's most haunted village. It has a ghost ratio of 1 to every 89 people. The most famous ghosts here are of the Watercress woman that haunts the Pinnock Bridge where she used to spend her time smoking, drinking Gin and selling watercress gathered from the stream. The other one is of the schoolmaster, found hung by the children, the highwayman and the ghost of a Red, Victorian lady. The villagers are not surprised when they spot a strange lady at the Pinnock bridge. The red lady is still in search of her stillborn baby, while a woman in white has often been noticed in the church. Guess who's having a gala time during Halloween!
This forest is probably the most haunted forest for its intense paranormal happenings and bizarre, unexplained events. People who come here experience sudden anxiety and feel that they're constantly being watched. The entire atmosphere here is eerie with a sense of horror. The trees here grow in zig-zag and spiral ways and shockingly, only in a clockwise direction. Locals believe that this forest almost never returns its visitors. It is named after a shepherd who disappeared with his flock of 200. There's also a story of a girl vanishing and then returning after five long years, in the same condition she had disappeared, even with the same clothes on. The forest area is also a hotbed for UFO sightings and unexplained lights. There have also been reports of a disembodied female voice, giggles and apparitions in an intermittent frequency.
This castle is a treat to the eyes. It is one of the oldest and graceful castles of its time. Also called Corvin Castle, is an intriguing ghost abode with many stories of its construction. Earlier it housed feudal residents. Legend has it that it's construction was done by the Turkish prisoners on the pretext of promised freedom but alas! 15 years of work and all the got was continuous slavery until death. This castle also gets the haunted image because of its association with Vlad the Impaler (aka Dracula).The souls of the Turkish prisoners still haunt this place and many tourists from Turkey throw a coin in honour of their lives. There is also a belief that this castle is still visited by Vlad the Impaler. How's that for a history tour?
One of the oldest of Scotland, Tolbooth has a history of haunted stories. Over the years, ghosts have revealed themselves in various manifestations in this castle. Like most other haunted places, this was a holding place for prisoners which later developed to be a general prison. Expect an inexplicable singing voice, sounds of keys rattling from the prisoner's section, footsteps accompanied by dark shadows. People also find it hard to breathe and feel a tightening sensation around their necks, as if invisible hands strangling them softly. A paranormal investigation team discovered that Cell 2 felt a presence of a man and a young boy. Their teammate also sensed pressure on his neck and throat. Another woman could shockingly feel the labour pain of a woman who died in childbirth in this castle.
This b&b is so possessed that scared-to-death guests have jumped out of their windows. Build on a pagan burial ground, and also believed to be a place for child sacrifice and evil worship, the Ram inn has reports if a terrifying scream of a young girl and touches from an invisible force. A self-claimed witch also stayed in this inn quite frequently, and once the witch hunting began, she was forced to vacate and was burnt alive. Guests have fled this place mid-stay after complaining of furniture flying in the room, a little girl wandering the hallways and pushed down to the bed while asleep, a randy incubus. This place is magnet to ghost hunters and horror writers. People have seen a priestess in one of the rooms. In other, cries and screams of murdered children are heard. When toys are kept in their room, the cries go down drastically. During a renovation, small bones were discovered which conveyed child sacrifices by the pagans earlier.
This museum is so haunted that it made it's way to Asia's most haunted by Nat Geo. This was a fort where the Japanese and British war took place. After the Japanese took control, many were tortured and killed. The tortured spirits are still believed to linger around. The rooms have bullet-riddled walls which speak of the violence that once this place hosted. Penang already has a painful and tormented history. The prisoners of war were massacred mercilessly, soldiers were tortured brutally, and the Japanese did what they wanted with no consideration of humanity. Considering its dark and gloomy history, this place is a mecca for paranormal investigators. One such investigation reports that an investigator is waiting for a sign, heard a voice in his device which said 'Help'. When responded asking what help it needed, the device replied in a cold, painful voice, 'to die'.
Still seeking that one bit of paranormal experience? We bet not!
