The World's Spookiest Locations
Horror films aren't the only way to produce spine-tingling chills - actually visiting an eerie location or spooky destination rates high on some travellers’ lists. So, if you are keen to be a supernatural traveller and find out about locations that are shrouded in myths of the undead, read on for seven of the world’s spookiest locations:
Catacombs of the Capuchins – Palermo, Sicily
Whilst Paris is famed for its Catacombs or the Empire of the Dead - where, due to overcrowding and disease in cemeteries in the late 1770s, bodies were transferred to the subterranean tunnels of the city. Skeletons were stacked along the walls and labelled with the year they died. But the Catacombs of the Capuchins really beats Paris on the creepy scale - imagine 8,000 mummified bodies, fully dressed and arranged in poses. And this is no medieval practice - the last addition to the macabre display was in 1920.
Salem – Massachusetts, USA
This American East Coast city has a bewitching history, being the site of the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. During the trials 19 men and women were convicted of witchcraft and taken to Gallows Hill for hanging. Gallows Hill might be the spookiest of Salem's locations but the original witches’ hanging tree does not exist anymore, and the deep crevasse where the dead bodies were thrown has closed in upon itself. But you can still satisfy your spine-tingling search in the Salem Witch Museum, the Witch Dungeon Museum and a Wax Museum of Witches and Seafarers.
Mary King's Close – Edinburgh, Scotland
Mary King's Close is located underneath the City Chambers on the Royal Mile and is one of the least visited and eeriest areas of Scotland's capital. The close is actually a narrow cobbled street which was sealed off in a bid to stop the spread of the plague in 1645. And we really are talking sealed off - some families are thought to have been bricked up in their homes and left to starve to death. The area was re-opened but you can imagine it wasn't a location that was top of people’s places-to-live list. There have been numerous spooky occurrences thought to be related to the souls of the trapped victims.
Centralia Town – Pennsylvania, USA
Centralia is a real 'modern' ghost town with its population dwindling from over 1,000 residents in 1981 to a mere seven in 2010. It's all due to the fact that the town was abandoned after a fire started burning right under it. The local authorities ignited a landfill just atop an unsealed coal-mine and thus the fire spread underground. Now Centralia is one of America's most popular ghost towns, complete with smoking cracks in the roads, the occasional explosions and disturbing silence. Just what you'd expect a town to look like after a nuclear attack.
Church of Bones - Kutna Hora, Czech Republic
From outside, the Sedlec Ossuary or Church of Bones is not a spectacularly spooky site; to the passerby it perhaps would be seen as just another medieval gothic church. But it's what lies within that ups its scary stakes; on entering you'll see the Sedlec Ossuary is artistically decorated by more than 40,000 human skeletons. One of the most fascinating artistic works is the big chandelier of bones in the centre.
Bhangarh Fort – Rajasthan, India
Famed as the most haunted place in India, Bhangarh Fort sports an after-sunset curfew with the Indian Government strictly prohibiting people from staying in the area after dark. The story goes that a black magic tantrik cursed the fort by proclaiming that anyone who died there would be trapped in the palace without the possibility of rebirth. It is said that nobody returns from this place after dark. Many locals and visitors claim that they have witnessed paranormal activities - like sounds of music and dancing and weird colour spots in photographs of chambers.
Manila Film Centre – Manilla, Philippines
Another modern-day spooky site, the eerie history of the Manila Film Centre goes back just to the 1980s. The story goes that construction teams were under pressure to complete the building in time for a film festival. Tragically, an untimely accident claimed the lives of several construction workers. However, rather than halting the work to give the workers a proper burial, the contractors allegedly poured concrete over the remains in order to keep on schedule. Since then, visitors have reported hearing strange voices throughout the Film Centre.
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Posted on Mon 30th May 2011 17:32:19