By Peter Mamev
Happy Halloween everyone who stumbled upon this!
Atmosphere is without a doubt one of the most crucial parts of any successful horror film. From the hellish rust-filled pocket dimension of Silent Hill, to the desolate eerie hallways of the Overlook Hotel, a properly disturbing setting is a necessary set piece to any good body of horror.
And today, because I have no friends, in the spirit of this most ghoulish (and controversial) of holidays, I shall be counting down…
TOP 20 CREEPY, HAUNTED, AND DISTURBING INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS WORLDWIDE (that you can visit today)
Let’s get started with…
1) Bran Castle, Transylvania, Romania
The first thing that popped into your head when you read Transylvania? – absolutely correct. Though a lot of Europe, from Scotland to Germany, is filled with old desolate castles, most containing one bloody secret or another. This grand fortress is most famous for housing none other than Vlad III, the infamous Vlad the Impaler.
This handsome face is considered one of Europe’s most tyrannical despots; His favorite method of execution of foes and peasants alike being impalement. He is even known to have enjoyed dinner while watching his victims meet their doom.
Though it is unlikely that Bram Stoker, while writing his now immortalized novel Dracula, actually knew of the castle’s existence, it is undeniable that both the castle’s gruesome history and the novel itself helped capture the widely regarded concept of a vampire. A combination of a ruthless undead creature and an equally bloodthirsty aristocrat.
To add to it, the Hoia Bachu Forest, a dense dark woods surrounding this ancient castle could all on its own be a pick on this list, as the forest has its fair share of hauntings, spirits, disappearances, strange lights, crooked trees (seen above), UFOs, and even a Yeti!
2) Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, USA
In the 1800s the incarceration system was a constant reminder, crime doesn’t pay. Prisoners, violent and complacent alike, would be tossed into cramped, barren cells, where disease and extreme authority brutality were commonplace. At the time, the Eastern State was supposed to offer a humane, progressive way of imprisonment. Instead it turned into a whole new kind of nightmare.
First and foremost, the prison officials had a compulsive obsession with total silence. All prisoners were kept in small, isolated, chapel-shaped rooms with a single small window (called the Eye of God). They were totally devoid of human contact, and harshly punished for making any sort of noise. Even on seldom occasions when they left their rooms the prisoners were required to wear masks, so all they would remember from their stay would be four barren walls. No riots. No disobedience. No noise. Just deafening, unending silence.
Though thankfully the prison and its inhumane ways were shut down. Today it operates as both a landmark and an elaborate haunted attraction.
3) Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic
In the 14th century, as the Black Death rampaged through Europe, this already large local cemetery became overfilled with corpses. The mass graves were unearthed in 1511, and in 1870 a woodcarver named František Rint was given the grim task of aligning the many bones of 40,000 deceased into a chapel. The results do not disappoint.
Some of the biggest achievements include a coat-of-arms made of bones, a grand chandelier made of every single bone in the human body, architectural arches lined with skulls, a signature made by Rint himself in bone. The church now welcomes nearly 200,000 visitors annually. Disturbingly this isn’t the only church made out of bones in the world – others including the Cripta Cappuccini in Rome, Capela dos Ossos in Portugal, and the Medieval Ossuary in Spain… why is this a trend?
4) Darvaza Gas Center, Turkmenistan
Under the innocent name of Door to Hell, or Gates of Hell, in 1971 Soviet engineers discovered oil in the region, and like all good environment wreckers do, started a-drilling. However, when a large flammable gas pocket became a problem, Russia’s finest thought nothing better than to set it on fire and let it burn out. Of course, what instead happened was the gas caught on fire. The plentiful deposits still burn to this day. Now a totally casualty-free tourist attraction, besides humans the crater amid the barren wasteland also attracts other visitors.
Spiders. Lots and lots of spiders. Maybe because of the warmth the crater generates, but the arachnid concentration around the Door to Hell became noticeable quickly. Nothing shady here…
5) Isla de la Muñecas, Mexico
Translated as the Island of the Dolls, many years ago a girl was reported to have drowned in the waters surrounding the island. Later home to a hermit named Don Julian Santana, whose sanity began to deteriorate when he claimed to have found the body of a young girl washed up on the island. Though most nearby locals believed it was all delusion, the hermit insisted the day after that another body – this time of a doll – washed up in the same spot. Giving the girl a proper burial, the hermit hung up the doll on a tree as a sign of respect.
The next day another doll washed up. And another. And another. In total isolation, Don Julian continued to hang up dolls all around the island until his mysterious disappearance.
Was it all the misleadings of a lonely old man with a good heart? Or is there truly a preternatural element to the already eerie swampy island in Mexico? Either way, the island still stands, as does its collection of plentiful dolls, watching with their lifeless, unblinking eyes.
6) Forbidden City, Beijing, China
An imperial palace from the Ming to the Qing dynasties, the Forbidden City is a big, grand and beautiful ancient work of art and one of China’s greatest tourist attractions. It is also a semi-forbidden home to a multitude of spirits and ghost stories.
In 1421, 2,800 servants met their end at the hands of the “evil” Ming Yongle Emperor, after he tried to suppress a local scandal. Clearly losing his Mandate of Heaven, Yongle met his end when a fire in 1424 ravaged 250 local buildings. Screams, crying, and apparitions are still apparently heard in the palace’s grand walls at night.
Legends include that of a specter weeping woman and hellish ghost dogs charging at visitors and then disappearing. Maybe it’s more than just humans who roam the palace’s grand, beautiful and intricately designed halls.
7) Floating Forest, Sydney, Australia
Sometimes a place can be spooky or off-beat even without the destruction of human ethics – often all it takes is letting mother nature take its rightful course.
A 107-year-old abandoned cargo ship just off the coast of Sydney should have been forgotten and eventually sink to the bottom of the ocean. Instead, it became home to a multitude of sprouting trees, quickly becoming a tourist attraction. Though there are no freaky ghost stories or mysterious disappearances surrounding the place, there is something hauntingly majestic about this small, tree-covered vessel peacefully drifting about.
8) Centralia, Pennsylvania, USA
Anybody who has ever played Silent Hill (or was unlucky enough to see the live action adaptations) distinctly remembers the limbo-like fog world, a dimension covered in blinding ash, with freaky monstrosities lurking in the mist. Well, in that case, many of the game’s avid fans would be quite interested in knowing that it is actually based on a real-life town.
At one point a sprawling mining community, in 1947 somebody had the brilliant idea to rid the town’s landfill by burning it. And, similar to the Door to Hell, what instead happened was an underground eruption that turned the town toxic and uninhabitable to this day. Now a desolate, abandoned wreck of a former suburb, it is clear why this was the inspiration for one of the most successful horror franchises in any form of media. Though thankfully no recordings of pyramid mask-wearing knife-wielding maniacs or masked nurses were ever recorded.
9) North Yungas Road, Bolivia
Crossing through a mountainous rainforest, this serpentine road has been dubbed the world’s most dangerous road, and rightfully so. In 2006, the desolate road saw between 200 to 300 casualties in a single year. A lack of guardrails and a 2,000-foot drop only support the statistic.
What is most disturbing of all is that the road attracted 25,000 visitors annually in the 1990s, as armies of thrill-seekers and extreme mountain bikers wanted to try their luck and satisfy their thrills. It was even a set of a Mitsubishi commercial. There is something about the desolate jungle, the careless structure of the road, and the foggy cliff of death that just seems to, pardon the dark pun, make people fall for it.
10) The Tower of London, England
Yet another quite famous location on this list., Throughout it’s history the Tower of London served as a treasury, armory, home of the Public Mint, and most notoriously a prison throughout 16th and 17th centuries, popularizing the phrase “sent to the Tower”.
The Tower is home to many royal spirits, most famous being Anne Boleyn, a respected queen who was executed by her enraged husband after failing to produce children with him in 1536. Her headless spirit was seen by many tourists, and she once even caused a brave royal guard to faint.
Other spirits include Arbella Stuart, a royal woman murdered in the tower under mysterious circumstances, ghosts of two princes whose skeletons were just recently found buried beneath the tower, and an enigmatic White Woman who waves at children from the building’s oldest tower. Though most famous, this isn’t even the most haunted spot on in England.
11) Aokigahara Forest, Mt Fuji, Japan
Around Mt Fuji, Japan’s tallest mountain spreads the vast and treacherous Aokigahara Forest. The first thing one may notice is the total silence. There are hardly any birds to be heard throughout the sprawling forest. Quiet and pristine, the forest has a darker side.
Each year, thousands of people come to the forest in preparation to take their lives. Nicknamed the Suicide Forest, it is a home to many desperate souls, unfortunately not all of whomever return. This of course means the forest is the home of many ghosts, urban legends, hauntings, and a disappointingly mediocre 2016 horror movie.
And yet, even in a dark setting such as this one, hope arises. Many people to come out of the forest after some thorough considerations. All around the forest plaques with reassuring and compassionate messages have been set up, as well as numbers for suicide hotlines. Though the forest is now off-limits, it is somewhat refreshing to see the good people of Japan caring for one another and offering each other help in times of need.
12) Beelitz-Heilstätten Military Hospital, Germany
Few hospitals ever had as much sadness, creepiness and haunting nature as this fine establishment. This sentence is a little awkward. Maybe instead say, “Few hospitals can claim as much terror and sadness as . . .” Built as a sanatorium in 1914, it was quickly turned into a military hospital with the outbreak of World War I. What was once a luxurious hospital open to the public in 1920, then became a war hospital for Russians in the later days of World War II.
Eventually abandoned, the hospital, throughout its history, the hospital housed faces such as Adolf Hitler, during WWI, and Erich Honeckerr, in 1990. It was also the location of a series of shady activities including a serial killer named Wolfgang Schmidt and his victims. The building is still open for public access where grim hallways and abandoned hospital gear serving as a gold mine for urban explorers.
13) Montpelier Hill, Ireland
Who would think that a small brick hunting lodge in Ireland may very well have contributed the origin of Halloween? Incidents had the locals believing the constant storms in the area after the lodge was built was haunted by the Devil himself.
Suspicions only escalated when the lodge became the meeting-place of the Hellfire Club from 1735 to 1741. These were a shadowy elite, who reported to have held satanic occult practices there. Additionally, it’s possible that some of these rituals may have actually been adopted (after significant change) into the infamous All Hallow’s Eve, a holiday already believed to have originated in Ireland. Strange occurrences are par for the course in a lodge like this one.
14) Hanging Coffins of Sagada, Philippines
Sagada, Philippines – home to beautiful waterfalls, green mountains, and rainy weather. Oh, and also a collection of hanging coffins on a mountainside. There is very little sinister intent here, burial midair has been a local tradition for some for 400 to 500 years in the area.
Coffins (the most recent addition to the collection in 2009) have served as a popular tourist attraction from all around the world.
15) Taylor Glacier, Antarctica
Well now, this seems like a boring old glacier-whatonearthisthat. To be fair, the subtly titled Blood Falls is not actually a waterfall made of blood, or else we’d see a lot more black metal concerts in the region (take note, Gorgoroth). Rather, the red is actually an outflow of an iron oxide-tainted saltwater plume, essentially just oxidized iron, or rust.
Though there is now a less disturbing explanation for the occurrence, can you imagine the reaction of the people who first stumbled upon this chunk of ice and iron? The iceberg is named after Thomas Griffith Taylor, an English geographer and the survivor of the Terra Nova exhibition.
16) Pompeii, Italy
As immortalized in Karl Bryullov’s painting (below), Pompeii was one of the Roman Empire’s finest cities. However, the repeated ignorance of its citizens to volcanic activity in the nearby Mt Vesuvius, resulted in one of the earliest recorded natural disasters in human history.
Now a centuries-old ghost town and a tourist attraction, the eeriest part of Pompeii is the fossilized remains of people scattered all through the city – eternal reminders of former life. So many people, so many lives, just taken away by a petty, all-powerful god.
17) Clown Motel, Tonopah, Nevada, USA
Nevada isn’t exactly alien (pardon the pun) to strange things, places, and Elvis impersonators. However, of all the fear and loathing in Las Vegas, this roadside desert motel takes the cake. Coulrophobes might want to skip this one, as the interior of the colorful motel is… well…
Yeah. Built on top of the ghost town of Tonopah, the motel is home to one of the largest collection of clown toys, puppets, statues, and figurines in the world. The employees wear clown uniforms, with clown-themed rooms, and ever-present grins gazing at you as you slumber.
This doesn’t take into consideration that all doesn’t even consider the fact that Tonopah itself was a ghost town built on top of, I kid you not, a Native American burial ground. In fact, the cemetery still stands, right next to the motel. If there was ever a perfect setting for a horror movie this is it… sweet dreams!
18) Winchester Mystery Mansion, San Jose, California, USA
This mansion was once the home of Sarah Winchester, wife of the owner of the famous William Writ Winchester, gun manufacturing giant. After her husband’s death, poor Sarah started believing she was haunted by spirits. A visit to the psychic later “revealed” that the spirits were, in fact, all those ever killed by the Winchester rifles, now haunting Sarah as revenge.
Until her passing in 1922, Sarah spent her days compulsively building the house, apparently to confuse the spirits haunting her (I mean… can’t ghosts just go through walls?). She continuously added in new wings to the house, often with hastily made and confusing blueprints. As a result, the house is filled with randomly placed windows, staircases, and doors that lead nowhere Is a giant wooden maze and the fruits of a scared superstitious woman’s tragic life-long labor. Like many other locations on this list, it is now a common tourist attraction.
19) Gomantong Caves, Borneo, Malaysia
The largest known caves in THE WORLD, the Gomantong caves are easily the most visually impressive pick on this list. A stunning combination of deep black and bright green, what exactly would give the caves its creepiness level?
I really don’t know, but millions of species of bats, centipedes, and other creepy crawlies just might do the job. Home to one of the largest bat communities in the world, the Gomantong are a sight to behold, even if the floors of the vast caves are always full of guano.
Every last one of those tiny red spots is a living organism of its own…
20) Pluckley, Kent, England
Welp, congratulations to those who bared with me. With my weekend out the window, let’s end with not a whimper but a loud, deafening bang. Namely, the most haunted town in all of England, if not the world. With a population of 1,069, the town is home to at least fifteen different spirits, hauntings, and urban legends. Let’s try to list them off in rapid fire.
*inhales* Pluckley Woods, aka Screaming Woods, nicknamed for the screams and strange noises heard from deep within at night; the Highwayman, a man killed after a battle with the local law enforcement, his spirit doomed to reenact the fight; Gypsy Woman, an apparition of an old gypsy woman smoking a pipe near the road; Hanging Schoolmaster, the apparition of a schoolteacher hanging from a noose in the forest; Hanging Colonel, who still hangs in the spot where he died even after the nearby forest was cleared; the Blacksmith’s Arms tavern, home of at least three spirits of a Tudor maid, a jolly whistling coach and a cavalier; Red Lady Dering, a vengeful spirit who wanders the church cemetery at night; White Lady Dering, who haunts a nearby mansion; the Monk, who haunts an abandoned house named Greystone; Gordon Bonnet, who haunts yet another local tavern. And that’s just the tip of the ghoulish iceberg that is England’s most haunted village.
Congratulations to all who read this. Thank you for taking some time out of your day, I hope you enjoyed it and, if not, at least you know where to plan your next overseas trip to…
Cue the Ministry.
Written by Peter Mamaev.
Knightly News Halloween Special.
Special thank you to Jessica, Layne, Johnny Cash, Twisted Sister, Kenny Loggins, watermelon salad, and Saturday nights for making this possible.