An island full of poisonous snakes, abandoned cemeteries, spooky legends… No, you’re not in a children’s Halloween attraction. These strange places are very real and are some of the most terrifying places on Earth.
Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague, Czech Republic
Crowded old cemeteries are all scary, but the one in Prague is even above that. Dating from 1478, it has been filled in so many times that it has several layers of tombs. Today there are 12 layers comprising 12,000 graves stacked on top of each other, but over 100,000 people are buried there.
Hanging coffins from Sagada, Philippines
Members of the Igorot tribe have been burying their dead in hanging coffins tied to the sides of cliffs for many years. It is believed to bring them closer to their ancestral spirits and also keep their bodies safe.
Abandoned city of Pripyat, Ukraine
Completely abandoned, this town had a population of nearly 50,000 before being evacuated shortly after the Chornobyl nuclear accident.
Island of the Dolls, Mexico City, Mexico
Don Julian Santana Barrera was the caretaker of this island and legend says he found a girl who had drowned in the surrounding waters. Soon after, a doll was floating in the water and he hung it in the trees to show respect and save the girl’s spirit. For 50 years, until he drowned in the same waters, he continued to hang dolls and it is now a tourist attraction that visitors can see while taking a cruise to the Xochimilco Floating Gardens.
Hashima Island, Japan
After the discovery of a coal deposit in 1887, the island gradually became home to a mine and then a town where the employees lived. The population is growing strongly to the point of making it the most densely populated place in the world. The decline in mining activity caused the departure of the last inhabitants in 1974, who abandoned the island and its infrastructure to the weather. It has been a ghost town ever since. You can take a virtual tour of the island on the Hashima Island website.
Bone Chapel in Evora, Portugal
This chapel contains the bones of 5000 monks and to top it off 2 bodies are hanging from ropes one of which belongs to a child. You can see it by visiting the city of Evora.
Cambridge Military Hospital, England
This hospital was in operation from 1878 until 1996 when it was closed due to high costs and asbestos in the walls.
Aokigahara Forest, a “suicide” forest, in Japan
Aokigahara is a forest at the foot of Mount Fuji where hundreds of people have gone to commit suicide every year since the 1950s. Authorities have put up signs with messages like: “Your life is a precious gift from your parents,” and “Please consult the police before deciding to die,” to deter people from killing themselves. It is one of the most unusual forests in the world.
The abandoned monument of Buzludzha, Bulgaria
This flying saucer-shaped building is perched on one of the most inhospitable peaks of the Greater Balkan mountain range. This is the former Soviet congress hall now abandoned.
Abandoned mental hospital in Parma, Italy
The shadow paintings were added by artist Herbert Baglione. They certainly feed the spook factor of an already spooky place. They bring to life the tortured souls that may wander the halls here.
Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic
If you thought there was only one super creepy church made out of bones, think again. Also known as the Chapel of Bones, it is decorated with the remains of 40,000 people who wished to be buried in a holy place. You can visit it from Prague.
Le Sanatorium de Beelitz-Heilstätten, Allemagne
This large complex of over 60 buildings is mostly abandoned, but a few buildings are still in use. The hospital has been in operation since World War I and even Adolf Hitler was a patient here.
Church of Saint George in Lukova, Czech Republic
This church was abandoned after part of the roof collapsed during a funeral mass in 1968. The ‘ghost’ sculptures added by artist Jakub Hadrava allow the church to generate tourist revenue but also make the place a little more terrifying place.
Catacombs of Paris , France
The 290 km long network of underground passages under the streets of Paris contains the remains of more than 6 million bodies. It is possible to visit the catacombs in the 14th arrondissement.
Centralia, Pennsylvania, USA
The town sits on a coal mine and an underground fire has been burning in the mine since 1962. The town has been abandoned and has no postcode, but around 10 residents refuse to leave and still live there. Today, this fire extends over 1.6 km² and advances by 15 m per year. At this rate, Centralia’s basement is expected to burn for nearly 250 more years.
West Virginia State Penitentiary, USA
This gothic-style prison went out of business in 1995, but you can still take a night tour if you don’t mind maybe seeing the ghosts that are rumored to be there. Nearly 100 executions have taken place at the facility during its use.
Akodesséwa fetish market, Lomé, Togo
The famous fetish market is the place to touch one of the aspects of voodoo. The traditional vendors and doctors almost all come from Benin, the neighboring country, which shares this animist practice with Togo. Many customers come to buy what a healer or a sorcerer has asked of them to cure an illness, to achieve their ends in the romantic or professional field or even to repair an offense.
Poveglia, “the plague island”, Italy
Poveglia is a small island near Venice that was used as a quarantine island for nearly 160,000 plague sufferers from 1793 to 1814. Mass graves of plague victims have been found there. Napoleon also used it to store weapons. To top it off, from 1922 to 1968 there was a mental hospital with a doctor who was rumored to have tortured and killed many patients.
Hill of Crosses, Lithuania
With nearly 100,000 crosses, Pope John Paul II declared this place a place of hope, peace, love, and sacrifice in 1993. We bet you wouldn’t want to be there overnight yet.
Kabayan Mummies, Philippines
To access the Timbak caves, you need to drive five hours up the mountains and then another five hours on foot. there, in the burial caves, you will find the well-preserved mummies curled up in a fetal position in their original egg-shaped coffins.
Pont d’Overtoun, Scotland
Do not bring your dog with you if you visit the Overtoun estate in Scotland. Since the 1950s, a significant number of dogs (600 according to the data) have died in this place, jumping for no apparent reason from the top of the bridge, and always on the same side.
Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave, Belize
There are 14 skeletons in these caves, all with blunt force trauma to the head. About half are children and they are all believed to have been victims of Mayan sacrifices. The most famous is that of an 18-year-old girl named the “Crystal Maiden” because her entire skeleton has been calcified over the years.
Leap Castle, Ireland
It is known to be one of the most haunted castles in the world and has a long history of gruesome deaths. A priest was killed by his brother during a mass in the chapel pictured above and it is now called the ‘Bloody Chapel’.
Chauchilla Cemetery, Peru
Peru’s dry climate has kept many bodies in this very well-preserved ancient burial site. Grave robbers scattered the remains around the site, but it has been restored as much as possible to its original condition.
The Tophet of Carthage, Tunisia
A tophet is a hybrid of a shrine and a necropolis. Here you will find thousands of children’s graves dating from the Punic period of Carthage. They are all considered victims of sacrifice, or they were buried in this place after their premature death.
Queimada Grande Island, Snake Island, Brazil
It is said that the Island of Queimada Grande is populated by about 1 snake per square meter. These snakes, Jararaca-ilhoa, are endemic to this Brazilian island and are among the most venomous snakes in the world. The last people on the island were the lighthouse keeper and his family who were killed by the snakes. The island is uninhabited.
Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Italy (Sicily)
There are around 8000 mummified bodies scattered here many of which hang chillingly from the walls. The bodies still wear their beautiful (albeit ragged) clothes. One of the curiosities of this necropolis is the 2-year-old girl named Rosalia Lombardo. She is still surprisingly well-preserved and lies there with a knot in her hair.
Dargavs Necropolis , Russia
Dargavs looks like a pretty village of a hundred small stone houses on a hill, but they are all crypts filled with bones. Many people were buried here with their clothes and other belongings when the plague ravaged Ossetia in the 17th century.
The Abandoned Cincinnati Subway, USA
The Cincinnati metro system was partially built in the 1920s but was never completed due to cost. You can take guided tours twice a year, but many people sneak inside and explore the miles of abandoned tunnels on their own.
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