Halloween is the time of year when we go looking for a good scare. But some places don’t need a costume or a jump-scare to send a chill down your spine. Their history does the job for them.
From bone-lined tunnels to an island where dolls hang from the trees, these are five of the spookiest destinations on the planet.
Bran Castle, Romania
Perched on a rocky cliff in the heart of Transylvania, Bran Castle looks like it was built for a horror film. It’s known around the world as “Dracula’s Castle,” thanks to its link with Bram Stoker’s famous vampire.
The legend draws on a real man: Vlad III, better known as Vlad the Impaler. The 15th-century ruler earned his name by impaling his enemies on stakes, and his reputation still haunts the region more than 500 years later.
New Orleans, USA
In New Orleans, the dead aren’t buried underground. They rest above it, in rows of weathered stone tombs known as the “cities of the dead.”
Much of the city sits below sea level, and early burials didn’t always stay buried. After heavy rain, coffins were known to float back up to the surface, so tombs were built above ground instead, a practice also rooted in French and Spanish tradition.
The most famous belongs to Marie Laveau, the city’s legendary voodoo queen. Her tomb sits in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, the oldest in the city, where visitors still leave flowers, coins and candles, hoping she’ll grant their wishes from beyond the grave.
Paris Catacombs, France
Paris may be the city of love, but beneath its streets lies something far darker.
By the late 1700s, the city’s largest cemetery was so overcrowded that in 1780, a neighbouring cellar wall collapsed under the weight of the dead. The remains were moved, often at night in processions led by priests, into old limestone quarry tunnels below the city.
Today, the bones of around six million people line the passageways, with skulls stacked floor to ceiling in eerie patterns. The entrance even greets visitors with a warning: “Stop! This is the empire of death.”
Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic
From the outside, it looks like an ordinary small chapel. Step inside, however, and you’ll find it’s decorated with the bones of up to 70,000 people.
Legend says that in the 13th century, a local abbot sprinkled soil from Jerusalem over the cemetery, making it one of the most sought-after burial grounds in Central Europe. After the Black Death and years of war, it quickly overflowed.
In 1870, a woodcarver was hired to arrange the bones. The result is garlands of skulls, a coat of arms made of bones, and a chandelier said to contain every bone in the human body. He even signed his name in bones on the wall.
Island of the Dolls, Mexico
Deep in the canals of Xochimilco, just outside Mexico City, sits the spookiest stop on our list.
According to local legend, a man named Don Julián Santana found a young girl drowned in the canal. To calm her spirit, he began hanging dolls in the trees, and he kept going for decades. Today, hundreds of weathered, decaying dolls hang from the branches, their empty eyes watching every boat that passes.
Then comes the part that chills visitors most: decades later, Don Julián was found drowned in the very same spot.
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