43 Most Haunted Places in the World That Are Beautifully Scary

[soybean]

RMS Queen Mary, Long Beach, CA​

Aside from a brief stint as a war ship in World War II, the RMS Queen Mary served as a luxury ocean liner from 1936 to 1967. During that time, it was the site of at least one murder, a sailor being crushed to death by a door in the engine room, and children drowning in the pool. The city of Long Beach purchased the ship in 1967 and turned it into a hotel, and it still serves that purpose today—although the reported ghosts of the deceased passengers get to stay for free. (For an extra dose of spine-tingling experiences, try and visit the ship's engine room, considered by many to be a "hotbed" of paranormal activity.)

 

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Leap Castle, Coolderry, Ireland
Built some time between the 13th and late 15th century, this Irish castle has seen more gruesome deaths than a Game of Thrones wedding. As legend has it, during a struggle for power within the O'Carroll clan (which had a fondness for poisoning dinner guests), one member plunged a sword into his brother—a priest—as he was holding mass in the castle's chapel. The room is now called "The Bloody Chapel," and the priest is said to haunt the church at night. The horror doesn't end there—at least not according to the macabre history outlined on Leap Castle's website. During renovations in the early 1900s, workmen found a secret dungeon in the Bloody Chapel with so many human skeletons, they filled three cartloads when hauled away. The dungeon was designed so that prisoners would fall through a trap door, have their lungs punctured by wooden spikes on the ground, and die a slow, horrific death within earshot of the sinister clan members above.

 

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Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, South Africa​

A sprawling building near the shoreline of Table Bay, the Castle of Good Hope dates back to 1666, making it the oldest colonial building in South Africa. Originally built by the Dutch East India Company as a replenishment station for ships, the site also served as a military fortress and prison during the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902. Today, you can tour the fort's many rooms and buildings (including the gruesome torture chamber) but you might want to prepare yourself for a ghost sighting. Back in the 1700s, Governor Pieter van Noodt condemned several men to be hanged to death; one of the men cursed the governor from the gallows, and van Noodt died of a heart attack later that day. According to the Castle of Good Hope's official website, his ghost has been haunting the battlements ever since.

 

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Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast, Northern Ireland​

Crumlin Road Gaol, a Victorian-era prison in Belfast, is said to be one of the most haunted sites in Ireland. Often referred to Europe's Alcatraz, the jail contained some 25,000 inmates (men, women, and children) during its 150 years of operation, publicly hung many prisoners, and buried their bodies within the prison walls. The institution officially shut its doors in 1996, but the ghosts of deceased inmates are said to still roam the iron walkways today. If this sounds like the sort of place you want to spend time in, you're in luck—Crumlin Road Gaol offers daily tours, live concerts, and reasonably priced meals at its in-house (in-prison?) restaurant. It even serves as a venue for conferences and....weddings.

 

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Poveglia Island, Venice, Italy​

Less than half a mile from the canals of Venice, Poveglia Island has served as a quarantine zone for bubonic plague victims, storage space for Napoleon's weapons, and the site of an early 20th-century insane asylum. The asylum played host to horrific medical experiments, reports The Travel Channel, and finally closed for good when a doctor threw himself off the institution's bell tower. Locals still claim to hear echoing chimes from the island—even though the bell was removed decades ago. It's illegal to visit Poveglia today, but you can see the island and decaying hospital safely from the beaches of nearby Lido.

 

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Catacombs of Paris, France​

After a prolonged bout of heavy rains flooded and unearthed the overcrowded Les Innocents cemetery in the spring of 1780, a wave of rotting corpses tumbled onto the property next door. According to Smithsonian Mag, this horrifying event started a 12-year project to move bodies from Paris's cemeteries down into the city's former limestone quarries, eventually packing the underground tunnels with some 6 million bodies. Today, about a mile of the subterranean labyrinth is open to visitors, who can take tours of the tunnels and artfully arranged displays of bones.

 

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Larnach Castle, New Zealand​

Larnach was built between 1871 and 1887 to serve as the residence of William Larnach, a prominent local politician. Most notable is a 3,000-square-foot ballroom, which Larnach had built as a 21st birthday present for his favorite daughter Kate, who later died of typhoid at age 26, and is said to still haunt the ballroom. Don’t chalk those taps on your shoulder and whispers in your ear as all up to imagination: The building has been visited by paranormal investigators and featured on Ghost Hunters International.

 

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Ancient Ram Inn, Wotton-under-Edge, England​

Built in 1145, England's Ancient Ram Inn has played many roles over the centuries: a former priest's residence, housing for masons and slaves, an inn, and a public house. It also happens to be one seriously haunted spot. Architectural Digest writes: "With ghostly children, a high priestess, and even an incubus (Google it, but don’t say you weren’t warned) wandering the halls, guests have reportedly leapt from the windows in a frenzy to escape."

 

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Xunantunich, Belize​

Deep in the jungles of Belize, less than a mile from the Guatemala border, Xunantunich is an ancient Mayan ruin that has sat abandoned for the past millennium. An earthquake caused the original civilization to crumble, but the complex was re-discovered by explorers in the 1890s. Since then, Xunantunich has served as an important archaeological site, under-the-radar tourist attraction, and hotbed of ghostly sightings. The ancient city is said to be haunted by one female ghost—a black-haired lady with red, glowing eyes. She was first spotted by one of the earliest research teams in 1893, and has been spotted near El Castillo (the tallest building in the complex) many times since then. No one knows exactly who the so-called "Stone Lady" is, but many speculate that she may have been a human sacrifice whose death ritual was performed on the top of the El Castillo pyramid.

 

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Eden Brown Estate, Nevis​

Often overshadowed by neighboring St. Kitts, Nevis has just as much to offer travelers—in fact, it offers even more for the more morbidly-inclined. Case in point: The Eden Brown Estate, a former plantation that now lies in ruins. The estate was originally owned by a wealthy businessman who intended to give the property to his daughter as a wedding present. However, a mysterious duel between the groom and the best man left both men dead the day of the wedding, and the the daughter remained unmarried and alone for the rest of her life. Today, many visitors say they have seen the reclusive woman's spirit roaming throughout the estate.