When you picture a perfect European vacation, you probably imagine sun‑kissed plazas, glittering coastlines, and historic cafés. Yet sprinkle a little after‑dark folklore into the mix, and the experience becomes unforgettable. These 10 gorgeous European spots pair awe‑inspiring beauty with eerie ghost stories that have haunted locals for centuries, proving that a little shiver can make a trip truly memorable.

10 Gorgeous European Haunts

10 Kontos Mansion

Nestled in the tiny village of Ano Lechonia, Greece – famous for its nostalgic steam train winding up the mountain – lies the ominous Kontos Mansion, reputed as one of the nation’s most haunted residences.

According to a bizarre urban legend, the Kontos children met a tragic end after a dead lizard fell into a jug of milk, which they then drank. In reality, the tale was a fabricated cover‑up for a far grimmer truth: the three youngsters had succumbed to tuberculosis.

Later, during World War II, the Nazis seized the mansion, turning its sprawling basement into a torture chamber for Greek resistance members and establishing a headquarters within its walls. After the war, several would‑be renovators reported spine‑tingling screams and moans echoing from both the floors and the cellar, only to meet untimely, mysterious deaths themselves.

Today the crumbling estate still lures curious tourists, though most keep a safe distance, wary of the lingering whispers that still haunt its corridors.

9 The Devil’s Precipice

Romania may be synonymous with the infamous Count Dracula, but the country’s portfolio of spooky sites stretches far beyond that one vampire. The Devil’s Precipice in Prahova County ranks just behind the legendary Hoia‑Baciu Forest in terms of eerie allure.

Adventurers are drawn to the cliffside by rumors of a hidden treasure buried somewhere in the Cosminele commune. Legend claims an outlaw concealed a massive loot centuries ago, only for malevolent spirits to cast a spell over the trove, ensuring that no mortal could claim it.

Those bold enough to challenge the curse report encounters with half‑human, bull‑headed creatures, while others have spiraled into madness or vanished for weeks, only to be discovered far from where they started, their minds forever altered by the precipice’s dark energy.

8 Telgha t’Alla w’Ommu

Malta dazzles visitors with its sun‑lit beaches, ancient temples, and Mediterranean charm, yet beneath its bright exterior lies a rich vein of folklore that would make any ghost‑hunter’s heart race.

One of the island’s most chilling legends centers on the hill of Telgha t’Alla w’Ommu, perched on the outskirts of Naxxar. Travelers who venture onto the winding road report spotting a distressed teenage girl waving frantically for a ride.

When a driver finally stops, the apparition vanishes without a trace. Even more unsettling are accounts of drivers who refuse to stop, only to feel an inexplicable urge to accelerate, then glance in the rear‑view mirror to see the same girl perched ominously on the backseat, her eyes fixed on the road ahead.

7 Trendelburg Castle

For those craving a thrill wrapped in medieval grandeur, Germany’s Trendelburg Castle offers exactly that – a stone‑clad fortress steeped in history and whispered hauntings.

Famed for inspiring Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein novel, the castle also boasts a tower believed to have sparked the classic Rapunzel fairy‑tale. Today, the site operates as a boutique hotel, inviting guests to climb the tower for panoramic views and explore a dungeon‑turned‑museum.

Yet, as visitors wander the ancient halls, they may hear phantom battle cries echoing from the surrounding forest or mournful wails of long‑dead soldiers who seem unable to find peace, adding a spectral layer to the castle’s storied past.

6 Nes Church

The ruins of Nes Church in eastern Norway, dating back to the 12th century, attract history buffs with their serene, moss‑covered stones – until the supernatural makes its presence known.

Some explorers claim to hear children’s voices calling out from the crumbling nave. According to local legend, a priest once fathered children with an unnamed woman and, in a gruesome act, bricked the youngsters alive within the church walls.

Other visitors report turning around to see a robed specter gliding silently behind them, while the priest himself, Jacob Christian Finckenhagen, is said to have hanged himself in remorse after the horrific deed. Even modern smartphones sometimes betray an eerie silence, refusing to function as if the ghostly energy has drained their power.

5 Valongo Sanatorium

No list of haunted locales would be complete without an abandoned medical facility, and Portugal’s Valongo Sanatorium – also known as Mont’Alto – fits the bill perfectly.

Originally built to treat tuberculosis patients, the sanatorium was designed for a modest fifty occupants but often housed over five hundred, leading to severe overcrowding and tragic deaths.

Today, the decaying building draws ghost hunters eager to encounter the lingering spirits of the hundreds of sufferers who perished within its walls. Witnesses describe anguished cries echoing through empty corridors, followed by sudden, inexplicable darkness as the apparitions retreat.

Adding to the macabre aura, some explorers claim to have spotted pentagrams etched into the plaster, fueling rumors of clandestine satanic rituals performed to summon the restless souls.

4 Daliborka Tower

The Czech Republic dazzles travelers with fairy‑tale castles, world‑class beer, and lush green spaces, yet Prague’s Daliborka Tower adds a chilling twist to the city’s charm.

Once part of the expansive Prague Castle complex, Daliborka served as a prison for noble criminals. Its first inmate, a knight named Dalibor, earned admiration for sheltering peasants from oppressive authorities.

Legend says Dalibor would play his violin from his cell, prompting locals to toss food up to him through a narrow opening. When the music abruptly stopped, the realization hit that Dalibor had been executed, his melody silenced forever.

Modern visitors still report hearing a violin’s mournful strains drifting from the high windows, though some argue the sound is not a violin at all but the high‑pitched screams of Dalibor, echoing as he endured torture and confessed under duress.

3 Fier Railway Station

Albania’s Fier Railway Station may appear as a simple transit point, yet it harbors a lingering specter of a woman who met a tragic death on the tracks long ago. Nighttime travelers have reported seeing her apparition, and those forced to spend a night there often hear incessant, mournful wailing.

For those craving extra chills, the nearby village of Vuno is said to be haunted by an elderly witch‑like figure who roams her home and the surrounding streets, adding a layer of folklore to the region’s quiet charm.

Further afield, the city of Shkodra boasts an abandoned fort once sheltering two princesses and their lovers. After the princesses were dispatched to distant lands, visitors still claim to hear wailing echoes reverberating through the fort’s stone corridors.

Lastly, Berat Castle is home to the restless spirits of fallen soldiers, alongside the ghost of Lady Maria, who refuses to find peace and is said to drift through the castle’s hallways each night, forever bound to her former home.

2 Loshitsa Manor

Belarus, landlocked and famed for its thousands of lakes, also offers a rich tapestry of history, from the imposing Brest Fortress to the lively Dudutki Museum, making it a captivating destination for travelers.

Among its historic sites, Mir Castle draws attention not only for its architectural splendor but also for sightings of skeletal soldiers hovering over the grounds, and a ghostly young girl said to have drowned in the castle’s expansive garden pond.

The most renowned specter, however, belongs to Loshitsa Manor. In life, the beautiful 20‑year‑old Yadviga Kinevich married Evstafy Lyubansky, and the couple were famed for throwing lavish parties that attracted Minsk’s elite. Their bliss shattered when Evstafy uncovered Yadviga’s affair, leading to a violent confrontation.

After a heated argument, Yadviga fled the manor, only to be found dead in a nearby river hours later. Grief‑stricken, Evstafy planted an apricot tree beside the river in her memory and died soon after. Legend says that whenever the apricot blossoms, Yadviga’s spirit appears in a flowing white gown, whispering future fortunes to couples who visit the site.

1 Den Noodt Gods

Though Belgium may be modest in size, it packs a punch with medieval castles, cutting‑edge fashion, and mouth‑watering chocolate, making it a must‑visit on any European itinerary.

One of its most haunting tales unfolds at the house of Den Noodt Gods, situated near the River Reie in Bruges. The story centers on a nun named Hortence Dupont, who lived in the house while a nearby monastery housed a monk who clandestinely slipped through an abandoned tunnel to visit her each night.

Hortence, desperate to escape the forbidden liaison, tried to flee one evening, provoking the monk’s fury. In a fit of rage, he stabbed her to death and buried her body on the Den Noodt Gods side of the river.

To this day, Hortence’s ghost is said to materialize in full view of visitors, while the remorseful monk’s specter haunts the adjacent nunnery, eternally seeking forgiveness. As midnight strikes, both apparitions vanish, only to reenact their tragic encounter when the clock chimes again.

When it comes to chilling tales, the 10 murderers haunted by their victims’ lingering spirits stand out as the most unsettling, proving that some souls simply won’t let the living rest.

10 Murderers Haunted: The Chilling Cases

10. Mark Bridger

Mark Bridger’s routine was a grim mix of heavy drinking, pornographic videos and viewing illegal images of children. One night in 2012, after a typical binge, he cruised the streets and happened upon five‑year‑old April Jones, who stepped into his car and vanished from sight.

He was taken into custody the following day, confessing to Jones’s death but insisting it was accidental. Bridger claimed he had unintentionally struck the girl with his vehicle, recalling only that he placed her body in his car before seeking help, his recollection clouded by alcohol.

Forensic analysis, however, uncovered bone fragments and blood that matched Jones’s DNA inside Bridger’s home, shattering his story. Investigators concluded he had sexually assaulted and then dismembered the child. The court concurred, sentencing him to life imprisonment, and he later told a cellmate that nightly visions of Jones torment him in his cell.

9. Jose E. Ferreira Jr.

In 1982, 17‑year‑old Jose Ferreira met 13‑year‑old Carrie Ann Jopek at a party. After sharing a joint, Jopek asked to go down into the basement. As they descended the steps, she hesitated, saying, “I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

Ferreira answered, “You are going downstairs,” and shoved her down the steps. He then examined her limp form, realizing the tragedy, and proceeded to assault her before noticing her broken neck. He clandestinely removed the body, burying it beneath a neighbor’s porch, where it remained hidden for 17 months.

The case went cold for decades, with police lacking leads. Eventually, Ferreira confessed, claiming that Jopek’s spirit had relentlessly haunted him since her death.

8. Ah Fong

In 1999 Hong Kong, three triad members captured Fan Man‑yee, demanding HK$20,000 she allegedly owed. Over a month they tortured her brutally, ultimately causing her death, then sawed, boiled, and discarded her remains.

A 13‑year‑old girl known only as “Ah Fong,” who had aided the gang, began suffering nightmarish visions of Fan’s specter. Disturbed, she alerted authorities, who initially dismissed her claims as teenage imagination. However, a police search of the torture site uncovered body fragments.

The perpetrators were arrested and tried; Ah Fong testified in exchange for immunity. All three received life sentences for manslaughter.

7. Victor Amewugah

In 2013, Victor Amewugah hired a taxi for a long haul, then midway drew a pistol, murdered the driver, and fled in the cab. He repeated the crime with a second victim, becoming a prime suspect and going on the run.

Soon after, the ghost of his second victim began appearing in his dreams, even slapping him awake, leaving him sleepless. The relentless haunting drove him to confide in a friend, who tipped off police about the stolen taxi.

Authorities apprehended Amewugah, who admitted the killings and expressed remorse, warning fellow criminals that the victims’ spirits can exact a heavy toll.

6. Al Capone

On February 14, 1929, seven members of the North Side Gang—including James Clark—gathered at a garage. Four men, two disguised as police, approached and forced the gangsters against a wall before opening fire, killing all seven.

Although never officially solved, investigators suspect Al Capone, leader of the rival South Side Gang, orchestrated the massacre. Capone was arrested months later, and prison guards later reported blood‑curdling screams as he begged a phantom James Clark to leave him alone.

The specter allegedly followed Capone beyond prison walls; he even hired a medium to banish it, to no avail. Later, his bodyguards heard him pleading for relief, only to find him alone, claiming he was haunted by Clark’s ghost.

5. Bhim Shankar Giri

Bhim Shankar Giri’s brother, Jeetendra Anantlal Giri, persistently harassed Bhim’s wife. After repeated pleas to cease, Bhim’s fury boiled over, prompting him to lure Jeetendra to a secluded spot under the pretense of a party.

There, Bhim offered drinks, and once Jeetendra was intoxicated, Bhim slit his throat. He concealed the body and vanished. When the family reported Jeetendra’s disappearance, police launched an investigation.

A week later, Bhim began hearing Jeetendra’s voice, even in his dreams, where the brother threatened to choke him and haunt him eternally. Overcome, Bhim confessed to the murder, leading to his arrest.

4. John Nkuna

In South Africa, 2002, John Nkuna and two accomplices kidnapped Bob Ruel Baloyi, binding him with cloth strips before beating him.

They doused Baloyi with gasoline and set him ablaze; his charred remains were later discovered by a cattle herder, prompting a police call. Nkuna fled to another city, yet the victim’s ghost haunted him nightly, whispering, “Tell my family I was murdered by you, or you’ll never find peace.”

Terrified, Nkuna approached the Baloyi family and confessed. He and his friends were arrested; while his companions were later cleared, Nkuna received a 15‑year sentence despite pleading not guilty, his confession sealing his fate.

3. Adrian Daou

Jennifer Stewart was axed to death in a parking lot in 2010, a case that lingered unsolved for nearly three years. Police finally focused on Adrian Daou, whose statements conflicted with evidence, yet he possessed knowledge only the perpetrator could have.

Daou explained he killed Stewart to boost his rap career, believing that a notorious murder would garner attention. After the act, he smoked a joint on a bike path, where he claimed Stewart’s ghost repeatedly swooped past him, haunting him several times daily.

2. Daniel French

In 2012, Daniel French sought quick cash by breaking into a retirement home, posing as a maintenance worker to enter 87‑year‑old Barbara Howe’s residence. He attempted a stun‑gun shock to her neck, but she remained conscious.

French then seized Howe, choking her until she finally died, rummaging through her possessions and discarding a mere $18 and a diamond ring out of his car window. The murder stayed cold for two years until forensic work linked French to the crime.

When questioned, French confessed, expressing remorse and revealing that he had seen Ms. Howe’s ghost, apologizing to the apparition.

1. Terry Childs

In 1987, Terry Childs stabbed 17‑year‑old Lois Sigala to death, earning a 41‑year sentence. While incarcerated, he confessed to additional murders, including that of Linda Ann Jozovich, whom he kidnapped in 1979, beat, strangled, and repeatedly stabbed, stashing her body in the Santa Cruz Mountains where it remained hidden for over a decade.

Childs claimed he confessed to free himself from his demons, insisting the victims’ ghosts plagued him, appearing in his cell and “eating up his brain.” He said Jozovich’s spirit haunted him, though she vanished after his confession.

These admissions have since extended his punishment to life without parole.

When you think of a ghost town, you probably picture a dusty, far‑flung settlement with empty streets and crumbling storefronts. Yet some of the most hauntingly abandoned places sit practically shoulder‑to‑shoulder with bustling metropolises. In this top 10 ghost countdown we’ll travel from Paris to Hangzhou, uncovering the surprising histories, tragedies, and mis‑steps that turned thriving neighborhoods into silent relics. Buckle up for a fun, fact‑filled ride through urban decay that’s as informative as it is intriguing.

What Makes These Spots Part of the Top 10 Ghost Collection

Each location on our list earned its place because it either lurked within a major city’s orbit, suffered a dramatic event, or was a grand urban experiment that never took off. Some were victims of war, others of economic collapse, and a few simply fell victim to over‑ambitious planning. Below, we break down the stories, sprinkle in a few eye‑popping details, and keep the focus on why these places deserve a spot on the top 10 ghost roster.

10. Goussainville‑Vieux Pays, Paris

The once‑bustling hamlet of Goussainville‑Vieux Pays now sits on the very edge of Charles de Gaulle Airport, essentially becoming part of the runway’s approach corridor. Its abandonment traces back to the airport’s construction era in the early 1970s. In 1973, a Soviet Tupolev Tu‑144 supersonic jet, participating in the Paris Air Show, crashed into the village, leveling fifteen homes and a school, and claiming eight villagers and six crew members.

Even after the wreckage was cleared, the lingering roar of low‑flying aircraft proved too much for the remaining residents. When the airport officially opened a year later, the incessant noise drove many more families to abandon their homes without even selling them. Today, nature has reclaimed the streets, with overgrown bushes swallowing empty plots and derelict houses standing as silent witnesses to a tragic past.

Because of its proximity to one of Europe’s busiest air hubs, Goussainville‑Vieux Pays remains a striking example of how large‑scale infrastructure can unintentionally erase a community, turning it into a ghostly footprint on the map of Paris.

9. North Brother Island, New York City

Just off the Bronx, North Brother Island sits quietly in the East River, a stone’s throw from Manhattan’s skyline. The island’s story began in the 1880s when it was designated a quarantine station for contagious diseases such as measles and tuberculosis. Its most infamous resident was Typhoid Mary, who spent intermittent periods on the island over 28 years before passing away there in 1938.

Following its medical chapter, the island morphed into a temporary home for World War II veterans and later a rehabilitation center for teenagers battling heroin addiction. That program folded in 1963, leaving the island vacant. Various proposals floated over the decades—selling the land for homeless housing, converting it into an extension of Rikers Island prison—but none materialized.

Nature has since reclaimed the island, with weeds overtaking former roadways and crumbling brick structures succumbing to the elements. In 2001, the New York Parks Department took stewardship, designating the area a “harbor herons region,” allowing the birds to nest undisturbed. Today, the silence is punctuated only by bird calls and the occasional echo of a distant ferry.

8. Olympic Village, Wustermark

On the outskirts of Berlin lies the deserted Olympic Village of Wustermark, a relic of the 1936 Berlin Games. Constructed under the Nazi regime, the village was intended as a propaganda showcase, demonstrating Germany’s might and modernity to the world. The 1936 Olympics were the first to be televised, providing Adolf Hitler a perfect stage to flaunt his vision of a powerful nation.

During the Games, roughly 4,000 athletes called the village home. After the Olympics, the complex was repurposed as a military hospital during World II, then later served as a Soviet Army barracks. When Germany reunified and the Soviet forces withdrew, the village was left empty, its grand avenues and dormitories falling into decay.

Today, the site remains a haunting reminder of both athletic triumph and political ambition gone awry. German officials have debated converting the area into a residential district or a museum, but no definitive plan has taken hold, leaving the ghostly structures to linger on the edge of the capital.

7. Matildaville, Virginia

Just a short drive from Washington, D.C., the abandoned settlement of Matildaville rests along the Potomac River in Virginia. Founded in the 1790s, the town was the brainchild of Harry Lee—father of the future Confederate General Robert E. Lee—who secured a 900‑year lease on the land and named the community after his late wife.

Lee envisioned an industrial hub powered by the Potomac Canal, a project championed by President George Washington to facilitate cargo transport. Residents worked on canal‑related trades, while additional enterprises such as a forge, sawmill, and market sprouted to support the burgeoning population.

Unfortunately, the Patowmack Company, which managed the canal, dissolved in 1823 due to mounting debts and insufficient toll revenue. The canal’s seasonal freezes and floods further hampered operations. A new canal venture in 1828 bypassed Matildaville, effectively strangling its economy and prompting an exodus. A brief revival came in 1838 with a textile mill, leading to a temporary name change to South Lowell, but a 1853 lawsuit over water usage ultimately sealed the town’s fate, leaving it a ghostly whisper of its former ambition.

6. Thames Town, Shanghai

Just 40 minutes from Shanghai’s bustling core, Thames Town in the Songjiang District stands as a meticulously planned replica of an English village. Launched in 2001 under Shanghai’s “One City, Nine Towns” initiative, the development was meant to divert residents from the overcrowded city center into themed satellite towns.

The project invested over two billion yuan to recreate quintessential British architecture, complete with cobblestone streets, Tudor‑style houses, and even a namesake Thames River. Yet the timing coincided with a property bubble that inflated housing prices beyond the reach of the middle class, leaving many homes vacant or owned by wealthy investors as second‑homes or speculative assets.

Today, Thames Town is often described as a picturesque ghost town—a charming façade with few permanent residents. Its empty plazas and quiet lanes serve as a reminder that even the most carefully crafted urban fantasies can falter when market forces and local demand misalign.

5. Gary, Indiana

Only 64 kilometers (about 40 miles) from the massive skyline of Chicago, Gary, Indiana, teeters on the edge of becoming a full‑scale ghost town. While the city still records a population around 77,000, large swaths of its landscape sit empty, overtaken by weeds and crumbling infrastructure.

Gary earned its early reputation as a steel‑manufacturing powerhouse, but the decline of heavy industry in the late 20th century stripped the city of its economic backbone. The resulting job losses spurred a cascade of social challenges: soaring crime rates, rampant drug activity, and a surge of abandoned properties. As factories shuttered, the accompanying criminal elements evaporated, leaving behind a stark, desolate urban fabric.

Today, Gary stands as a cautionary tale of industrial dependency, its vacant neighborhoods echoing the once‑vibrant community that thrived on the steel mills. The city’s ghostly aura draws urban explorers and historians alike, offering a sobering glimpse into the consequences of economic upheaval.

4. Olympic Park, Rio De Janeiro

In a bid to secure the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro poured billions into constructing a sprawling 300‑acre Olympic Park. The sprawling complex, costing 2.5 billion Brazilian reais, was envisioned as a legacy sports village that would revitalize the city’s southern zone.

However, within six months of the Games’ conclusion, the park fell into disrepair. Utilities such as electricity, water, and sanitation were disconnected, and the high‑rise Marriott hotel built for athletes now sits abandoned. The site’s controversial origins stem from its displacement of a favela, where residents were forcefully evicted to make way for the venues, sparking international criticism.

One critical factor in the park’s decline is its geographic isolation—situated far from Rio’s bustling downtown, it requires over two hours of public transit, with multiple bus changes, to reach the city’s core. This distance, combined with the lack of post‑Olympic planning, left the once‑glittering complex to become a stark, empty reminder of fleeting grandeur.

3. Drawbridge, California

Nestled at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay, Drawbridge, California, boasts a population of zero despite its proximity to densely populated hubs like Fremont, San Jose, and San Francisco. The settlement sprang to life in the 1800s when “Slippery” Jim Fair and Alfred “Hog” Davis founded the South Pacific Coast Railroad, aiming to ferry San Franciscans to Santa Cruz.

Rather than following the longer overland route, the railroad crossed the water via a modest island, prompting the construction of swing bridges in 1876—mistakenly dubbed drawbridges, which gave the island its moniker. George Mundershietz, hired to operate the bridges, became the island’s first official resident.

As word spread, travelers discovered the island’s abundant wildlife, leading to the rise of hunting cabins, hotels, and a rowdy reputation for lawlessness. Prostitution, gambling, and open‑air alcohol sales thrived during Prohibition. Yet the town’s decline was swift: neighboring cities began dumping waste into the bay, creating a foul odor; nearby salt ponds forced birds away; and the island itself started sinking, flooding regularly. The final resident departed in 1979, and today the site functions as a wildlife refuge, with trains still passing but never stopping.

2. Valdeluz, Yebez

Just 61 kilometers (roughly 38 miles) from Spain’s capital Madrid, Valdeluz was envisioned as a futuristic green city along the heavily trafficked Madrid‑Barcelona rail corridor. Developed by the construction firm Reyal Urbis, the plan projected a 30,000‑person community, complete with its own facilities, a golf course, and 9,000 homes.

The 2008 economic crisis shattered those ambitions. Reyal Urbis managed to erect only 2,200 residences before finances collapsed, leaving a mere 200 inhabitants by that point. Property values plunged dramatically—homes that fetched $325,000 in 2007 slumped to $135,000 by 2014, a drop of roughly 60 percent. Undeveloped parcels lost up to 80 percent of their original worth.

Although a modest influx of residents returned as prices fell, Valdeluz never approached its intended scale. The ghost‑like streets and under‑occupied houses stand as a stark reminder of over‑optimistic urban planning colliding with economic reality.

1. Tianducheng, Hangzhou

In the Zhejiang province of China, Tianducheng rises near Hangzhou as a whimsical homage to Paris. The development features a replica Eiffel Tower and French‑style architecture, aiming to attract 10,000 residents yearning for a slice of French charm without leaving China.

Despite the ambitious vision, only about 2,000 people have taken up residence. The town has become a popular backdrop for wedding photography and tourist snapshots rather than a thriving community. Its remote location—far from both Hangzhou’s and Shanghai’s bustling cores—combined with a lack of public transportation, has hampered long‑term settlement.

Nevertheless, Tianducheng’s fate isn’t sealed. Should Shanghai’s metropolitan sprawl continue outward, the area could eventually absorb new residents, transforming the current ghost town into a vibrant suburb. For now, its empty streets and Eiffel‑tower silhouette offer a surreal, almost cinematic glimpse of what happens when imagination meets reality.

If you’re a paranormal thrill‑seeker, brace yourself for the ultimate top 10 ghost countdown. Grab your EMF meter, charge the spirit box, and settle in as we tally the ten most bone‑chilling episodes of Ghost Adventures that will leave you trembling long after the credits roll.

Top 10 Ghost Adventures Episodes Countdown

10 Castillo De San Marcos

Constructed by Spanish settlers in the 1600s, the Castillo de San Marcos has borne witness to inquisitions, sieges, massacres, and the anguished cries of those who perished within its stone walls. When the Ghost Adventures crew steps inside this haunted fort, tension spikes. Aaron admits, “I’m nervous,” to which Zak quips, “You’re always nervous.”

Inside the bone room, an otherworldly scream tears through the silence, sending chills down Zak’s spine. “It’s giving me chills, man!” he shouts, voice trembling. An unseen hand brushes him, followed by a phantom breeze that seems to glide through his skin.

Aaron’s terror escalates as a growl echoes from the shadows. “I swear to God, man, it’s coming from that corner,” he stammers, eyes wide. Cold spots plunge the temperature from 72.6°F to 61.4°F (22.5°C to 16.3°C) in the soldier’s quarters. Aaron bolts in panic, his frantic footsteps reverberating through the courtyard.

9 Pennhurst State School and Hospital

Once a facility for the developmentally disabled, Pennhurst State shut its doors in 1987 amid rumors of abuse and neglect. Yet the tormented souls of former residents seem unwilling to rest.

As the first official paranormal crew to brave its haunted corridors, Ghost Adventures encountered far more than they expected. During daylight filming, a sinister metallic clang reverberated down a hallway, guiding them to a desk shoved by unseen hands.

EMF meters spiked, whispers urged “go away,” and temperatures fluctuated wildly. Footsteps echoed on the third floor, accompanied by a command to “get out,” as if the spirits demanded the intruders leave.

EVPs captured pleas for help, followed by physical assaults from unseen entities. Rocks were hurled, coat racks crashed, and Zak felt a ghostly hand reach for him. The GAC’s descent into Pennhurst’s shadows unveiled a darkness that defied explanation, leaving viewers on edge and haunted by lingering echoes.

8 Letchworth Village

In Season 6, Episode 5, Zak, Nick, and Aaron trek to Letchworth Village, an abandoned mental institution in Haverstraw, NY. The trio delves deep into its corridors and shadowy corners.

Nick’s question about the darkness provokes an immediate, loud knock reverberating through the halls. In the morgue, Aaron’s recorder captures a chilling message: “Shut up, you prick,” whispered from beyond, accompanied by an icy breath on his neck. Meanwhile, Zak’s recorder logs a directive: “Pray your god,” a foreboding warning of lurking hostility.

Zak’s encounter with a looming shadow sends shockwaves through the team. “Oh my God,” he breathes, capturing the entity on video—a sinister presence just beyond the veil. Using the spirit box, investigators hear pleas for aid—“Attack” and “Please help”—before Zak is violently pushed and overwhelmed by dizziness.

7 Goldfield Hotel

Spirits lurk in every corner of this two‑day, two‑night investigation at the Goldfield Hotel, delivering encounters that will keep you up for nights to come.

The GAC is thrust into a whirlwind of paranormal activity right away. While using the Ovilus device during a daytime sweep, they receive messages like “Nick,” “night,” and “foe.” Loud footsteps echo through empty corridors, and a plant mysteriously moves on its own, confirming they’re not alone.

The caretaker, Virginia, reveals three spirits trailing their every move, heightening tension. EVPs capture chilling phrases such as “Let me have it,” amplifying dread. When Zak explores solo, he meets a mysterious figure and feels a rock thrown at him, pushing fear to its peak.

Things turn sinister as Zak’s behavior becomes erratic, culminating in him smashing a camera out of Aaron’s hands. It feels as though something evil has seized him, leaving the team bewildered and on edge.

6 Island of the Dolls

Season 12, Episode 4 transports the crew to the infamous Island of the Dolls in Mexico. Zak, already notorious for his doll phobia, confronts rows upon rows of plastic nightmares. “This is like my f*ing worst nightmare,” he exclaims, and who could blame him?

With Nick sidelined due to his newborn daughter, Jay Wasley steps in alongside Billy Tolley, running base camp like a pro. As they glide up to the island at night, Aaron sums it up: “This is the creepiest thing.”

Things take a hair‑raising turn when they offer Harold the Haunted Doll to the island’s collection, only for another doll to burst into maniacal laughter behind them. “Straight out of a horror movie,” Aaron quips. Screams echo across the island, black masses slither from shrines, and footsteps haunt empty huts. Zak even feels an icy hand on his back when nothing is there.

5 Ireland’s Celtic Demons

Join Ghost Adventures as they journey to ancient Ireland in the Halloween Special, exploring Celtic demons. Nick and Billy find themselves at Leap Castle, where an unsettling presence grips them. A touch on Billy’s shoulder sends shivers down his spine, while Nick captures a chilling scream echoing through the Bloody Chapel.

Meanwhile, Zak and Aaron venture to the foreboding Hell Fire Club at Montpelier Hill, where a heavy sense of hostility hangs in the air. Zak’s senses are overwhelmed by a threatening force, and Aaron trembles as unseen claws graze his ear, bringing him to tears.

Back at base camp, Jay is startled by phantom footsteps echoing through the empty Steward House, prompting Zak to brave its darkened halls alone. Communicating with the spirit realm, Zak receives a chilling revelation as a voice whispers the name “Satan.”

The investigation presses on to Loftus Hall, where legend says the devil once played cards. Using an SLS camera, the team captures a figure hovering over Aaron, draining his energy and leaving him nauseated. Aaron feels a phantom hand glide along his arm, plunging them deeper into chilling unknowns.

4 The Domes

The GAC ventures into the depths of the Casa Grande Domes in the Arizona desert. Led by Zak and joined by Aaron and Billy, the crew braces for a night of otherworldly encounters. Amid the shadows, Zak remarks, “Something knows we are here.” Billy’s camera audio then captures an unsettling growl while Zak feels a touch on his arm.

As night wears on, encounters intensify. Aaron, alone and vulnerable, senses an encroaching presence and receives threatening messages from an Ovilus device. Billy, seeking solace in scripture, is met with physical distress and unearthly noises, revealing a force far beyond their comprehension.

With each passing moment, the line between the living and the dead blurs, culminating in a bone‑chilling encounter that sends Aaron fleeing in terror. He shouts, “Dude, I just saw this shadow, horns—horns, everything, man.”

3 Route 666

As the GAC travels the infamous Route 666, the darkness they encounter will send shivers down your spine. The first stop, the De Soto Hotel, radiates an eerie aura, with the smell of decay lingering near the basement door. A haunting howl greets Aaron and Zak as they descend.

Aaron feels an unsettling weight, and the spirit box whispers, “I’m in control,” setting the stage for supernatural events. Even at base camp, Jay experiences paranormal activity as the camera controller moves on its own, and mysterious hissing fills the air.

The presence of evil is palpable at Concordia Cemetery, the resting place of over sixty thousand souls. Richard Ramirez’s satanic rituals have left a dark stain on this sacred ground. Billy, alone in the cemetery, confronts the forces, encountering a crow signaling darkness and spectral figures among the trees.

But terror peaks at Goatman’s Bridge and Forest. Ashley, the team’s photographer, is seized by a sinister force, driving her to the brink of madness. She eventually flees, abandoning her role in the investigation and, ultimately, the GAC.

Deeper investigations reveal chilling phenomena—a spectral growl, disembodied eyes, and the entity “Steve,” an evil presence responsible for the haunting. An unseen force violently throws Aaron, and Zak is overcome by an invisible assailant, clutching his throat in desperation.

2 Upper Fruitland Curse

This haunting tale grips you from the start in Upper Fruitland, NM. Imagine a family tormented by the spirit of a faceless young boy trapped within their home. Led by Zak and flanked by Aaron, Jay, and Billy, the crew dives into the heart of the Navajo Nation, seeking to unravel the curse and bring solace to the afflicted family.

Billy’s encounter with an “evil” EVP sets the stage for dread. Aaron’s breathless encounter sends shudders through the crew, his camera malfunctioning as if possessed by unseen forces. When Zak and Billy’s SLS camera captures figures both with and without heads, the line between the living and the dead blurs into reality.

Lights flicker ominously, shadows dance on walls, and unseen hands drag furniture across the floor. Jay’s descent into the crawl space unleashes a torrent of terror, culminating in a spine‑tingling growl and a lid crashing loudly. As the investigation closes, the curse of Upper Fruitland lingers—a haunting reminder of unseen forces waiting to strike.

1 The Titanic Museum

Board the spookiest voyage you’ll ever take—a chilling trip to the Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri. Zak and Jay dive into the mysteries of the Promenade Deck, armed with an SLS camera and toy triggers. They’re not alone—a childlike figure darts in and out of view, leaving tiny handprints on freshly cleaned windows as a haunting reminder of an unseen presence.

Meanwhile, Aaron and Billy explore the Musician’s Gallery, where a chilling pocket of icy air grips them. Billy declares, “They’re here.” With a Paranormal Puck 2 and thermal camera, they communicate with a spirit craving sweets—a lost soul perhaps seeking comfort from the living.

The real heart‑stopper arrives when Zak and Jay encounter a vibrating wall, a tribute to Frederick Fleet’s desperate cry, “Iceberg, right ahead!” The past collides with the present as Zak glimpses a little boy’s apparition. Simultaneously, the spirit box captures a child’s innocent voice playing peek‑a‑boo from beyond the grave.

When you start pondering the great beyond, the mind wanders to all sorts of spooky possibilities. The notion of a 10 creepy ghost menagerie is enough to make anyone’s skin prickle – will your beloved pet join you on the other side, or will something far more terrifying appear? Below, we explore ten bone‑tingling phantom fauna that haunt historic sites across the UK and even across the Atlantic.

10 Creepy Ghost Animals

1 The Owl At Arundel Castle Sussex

Arundel Castle first threw open its gates on Christmas Day in 1067 and has since played host to royalty such as Richard the Lionheart and King Henry II. Among the many human specters that roam its corridors, a pale owl is said to circle the castle’s windows. Each time the feathered apparition appears, a resident or someone connected to the estate meets a mysterious, untimely demise. Poor Hedwig never got the limelight she deserved!

2 The Ghost Dog Of Airth Castle Scotland

Airth Castle, with its centuries‑old stone walls and an adjoining graveyard, is a hotbed for hauntings. One of the most infamous spirits is a spectral dog that loves to nip at unsuspecting ankles. Some say the mischievous mutt belonged to a child who perished with their nanny in the 1800s; others suspect he was a faithful helper to the groundskeeper.

3 The Black Cat Of The Hellfire Club Ireland

Perched in the Wicklow Mountains just outside Dublin, the Hellfire Club was erected atop an ancient burial mound. Founded in 1735 by Richard Parsons, the lodge earned a reputation for satanic rites and black‑magic gatherings. Legend tells of a massive black cat with horn‑shaped ears that prowled a midnight banquet. When a priest splashed holy water on the beast, it shattered, only for the priest to discover a nearby guest’s neck mauled by unseen claws.

4 The Demon Cat Of Capitol Hill Washington, DC

The United States Capitol, a beacon of American history, also shelters a shadowy feline. In the post‑Civil War era, night watchmen reported a black cat that swelled to tiger‑like proportions as it approached. One guard, trembling, raised his arms in terror, only to feel no weight when the beast vanished. Remarkably, when concrete was repoured after an 1898 gas explosion, six to eight perfect paw prints were found imprinted in the fresh slab.

5 The Black Dog Of Newgate Prison London

Newgate Prison, once looming beside the Old Bailey, became the stage for a terrifying ebony hound. In 1596, an inmate chronicled the creature’s appearance during a famine that drove prisoners to cannibalism. After a scholar accused of witchcraft was devoured by stronger inmates, the spectral dog prowled the corridors, hunting down each man who partook in the grisly feast. Those who tried to flee met the same gruesome fate.

6 The White Rabbit Of Thetford Warren Lodge Norfolk

Thetford Warren Lodge, built in the 1400s on the wild Brecks of Norfolk, served as a warrener’s residence for managing the region’s rabbit population. An enormous white rabbit with unsettling red eyes is said to haunt the lodge, foretelling death for any unlucky soul who glimpses it. Some speculate the specter is tied to the nearby 1304‑burned leper hospital of St Margaret.

7 The Merrivale Pigs Dartmoor

On Dartmoor’s mist‑cloaked Merripit Hill, a ghostly sow and her litter have roamed for two centuries. Legend says they stalk the moor on foggy nights, heading toward Cator Gate in hopes of feasting on a dead horse—only to find the carcass already stripped clean by crows. The piglets cry, “Skin an’ bones, skin an’ bones!” while the sow replies, “Let ’un lie, let ’un lie,” before disappearing back into the gloom.

8 The Chicken Ghost Of Pond Square London

On a bitterly cold day in 1626, Sir Francis Bacon rode through Pond Square, arguing that extreme cold could preserve food better than salting. He packed a plucked chicken in snow, but the experiment left him with pneumonia, which claimed his life. Shortly after his death, locals reported a half‑plucked chicken darting about the square, slipping away whenever anyone tried to approach. The spectral bird persisted through World War II, even escaping a wall when wardens attempted capture, and was sighted again in the 1970s by a couple sharing a midnight kiss.

9 The Phantom Horse Of Bryn‑Y‑Maen North Wales

Back roads near the Welsh village of Bryn‑y‑Maen are haunted by a spectral white horse. The first recorded sighting involved a driver evading a police stop; as dawn broke, the beast burst over a hedge, seemingly about to smash through his car’s bonnet, prompting a frantic brake that sent the horse vanishing. A second encounter saw a young couple experience the same eerie apparition at the same dip, bolstering theories that a large horse skull found during road repairs may be linked to the legend.

10 The Ghost Bear The Tower Of London

Deep within the Martin Tower of the Tower of London, a phantom bear is said to roam. In 1816, a night guard spotted a massive bear and thrust his bayonet at it. At that time, the Tower housed a menagerie later moved to the London Zoo. The guard’s thrust pierced the apparition, embedding the blade deep into the door’s wood—a feat that required two men to extract. The bear faded, the guard swooned from shock, and died two days later.

A recent opinion poll suggested that as many as 45% of Americans believe in ghosts or spirits of some kind. Certainly, people have been telling each other ghost stories since the dawn of time. We seem to have a natural inclination to believe that there is a shadow world in which departed loved ones, repentant sinners, or those who have a message for us dwell.

Perhaps this belief simply shows that we need an explanation for everything. When we lived in small groups of vulnerable hunter-gatherers, a sound in the trees at night might mean danger. Something caused it. But what? The noise might be nothing important, or it might be a predator. For survival, it’s better to assume that it could be something dangerous. Add a dash of imagination, and it becomes easy to assume something paranormal exists.

Here are ten explanations for the “creepiest” ghost-hunting encounters we found on YouTube.

Related: Top 10 Ghost Towns Inside Or Near Famous Cities

10 Weird Worley

The hospital in Worley opened in 1928 and closed in the ’70s when it ran out of funds. In 2002, a woman named Carol Peet bought it intending to turn the building into a ministry center. She aimed to create a place where vulnerable individuals could learn life skills. For some reason, the project never came to fruition, but Peet spent a lot of time at the building and said she never saw anything strange.

In our video, the new owner, Chelsea, has a different opinion. Her contractor says that there are demons behind the walls. Notice that the investigator sees a shape on his thermal image camera. He calls the shape “a figure,” this is a little misleading as it’s not a figure—it’s simply a shape. Dust in the air, moved by a draft, has high emissivity and can show up on a thermal imager as the shape we see.

The rest of the video does beg some questions. Is anybody there?

9 Meowwww

In our next video, a ghost hunting expert visited the Ancient Ram Inn in Wotton, Gloucestershire, England. The house is spooky enough—in fact, it looks like a movie set for a film about a haunted house.

The investigators swap observations that have no objective value. One of them says that he hears a cat. Probably the best explanation for hearing a cat is that there is a cat. After all, if it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck, then it’s probably a duck.

A serious investigation into the paranormal should have to meet higher standards than what is shown in the video. Unfortunately, many similar videos play on our imagination at the expense of rigorous research.

8 Mom, Are You Here?

Our next haunting has the house owner comforted that his deceased mother is still around and fulfilling her last promise to “always look over him.” After the investigation, the owner is no longer scared and deals with the fact of his mother’s presence calmly and with humor.

Naturally, we should want to believe that our departed loved ones are still with us in some way. But does this sentiment lead us to believe that they certainly are? The sound on the tape is not clear and is very brief. Could it be that the son is hearing what he wants to hear?

7 A Shocking Encounter

Land of mists and long winter nights, Scotland has a long history of paranormal phenomena. With typical good humor, our investigators here are using sophisticated equipment to track down Archie, the ghost.

One of the investigators reports that something (Archie?) touched him on the arm, a touch that he describes as being like an electric shock. Could this be simply a nervous reaction to the spooky surroundings? Or maybe wishful thinking?

Certainly, the building looks like an ideal candidate for a ghost haunting.

6 Hauntings x 3

One of the investigators here makes an interesting observation. He says that a place might be haunted, as we would expect, but also a person might be haunted or an object. You might have, he says, “a creepy teddy bear,” or I instantly think of dolls. Yikes.

The three possibilities have different qualities:

1. The Location: A ghost has a special attachment to a place. Once you leave the place, you leave the ghost behind.
2. The Person: A ghost uses a real person as a vehicle. Interestingly, a location can be haunted by good or bad spirits, but a person is usually haunted only by the bad.
3. The Item: An object must have had special significance for the departed. Though, it’s difficult to imagine how a ghost could haunt an inanimate object.

And how can we really know? Sometimes, people, places, and things are simply… people, places, and things.

5 Flicking Streetlights

In this piece, our guide takes us to a haunted town. One of the first events the guide films is a streetlight that flickers before it returns to normal. To be fair, the narrator immediately says that he doesn’t know whether this was paranormal. Probably not. It was simply a flickering streetlight.

This shows that people can be predisposed to interpret evidence as they wish to. It is a sort of confirmation bias where you give more credence to evidence that supports your view than to evidence that might contradict it. In other words, someone who believes in ghosts will readily believe that a flickering light is evidence of paranormal activity. The city maintenance department would be more likely to consider a faulty connection first.

4 Prisoner Ghosts

Well, if they’re looking for ghosts, any evidence is hidden by the fact that the investigators in this video spend a lot of time spoofing each other. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with this, but it can obscure any serious purpose behind their investigation.

The Ohio State Penitentiary defiantly looks the part of hosting ghost hauntings. The word “creepy” often pops up in these videos, and here we find a building that deserves the term. One wonders why this penitentiary hasn’t been converted or demolished.

3 The Willow Weep House

“If it wasn’t evil, it wouldn’t be hurting people,” says the owner of Willows Weep, a house that some say is the most haunted place in America. Whoever built this unassuming house in 1890 constructed it in the shape of an inverted cross. Our narrator, William Shatner, signs off by asking, “Was Willows Weep really built to attract evil spirits?” and asks himself why anyone would want to do this. The answer he offers is that perhaps the idea was to entrap the visiting demons.

The house owner is convinced that there is something inside the place. She points to four suicides and three poisonings that have happened during its history and adds that she and her son had accidents while they were doing some renovation work. Hmm, accidents while renovating. I’ve never heard of that happening. *eye roll*

Without more evidence, we might be tempted to believe that this is a case of having expectations fulfilled. The owner’s comment, “If it wasn’t evil..” presupposes that there is an “it” there.

2 School Is in Session

For this investigation, why the investigative team included four ballerinas is a mystery to me. Their role seemed to be to look decorative and squeal whenever necessary. The rest of the team seems to prep the girls and lead them to expect that this old reformatory school must be haunted.

We’ll leave the ballerinas who don’t seem to add much ghost-hunting expertise alone. But everything else is here. A dark, abandoned place, the word “creepy,” and the essential EMF meter. Why an electro-magnetic field necessarily means that there are ghosts around is a mystery. But these meters seem sufficient for many to believe that paranormal activity exists. (On Amazon, you can buy a meter specifically advertised as a ghost-hunting device.)

The whole atmosphere the narrator creates leads the team to presuppose that there are phantoms in the school. His repetition that nothing is faked is no doubt truthful but irrelevant.

1 Hollywood Hotel Hauntings

I find this one a little difficult to explain away. We will have to assume that the hotel guests are acting in good faith and are not trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

To start, there are scientific explanations of how an ouija board works that rule out the occult (it’s called the ideomotor effect if you want to find out more). But I can’t find an easy explanation for the voice heard in the video. I suppose that even a cynic like myself will have to accept that some things are not easily explained away.

In most of the videos on our list, the viewer can explain most of the phenomena—you just have to watch them with a skeptical frame of mind. Most of these videos lead you to jump to a conclusion and believe what you are expected to believe.

This last video seems a little different; the setting is not “creepy”—it’s a well-lit, modern hotel room in Los Angeles, California. Yet, the history of the Roosevelt Hotel is sinister and full of haunting ghost stories. I’ll just wait for more definitive evidence, I guess.

October: The spookiest month of the year leading up to the 31st. Before that frightful date falls, the weeks leading up to Halloween are often filled with haunted attractions, costume planning, and of course, horror film marathons. To many, a frightening movie is just that—a movie. The following ten, however, are unique in that the events surrounding the making of the films, as well as their back-story, are more terrifying than anything on screen.

Related: Top 10 Secrets Of The Original ‘Ghostbusters’ Movie

10 Ghostbusters

The celebrated 1984 comedy classic Ghostbusters had some eerie happenings on set, one of which actually made it into the film. Specifically, the now-famous scene where Dan Aykroyd comes face-to-face with a ghost, causing his cigarette to fall from his mouth but miraculously stay put on his bottom lip, was supposedly spontaneous without special effects or adhesives.

Though one can reasonably argue that saliva played a major role. According to Aykroyd, there was no trick used to keep the cigarette in place, stating, “That was a total the-gods-are-with-you comedian moment. I had the [cigarette] there, and I did the look. And they got the shot. No glue, no tape, no glycerin.” Clearly, there must be some reasonable explanation. However, to this day, Aykroyd maintains his stance, assuring that no trickery or saliva was the culprit for a once-in-a-lifetime shot. Sounds fishy, but you be the judge.^[1]

9 The Innkeepers

Ti West’s low-budget thriller The Innkeepers (2011) tells the tale of two young hotel clerks at the Yankee Pedlar Inn who set out to prove that their place of employment is indeed haunted. As luck would have it, the hotel that inspired the film was shot at the actual Yankee Pedlar Inn in Torrington, Connecticut, which is said to be a real haunted location. During filming, the cast and crew experienced baffling supernatural things.

Director West—a self-proclaimed skeptic—was petrified to witness doors slamming on their own, TVs turning on and off by themselves, and new lights continuously burning out inexplicably. Even more bizarre is that everyone on the set had very vivid dreams every single night. Actress Sara Paxton stated that she would constantly wake up in the middle of the night thinking someone was in her room with her. Following several days away from the set and a respite from the paranormal, West explained how the dreams came flooding back upon his return: “Being a skeptic, I tend to not believe it as much,” said the director. “The dreams came back the first day I walked in. The vibe was there.”^[2]

8 Candyman

The 1992 Candyman film about the ghost of a lynched slave with a hook for a hand terrified audiences across the nation and abroad. There is one scene in particular that is truly haunting, given that it was taken from actual events five years prior to the film’s release. In the movie, two women investigating one of Candyman’s crime scenes discover that the murderous phantom entered the victim’s apartment through the medicine cabinet.

Such was the case for 52-year-old Ruthie Mae McCoy, who was brutally murdered in her apartment in 1987. The murderers were able to gain access to McCoy’s apartment by crawling through an opening behind the bathroom’s mirror, as seen in the movie. There are several other elements taken from McCoy’s killing, such as the fact that Candyman also takes place in Chicago public housing. In addition, one of the characters in the film bears a familiar name to the real-life victim: Anne-Marie McCoy.^[3]

7 The Sixth Sense

1999’s box-office hit The Sixth Sense is arguably M. Night Shyamalan’s first and perhaps only masterpiece. With its Hitchcock vibe and a startling ending that flabbergasted audiences worldwide, the shooting of the celebrated film had quite an unnerving impact on one of its main stars. During production, Toni Collette—who plays the mother of Cole, a young boy haunted by unrelenting spirits—found herself slowly becoming an insomniac, which she had never experienced prior.

The nights she was afforded some sleep only intensified her discomfort, given the particular time she would awake. Collette stated to Slant Magazine in 2012, “I had a couple of weird things happening. In the hotel room I was staying at in Philadelphia, I started meditating a lot, and then I would wake up at night, roll over, and look at the clock, and it was always a repeated number—1:11, 3:33, 4:44. That started to really spook me.” Never conforming to superstitious beliefs, the unsettling experience occurred yet again years later while shooting Hitchcock, a 2012 biographical drama about the filming of Psycho in 1959.^[4]

6 Paranormal Activity

Director Oren Peli’s micro-budgeted Paranormal Activity—which centers around a demonic invasion of a couple’s suburban home—was being shopped around to studios in early 2008 when it came into the hands of Steven Spielberg. Spielberg, a co-founder of DreamWorks, was debating whether or not he wanted his studio to be part of the supernatural thriller. Immediately following the film’s screening, while alone at his Pacific Palisades estate, the door to his bedroom inexplicably locked from the inside, forcing the legendary director to summon a locksmith.

The incident shook Spielberg to the core so much that he refused to have the DVD anywhere near his home. The following day he brought his copy of the film back to DreamWorks in a garbage bag. Despite the hair-raising experience, Spielberg shared enthusiasm for the film and ultimately acquired the rights. Paranormal Activity went on to become one of the most profitable films ever made based on return on investment.^[5]

5 1408

Hailed as one of the best horror movies of 2007, 1408 follows a paranormal skeptic (John Cusack) whose investigation takes him to a grand New York hotel with an infamously haunted room—the titular 1408. In spite of the movie screaming Hollywood fantasy, audiences would be surprised to learn the film was inspired by world-renowned parapsychologist Christopher Chacon’s investigation of San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado.

The luxurious hotel was known as Hollywood’s elite playground, as well as the location of the tragic suicide of Kate Morgan in 1892. Checking in under a false name on Thanksgiving, Kate’s body would be found five days later on a flight of stairs. Since then, employees and guests have experienced paranormal activity in the room Kate occupied. From disembodied voices and footsteps to objects moving inexplicably, Chacon decided to position infrared cameras and magnetic meters in the infamous room where he and his team detected 37 abnormalities, including glasses flying off counters by themselves. Chacon’s reporting on his stay sent shivers down the spine of Stephen King so much that he was compelled to pen “1408,” which ultimately became a major box-office success.^[6]

4 Session 9

2001’s psychological horror film Session 9 is unlike any other horror movie, given that it was filmed inside a real-life abandoned mental hospital in Massachusetts. The dark and eerie premises, once known as the Danvers State Hospital, opened in 1878 and soon became infamous for being “one of the most inhumane” asylums in America. To add to the unsettling ambiance, the majority of props in the film were already present inside the building.

Official production notes report that actor Dave Caruso saw “something pass my window” while filming inside the dilapidated building: “I didn’t want to tell anybody because people would start looking at me strangely,” said Caruso. Actor Peter Mullan reported strange happenings while filming on the roof. According to Mullan, a voice in his head told him to jump off “to see what would happen.” Mullan went on to state that the hospital brought out a morbid kind of “overactive curiosity.” Fortunately, the ruins of the asylum were demolished in 2007.^[7]

3 The Conjuring

During the making of The Conjuring—based on Ed and Lorraine Warren’s 1971 investigation of a haunted Rhode Island farmhouse—the cast and crew found themselves experiencing their own paranormal frights. According to Warner Bros. production notes, people on set would be encircled by gusts of wind that had no effect on their surroundings, such as the leaves on a tree. Every time screenwriters Chad and Carey Hayes called Lorraine to discuss the case, static interrupted their conversation, unlike any other calls that were made.

During early production, everyone had to evacuate their hotel after a fire mysteriously broke out. Director James Wan had sleepless nights when his dog would growl incessantly while tracking something across the room that wasn’t there. Perhaps the most jarred by the experience was actress Vera Farmiga who found five claw marks slashed across the screen of her laptop. “I don’t know how to explain it,” the actress said. “I do know I hadn’t dropped the computer, and my children hadn’t stepped on it. So I gingerly closed it, put it away, and then my brain just went berserk.” During the entirety of the shoot, Farmiga refused to read the script at home or at night and only in “fits and spurts, lest she be overwhelmed by fear.”^[8]

2 Crimson Peak

In 2009, Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was scouting filming locations in New Zealand for the Hobbit trilogy when he came upon the Waitomo Caves Hotel. The grand Victorian-style mansion built in 1908 was completely empty due to the off-season. Being a ghost aficionado, del Toro convinced the owners to open their doors, given its reputation for being haunted. Later that night, the director heard blood-curdling screams and whimpering coming from a vent leading to an empty room.

According to the director, “I heard a horrible murder being committed in the room. I was actually terrified. I didn’t sleep at all that night. What was strange was the next morning, I was not tired, but I was wired and scared. I never imagined having those fears. It was absolutely terrifying.” Interestingly enough, del Toro’s petrifying experience became the inspiration for his 2015 film Crimson Peak. “There is the moment where you hear a murder in the bathtub,” del Toro said. “It comes directly from that moment in New Zealand.”^[9]

1 Poltergeist

The Poltergeist franchise (1982-1988) is perhaps best remembered for the bizarre real-life occurrences surrounding the actors than the trilogy itself. Over a six-year period, the franchise saw four deaths from the cast, most notably Heather O’Rourke, who died at the age of 12 from septic shock in 1988. Six years earlier, Dominique Dunne (who played O’Rourke’s older sister) was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. Julian Beck (Kane, the evil reverend) died of stomach cancer in 1985, followed by Will Sampson (Taylor, the Medicine Man) in 1987 from post-operative kidney failure.

Nearly two decades later, Lou Perryman (“Pugsley” in the 1982 original film) was brutally hacked to death with an ax in his own home. Known as the “Poltergeist Curse,” many believe the use of real skeletons in the first film was the cause of such horrific happenings. Could it be that the spirits of the deceased whose bones were used as props cast a curse on the franchise, or is it just an awful coincidence?^[10]

You’ve probably heard of haunted houses and haunted hotels. You might even have heard about a haunted castle or two. But have you ever heard about a haunted mine? While deadly gasses have overtaken some ghost mines, others remain completely untouched for the enterprising explorer.

Some people believe ghost miners remain behind because they have unfinished business to attend to on Earth before moving on. Others believe there’s no evidence that ghosts actually exist. And while we’d love nothing more than an opportunity to clear up this debate once and for all. We’re going ahead with our original plan: listing some places where you can expect some ghostly activity.

Here are 10 ghost mines from around the world.

10 Lambi Dehar Mines

The Lambi Dehar mines, Mussoorie Range, was the first iron ore mine in India and is in the Nagar district of Uttarakhand. The workers who lived near the mine died coughing up blood because of a lung disorder caused by the poisonous gasses coming out of the mines. Children of miners would play hide and seek in the mines, and they also contracted lung disease. They abandoned the mines after being shut down in 1995.

There are stories that people who have gone into these mines have never returned. If you have plans to visit this place, then make sure you go with a group of people and are not alone. Because you might get lost inside the tunnels and not be able to find a way out.^[1]

9 Ringwood Mine

The Ringwood mine is in the town of Ringwood, New Jersey, and was once one of the largest producers of iron in the world. The mine has been abandoned since the early 1900s, but it’s still open to tourists who want to explore its dark depths.

During its time as an active mine, thousands of workers labored in dangerous conditions, and many lost their lives due to cave-ins and other accidents. The mine was also known for its poor working conditions and low pay rate. Miners were expected to work in unsafe conditions for less than a dollar per day.

Many locals claim they’ve seen paranormal activity here, such as hearing footsteps or voices coming from inside the abandoned mines. Some even say they see ghosts walking around their homes with lanterns in hand. Visitors claim to have heard footsteps, voices, or whispers while exploring this place.^[2]

8 Oaks Mining Pit

Oak’s Pit is an abandoned mine near Barnsley, West Riding, England. The pit was the site of one of the worst mining disasters in British history, when 361 men, boys, and rescuers died during two days of explosions on December 12, 1866.

It was firedamp—the gases commonly found in mines, usually coalbed methane—igniting that caused the first explosion, which resulted in an underground fire that raged for several days. The exposition would go on for two days, destroying all wooden supports and equipment in the area. About 100 tons of coal collapsed into a crater at the mouth of the shaft.

A few years ago, a team of paranormal investigators visited this site to uncover some information about what happened here so many years ago. They hoped they might communicate with any spirits who may still linger around these old tunnels and shafts. The team concluded that the land itself was cursed.^[3]

7 Tonopah Mining Park

The Tonopah Mining District in the western part of the Wrangell Mountains is now a museum. The park has many historic buildings that were used during the glory days of the early 1900s silver rush. These buildings include a hospital, assay office, blacksmith shop, bunkhouse, and more. There are guides that can tell you about how the miners lived, worked, and played during their time in Tonopah, Nevada.

Many ghost stories are associated with this region because of its history. Some say that prospectors who died in an avalanche or a cave-in haunted it. Others say that Indian spirits haunt it to scare people away.

The mineshaft has been restored so visitors can see what it was like for miners working underground. It is also possible to take part in a guided walking ghost tour at night, where you are taken into dark buildings and told stories about ghosts that others have seen over the years.^[4]

6 Sterling Hill Mine

Located in Ogdensburg, New Jersey, the Sterling Hill mine is one of the most popular ghost mines in America. The mine is over 2,500 feet (762 meters) deep and has a network of tunnels that span 35 miles (56 kilometers).

In 1897, the Sterling Hill Mining Company started mining operations at the site, hoping to find zinc or iron deposits. Unfortunately for them, their search did not meet those expectations—but not before it cost many miners’ lives! Throughout its 90 years of operation, the mine saw nearly 77 deaths from accidents and explosions.

Visitors to the Sterling Hill Mine have reported several paranormal experiences. They claim to have heard footsteps, voices, whispers, and even an apparition of a miner carrying a lantern. Some visitors even claim that unseen hands have touched or pushed them. Sterling Hill Mine has a variety of haunted tours available online that people can indulge in.^[5]

5 Vulture Gold Mine

The Vulture mine opened in 1863 and was one of the first to produce gold in Arizona. It was also one of the most prolific mines in the state, producing millions’ worth of ore by 1946. When it closed in 1917, it was one of the richest mines in the Southwest. The mine reopened during World War II when it produced $2 million worth of gold from 1942 to 1944. The mine closed again after World War II ended.

Paranormal investigators from the Travel Channel reality show Ghost Adventures visited the site during a season and were chased out by locals saying they would die if they went back there again.

They were only able to spend an hour inside before being chased out by locals who said they were trespassing on sacred land. In addition to seeing apparitions inside the mine, Zak says he heard what sounded like gunshots coming from above during his investigation on one of the upper levels of the mine shaft.^[6]

4 Nenthead Mines

Nenthead mines are a series of abandoned mines in the Lake District, United Kingdom. The mine was opened in 1737 and closed in 1961. They used it for lead, zinc, and copper extraction. The mine is near the village of Nenthead, Cumbria.

Many poor workers died in these mines because of explosions and the horrid accidents that happened here. They abandoned the mine after the first time it happened, but when it opened again in 1864, more deaths occurred. The mine closed for good in 1868 because they were losing too many workers and dwindling lead deposits.

There are stories of haunting at Nenthead over the years, with reports of ghosts and strange events, such as footsteps being heard inside empty cottages. Some people say they have even seen a ghostly priest roaming around the village. The place has been explored by many paranormal researchers, but no one has been successful in finding any evidence of ghostly activity so far.^[7]

3 Geevor Tin Mine

The Geevor tin mine in Cornwall was one of the last active tin mines in Cornwall and the last to close down. The mine opened in 1911 and closed its doors for good in 1990. At one time, it was the largest tin mine in Europe and held a significant place for years.

The mine is accessible by foot, but it’s not recommended because there are many hazardous holes and cracks in the ground. This place is considered to be haunted because of its history and the stories about ghosts that have been told.

The stories about paranormal activity at this site are many, with some claiming to see or hear ghosts of miners who lost their lives there. These “ghost miners” died at work or were killed by accidents while trying to escape the dangerous situations underground.^[8]

2 Atlas Coal Mine

The Atlas coal mine, located in Alberta, Canada, opened in 1936 and closed down in 1979. The mine was used to produce bituminous coal, primarily for electricity generation and heating purposes.

The mine had two shafts, which were both connected by a tunnel at their base. The owners of the mines also built housing facilities for their employees and families. They even built a school, library, and hospital. Some buildings are still standing even though the mine was closed in 1979.

It is said that about eight people died inside this old abandoned mine. There are many legends surrounding this haunted ghost town and its history. Many people who have ventured into this ghost town have reported seeing strange lights inside the building or hearing strange noises coming from within its walls.^[9]

1 Black Diamond Mines

The Black Diamond mine is a ghost town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. It is located within the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the United States Forest Service.

Black Diamond was once a mining town with several hundred residents, but today only one family remains. The town was named “Black Diamond” because of the enormous amounts of coal it produced. Established by miners in 1857, Black Diamond was first known as the Mount Diablo Coalfield.

The site has been inhabited since before Gold Rush times and was once used as a staging point on the pack trail between Truckee and Reno. There have been many ghost sightings around the graves of miners who died while working in the Black Diamond mines. Several people have reported seeing apparitions in the cemetery at night. Some say they’ve heard voices coming from inside the grave site when no one is there. Others claim that they have seen shadows move along the ground while they were driving past the road below.^[10]

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, it left behind many remnants of its existence. The ex-Soviet states are dotted with abandoned villages, mines, factories, and sometimes even whole cities.

Here are 10 of the most interesting ghost cities the Soviet Union left behind.

10 Kadykchan

Kadykchan, once a thriving coal mining town, is now a collection of burned-out houses. The city was founded by gulag inmates in the 1940s. The town was soon discovered to have coal, which made it a desirable site for a settlement. The town grew, and by the late 1970s, it had a population of over 10,000.

Unfortunately, the decline of the Soviet Union had a devastating effect on the coal industry, and the town’s population dwindled. At its peak, the town housed nearly 11,000 people. But after the 1990s, coal prices began to decline, forcing it to close its mines. In 1996, a mine explosion killed six people, decreasing the population to under 300. By the early 2000s, the town was only home to a handful of residents. Visiting Kadykchan in winter can feel like a visit to a lost world. The ruins of decayed Soviet apartments and abandoned children’s playgrounds still stand on the town square.

When a huge coal deposit was discovered in Far East Siberia, the Soviet government used gulag workers to build the town and a highway, which became known as the Road of Bones. Kadykchan is completely isolated from both eastern and western Russia, and it takes at least three days to reach the nearest city center. In addition, the Kolyma highway is impassable for most of the year.^[1]

9 Skrunda-1

The abandoned Skrunda-1 military complex was once a thriving community. Unfortunately, it has fallen into ruins over the years. Several attempts have been made to repurpose the site for tourism, such as developing an industrial park. However, the site is currently under military control, so it is not possible for civilians to visit.

Skrunda-1 was first built in 1963. As a secret military installation, it was a site with a vast array of buildings and underground bunker networks. At its height, the area was home to over 5,000 Soviet soldiers and a thousand civilians. It contained two massive radars that scanned the sky to detect enemy intrusions. The complex included many buildings, including schools, factories, and barracks.

Skrunda-1 has now slipped into complete isolation. After Latvia received its 7.5 billion euro bailout from the European Union in 2008, the government was forced to auction the property. The government paid €12,000 for the town, which was significantly less than the price at previous auctions. The local government unanimously approved the purchase.^[2]

8 Neftegorsk

The quake that ripped through Neftegorsk on May 28, 1995, was the worst earthquake in modern Russian history. The quake’s magnitude was 7.6 on the Richter scale, and according to official statistics, at least 2,040 people died—more than half of the town’s residents. The city was decimated, with nearly everything destroyed; only the chapel, a cemetery, and a memorial remained.

The city was once thriving. But as the tar sands were sucked out of the earth by the prospectors, it deteriorated. Thousands of people were displaced.^[3]

7 Mologa

The relocation of the city of Mologa was a four-year project. Earlier, two nearby regions protested, imposing delays. As a result, the central government’s funding for the project dried up before the town could be relocated.

The historic town of Mologa was flooded by Stalin in 1935 to make way for a hydroelectric power station. The city’s history goes back to the 12th century, and it was an important trading post between the Baltic Sea and Asia. But the Soviet Union had other plans. They wanted to build the Rybinsk Reservoir, a hydroelectric power station. As a result, more than 130,000 residents were forced to relocate from the city, and there are reports that over 300 of them drowned.

Today, the town’s residents still gather in the nearby town of Rybinsk in mid-August to celebrate the Day of Mologa. The town’s ruins occasionally appear when the lake’s levels are low. Aerial photographs show streets emerging from the lakebed.^[4]

6 Wunsdorf

The Wunsdorf complex is located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) outside Berlin. Originally, the area was a Prussian shooting range. Later, it became the headquarters of the German armed forces. During World War II, the Nazis also used the complex as a military command center. The 60,000-acre 242-square-kilometer) complex became one of the largest military bases in Europe. When the Soviets took control of the town in 1945, Wunsdorf was closed. It then housed up to fifty thousand Soviets. Wunsdorf was the largest Soviet military camp outside of the Soviet Union. There were schools, shops, hospitals, and leisure facilities. Wunsdorf became known as “Little Moscow,” as there were daily trains to and from the Soviet capital.

By the time of the Berlin Wall collapse, the town’s population had fallen from 60,000 to just six thousand. The Soviet troops stationed in the town were called home after the fall of the Wall. The resulting chaos was exacerbated by the uncertainty of the soldiers, who had no idea where they were heading or whether they would be able to find housing. Some of them even bought buses to use as shelter.

While Wunsdorf-Waldstadt is now a thriving town, it’s still a strange post-apocalyptic landscape. Some buildings have been swallowed up by the forest, while others have been refurbished and used as homes. There is a real struggle to keep the structures that remain in the town usable. Now, a local government company is looking for investors who want to restore the buildings to reuse them for educational purposes.^[5]

5 Veszprem

The city of Veszprem was captured by Soviet troops during the Vienna Offensive during World War II. During the Cold War, Veszprem served as a major base for Soviet helicopters. The buildings at the airfield were built in the 1930s and were expanded by the Soviets during the 1980s. They have not been restored to their former glory, but you can still see the massive buildings that once filled the base.

Veszprem was home to several Soviet units, including a tank division and an armored training regiment. There was also a paratroop battalion, a chemical defense battalion, and an SGF NCO training school. In all, there were 10,400 Soviet troops stationed in Hungary at the time.^[6]

4 Irbene, Latvia

A Russian astronomer and his wife traveled 186 miles (300 kilometers) from Riga to Irbene, Latvia, to visit the largest radio telescope in Northern Europe. On their way, they discovered that the city was now a ghost town. Cafes and power plants stood abandoned. However, the buildings of the abandoned Soviet town were still in good shape when the Russian military left. There were still a few Soviet buildings, and the utilities and sewers were still functioning.

The Soviets abandoned the town in 1993. However, the radio telescope remains there, and you can even climb up near the huge dish, which is the largest in Northern Europe. But you can only visit the facility if you have a special permit.

The secret military base was more than 494 acres (200 hectares) and was used by the military unit 51429. The antennas were used to listen to phone calls in a wide area and even to communicate with enemies of the Soviet Union. The smallest antenna measured a diameter of 32.5 feet (10 meters) and was used to listen to incoming calls.^[7]

3 Klomino

Klomino, Poland, is a former Soviet-era ghost town. Though the town is currently abandoned, it was once a Soviet prison camp. Today, the town has a population of only five and no rail or bus connections. There are also no shops and no place to eat. The town has mostly been looted.

The Soviet Union occupied the village in 1945 and renamed it Grodek. Though the village did not appear on Polish maps, it was home to over 6,000 Soviet soldiers. In 1993, after the Soviet Union collapsed, the Polish military took over and began the process of selling the village. However, the Polish military was forced to leave the town after just one year because nobody wanted to purchase it, and the local authorities lacked funds for its upkeep.

Today, the only numerous residents of Klomino are the local ghosts. It is possible to walk through the empty buildings of the former Soviet Army. There are no tourist shops and no buses in the town. While it may be hard to imagine living in such a place, the few human residents are very happy despite the isolation.^[8]

2 Vozrozhdeniya Island

In 1948, Vozrozhdeniya Island, once an unassuming island in the Soviet Union, was turned into a top-secret biological weapons research facility. The island’s former village of Kantubek was turned into the military town of Aralsk-7, and laboratories were built on the island’s southern side. In this facility, scientists tested out the most lethal pathogens ever created.

In the southern part of Vozrozhdeniya Island, the Soviets built an open-air test site to study the dissemination of bio-weapon agents and methods to detect them. The testing grounds were equipped with detectors spaced at 0.6-mile (one-kilometer) intervals. The tests included anthrax, brucellosis, the plague, and typhus.

The Vozrozhdeniya Island test site remained operational even after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Eventually, the evacuation of the remaining Russian military personnel took place. In the years since, the site has fallen into disrepair and has been taken apart by scavengers. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. and Uzbek governments joined forces to thoroughly clean up the island and ensure no residual pathogens remained. As the Aral sea continues to dry up, Vozrozhdeniya Island has now become a peninsula shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.^[9]

1 Tskaltubo

Tskaltubo was once a fashionable Soviet destination that drew party elites, military personnel, and even Joseph Stalin himself. The decaying hotels, bath houses, and sanitoriums that dot the landscape now appeal to new, more adventurous visitors. The resort’s past is reflected in its ruins, with many buildings depicting Georgian motifs and patriotic symbols.

Tskaltubo has a radon spring that is believed to have healing powers. Stalin ordered the health resort to become the largest balneological center in the Soviet Union. In fact, the Soviet Union built 19 sanatoriums in the city between the 1930s and 1950s. These sanatoriums would become a symbol of the Stalinist style of architecture.^[10]

In the USA, ghost towns are primarily associated with the Old West. The idea is mostly that a town sprung up next to a mine or as part of some other form of speculation, and then eventually the business opportunity dried up and forced everyone to move away.

Around the world, the reality is very different. Communities have been abandoned for reasons that have nothing to do with economic busts, sometimes so quickly that personal belongings are left strewn about the house. Let’s trot the globe to those abandoned places that are often as fascinating as they are tragic.

10. Bodie

Bodie was named in honor of W.S. Bodey, a miner who found gold in 1859, and thus began a minor gold rush years after California’s most famous gold rush had died down. The town was founded in 1861, its namesake having frozen to death the prior winter. Bodie became the site of its own rush in 1875, when a mine collapse revealed a rich vein of gold. While Bodie is hardly as famous as San Francisco or Los Angeles today, for a time it looked like it might go on to be a major metropolis since, in 1880, it was the third largest city in California with 10,000 people. It was so cash rich that there were 200 restaurants and 65 saloons. It was also a rough crowd, and there were rumors the town endured six shootings a week.  

By the 1890s, the gold supply and population had already begun to dwindle. Adding to its troubles, a fire broke out in 1892 and burned down much of the town. By 1917, Bodie was so dead that its rail lines were raided for scrap. Then in 1932 another major fire burned much of the town down. Officially the town’s mine was killed off in 1942 when all mining not essential for WWII was banned. 

Still, in 1962, since the town was cleared out so completely, it was designated a preserved historical site, which ironically turned it into a tourist boom town again with as many as 1,000 visitors a day in summer. The winter, though, is a very different story. They get so severe in Bodie that in 1999 it was the coldest recorded spot in America 71 times, the largest number of anywhere that year. Even the hardiest snowmobilers will hesitate to put up with that. 

9. Ordaur-sur-Glane

In the wake of the Allied Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, the Wehrmacht massively stepped up its operations to put down French partisan activity. Ordaur-sur-Glane was one target in the sights of the 2nd Panzer Division, whose leader was freshly arrived from the Eastern Front, where standard procedure in the wake of a partisan attack was to kill thousands of civilians in reprisal whether or not they had anything to do with the attack. On June 10, 1944, the SS arrived in the town, where the population was 650 — roughly half of them newly arrived refugees. The soldiers gathered the population in the town square, then placed the women and children into the town church and set fire to it, including throwing in grenades. All but eight of the other residents were gunned down, with the rest of the village being looted before being put to the torch. Unusually for World War II atrocities, there was a subsequent public outrage that the Wehrmacht attempted to address with a farce of an investigation and a show trial, which inevitably concluded that the atrocity had been justified. 

In 1946, the mostly destroyed town was set to be preserved as a historical site by the French government. Ordaur-sur-Glane became so prominent an event that references were made to the massacre during the Nuremberg trials. Even as late as 2013, the German government was considering reopening the cases against the SS officers involved. 

8. Craco

More than 1,400 years is a good run for any community. Craco, a village carved out of rock in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata, was founded in the 6th Century AD. It endured such crises as raids and the Black Death. What ultimately did it in was a series of earthquakes and landquakes through the 1950s and 1960s that left the village utterly unstable. The government wasn’t willing to risk the roughly 1,800 citizens being crushed or plummeting to their deaths and moved them out, a difficult process which left many of them essentially refugees in tent cities for years. 

Given that the village is still there more than half a century later, that may have seemed premature, though who knows how much more wear and tear those citizens going about their business would have added to the terrain over the years. The feeling is further reinforced by the fact the village hosts biannual festivals. Not to mention that it was judged sufficiently safe that movie productions such as The Passion of the Christ partially took place there. Who knows how many of the displaced residents want to move back now. 

7. Hashima Island

Considering that it is situated off the coast of the infamous city of Nagasaki, it’s not surprising that Hashima Island is overshadowed. In the 1850s, the island was revealed to be a rich coal mine, and it attracted miners willing to go 2,000 feet under the earth. It was such a business hotspot that it attracted 5,000 people, which might not sound like many but considering that it’s a sixteen acre island that made it for a time the most densely populated location on Earth. It should be noted that many of the miners were prisoners of war from Korea and the UK. It wasn’t until 1974 that the coal mine went dry, and in short order everyone left the island town to crumble. 

Not to say that people stopped caring about it. Japan also tried to get the island declared a UNESCO Heritage site in 2006. Considering its history of slavery, it was a surprise to many that the application was approved in 2015. Today the site accepts tourists from Nagasaki, even though much of it is considered too structurally unsound for visitors.

6. Wittenoom

Speaking of ghost towns being unsafe, this Western Australia mining town about 500 miles from Perth was founded in 1950. At its height there were roughly 20,000 residents. It lasted until 1966, when it turned out that the asbestos mine that the company town sprung up to support was filling the air with so many toxins that an estimated 300 miners died from mesothelioma. The government shut down the mine and the population rapidly dropped off. Despite the evacuations, it wasn’t until 2007 that the town was struck from government maps.   

Despite the risks, as of March 2019 three people insisted on living in the town built for 20,000. What’s more, they would invite tourists to come see one of the most contaminated places in the Southern Hemisphere. Some tourists are even willing to go down into the deadly mine shafts. The government had to resort to expensive voluntary property buybacks to clear a few of them out, with costs for unsafe homes rising as high as $325,000, not to mention $50,000 for moving costs. If the threat of death by cancer isn’t enough to clear them out, money probably won’t do much better.    

5. Fordlandia

In 1926, Ford Motor Co. began work on a community deep in the Amazon Basin to grow and harvest its own rubber trees to ensure that the company’s rubber supply wasn’t vulnerable to trade embargoes. The town housed 5,000 people, of whom 3,000 were laborers. Within eight years, it would be abandoned by Ford.

Problems included, but were not limited to, the fact that the imported rubber trees were extremely vulnerable to all sorts of caterpillars, snails, and other pests of the Amazon to the point where the workers needed to try and pick them off by hand. Other animals caused more grievous harm, such as when a large river fish bit off the arm of the manager’s maid or when a jaguar carried off a baby. The homes the company constructed were prefabs built for the American Midwest and were much too hot and stuffy for the Amazon. Over the first three years, 28 Ford employees were buried in the town cemetery.

Meanwhile the local workers, being migratory people, were not eager to be tied down to the same grueling work for prolonged periods. Consequently most would work to receive high wages for a short period and leave, aside from the unhealthy and physically disabled that needed Fordlandia’s generous medical care. Fordlandia never came anywhere near its rubber production quota, and in 1945 Ford sold the land back to the government, having lost $7.8 million overall, though some sources put it as high as $20 million (the equivalent of over $200 million today). The Ford Company people were seemingly so eager to leave that they left behind many personal belongings, such as clothing. Who could blame them?  

4. Kolmanskop

When diamonds are so pervasive in a town that all someone has to do is sift through some nearby sand, it’s understandable to think that the supply will continue forever. In 1912, the mines in the Namibian city of Kolmanskop produced roughly 12% of the world’s diamond supply, which is especially impressive for a community where the population never went above 1,000. What had once been the kind of town that was founded because its namesake, John Coleman, abandoned his ox-cart there was changed forever when a Zecharia Lewala discovered the precious gems while doing railway work in 1908. The boom times ended unusually fast, and by 1930 the town’s mines had been picked clean, and by 1956 the last holdout had left the rapidly depleted town 

The fact the town ruins are located in sand dunes are turning out to be a little bit of a mixed blessing. On one hand, they’ve threatened the bury the town for a long time. On the other, the lack of vegetation and moisture has left the buildings so well-preserved that the paint on some of the walls is still brightly colored. It’s well-situated to be a long-lasting, if well hidden, time capsule.  

3. Tyneham

In December 1943 the 225 residents of this village near the Dorset Coast were ordered out because the Royal Armoured Corps Gunnery School wanted to expand its firing range, and this village was in the way. Even after the Great War ended the UK military claimed that they still needed the land for their firing range, and despite considerable protests the villagers were never allowed to move back. Despite the proximity to the firing range, the most significant form of structural damage the village suffered was a manor house being torn down so that the parts could be recycled. 

The village was noted as being unusually well preserved and producing a number of rare plants such as dark green fritillary due to lack of human activity, aside from tourists during military down times. Not that it is anywhere near perfectly preserved. In 2019 the Ministry of Defense closed tourist access to seven of the buildings since they had been judged unsafe. Hopefully the daredevil tourists who went to the Wittenoom asbestos mines don’t consider that a sort of challenge.  

2. Dhanushkodi 

For years, Dhanushkodi had the distinction of being near the only land border between India and Sri Lanka, specifically the southeastern section of Pamban Island. It also was near a location that possessed a bridge significant to Hindu history. It was a highly successful fishing community of several thousand. This success came to an abrupt end in 1964 when the community was hit by a cyclone, a night that left as many as 1,800 people dead. The village was left to the elements, and some of what used to be the village is now submerged as the sand eroded. 

Because of the village’s religious significance, many people wanted to visit the devastated town. Pilgrims that wish to perform a ritual of walking out into the ocean water and saying prayers have come in groups numbering as many as 1,200. As far as permanent residents are concerned, only a few fishing families cut off from modern amenities want to risk being in the path of another cyclone.  

1. Pripyat

It’s the most famous community that was evacuated in the wake of the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl Disaster. On the day after the core of the nuclear plant exploded, nearly 50,000 people were cleared out, a bit under half the people that used to live in the thousand square miles that comprise the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the area the government determined was still unsafe to live in. Due to the abruptness of the evacuation, the city became a particularly eerie place where numerous possessions, even half-finished meals, were merely left in an uncanny state as if their owners had simply winked out of existence. Since the radiation left the city so unsafe to visit, only the most daring could take photos of its creepy vistas.   

At least, that’s how it used to be. In recent years, Pripyat has become relatively lively with visitors, many of whom are quite obnoxious about it. The city has many instances of obscene graffiti that have been added in recent years, along with such curious rituals as people putting lockets around metal poles. Despite its harrowing content, the 2019 HBO/Sky coproduction Chernobyl actually increased visitors to the city. 

Even before curious people flocked to Pripyat, there was a small group that refused to stay away after the evacuation. The Exclusion Zone is estimated to be home to roughly 200 villagers. Few young people who leave the Exclusion Zone for education are willing to ever return, a situation likely all too relatable for many of our readers who live in rural communities.  

Dustin Koski is also one of the authors of A Tale of Magic Gone Wrong, a story about a village in danger of becoming a ghost town because everyone turned into monsters.