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.

10 unsettling real stories unfold every day, yet most of us never hear about them until they surface in a shocking news report or go viral online. From bizarre tragedies to chilling mysteries, these accounts will linger in your thoughts long after you finish reading.

Why 10 unsettling real Stories Matter

10 Woman Stuck In Chair For Months

On 16 February 2017, a volunteer from an Ohio church dialed 911, reporting that a 75‑year‑old woman he’d cared for over ten years was acting strangely and refusing to leave a particular chair in her home.

When officers arrived at Barbara Foster’s residence in Springfield Township, they were met with a nightmarish sight: the 550‑pound woman was literally fused to the chair, her skin adhering to the fabric. It appeared she had been confined to that seat for at least a year, and as rescuers lifted her, her fragile bones began to fracture.

The house reeked of decay, a tell‑tale sign of Barbara’s hoarding habits, with the odor so potent it drifted onto the sidewalk before she could be freed.

After a left‑leg amputation at the hospital, Barbara lingered for a month before succumbing to her injuries in March 2017.

9 Suicide Forest Is Eerily Silent

Aokigahara, a dense Japanese woodland, draws both hikers and those seeking a final escape, making it the world’s second‑most popular suicide spot after the Golden Gate Bridge.

Local lore claims the forest is haunted by the spirits of those who never leave, and some even speak of a bird‑like demon called Tengu roaming among the trees.

What truly chills visitors is the profound silence that blankets the forest, a result of the thick canopy and underlying lava floor that absorbs even the loudest screams, leaving travelers with an unsettling, muffled void.

8 Infestation By The Thousands

In October 2007, Brian and Susan Trost moved into their dream home in Weldon Spring, Missouri, only to discover brown recluse spiders crawling everywhere. Susan even watched one plummet from the ceiling into her shower, barely missing her.

The couple filed insurance claims and sued the previous owner after repeated exterminator visits and pesticide applications failed. By 2012, the house was practically oozing spiders, with an estimated 5,000 crawling the walls. Forced to abandon the property, the Trosts watched it go into foreclosure.

Even after the family left, the vacant house remained overrun; by 2014, the arachnid infestation persisted despite the absence of human occupants.

7 The Voices Won’t Stop

Children often create imaginary friends to cope with loneliness, but for some, these companions become all too real. Roughly one in twelve youngsters experience persistent auditory hallucinations.

In 2018, 21‑year‑old Laura Moulding told the BBC she’d been hearing voices since age three. The constant chatter included male, female, adult, and child tones, surrounding her day and night.

As a toddler, Laura heard a lion and bear from a TV show proclaim, “I’m coming to get you,” over and over, terrifying her. By fifteen, the voices grew so oppressive that she began self‑harm to silence their cruel messages.

Eventually, doctors diagnosed her with severe depression accompanied by psychotic symptoms, including hallucinations and delusions.

6 Where Is Pedro Alonso López?

In 1980, Ecuadorian police arrested Pedro Alonso López after he tried to lure a 12‑year‑old girl from a market. This incident came just days after a mass grave of 53 young girls was uncovered nearby.

López confessed to murdering 300 girls, posing as a lost salesman to gain their trust before raping and killing them, claiming his motive was to send them to heaven.

Shockingly, he received only a 16‑year sentence, serving 14 years before release in 1994. After a brief re‑arrest for illegal immigration, he was deported to Colombia, where a later murder conviction led to a mental‑asylum stint and another release in 1998. As of 2020, his whereabouts remain unknown, fueling speculation about his possible ongoing crimes.

5 The Stone Baby

In 1955, 26‑year‑old Zahra Aboutalib endured a grueling 48‑hour labor before being rushed to a Moroccan hospital. There, she witnessed another woman die in excruciating pain during childbirth, prompting Zahra to flee back home in terror.

After her pain subsided, Zahra lived a normal life—adopting three children and eventually becoming a grandmother. Nearly five decades later, she experienced sharp abdominal pain again. An ultrasound revealed a mysterious mass, and an MRI identified it as a calcified fetus.

Doctors discovered the baby had developed ectopically, growing from her fallopian tube into her stomach, where it hardened into a stone‑like mass. A four‑hour surgery finally removed the “stone baby,” cementing Zahra’s place in medical folklore.

4 Starvation Led To Cannibalism

In 2013, archaeologists digging at the Jamestown Colony uncovered a grim tableau of human cannibalism during the harsh winter of 1609. While animal remains had already been documented, newly found bones told a darker tale.

The skeletal remains belonged to a 14‑year‑old English girl who bore multiple blunt‑force injuries to the head, splitting her skull in half. A penetrating wound to her left temple suggested a knife was used to extract brain tissue and facial flesh for consumption.

Experts agree the girl was dismembered and eaten, though it remains unclear whether a single individual or multiple participants carried out the gruesome act.

3 I Don’t Want To Work For Mickey Anymore

While countless conspiracy theories swirl around Disney, some real‑world events lend a chilling edge. In 2010, two Disneyland Paris employees took their own lives. One, a 37‑year‑old restaurant manager with a wife and four children, left a scratched note on his wall reading, “I don’t want to work for Mickey anymore.”

The second employee ended his life by leaping in front of a train a month earlier. Investigations linked both deaths to a toxic work environment under new management, which reportedly drove employees to despair.

2 Don’t Look Behind The Walls

In 2015, a Schuylkill County family hired insulation installers for a room in their Auburn home, only to uncover a macabre secret behind the drywall: multiple dead animal carcasses wrapped in newspapers dating back to the 1930s and 1940s.

The family, who had previously discovered one or two animal remains since 2012, found the latest cache far more extensive. Their home inspection had missed the hidden horrors, and insurance refused to cover the costly removal of the remains, spices, and other artifacts.

Consulting a Kutzn‑area expert revealed the items were part of a Dutch magical ritual intended to heal disease. To address the lingering threat, the family launched a GoFundMe campaign to fund further wall removal and ensure no more hidden remains remain.

1 Serial Killer Lair

In March 2014, Catrina McGhaw signed a lease on a North County ranch house, unaware that her landlord, Sandra Travis, was the mother of notorious serial killer Maury Travis.

Months later, while watching a true‑crime documentary with a friend, they were startled to see the very house they occupied featured in crime‑scene photographs. Maury Travis had constructed several torture chambers in the basement, using the property to store corpses.

Disturbed, Catrina demanded to be released from the lease. Sandra initially refused, but after intervention from the St. Louis Housing Authority, the contract was rescinded. Maury Travis ultimately took his own life before facing charges for at least 17 murders.

England is next up in the series where we take a look at some of the most intriguing mysteries from a country’s dark and bewildering history. Aliens, ghost ships, unsolved murders, poltergeists, unexplained disappearances, they can all be found right here.

10. The Balham Mystery

The death of Charles Bravo became preserved in London lore as Murder at the Priory, or sometimes the Balham Mystery. In April 1876, a well-to-do lawyer died after several days of suffering, following what multiple physicians concluded was a clear case of antimony poisoning. So then, naturally, the new question became “Who killed him? And why?”

At the time, Bravo had only recently married a woman named Florence Campbell. Before her marriage, she had had a scandalous affair with an older, married doctor. Her reputation in Victorian society wasn’t exactly spotless so, in the eyes of many, she became the obvious suspect. But then again, she was the rich one in the marriage so, if money was the motive, then it was Bravo who should have been trying to poison her. And that is actually what some people believed – they thought that he intended to kill Florence and ingested some poison by mistake, thinking it was genuine medicine. 

Other popular suspects included the doctor who used to have an affair with Florence Campbell, a disgruntled coachman that Bravo had recently fired, and Mrs. Jane Cox, Florence’s companion whom Bravo had also threatened with dismissal. All were plausible, but the true identity of the poisoner remains unknown to this day.

9. The Enfield Poltergeist

One night in August 1977, Peggy Hodgson called the police to her home in Enfield to report hearing strange noises and objects being knocked over. She didn’t know at the time that she was about to launch one of the biggest paranormal sensations in English history.

Her haunting became known as the Enfield poltergeist and it seemed to center around two of her daughters, 12-year-old Margaret and 11-year-old Janet. Dozens of people unrelated to the Hodgsons ended up reporting various strange happenings such as hearing sudden noises and disembodied voices, seeing drawers and doors open by themselves, while tables and chairs moved on their own across the floor.

So was it genuine? Well, most paranormal investigators thought so, which isn’t really surprising. Also not surprising was that plenty of skeptics dismissed the whole case as nothing but the antics of two clever and bored girls, which were then sensationalized by newspapers looking for a good story. Decades after the fact, Janet admitted to faking some of the alleged phenomena with her sister, although she insisted that most of it had still been genuine.

Like with most of these cases, the paranormal activity stopped suddenly in 1979, but the legend of the Enfield poltergeist still lived on long after that.

8. The Vanishing of Mary Flanagan

The disappearance of Mary Flanagan has the ignoble distinction of being Scotland Yard’s oldest missing persons case. On New Year’s Eve, 1959, the London teenager left her home in West Ham to attend a party at her workplace. When her parents realized that she did not return home the following day, they went to the refinery where the 16-year-old worked and were dismayed to discover that she never showed up to the party that night. Mary Flanagan had last been seen heading for the metro station before she vanished, never to be heard from again.

An investigation revealed that Mary had called in sick and not showed up for work for the last two weeks. This actually gave her family hope that her disappearance had been planned, and that instead of something sinister happening to Mary, she ran away with her boyfriend. Her family knew a bit about him – his first name was Tom, he was an Irish immigrant and he may have worked as a stoker for the merchant navy. His last name could have been McGinty, except that there was no Tom McGinty employed by the navy.

Even if Mary Flanagan ran away with her boyfriend, it still seemed unlikely that she would not reach out to her family in the decades that followed. That is why police were reluctant to dismiss her as simply a “typical teenage runaway,” and why the case was officially reopened in 2013, hoping that modern technologies and policing methods might yield new clues. So far, no luck…

7. Who Shot Robert Pakington?

While we’re talking about dubious honors, we should also mention Robert Pakington, possibly the first handgun murder victim in the history of London, killed almost 500 years ago.

Pakington was a merchant involved with the Worshipful Company of Mercers and a Member of Parliament. He was also a big critic of the clergy which, at the time, placed him at odds with the Catholics and in the favor of the Protestants. Anyway, on the morning of November 13, 1536, Pakington was on his way to church when somebody shot him dead. Although plenty of people heard the booming noise, the identity of the killer was concealed by a heavy mist that had set over London that day. 

Pakington became regarded as somewhat of a martyr, and many people accused the clergy of being behind his murder. Several names have been put forward, but chroniclers of that time could not agree on the identity of the culprit, which will likely remain a mystery forever.

6. The Truths and Falsehoods of Elizabeth Canning

Back in 1753, an 18-year-old maid named Elizabeth Canning made her appearance in a deplorable state, with a shocking story to tell. She had been missing for a month, time during which she said that she had been held prisoner in a brothel, being restrained and denied food unless she agreed to work as a prostitute. Eventually, Canning managed to escape and returned to her mother’s home.

After telling her story to outraged friends, neighbors, and family members, Elizabeth took the police to the house where she had been imprisoned and identified her captors: two women named Susannah Wells and Mary Squires. They were arrested and Canning’s case was taken on by a prominent London magistrate named Henry Fielding. Bizarrely, back then assault was not as serious as theft, which carried with it the possibility of the death penalty, so Mary Squires was actually sentenced to death for stealing Elizabeth’s corset.

Not everyone was convinced by Canning’s story, and among the skeptics was Sir Crisp Gascoyne, the Lord Mayor of London, who decided to open his own investigation. He found witnesses who could testify in favor of Wells and Squires, as well as other witnesses who said they had been bullied into testifying for Canning by an angry mob of her supporters. The case took a dramatic new turn, as Elizabeth Canning now stood accused of perjury.  

This pretty much split the entire city in two camps: the Canning supporters who believed that she had been kidnapped, and the skeptics who thought that she made up the whole thing to conceal something scandalous, such as a secret birth or some kind of criminal plot.

In the end, Mary Squires was exonerated, and Elizabeth Canning was found guilty and sentenced to seven years’ transportation to America. There, she married and never returned to England, and the true story behind her disappearance still remains unknown.

5. The HMS Eurydice

The year 1878 saw one of England’s worst maritime disasters during peacetime when the Royal Navy corvette HMS Eurydice was caught in a snowstorm and sank off the Isle of Wight, during a return voyage from Bermuda, taking 281 men to their cold, watery graves. The wreckage was refloated later that same year, but it had been so badly damaged that, ultimately, it was decided to break it up.

However, that has not stopped sailors from seeing the HMS Eurydice, now as a ghost ship, still sailing the waters of the English Channel, particularly near Sandown Bay on the Isle of Wight. In the 140 years that have passed, there have been numerous sightings of the vessel, including in 1998 when Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, claimed to have spotted the ghost ship along with a film crew while making a documentary. 

And there was an even stranger encounter, reported by Commander Lipscomb during the 1930s. While he was in charge of a submarine around the Isle of Wight, he saw that he was on a collision course with an old-fashioned, full-rigged ship, and ordered immediate evasive maneuvers to avoid striking it. After the danger had passed, the ghost ship was nowhere to be seen.

4. The Ghosts of Hampton Court

It won’t surprise you to discover that England has loads of haunted places, from old castles, to inns and pubs, to roads that were once preyed upon by highwaymen. Today, we will only be looking at one location, but it is said to be one of the most haunted places in England, and it is also one of the biggest. It is Hampton Court Palace in London, the 500-year-old royal palace originally intended for the Archbishop of York, Thomas Wolsey, but used mainly by King Henry VIII.

There are several ghosts which allegedly make their residence at Hampton Court, and two of them used to be married to Henry VIII. The first is Jane Seymour, the king’s third wife, who died at Hampton Court during childbirth. People have reported seeing her on the Silverstick Stairs which led to the room where she passed away. The second apparition belongs to Catherine Howard, Henry’s fifth wife who was beheaded for adultery and treason when she was only 19 years old. Her ghost is a lot louder and angrier and can allegedly be heard screaming down the corridor, pleading with the king, the same way she did in life when she was arrested and taken to be executed.

Then there is also the third ghost known as the Grey Lady, believed to be Sybil Penn, a 16th century servant and wetnurse who died of smallpox. She appears to be the busiest of all the Hampton Court ghosts. People have reported seeing her and hearing her working on a spinning wheel numerous times since 1829, after her tomb was disturbed during renovations.

3. The Hoxton Horror

The most notorious mystery from Victorian London has to be the true identity of Jack the Ripper, but he was hardly the only one responsible for gruesome, unsolved murders at that time. Another case from around that era which is almost forgotten nowadays was dubbed by newspapers of the time as the “Hoxton Horror.” 

On July 10, 1872, mother and daughter Sarah and Christiana Squires were found murdered inside the stationery shop that they owned and ran. They both had been bludgeoned with a hammer or an iron bar, and the store was in complete disarray, seemingly the target of a robbery.

The biggest conundrum in the case seemed to be a disagreement over the time of the murders. Multiple witnesses claimed to have seen the mother and daughter between 9 and 11 a.m., and one witness was adamant that they saw Sarah Squires in the door of her shop at 12:30. However, inside the store, investigators found a broken clock which, presumably, had been knocked over during the fight and it had stopped at 12 p.m.

Authorities were never able to figure out this discrepancy. Was the witness simply wrong or did they see someone else by the door, perhaps even the killer? Police only had one solid suspect – Sarah Squires’ son – but he was locked up in an insane asylum at the time, so the Hoxton Horror went on to become another one of London’s unsolved mysteries.

2. The Rendlesham Forest Incident

England has had more than its fair share of UFO sightings, but none are more famous than the Rendlesham Forest Incident, sometimes referred to as “Britain’s Roswell.”

Forty years ago, something strange happened near the Woodbridge Royal Air Force station in Suffolk. At the time, it was being used by the US Air Force, and between the dates of December 26 and December 28, 1980, several members of personnel reported seeing strange, colorful lights moving through the forest, as well as a metallic, glowing object. When they investigated one morning, they found a glade with burn tree marks, broken branches everywhere, and three indentations in the ground in a triangular pattern.

The story gained steam a few years after the event, when the US Government released the memo written by deputy base commander Lt. Col. Charles Halt, which described the incident. Since then, it has become one of the most popular sightings among UFO enthusiasts.

As far as the skeptics were concerned, they put forward alternative explanations such as the lights coming from the Orfordness Lighthouse or from natural phenomena like a meteor or a bright star, but if the eyewitnesses are indeed telling the truth, then nothing accounts so far for all of the strange things they reported seeing.

1. Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?

On April 18, 1943, four young boys entered Hagley Woods in Worcestershire, looking for bird nests. One of them decided to climb a wych elm that looked promising, but he didn’t find any nests. Instead, inside the hollow trunk he saw a human skull.   

One of the boys told his parents who alerted the police. The following day, detectives and forensic experts were on the scene, and they recovered most of the skeleton of a young woman who had been murdered at least 18 months earlier. She appeared to be in her mid 30s and was about five feet tall. The victim had very protuberant teeth, which gave her a distinctive bite and this, in turn, gave authorities hope that she would soon be identified. However, the weeks turned into months, turned into years, and the identity of the woman was still a mystery.

Some of the popular theories said that the victim had been a prostitute, or a spy, and even a sacrifice in a witchcraft ritual.

The case took an unusual turn the following year, when a piece of graffiti appeared in Birmingham, which read “Who put Bella down the Wych Elm – Hagley Wood?” Was this a taunt from the killer and the woman was actually named Bella or simply a prank? Police looked into the new lead but again came up short. Ever since then, the graffiti keeps appearing on occasion, and while we may never find out who put Bella in the wych elm, at least it serves to remind people of one of England’s greatest wartime mysteries.