Everyone seems to know of at least one haunted house; as kids there was almost certainly one in our own neighbourhood. This list contains the most famous and most haunted places in the world. If you have had any experiences of a similar nature, feel free to tell us about it in the comments. I should add, before starting, that I am a skeptic; I have written this list for entertainment value.
1. Borley Rectory, Essex, England [Wikipedia]
The haunting of the Borley Rectory during the 1920s and 1930s, is undoubtedly one of the most famous in Britain, as well as being one of the most controversial. The wealth of sightings and experiences by independent witnesses, suggests that although much of the phenomena can be explained in rational terms, a percentage remains which can still be seen as inexplicable at the present time.
2. The Whaley House, California [Wikipedia]
Author deTraci Regula relates her experiences with the house: “Over the years, while dining across the street at the Old Town Mexican Cafe, I became accustomed to noticing that the shutters of the second-story windows [of the Whaley House] would sometimes open while we ate dinner, long after the house was closed for the day. On a recent visit, I could feel the energy in several spots in the house, particularly in the courtroom, where I also smelled the faint scent of a cigar, supposedly Whaley’s calling-card. In the hallway, I smelled perfume, initially attributing that to the young woman acting as docent, but some later surreptitious sniffing in her direction as I talked to her about the house revealed her to be scent-free.”
3. Raynham Hall, Norfolk, England [Wikipedia]
aynham Hall is a country house in Norfolk, England. For 300 years it has been the seat of the Townshend family. The hall gave its name to the area, known as East Raynham, and is reported to be haunted, providing the scene for possibly the most famous ghost photo of all time, the famous Brown Lady descending the staircase. However, the ghost has not been reported since the photo was taken. Its most famous resident was Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (1674-1738), leader in the House of Lords.
4. The Myrtles Plantation, Louisiana [Wikipedia]
The Myrtles Plantation was built in 1796 by General David Bradford and called Laurel Grove. Touted as “one of America’s most haunted homes”, the plantation is supposedly home of at least 12 ghosts.[9] It is often reported that 10 murders occurred in the house, but historical records only indicate the murder of William Winter. Possibly the most well known of the Myrtles supposed ghosts, Chloe (sometimes Cleo) was reportedly a slave owned by Clark and Sara Woodruff. According to one story, Clark Woodruff had pressured or forced Chloe into being his mistress. Chloe and Clark were caught by Sara Woodruff, and Chloe began to listen at keyholes, trying to learn what would happen to her.
5. Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia [Wikipedia]
Designed by John Haviland and opened in 1829, Eastern State is considered to be the world’s first true penitentiary. Its revolutionary system of incarceration, dubbed the Pennsylvania System, originated and encouraged solitary confinement as a form of rehabilitation. On June 1st, 2007 a television show called “Most Haunted” went live to the penitentiary. Part of the group went to Al Capones cell. Two people passed out while “investigating” the prison. One member of the team, Yvette, stated that “this is the most evil place I have ever been.” They claimed to have had contact with spirits but there was no hard evidence that their claims were legitimate.
6. The Tower of London, London [Wikipedia]
Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress The Tower of London, more commonly known as the Tower of London (and historically simply as The Tower), is an historic monument in central London, England on the north bank of the River Thames. Perhaps the most well-known ghostly resident of the Tower is the spirit of Ann Boleyn, one of the wives of Henry VIII, who was also beheaded in the Tower in 1536. Her ghost has been spotted on many occasions, sometimes carrying her head, on Tower Green and in the Tower Chapel Royal.
7. Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Kentucky [Wikipedia]
Waverly Hills Sanatorium, located in Louisville, Kentucky, opened in 1910 as a two-story hospital to accommodate 40 to 50 tuberculosis patients. It has been popularized on television as being one of the “most haunted” hospitals in the eastern United States, and was seen on ABC/FOX Family Channel’s Scariest Places On Earth as well as VH1′s Celebrity Paranormal Project. It was also seen on the Sci Fi Channel’s Ghost Hunters. Ghost investigators who have ventured into Waverly have reported a host of strange paranormal phenomena, including voices of unknown origin, isolated cold spots and unexplained shadows. Screams have been heard echoing in its now abandoned hallways, and fleeting apparitions have been encountered.
8. The Queen Mary, California [Wikipedia]
RMS Queen Mary is an ocean liner that sailed the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for Cunard Line (then Cunard White Star Line). The Queen Mary was purchased by the city of Long Beach, California in 1967 and transformed into a hotel. The most haunted area of the ship is the engine room where a 17-year-old sailor was crushed to death trying to escape a fire. Knocking and banging on the pipes around the door has been heard and recorded by numerous people. In what is now the front desk area of the hotel, visitors have seen the ghost of a “lady in white.” Ghosts of children are said to haunt the ship’s pool.
9. The White House, Washington DC [Wikipedia]
The home of the presidents of the United States. President Harrison is said to be heard rummaging around in the attic of the White House, looking for who knows what. President Andrew Jackson is thought to haunt his White House bedroom. And the ghost of First Lady Abigail Adams was seen floating through one of the White House hallways, as if carrying something. The most frequently sighted presidential ghost has been that of Abraham Lincoln. Eleanor Roosevelt once stated she believed she felt the presence of Lincoln watching her as she worked in the Lincoln bedroom. Also during the Roosevelt administration, a young clerk claimed to have actually seen the ghost of Lincoln sitting on a bed pulling off his boots.
10. Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland [Wikipedia]
Edinburgh Castle is reputed to be one of the most haunted spots in Scotland. And Edinburgh itself has been called the most haunted city in all of Europe. On various occasions, visitors to the castle have reported a phantom piper, a headless drummer, the spirits of French prisoners from the Seven Years War and colonial prisoners from the American Revolutionary War – even the ghost of a dog wandering in the grounds’ dog cemetery.
Why do the photographs of so-called ghosts show the ghosts wearing clothes? If a ghost is still wearing their original clothes, why aren't they all in rags 100 years later? Do th clothes have a soul that follows the ghost into the afterlife? Why would a ghost need clothes? Where does a ghost buy new ghost clothes?
THAT’S TOO fUNNY..
I believe in ghosts ans I know the creepiest and weirdest story ever about a woman who my uncle and my mom both seen but in 2 completley different places and she vanished and when they went back the next day her and her house were gone the only thing that was left was the foundation and it was completley growed up with grass they have told me alot more than that but thats the one i remeber the most
ive heard tales my grand mother told me about a river in her country that a lady comes out takes children that are too late she said she saw her once
My grandma told me this story too but he didnt see her she sead the woman took her sister
Thats la Llorona,
Jason – if only we had the answers
mix: I thought saw a ghost in a graveyard as a kid which terrified me – though now that I have grown up I am sure there was a rational explanation.
I was at a graveyard when I was 10. When I got there i saw this old woman crying in front of a grave. I turned around to go to the grave I had gone to visit and when I looked back, like 2 seconds later, she was gone.
quit lien
jfrater: yea me too but mine happen about 2 years ago and i wished it could be explained i couldn’t sleep for two nights stayed up watching nick at night
Jason : it is simple – it’s how the spirit remembers itself. It’s not how the person looked when they died, but rather how they remember them self.
i’m not sure if it is technically haunted but the winchester house in california is very strange and it’s said that mrs. winchester built the house the way she did( stairs leading nowhere, doors on the second floor leading to the outside with no porch or balcony, windows facing brick walls) to keep the spirits of the people who had died at the hands of the winchester rifle away from her house.
whose to say when or how long any record skips and plays in the same groove.
tjgrs: I considered that one but I think it was more Mrs Winchester that was “haunted” – rather than her house.
christian: you lost me on that one
I THINK WE SHOULD NOT FEAR LIKE SPRITIUL THINGS, DO U KNOW THAT GHOSTS ARE EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD .
I've gone to the Ohio State penitentiary a few times. Once I went in it for a "haunted house" tour on Halloween. It was pretty interesting. I guess it's supposed to be very haunted, along the lines of the Eastern State Penitentiary. I personally didn't see anything, but I was looking
It's where the movie The Shawshank Redemption was filmed and it's in my boyfriend's hometown. Pretty nifty.
B,
Yeah, Fear was pretty scary. They have this show on now called Room 401 that's really scary. I can't believe they do that kind of stuff to people. I'm surprised they haven't been sued!
I thought Waverly was the REAL Shawshank?
yeh.., my comment #8 does come across as elusive.
the thought there was connected to the idea , from what I’ve gathered and, somewhat believe myself on a level, is that ghosts or apparitions may be like a viynl recording, in that from whatever exists there to the senses replays itself as such and not the actual real thing. The comment about the ghost clothes is funny, but also the reaction comment with “how they remembered themselves” works well. Some of what I have heard or read for example is that deceased loved ones appear to go through the house doing routine or mundane things (reading the paper/going up and down the stairs) its a theory, but possibly something like that is kept “running” . It’s kinda hard to place it in a short comment, but I think it helps in a relation to what is unknown and . think of Lynch’s use of the close-up on the record needle in Inland Empire.
p.s. some of my memory connected with Lynch is in interviews with him, about how buildings or places are like recording devices; where we go and what we do on a daily basis and how imprints are made somehow beyond our short lives.
tjgrs:
The Winchester house is a little strange, but I definitely didn’t feel anything when I was there, it’s become so much of a tourist attraction that I don’t think any ghost would even want to stay there. I enjoyed walking around to see how strange the lady was, but I was more spooked by the hidden speakers in her garden that suddenly started talking about Mrs. Winchester if you walked by them. Now, if there weren’t so many people there, and you were allowed to get into the places they have blocked off, I would consider it pretty creepy… but that’s just because it’s so old & a lot of the things are originally from the house.
This list was amazing. I’m not so much of a skeptic, this stuff fascinates me. Though I don’t think I could ever set foot in that tuberculosis house, or the Penitentiary.
B:
well yeah i wasn’t sure if it was haunted but tis still interesting…
though i know for sure the light house in St. Augustine is haunted. The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS…they have a show called Ghost Hunters) checked it out and they have some of the best recorded documenation on film, it’s scary stuff, and it was once a house to all the different light keepers, so that would count as a house. I was there during the day and it didnt seem all that scary but at night im sur eit would be and what they caught on camera is amazing.
Great list though. I love hauntings and paranormal stuff, it’s great fun. I would be a little freaked out to enter any of these houses, though i think curiosity would get the better of me and i would go in anyway, of course in movies thats how the supporting character always dies, oh well
I’ve seen the videos from Ghost Hunters for the TB place & the penitentiary… I think I saw the one for the Queen Mary, too, though I’m not sure if that was TAPS. I usually don’t trust the televison shows for supernatural stuff, but I feel like they’re more sincere.
The only show on TV that really scared me was FEAR that used to come on MTV, which, I’m not sure how much of that was real, but I believe they were messing with things they really shouldn’t have in a lot of those places…
Christian: oh! It makes sense now
I saw a documentary on television many years ago that showed how the physical makeup of a wall in an old English pub may have acted like a recording device that later played back sounds that were considered by many to be ghosts.
While it is not a haunted experience, when I was at College there was an old condemned building as part of the campus (the whole campus was originally a tuberculosis hospital) that we were forbidden from entering. Of course we broke the rules and went in and it was a really scary experience – even though it was the middle of the day the place felt very wrong. We found a closed door in one of the bedrooms and it lead to a bathroom that had been completely painted black! There were still gurneys and old hospital sheets around as well.
jayfrater,
i remember that play well it was called the stone tapes, the sound was impregnated into the stone ,. very good, long time ago now.,
i thought that the most haunted place was the bone cathedral ar kutna hora in czech republic?
curious jim: I haven’t heard that. Do you have some more information on it by any chance?
West Virginia Penitentiary
moundsville, wv http://www.wvpentours.com/main.php
it was on an epsisode of Fear but MTV isn’t allowed to go back.
you can take tours during the day and night. and they have ghost hunting too.
i was there a couple months ago. it’s definitely a creepy place. but totally worth the money for the tour.
Jen: how awesome – did you do the night tour or the day tour?
Kudna Hora is a “chapel” built almost entirely with human bones. Lamps, doors, altar, even a coat of arms! I think it’s quite creepy but not haunted… At first, those bones were taken from the victims of a terrible plague at the end of the 14th century (more than 30.000), and when time went by the chapel became so famous that people “signed in” to give their own bones after they passed away, sometimes specifying where to put them.
but the pictures are cool!
There’s not very much information about it in internet, even in Wikipedia, but I’ve found a few pictures:
http://www.ladefuncion.com/rutas/KUTNAHORA/KUTNAHORA.html
I’m sorry, it’s in spanish
Morgaine: wow – what an amazing place! I quite like the cult of death that is found in many Catholic countries. It is fascinating.
By the way, there are similar “chapels”, like “santa maria della concezione” (Italy), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_della_Concezione_dei_Cappuccini , “Capella Dos Ossos” (Portugal) http://www.ladefuncion.com/rutas/006capeladosossos/capeladosossos.html (Sorry, again in spanish
), and, I think the creepiest of them all are the capuchin catacombs in Palermo: (Italy) http://www.ladefuncion.com/rutas/PALERMO/CAPUCCINOS2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capuchin_catacombs_of_Palermo
http://members.tripod.com/~Motomom/index-3.html
Enjoy!
Morgaine: wow – those are amazing. I am definitely going to Rome now!
This is no Funny Business!!
Dan Aykroyd’s haunted house in up for rent for $30,000 a month. The resident ghost is reported to be MaMa Cass the enormous 60’s pop Icon.
You can see the property at
http://www.housefront.com/PropertyDetail.aspx?qry=469541&propertyID=367
and
http://realestalker.blogspot.com/2007/09/rent-dan-aykroyds-allegedly-haunted.html
Creepy stuff. I like the progress of this website, I look forward to browsing thru all the new lists.
jfrater, do you actually believe in ghost?
the day tour
the night tour’s expensive unless you have a huge group of people
The Dum Guy: I am agnostic on that subject, learning towards disbelief.
jen: oh I see. Wouldn’t that be a great way to celebrate a birthday? Take all your friends to a haunted house for the night.
Couple not on the list (that probably should be) are the Winchester Mansion in California and the Mansfield State Prison in Ohio. (Ohio does have alot of very haunted places but who’s to comment)
Ravyn: I heard that The Winchester House is not haunted, just very bizarre. I will look up the Ohio prison – is it abandoned?
The Wincester Mansion is haunted. It is the skeptics who say not due to the reasoning behind its being built. It is indeed a very bizarre place with stairways to ceilings and windows that open in the floor, rooms that are blocked off and doors that open to brick walls. Miss Winchester had a very big fasination with the number 13 and you can find it throughout the house in the number of panels on windows, number of steps in the stair cases (all but one has 13 steps), and even the number of coat hooks in the closets. I used to do alot of research about paranormal places and this is one that I have always wished to visit.
The Mansfield State Prison (or Ohio State Reformatory Prison) is abandoned, kind of. They no longer hold prisoners there but they do run tours in the place and you can rent out the ball room for social events (my sister just attended a wedding reseption there). I hear they are starting to renovate the place using donations and tour fees. Here is the Wiki link Mansfield State Prison
Ravyn: thanks – and for the link – the Mansfield place looks haunted just from the pictures alone!
I live in Hawaii and there are lava tubes all over the place, and there is this particular one down my road a few miles it’s basically a huge cave, it starts underneath an abandon house, looks like the people who used to live there just grabbed what they needed and split, anyways this cave is trully haunted it’s filled with remains of ancient hawaiians, if you want to feel a supernatural being around u this is gauranteed, about 7 years ago me and my buddies went down into the cave at night, about 9 of us, as soon as we got under the lip of the cave opening and into the cavern’s darkness, i could not hear anything, my ears were ringing so hard, like the sound of a baby screaming at a high pitched noise, so i freaked out and ran along with 2 other guys that heard the same, we ran out and as soon as we step foot out of the cave, the noise went quit, i mean dead silent. We all walked to my house waited for the rest, they came back an hour later with a look on there face like confusion, didn’t say much buy they did say that they walked all the way through, and ended up in the beggining of the cave entrance! They instisted thats what happened, but iv’e been all the way to the back of the cave before with an older hawaiian guy and his dog, it goes for miles. Anyways I felt like sharing my story becuase it was interesting and i never believed in ghost until that day.
Mrpoi808: that is a great story – thanks for sharing! Is there a chance that you could go and take some photos for us to see? I am quite intrigued!
Several instances here, since I am a closet Paranormal Geek. Alcatraz Island and Prison just off of San Francisco, My wife and I visited on our honeymoon and though I can’t visually prove anything from the pictures we took (it was darn foggy that day) it certainly has a well documented history and it feels just downright odd to be there: cold spots, odd energy, difficult to describe sounds and such. Great place to visit and the history is amazing.
Also, though technically not a ghost, my friend and I were saved from certain death via wave wash off a pier by an angel. She beckoned us to leave a pier we were hanging out on at Lake Michigan during a really amazing storm, and just as we left the cement onto the beach, a huge wave washed over the end right where we were. That will always stick with me. As for other places I’ve been that were truly haunted, the list is pretty long, but my buddy’s parents owned an old house that was once owned by Al Capone (it is in the documentation of the home) and we used to have parties there and we’d always feel and or see very odd things. This is also in Michigan and was said to be a mid-way point for Capone between Chicago and Detroit.
I love this stuff!
Stew: wow – that is very eerie – thanks for sharing it with us – and just in time for Halloween too
I visisted Alcatraz for the first time this year – I found it very strange when standing by the cell where the guards were murdered.
I went to D.C. when I was in school. I did not know the White House was haunted. I visited it, but I wasn’t aloud inside of course. Also, Im sure you have heard of The Amityville Horror. There are 2 movies based on that story. One was made like…10-20 years back, and then another was made just a couple of years ago.
hmmm…i thought the Amity vill house place thing would be here…I know its “just a movie” But i’ve read that it was a true story
Sarah and Alisa: The Amityville house is owned by a regular family now and they have said that they have not experienced anything untoward in the house. As far as I am aware, the Lutzes are the only people who said something weird happened. It is true that a family was murdered in the house before the Lutzes bought it and that the guy who killed his family claimed that he saw demons – but I think he later recanted that. you can read more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_DeFeo%2C_Jr.
is it just me or is #5 been circled in the wrong place!?, i can see what it looks like, a guy hanging in the upper deck of the penitentiary, the circle needs to go left and up a bit!
I believe the image in #5 is from an episode of Ghost Hunters that is investigating the Eastern State Penitentiary. The circled area is a frame in a sequence that seemingly shows a figure moving away from the camera. Further investigation led them to believe that the figure was 3 or 4 ft tall. They never debunked it.
interestingly, only england and usa…
Ha ha ha! I would hate to go in one of those places! Luckily it wasnt a video cuase it would of scared the daylight out of me! =)
=3
Why isn’t Pluckley, Kent, UK on there? I live here, and is supposedly the most haunted village in the UK!
In reference to “Most Haunted,” I watched that show religiously until I searched the net and found a site that shows how BADLY they cheat. I thought they did some horrible acting but Yvette is the WORST. On a trip to Gettysburg 2 years ago, my family and I recorded the sound of a ghost banging on one of the sightseeing towers. There was nobody else there, my son and I heard it as did my wife and daughter. We were on top of the tower and my wife and daughter in my car facing the tower. I wasn’t scared because I thought they were playing tricks, it wasn’t until we got down to the car and saw the looks on their faces did I realize it was real. My wife and I also smelled coffee brewing in an area where both North and South camped together sharing water. The smell was incredibly overpowering and there is NOTHING in the area that would produce it. If you don’t believe in ghosts I URGE you to go to someplace haunted. They are very real.
you left out the infamous winchester mystery house in california, possibly the most haunted place in the united states,
I use to live in California back in 1997 to 2000 and I took my 2 daughter and we went to the Winchester house. Didnt have no experiences while we were there. But it was strange the way she continued to buy houses around hers and build them to connect to each other. My daughter's still remember the Winchester house.
the most haunted place is my house buuuuuuu sorry i like the site but stupid list
I was wondering..
About Alcatraz.
Isn’t that place like, hella haunted? I was surprised it wasn’t here.
Ryanbow: I didn’t find alcatraz all that spooky when I was there – I haven’t heard of it being haunted.
I never knew the White House was haunted.
No Winchester House? I saw a program about it when I was six and it terrified me! props for including the White house, though.
about 2 years ago i went on a family trip to edingbure castle as we went in2 to cellars i couldn’t move it was so cold and shocking i will never go there again not if u paid me.
ALTON TOWERS: THERES SOMETHING IN THE SAFE AND IT SCARED ME AND A FEW MATES AS WELL
BURY MARKET: ITS ALWAYS SPOKEY DEFANTLY AT NIGHT BOO!
The white house is extremely famous for its ghosts. It’s said that in times of war the ghosts show up the most, there was actually a story about President bush seeing ghosts lately.
At first he saw the ghost of washington and asked how he could serve his country better, washington told him to be honest and the people would respect him. Soon after the ghost of Jefferson appeared and bush asked him the same thing. the ghost told him that he should be a champion for the rights of people. Finally the ghost of lincoln appeared and bush asked him what he could do that would better serve the country. Lincoln replied “go see a play”
I can’t belive I missed this list, I LOVE this stuff
Amazing stuff..but i wish there was more to the list..and dont tell me people really believe all that stuff which is shown on all those TV shows…it is more often than not enacted..
I used to open a pet store I worked at. I arrived at 6:30, well before the sun came up. I would arrive in the dark, turn on the lights and work for up to an hour and a half before anyone else joined me. I frequently saw glimpses of a tall, brown haired man always turning around a corner (although there was nobody in the store) but I never mentioned it to anyone. Other employees later brought it up, and they described the exact same thing. I assume it was a ghost, but nobody has ever died there or nearby that I know of.
this is(somewhat)in reply to christian’s #10 comment.i think our ideas are close to the same.it’s my belief that their is a difference between a ghost and a person’s spirit.a ghost is like a photograph or movie reel.not really any kind of entity,but an impression left by a strong or emotional occurence;one so strong that it “stamps” itself onto it’s surroundings.the spirit,or soul,i believe is the actual entity that lives within all of us and moves on after our bodies pass.i could keep going,but i don’t wanna make this a theological thing.these are just things i strongly believe exist in our world and have had more than a few experiances with.sorry to make this so long.i’m very passionate about subjects like this…
negthebarkeep—
thanks negthrbakeep, I wrote something back to you just now and sadly it got erased.
The painter Francis Bacon also saw life captured , in ways, as photoghrapic slides dropped down into the light of projection.
p.s. sorry there, I didnt mean to say “also saw” . To me (sometimes) , it’s like a stage production with a series of simi-translucent sheets, lowered down with rigging, one set at a time, as the play seems fit to show..