There are places on this planet that are stranger than the most alien landscapes we have ever imagined. Places that make your skin crawl. Places that induce heavy breathing and paranoia, before anything has even happened. We walk the dark, dusty steps of old castles and houses. We roam the halls of asylums and tunnels, hoping to glimpse something otherworldly. But sometimes, we wish we wouldn’t. Sometimes, our curiosity gets the better of us in the beginning, and is then squashed by a feeling that no human ever wants to be familiar with: absolute terror.
We hear screams in the night, footsteps in the hall. We see shadows flit by, and fog taking the shape of something eerily familiar. We breathe, we pray, and step lightly. We scream, we curse, and we sprint. Some encounters are mysterious, others violent, all terrifying. Why do we insist on investigating places such as these? Mere curiosity only gets us so far, and then we need a driving force embedded much deeper into our psyche in order to power on. Would you spend the night alone in these places?
The History
The Riddle House in Palm Beach County, Florida, was originally a funeral parlor. The Victorian house was dismantled and rebuilt in Yesteryear Village at the South Florida fair grounds. In the 1920’s the house became privately owned by Karl Riddle.
The Terror
Joseph, one of Riddle’s former employees, committed suicide by hanging himself in the attic of the house. Joseph, for whatever reason, hated men, and displays this hatred by attacking men who enter the attic. One man had a lid flung at his head, and men are now no longer allowed in the attic. Other places in the house are haunted as well, with furniture being frequently moved.
The History
The Northern part of Summit County in Ohio is known by the eerily blunt moniker, Helltown. In the 70’s, Boston Township was the site of a government buyout, and subsequent mass eviction of citizens. The houses were intended to be torn down and the land used for a national park, but the plans never quite manifested. Legends spawned wildly, and who can blame the legend mongers? Driving through the dark, wooded landscape was enough to give you chills even when it was populated, let alone when you have to drive by boarded up houses standing next to the burnt out hulks of others (the local fire department used some buildings for practice).
The Terror
Whether based on a kernel of truth or cooked up in the heads of creative visitors, the persistent legends of Helltown add to the creep factor. The steep Stanford Road drop off, immediately followed by a dead end, is aptly named The End of the World. If you get stuck at this dead end for too long, according to ghost story enthusiasts, you may meet your end at the hands of many members of the endless parade of freaks patrolling the woods. Satanists, Ku Klux Klan members, an escaped mental patient, an abnormally large snake, and mutants caused by an alleged chemical spill proudly march in this parade. And if you stray from the roads, you may find Boston Cemetery, home to a ghostly man, grave robbers and, the quirkiest of all, a moving tree.
The History
Stull, Kansas, is a tiny, unincorporated town in Bumfuck, Nowhere- er, pardon, Douglas County. Ten miles west of Lawrence and thirteen miles east of Topeka puts it far from anything resembling a large population center. The population of Stull is approximately 20 people. But, don’t let the deceptively quaint village fool you. A darker side lurks behind the bushes and in the shadows.
The Terror
In the early 20th century, two tragedies rocked the tiny settlement (please observe, these are not legend or folklore, but fact). First, a father finished burning a farm field, only to find the charred corpse of his young son in the aftermath. The second incident to occur was a man went missing, and was later found hanged from a tree. As far as legends go, the infamous cemetery is where you can find your fill of supernatural lore. The book Weird US has this to say on Stull Cemetery:
“There are graveyards across America that go beyond merely being haunted and enter into the realm of the diabolical. They are places so terrifying that they say the devil himself holds courts with his worshippers there. The cemetery on Emmanuel Hill in Stull, Kansas, is one of these places.”
Rumors exist stating that Stull Cemetery is one of the 7 gateways to Hell. While the old church is now demolished, many attempt to sneak in at night for a peek at the unsavory goings-on. But be warned, the police patrol heavily, especially on Halloween and the spring equinox. The place is supposed to be so unholy, in fact, that some claim Pope John Paul II refused to allow his plane to fly over eastern Kansas, on his way to an appearance in Colorado. The validity of this last claim is up for debate, but none can deny that legends or not, Stull Cemetery is a terrifying place to be.
The History
Originally known as the Athens Lunatic Asylum, The Ridges was renamed after the state of Ohio acquired the property. The hospital saw hundreds of lobotomies, and often declared masturbation and epilepsy to be the causes of insanity in patients.
The Terror
Athens, Ohio, is listed as the 13th most haunted place in the world, as per the British Society for Psychical Research. The nearby Ohio University (which currently owns most of the property on which the Ridges is located) is said to be heavily haunted. The notorious rapist with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Billy Milligan, was housed at the facility for years. The most famous story, however is that of a 54 year old female patient who ran away and was missing for 6 weeks. She was found dead in an unused ward. She had taken off all of her clothes, neatly folded them, and laid down on the cold concrete where she subsequently died. Through a combination of decomposition and sun exposure, her corpse left a permanent stain on the floor, which is still visible today. Her spirit now haunts the abandoned ward.
The History
These two abandoned mining towns in Chile were recently featured on an episode of the SyFy Channel’s show, Destination Truth. In 1872, the town was founded as a saltpeter mine, and business boomed. However, after several heavy blows (including the Great Depression), the business declined and then collapsed in 1958, and the town of Humberstone and it’s surrounding towns were abandoned by 1960. Treatment of workers in both towns bordered on slavery, and now the towns are left standing derelict.
The Terror
It is rumored that the dead of the La Noria cemetery rise at night and walk around the town, and ghostly images frequently show up in photographs in Humberstone. These towns are so terrifying, the residents of nearby Iquique refuse to enter them. The former residents never left, and can be seen walking around, and children have been heard playing. The cemetery of La Noria, regardless of whether its occupants actually walk at night, contains opened graves where the bodies are fully exposed, leaving you to wonder why. Is it ghosts, or is it grave robbers? As if either prospect is very appealing.
Full episodes of Destination Truth, including the episode featuring Humberstone and La Noria, can be seen here.
The History
The Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry, or known simply as Byberry, was the poster image for patient maltreatment. The hospital, in its most popular form, was founded in 1907, and known as the Byberry Mental Hospital. It exceeded its patient limit quickly, maxing out at over 7,000 in 1960. It housed everything from the mentally challenged to the criminally insane. Due to its atrocious conditions, and the sub-human treatment of its patients, the hospital was closed and abandoned in 1990. It had since become a nuisance for the neighborhood, as it was a breeding ground for vandals, arsonists, Satanists, and urban explorers. It was demolished in 2006, in spite of the fear of spreading asbestos, (which is what kept it standing for 16 years).
The Terror
The terrifying aspect of this location isn’t so much it’s hauntings or the unsavory characters that lurked after dark (although you would have been wise to be wary of both while exploring the building). The terror here comes from the facts of the how the hospital was run. Human excrement lined the hallways, which were also where many patients slept. The staff was abusive, and frequently exploited and harassed patients. One patient had a tooth pulled without Novocaine, while another killed and dismembered a female patient. Although the killer, Charles Gable, was never found, the victim’s body was found strewn across the property. Her teeth were found being played with by another patient. Even as the hospital was in the process of closing, two released patients were found dead in the Delaware River, two successive days after their release. Perhaps that gate in Stull Cemetery opens here.
The History
While this Irish castle is perhaps the most popular location featured on the list, it is worth recapping the long and often gruesome history. Although it was built by the O’Bannons in the late 15th century, the castle was taken over by the ruling O’Carrolls, to whom the O’Bannons were subject. After the death of Mulrooney O’Carroll, a fierce rivalry erupted, culminating in two brothers struggling for control. One of the brothers, a priest, was brutally murdered in his own chapel, in front of the family, by the other brother. This chapel is now know as the Bloody Chapel, for obvious reasons. Many people were held prisoner and even executed at the castle.
The Terror
The castle is rumored to be haunted by a vast number of spirits, including a violent, hunched beast known only as the Elemental. It is most recognizable by the accompanying smell of rotting flesh and sulphur. While renovating the castle, workers discover an oubliette, which is a dungeon accessible only through a ceiling hatch, into which prisoners are thrown, then forgotten and left to die. This particular oubliette contained three cartloads of human remains, and was filled with spikes to impale those thrown into it’s depths.
The History
This New Jersey road winds through 7 miles of countryside, and along that stretch it gives us no definitive clues as to the origin of its eerie name (for those wondering, Shades of Death is not a nickname given by locals, but is in fact the road’s official moniker). While the explanation for this highly unusual name has been lost, many theories abound. Some say that murderous highwaymen would rob and kill those along the road. Others say the reason was because of violent retaliations by the locals against the very same highwaymen, resulting in their lynched corpses being hung up as a warning. Some attribute it to three murders that occurred in the 20’s and 30’s. The first murder saw a robber beating his victim over the head with a tire iron, the second saw a woman decapitate her husband and bury the head and body on separate sides of the road, and the third consisted of poor Bill Cummins being shot and buried in a mud pile. Some attribute it to massive amounts of fatal car crashes, while others consider it the fault of viscous wildcats from the nearby Bear Swamp. The most likely explanation, however, is that malaria-bearing mosquitos terrorized the locals year to year, and the remoteness of the area prevented good medical attention from being prominent in the area. This is supported by the fact that, in 1884, most of the swamps in the area were drained.
The Terror
Gruesome history and spooky name aside, you have much to fear along this byway. South of the I-80 overpass lies an officially unnamed lake, that most will tell you is called Ghost Lake. This lake is frequently the home of specter-like vapors, and the sky is supposed to be unusually bright, no matter what time of night you are there. As per the name, ghosts of the highwaymens victims roam the area, and they are most frequent in the abandoned cabin across the lake. The dead-end road known as Lenape Lane is home to thick fogs and apparitions, you may be chased off the road by a white light. I’ll let Wikipedia detail the most disturbing aspect of the road:
“One day during the 1990s, some visitors found hundreds of Polaroid photographs scattered in woods just off the road. They took some and shared them with Weird NJ, which published a few as samples. Most of the disturbing images showed a television changing channels, others showed a woman or women, blurred and somewhat difficult to identify, lying on some sort of metal object, conscious but not smiling. Local police began an investigation after the magazine ran an item with the photos, but the remainder disappeared shortly afterwards.”
The History
Welcome to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, home of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This former high school was converted, in 1975, to Security Prison 21 by the Khmer Rouge. The prison was used as a base to torture and murder prisoners. Most of the prisoners were former soldiers and government officials from the Lon Nol regime. However, the Khmer Rouge leaders paranoia soon caught up with them, and they began shipping people from their own ranks to the prison. Many prisoners were tortured and tricked into naming their family and associates, who were them also arrested, tortured and murdered.
The Terror
The ghosts of the estimated 17,000 victims of Tuol Sleng continue to roam the halls, and odd happenings around the place are often attributed to them: and it isn’t hard to see why. Most were forced to confess to crimes they didn’t actually commit. Although most victims were Cambodians, many foreigners fell victim to the death machine, including Americans, French, a New Zealander, a Briton, Australians, Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis and Vietnamese. Only 12 people are thought to have survived. To close the entry on this sad history, I’ll leave you with the actual security regulations, the ten rules all prisoners had to abide by. All imperfect grammar is said in context due to poor translation.
1. You must answer accordingly to my question. Don’t turn them away.
2. Don’t try to hide the facts by making pretexts this and that, you are strictly prohibited to contest me.
3. Don’t be a fool for you are a chap who dare to thwart the revolution.
4. You must immediately answer my questions without wasting time to reflect.
5. Don’t tell me either about your immoralities or the essence of the revolution.
6. While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all.
7. Do nothing, sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet. When I ask you to do something, you must do it right away without protesting.
8. Don’t make pretext about Kampuchea Krom in order to hide your secret or traitor.
9. If you don’t follow all the above rules, you shall get many many lashes of electric wire.
10.If you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge.
The History
The seemingly infinite tunnels that run below the streets of Paris should not be confused with the Catacombs of Paris, the famous underground ossuary, although the mines are also mistakenly referred to as the catacombs. Exploring the mines is illegal, and penalties include heavy fines. The mines were used to dig out minerals from Paris’ varied sediment (the location where Paris is was submerged for millions of years), and the tunnels are what got left behind.
The Terror
The mines are now unkempt, unpatrolled and unsafe. As far as legends go, ancient cults and creatures patrol the depths. Spirits dwell in the infinite shadows, and if one wanders deep enough, and survives, they may even enter Hades itself. As far as reality goes, those legends can take a back seat. The tunnels stretch for close to 600 kilometers throughout the Parisian underground, and most of them are unmapped. Saying it is easy to get lost is an understatement. It is nearly impossible not to get lost. Many parts of the catacombs are hundreds of feet below street level. Some hallways are flooded, or are so narrow you have to crawl through them. There are holes that drop hundreds of feet, and manholes that are unreachable, luring unwary urban explorers in with false promises of freedom. The infinite underground maze absorbs sound, mutes it, making it unlikely you will hear somebody yelling for help, even if they are not far away. Or, worse yet, making it unlikely somebody will hear you. Thousands of human bones litter the tunnels, due to overcrowding in many of Paris’ cemeteries. Weird paintings adorn the walls. Are they ancient? Are they new? Are they warnings? Or pleas for help? If you have claustrophobia, you will want to avoid the mines at all costs. If you don’t have claustrophobia, you probably will after a trip through the mines. Bring plenty of batteries, backup flashlights, clean water, a friend, and say a prayer before entering the mines of Paris. You will need them all.
Awesome!! Another List! This is going to make my day
Go to Archive…LOL! Joke…
i bet u suck alot of dick huh ?
Yeah i want to go there
Wow! I like spooky stuff like this.
Places like Amityville and Axe Murder Hallow are among my favorites.
Great list.
No Amityville house?
Amityville is pretty well known, I was aiming for things a bit more obscure. I'd be happier telling people about new things they hadn't heard of rather than reiterating old legends everyone knows
i agree. and great list. keep up the good work.
Thats what makes the list and many other list"s on the site that extra bit special.The fact its your list and not one copied from else where and not one which even individually is very well known.
You could of gone for the usual Amityville type places or chosen something a little different which viewers may not of seen and that's what you done and in doing so made it even more interesting.
great list.
Why? Amityville was a hoax, which is all but proven by the fact that none of the other people who have lived there since 1976 have reported any strange goings-on. The priest that the folks called in stated in an affidavit that the only contact he had with them was by phone and that he had never visited the property. Of course, when offered the opportunity to go on In Search of.., he changed his tune and claimed that he had visited, and that he heard a disembodied voice and was slapped on the face by an unseen presence. Claims of physical damage to doors, locks, and windows were rebuffed by the new owners. Police records indicate no instances where they were contacted or summoned to the house during the supposed hauntings. All classic earmarks of a hoax, though George Lutz (the husband at the center of the controversy) maintained until the day he died that it had happened. Perhaps not exactly as written or depicted, he admitted, but he was quick to say that it was not a hoax.
People don’t believe me when I tell them that Amityville was and is fake… Some friends are planning to take a trip there. Whatever, they’re going to regret wasting all that money on gas and food going there!
I Think Waverly Hills In Louisville Kentucky Should Have Been Included
This list mkes me want to visit every location, it also makes me kinda glad i live in England!
i live in england too but there are spooky places there like the london dungeons or the abandoned welsh mines
Well you have got one thing very terrifying….The english football teams performance in the worldcup.
Oh snap!
For example, one of the most gruesome ghost stories describes the death of the Countess of Salisbury. Apparently, the elderly woman tried to run away, and was chased down as subsequently hacked to pieces by the executioner. It is said that her execution is reenacted upon Tower Green. Imagine seeing that! And let's not forget the poor Yeoman Guard who fainted when Lady Jane Grey walked towards him.
Whoops! I replied to the wrong person!
Erm…England is underrepresented on this list, but it's among the most haunted countries in the world. You might want to research Borley Rectory, The Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Blinkling Hall, Woodchester Mansion, Theatre Royal on Drury Lane and Pluckley Village. I could name more, but I can't be bothered to. If you're interested in looking a bit further afield, you could try places in Ireland, Scotland and Wales for creepy sights, such as Edinburgh Castle. Don't feel so secure in England. It's got some of the oldest buildings in Europe. According to wikipedia: "Indeed, the presence of many centuries-old buildings has given England the reputation of the most haunted country in the world." So I think that this list needs some more European sights on it. Many sights in Europe make American sights of interest look like fun vacation spots in comparison.
man, i almost peed my pants just reading this list. Holy Crap!!!
blake .. i know u love *****so much , ud do anything for it .. not sure why ur on this page cause u spend most of ur awake hours just surfing gay ***** .. u *****in homo.. go suck some more big black dick.. u know u love it
Wow… That was hugely unnecessary.
nice grow up
Love the bizzare, strange, mysterious, eerie, etc., lists! I live not too far from Leap Castle. I have only seen it from the outside, though. But I have seen & heard the owner, Sean Ryan play tin whistle! He and his daughter opened for Arlo Guthrie here, not too long ago.
Anyway, love this list!
Wow. Nice list
Awesome list, really enjoyed it! Thanks!
Where's North Korea?
It's just to the north of South Korea
Wow, NO. i meant NK should be on this list.
He was just being a smartass, I'm sure he knew what you meant. For the record, I thought it was clever
He knew what you meant, but you didn't actually SAY what you meant.
north of south korea
NO DUH ZACH
I think the genocide museum would be fascinating to visit, and I'm glad to hear someone has seen fit to remember this disgusting period in history.
I have visited the concentration camp at Dachau, though I was too young to fully appreciate the impact. Even as a youth of seven years, however, I could understand what had happened there and why it must never be permitted to happen again.
Great list, and great writing. Your ominous warnings really add to the ambience.
Yeah but 10, 9, 8 7, 5 are a bit of a stretch. "People say this" and "people say that" doesn't really make them terrifying. There are all sorts of places around the world (like Phnom Penh) that had hugely terrifying events and remain morbid and frightening.
This list is ***** poor and clutches at straws.
Agreed
Most "haunted" places are only known because "people say this and that." Many really scary places are not published in most haunted books, but infamous because of word of mouth testimonies. And odds are, if people say that these places are spooky, at the very least they have an eerie aura about them, which makes them fitting for this list.
Do you really believe that all hauntings are true? How would you know them to be so? Most things have roots in rumour and word of mouth, so most of the terror is derived from what people say. Unless you see it for yourself, you can only take what has been said to you.
So you can do a better job? By all means, point me to a list that you have had posted and I'll have a look.
"Just someone who enjoys a civil and logical discussion of differing viewponts" That's what your bio says, and that's the best you can come up with?! Kon had a logical question. Please keep talking, nothing anyone else could say, would be any more humiliating.
My reply was not to Kon, it was aimed at Stroodle, the original poster. With Kon, I would tend to agree, actually. Much of what makes a good ghost story are the elements crafted (and often added to with each retelling) to invoke terror in those to whom the story is being related. What is more frightening; a story about a house where someone was killed, or a story about a house haunted by a vengeful ghost of a man who was brutally murdered there?
Great list! There's just something about asylums hey!
I’d really like to visit all of these, even though that might be foolish. haha
Great list as always, I really love them.
what an enjoyable list, interesting and actually copy-edited! i was most pleased that i only knew about 2 of these places before reading, so i now have some new places to research and be creeped out by. thanks ianz
same here. i didnt know most of the entries on the list. time to dig deeper.
Oooohhh… Creepy and cool list… Gave me goosebumbs!
bonus list tuesday!!
what did we do to deserve this jamie?
it reads very interesting, although i cannot see the pix on my fone—-
cant wait til i get home to view it as intended….
Wow, two lists in one day and on my Birthday! This rocks!
Happy Birthday mate!!!!
I go to Ohio University, right by the ridges (# 7). I walked through a graveyard there once. Scary stuff.
You forgot the most terrifying place of them all…Azkaban!
So Jamie, I'm flattered, but curious. Why the double post?
And to everyone else, I'm glad those who have commented so far are enjoying it, a paranormal list is what I started with here and I loved writing it, so I wanted to get back to it. This was my favorite list to write, and I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and thanks to Jamie for publishing it!
im happy, but curious too.
this was a great list — informative and well written. (havnt seen what pix jamie chose to go with your text, but doesnt matter)
this may have been better than my previous favourite of yours — the bizarre videos list from last year.
at any rate, i would be happy as a clam if jamie did double-up tuesdays for the rest july.
or the rest of the year
*nudge nudge wink wink*
It's okay. Most of this stuff you can find in the Weird US book or other books similar to it.
All of the descriptions were pulled from someone else's experience, their own account, a different author. It's not exactly your own creativity when it comes to your style of writing.
Hmm, you make it sound as if I plagiarized the list. It is obvious that Weird US inspired most items on the list, but I even mentioned that. The actual words themselves are all me. It is the same as when you read an article in the newspaper, and reiterate it to your friends later. Tell you what. I'll petition to have this list taken down. Then, I'll drive down to Athens and check out The Ridges. Afterwards, I'll drive the 5 hours north to Helltown. I'll hop on over to Pennsylvania to see Byberry, and then I'll take 15 hours to head down to Florida. While I'm in this hemisphere, Humberstone and La Noria shall host me, and then I'll fly my happy ass to Cambodia to see SP21. I'll probably take a few months break here, but once I am able to holiday in Europe, I shall stop by Leap Castle and the Parisian Mines. After all that is completed, I will rewrite this list ENTIRELY from my own first hand experiences, with no mention of other people's experiences or the legends at all.
hahahahahaha–nice answer
i was trying to think of how this guy would be able to tune into cnn or fox or espn or whatever and listen to any news/sports story knowing full well the anchor isnt in kabul, or the colour commentator has never been to wrigley fieeld.
i finally came to the conclusion that (s)he's a dumbass
oh and hey—-
send me a postcard from cambodia
they have pretty stamps.
Haha nah, I would have said that if that were the case.
Great you do that, waste all that time because you must not have much else to do! Happy travels!
At first I thought you were just an ***** because you were ignorant. Now I realize it's because you're a troll. Apologies for the misidentification
I visited Tuol Sleng in 2001. It's a harsh place. Real grim.
Awesome list my faves and also two lists in one day.You have made my day enjoyable and complete.
I was eating a sandwich while reading this list. I think I choked it. Gave me severe goosebumps. Great list!
I think I have some traveling to do soon. I wonder how much tickets to Paris cost? Probably less than a hop up to New Jersey, I expect. As an amateur paranormalist, I have to check these places out. Research, you know.
Great list! If you couldn't guess, I'm big into stuff like this.
Crazy! I just drove through HELLTOWN LAST NIGHT! too weird… All the shells of burnt houses look kinda creepy in the twilight. Mostly the work of the EMTs from Boston Heights FD, but creepy nonetheless. Good list.
Well I’m off to the mines
Tuol Sleng is the Cambodian Auschwitz. Why is it we`re never told about this in school? We`re always hearing violin music, about Jews, and how they suffered during World War 2, but why never Cambodia? theres been COUNTLESS programmes and movies about Hitler, but never Duch (pronouced DOIK) the Khmer Rouge torturer? He even did waterboarding. So him and Dick Cheney would get on well. He killed 15,000 people, and he`s only just being punished for it, 30 YEARS later.
Check out "The Killing Fields". Can't recall if they mention Duch but it was an incredible movie about the atrocities that occurred in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge regime
could have something to do with the fact that in world history killing and torturing 15,000 ppl is pretty (to put it bluntly) inconsequential to global consciousness.
i'm not negating the individual deaths but we all know schools are very euro-centric to begin with, add that to the relatively small amount of deaths from a relatively minor world force and TAA-DAA you wont hear too much about it.
Creepy. Ass. List.
Guess which is the most terrifying country on earth, with 6 out of 10 entries?
*Grammar Nazi alert* "belonging to it" = "its"; "it is" = "it's".
Yeah lol that just proves that this list is indeed too American
Or it's citizens are a bunch of easily scared chicken*****s
Cheers
Lee
"its citizens"!! (see above) (Does anyone listen to me?!)
That sounds too much like a value judgment. You might say it (indeed you just did), but I wouldn't. I just count list items.
dude—-i listen to you
it's all fascinating –
*****, you're the only reason i use any punctuation at all…..
but if you morph into the capital letter nazi, i'm fairly sure demons will yell at me through my monitor, "poltergeist" style.
carolann is in my computer, there's an evil killer clown in my closet, and my pool is full of corpses
*shudders*
You use punctuation? Oh yes, there's the occasional one in there. I really must pay more attention.
this simply *must* be a sarcastic response….
i use about 29 of the little periods in every post…………..
: o
#3 Wildcats aren't fluid so they'll be vicious not viscous
You want me to be the spelling nazi as well as the grammar nazi?
im so confused , i cant post comments and i only got this list today at te regular time , friggin weird man…….
Oh ya cool list …. Oprahs vagina should be on here……
“We hear screams in the night, footsteps in the hall. We see shadows flit by”. I see friends shaking hands, sayin’ how do you do?/They’re really saying i love you.
That made me lol.
Ahahaha.. nice one. lol
It has to be Iraq. imagine a jackass siting next to you with a bomb on his chest and just counting down to the explosion. Terrible.
Good point Top Kill – Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Birmingham England, etc. all far more scarier places at the moment than those listed
Notable omissions include Glamis Castle in Scotland and Glastonbury Mountain in Bennington, Vermont (although this one is perhaps more ominous than terrifying).
Just wondering, does anyone else watch Supernatural? If they do spoliers btw – is Stull Cemetary the one featured in the deries 5 finale? I know that the cemetery was near Lawrence and that the Devil featured in it and also a gateway to hell was opened. If it is then kudos on the research to the Supernatural writers!
Great list, loved it! Am really intriged about ghosts and stuff, but think I'm more of a Casper the friendly ghost kinda gal as opposed to some of the guys on this list!
You are correct, it is indeed Stull Cemetery in the finale, the Cemetery was also why the brother's are from Lawrence.
Huh, I didn't know that. My friend loves Supernatural! I personally heard of Stull from the book Weird US
yea, but they recreate the actual stull cemetary, which i think would have been neat. but the one they used/made was way creepier looking than stull actually is.
whoops. meant to say didn't recreate the real stull.
Really interesting list but it makes me wonder. How come auschwitz or katyn arent haunted?? Well my guess would be cuz there arent any ghosts.
Paris never ceases to be spooky. My fav example is the air raid sirens that blow off every first wednesday of every month. Yup today too.
Ps: maybe #8 is spooky cuz its located in bum*****.
My grandparents were in Auchwitz and Birkenau and believed in ghosts. They said that they aren't haunted because no one would want to stay there for eternity.
With the exception of the Parisian one, I fail to see how any of these places are scary – sure they all harboured some sick and inhumane goings on but surely that is all in the past. They are just now empty buildings?? Surely the readers of these lists have grown out of believing in ghosts and ghouls?!
I don't think that it's so much a need to believe in ghosts as a desire to be frightened. Most of us nowadays lead pretty tame lives, and anything that gets the adrenaline pumping is enjoyable (why do you think they keep building these over-the-top roller coasters?). It isn't that we believe in ghosts so much as it is fun to let yourself creep back to your childhood for a few moments and immerse yourself in the possibility.
Well put
I see what you are saying whtknt, and agree with you on some level, however, as pointed out else where on this forum, as ghosts aren't real, the scariness of the places in this list can never be as real as the scare factor of being in say, Iraq or Afghanistan at the present. So to say this list details the top ten most terrifying places on earth, I think is a bit of a far cry when there are so many other more "real" threats and dangers. But hey, im all for creeping back to my childhood!
True, the fact that ghosts cannot be proven to exist makes these sites pale in comparison to places like Afghanistan, but it's a different kind of fear. I've been shot at, and frankly, the fear you experience in such a situation is far from enjoyable. With ghost stories, most of us know that it's mostly fiction and hype, but we choose to let ourselves be frightened in an effort to achieve that adrenaline high.
Nice list!
I noticed that most of the places in this list are in the US. If the author ever writes a sequel for this list, I hope he/she includes more entries from England, cause I've heard that there are many haunted areas there.
Obviously the Riddle House is scary, Voldemort killed his family there.
Haha!! Win! :¬)
First thing I thought of too when I read the Riddle House! Good call!
lmao! love it
I don't think this list was very well researched. There are plenty of places on Earth way worse than the ones described.
e.g. Aokigahara – the Forest of Suicides in Japan (warning! some pics are not for the squeamish): http://www.omgsoysauce.com/10131/aokigahara-fores…
or Ilha de Queimada Grande, and isalnd off Brazil known as Snake Island.
Both have been featured on Listverse before, and I wanted to stray away from reiterations and bring the Listversers something new. Good suggestions otherwise, however
I did a little midnight trespassing at Stull Cemetary when I was in college. The spooky factor got dialed to 11 when my friends and I heard a woman screaming (a coyote had hunted down a rabbit in the distance) but for a second we were scared out of our minds. And the author of the article isn't kidding about the police there…they do a drive by every 5 minutes so to access it you have to hide your car over a mile away and sneek in which makes a quick escape impossible (hopefully you won't need one.) For a while it was rumored that rain wouldn't fall inside the church after wind blew off the roof. And a few years later the land owner tore down the church, in secret, in the middle of the night.
loved this list, cheers!!!
Nice list. Another well known possibility would be Gettysburg, PA. My best friend owned 17 acres of land next to the battlefield until 2003 – we used to spend many a night sleeping out on his land. I never observed anything supernatural but it could be very scary at night.
We heard from the locals their stories of hauntings and ghosts from the early 1970's when we first went there. This was long before ghosts and hauntings become popular with books like – "haunted towns of _______" (fill in the name of the state) and the Sci Fi and other cable TV shows.
And of course, there was a good deal or "terror" at the battle of gettysburg.
I bloody LOVE lists like this! I knew of some of these locations but not others. Brilliant list ianz09; well written and interesting. Well done.
Fascinating list.
I'd like to see a list that covers more haunted sites overseas eg England and Ireland have many places, so does Australia, South Africa, etc.
I'd like to point out that us Satanists dont lurk around haunted places at all (well, we do, but just like everyone else does out of interest!). We dont create havoc and we dont sacrifice things, we dont chase townsfolk out of their houses or anything. Perhaps a list of top 10 misconcepions about Satanists is in order….
Anyway! Great list!
Ok that just made all satanists boring.
I was aware, but most people refer to occultists as Satanists. Are you are theistic Satanist or atheistic?
uhm…the word atheist is literally translated as "no god", so there is absolutely no correlation between satanism, occultism, or the belief in any God or God-like being. it also encompasses a lack of belief in any supernatural or paranormal phenomena.
therefore, to ask a Satanist if he is an Atheist is an insult to both individuals.
(also, atheists donot reject individuals whom choose to worship as they please; it is their beliefs we reject. remember: we are ALL born atheists and are TAUGHT otherwise…)
Theistic Satanists believe in a being known as Satan. Some sects believe it is the Satan of the Christian religion, others believe him to be a separate entity all his own. Atheistic Satanists (better known as LaVeyan Satanists) do not believe in an actually entity, but rather it is a belief system based around yourself. The belief is (roughly) that you should do as you please in order to please yourself. They do not worship a god or deity, they worship human beings' ability to be selfish and indulgent. They are atheistic as opposed to theistic because they do not worship a god. I didn't ask if gina was an atheist, I asked if she was an Atheistic Satanist. Despite the usage of the term 'atheist', they have no correlation whatsoever.
@ringtail: damn. Now i wanna get married make a baby and ask him really honestly: Are you a democrat?
Ps: does that actually mean that as we grow we become republicans? If so that means that republicans are more intelligent and more mature than democrats.
uhm…noo…
it means we are "indoctrinated" into the religion/values/traditions/ideals/community of our parents, and nothing more.
as Hitchins said, there are no Muslim children or Christian children or Buddhist children…only children of Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists.
as individual as we think we are, we are all humans and we have innate reactions, desires, & needs that are perpetuated, nurtured, & exploited by whatever culture we happen to be born into.
depending on our personal life experiences, the influences of the community around us, and a bizarre concoction of both, mold our early ideas. it is rare for a child to have a truly original idea. hell, it's rare for an adult to have an original idea.
@ringtail: sorry for the awkward replies. I cant reply to you since im using the mobile version.
Well i want to say this (in a friendly tone) give me a break. I dont believe how lucky i am to be born in the medium and time and etc i was born. So many advances in science so many questions to be answered so much art and spiritual enlighntement. Ive just watched a doc about cantor-boltzmann-godel-turing. People with trully original ideas. I think we are so lucky to be able to contemplate on the ideas that our ancestor first though of. Yes we cant always have new ideas. Ill mosy likely never have a new idea but i guess im happy i can see a new idea. So the mold isnt probably such a bad thing. I think its better to be in a mold and know someone trully amazing made this mold, than to be an amorph being, a huge nothing in the end because nothing comes from nothing.
Lets all celebrate our conformity. (okay this is extreme. Kinda happy for spain i guess)
True, Gina. Real Satanists do none of these things. Unfortunately, misguided teens and rebels, who get their kicks pretending to be Satanists do, and it's often the Satanists (and other non-conventionalists) who get the blame. I've heard Wicca accused of everything from worshiping trees to sacrificing household pets. Why we would sacrifice a fellow creature, who is as much a child of the goddess as we ourselves, is beyond me. I can't help but laugh when I hear people tell me about how Satanists drink the blood of babies and have the power to transform themselves in demons. It's sad what 2,000+ years of brainwashing will convince the masses of.
I've been to Stull Cemetery at night, and didn't notice anything spooky, though the place is out in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization. Stull is a small settlement whose inhabitants are rumored to be inbred. Also, in Lawrence, at 9th and Emery, there was the Haunted Frat, an abandoned old fraternity house. All that remained was the concrete structure, covered with graffiti. Lots of indie bands took promo photos there. Supposedly the frat had burned down and the people who were killed in the fire haunted the place. It was torn down in the late '80s and replaced by an apartment complex, which is not rumored to be haunted.
I have been there too. It is nothing but a normal cemetery in a town in the middle of nowhere. The only reason that legend is there, is because that small town is just down the highway from Kansas University. College kids probably made up that rumor to scare each other.
Can ANYONE who posts lists determine the difference between "it's" (it is) and "its" (possessive)? Great list, but a tough read with all the "it's"typos.
Sorry. Would you believe me if I told you I am actually usually very good about knowing the difference? Obviously not today, but I made sure to edit out as many of my typos and grammar mistakes as possible. Damn it all that I missed the its/it's though.
Well if you read it in it's context its not hard to figure out what it's trying to say (intentional misuse of it's/its)
Nice list, well-researched. I might have saved it for Halloween, but still…
Eh, you'll get over Randy.
Glad you liked it
mmm I don't believe all the spirit/haunting stuff, but this was a bit interesting to read :u
Been on Shades of Death Road a number of times and it's really not scary at all. Though we did go down the Lenape Road – it's more or less a dirt/gravel road – and that part was scary. Mostly because we ended up in somebody's driveway. Looked like a horror movie where someone comes out with a chainsaw or something. Anyway it was hard to turn around on that narrow road. But other than that, it's just a regular road with houses and some farms on it for the most part. Clinton Road is much spookier.
i genuinly have chills from some of them
Now THIS is an awesome list!!!
Creepy list. But the suicide forest in Japan called Aokigahara should be #1.
http://funzu.com/index.php/crazy-pics/aokigahara-…
Warning, some pictures of actual suicides are in this link
Hi., Ghosts eh?
Well, I believe in ghosts and all kinds of otherworldly goings on. I work for a Shaman, and together we’ve worked on some horrific cases. My ex-wife is a Wiccan and she was enrolled several times to go around doing house banishings for people. It’s unusual and rare these days but it does go on. The evidence; as I see it; is that none of the people who went through a session with these guys ever came back to say any ghosts had returned or started making those noises and weird ‘atmospheres’ again. They, and their friends who’d also been affected, were all 100% satisfied – so that’s not just a placebo in my view.
I detest fake shows like Most Haunted and all that. That’s just showbiz. I’m not afraid of ghosts and love graveyards, and I also worked (the the briefest time) in a severe mental health ‘asylum’.
I’ve personally never seen or felt a ghost – I’m not sensitive in that particular way (thank God!) but I’ve heard enough evidence from real live people to suggest this has been going on. Nearly all ghosts, as far as I can suggest right now, seem to be pretty harmless, with perhaps a few percent of those being malignant. The difference seems to be the way in which these people died; so someone who died under lots of mind altering drugs, or during murder or rape, or in war or some other typically shocking experience, seem to be more prone to ‘wander around in a daze’ than those who enjoyed a pieceful death – and who pass over quickly. Again, my Shamanic friend doesn’t get many calls to do Psychopomp work, but it happens.
I thought the list was a great ghost story. I enjoyed it. The author was clearly trying to be as deep and moody as possible – revelling in the mysteriousness and the art of writing it. This joy of creepiness did come through.
As for the items; a few I thought ‘ah well, that’s just the devil worshipers at it again’ or ‘that’s what crazy people do when they’re all locked up together’, or even ‘it’s just a road/town/story’. On the other hand, as I said above, some great ghost stories in their own right.
The ‘truth’ however will always be debatable.
…So that’s my view.
Good comment, thanks
Sigh….
cool story bro
why are those mental asylums included on this list?if a lot of people suffered in there,what more can you expect from the nazi death camps?i'm expecting to see one death camp.such as treblinka or auschwits.if history was right,millions have died in there and many died a horrific death.
Love love love this list! However, I’ve been to Shades (#3) dozens of times and it really is not scary at all. I actually even have a friend who lives on that road! I have not been to the lake though, and i’ve heard the cabin near the lake is scary!
I don't think any 'no. 1' on any list deserves it's place more than the no. 1 on this list. *****ed. Up.
I grew up with a girl who had her house written up in a ghost stories book. Her house was an 1800's farmhouse and was supposedly haunted by a little boy. She never saw anything though. (Kind of a let down to that story, I know.)
I love ghost stories. Great list!!