With Halloween approaching we’ve been thinking about some of the world’s creepiest locations! So we’ve put together a list of our top 5 haunted destinations around the world to get you in the Halloween spirit. From abandoned mental asylums to haunted forests, there’s definitely something to give you the chills…
Pripyat – Ukraine
On the 26th April 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat suffered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, where approximately 31 people died and many suffered from deformities and cancer caused by the radiation. As a result of the disaster, Pripyat was evacuated…but not immediately!
As the evacuees were told to only bring necessary items with them, many of their belongings are still in Pripyat, which adds to the eerie atmosphere there. What was once a home to thousands of people now stands completely deserted.
Beechworth Lunatic Asylum – Australia
The Beechworth Lunatic Asylum was founded in 1867 and is also known as “Mayday Hills Hospital”. The asylum has been closed since 1995 and there have been a number of reported ghost sightings over the years, with the most famous being Matron Sharpe, who spent most of her life working at the asylum. There have also been reports of strange screams, as well as other mysterious figures! Around 1200 patients lived at Beechworth at it’s highest capacity and over 3000 people died there during it’s 128 years of operation.
Isla de las Munecas – Mexico
If dolls creep you out, you’re certainly not going to like this one! A man named Don Julian moved to this isolated island in the 1950’s, leaving his wife and children behind. According to local legend, a girl drowned on the island in the 1920’s under mysterious circumstances and now haunts the island.
Believing that he could appease the girl’s spirit, Don Julian decorated the trees with dolls, to help protect him from the evil spirits. The trees around the island are now decorated with masses of deformed and broken dolls, with missing limbs and eyes. Located south of Mexico City, Isla de las Munecas, has become quite the tourist attraction over the years!
Bhangarh Fort – India
The Bhangarh Fort in India is located in Rajastan and is believed to be cursed. The curse was placed by a sorcerer who tried to trick the princess of Bhangarh into falling in love with him, when this failed he cursed the fort and all it’s inhabitants before he died. Soon after this, the fort was invaded and all people in the fort were murdered. The fort is believed to house the spirits of the sorcerer and those who died there and tourists are forbidden to visit the fort between sunset and sunrise!
Aokigahara – Japan
Aokigahara, or the Suicide Forest, is located at the base of Mount Fuji and is reportedly the most popular place for suicides in Japan (morbid, we know!). The forest is eerily quiet, with an absence of most wildlife. It is also said to be haunted not only by the souls of those who have taken their lives there, but by angry spirits who were left there to die in the distant past.
Over 100 bodies were found in the forest in 2003 and approximately 100 suicides were committed here every year in the time leading up to 1988. Due to the high suicide rates here, the Japanese government have placed signs in the forest to urge suicidal visitors to seek help.