adjective
INFORMAL
- causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease.
THE WORLD IS COVERED IN haunts, frights and macabre memorials.
From lavish decor made of human bone to eerie dolls, abandoned towns and death-defying drops, the world offers a mix of natural and supposedly paranormal frights at a number of goosebump-inducing sites scattered across the globe.
1. Island of the Dolls – Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico's Isla de las Muñecas, or "Island of Dolls," may be tucked away in the Xochimilco canals south of Mexico City, but it has become a favored tourist attraction for its population of creepy dolls. According to local legend, when the island's only occupant found a drowned girl in the canal and a doll nearby, he began hanging dolls around the island. Now thousands are strung among the trees. It's unclear if he did so to honor the girl or to ward off any nefarious spirits. The island is only accessible by boat.
2. Aokigahara – Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan
Aokigahara is also known as "Suicide Forest" or the "Sea of Trees." It sits near Japan's Mount Fuji in Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park in Japan, and is known for its dense woods. The forest was the subject of a 2016 film, and Vice reports that after a popular novel set in the forest was published, it became the scene of suicides at a rate of an estimated 50 to 100 people a year.
3. Chernobyl – Chernobyl, Ukraine
Chernobyl is a closed but not fully decommissioned nuclear power station in the restricted Chernobyl Exclusion Zone north of Kiev, Ukraine. The facility was evacuated on April 27, 1986 after a catastrophic nuclear accident, still regarded as the most devastating nuclear accident in history. Abandoned structures reveal the frantic pace of abandoning the city of nearby Pripyat.
4. The Stanley Hotel – Colorado, United States
Americans are likely familiar with The Stanley Hotel, a 142-room Colonial Revival hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, and made famous as the inspiration for horror novelist Stephen King's Overlook Hotel in "The Shining." The Stanley has developed its own claims of paranormal activity overtime.
5. Capuchin Catacombs – Palermo, Sicily, Italy
The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo are burial crypts in Palermo, Sicily, in southern Italy. They draw visitors as a somewhat gruesome tourist attraction. The catacombs act as a cemetery to an estimated 8,000 mummies that line the walls. Some of the human remains are now skeletal, while the catacombs also hold well-preserved bodies. The last body was interred at the site in 1920.
6. Bran Castle – Bran, Romania
Bran Castle, also known as "Dracula's Castle," is a national monument and landmark in Romania. Many associate vampires with Transylvania, the region in central Romania, in large part because of Bram Stoker's "Dracula." The House of Draculesti ruled Transylvania hundreds of years ago and one ruler, Vlad III, is said to have been so barbaric that he earned the name "Vlad the Impaler."
7. The North Yungas Road – Bolivia
A fear of heights can go a long way – sometimes into a 2,000-foot abyss. This is especially true along the North Yungas Road, which leads from La Paz to Coroico in the Yungas Region of Bolivia. The two-way road travels between that abyss and solid rock. Its 12-foot-wide path has earned it the nickname of "Death Road."
Estimates were that between 200-300 people died on the road each year.
8. Village of Nagoro – Nagoro, Japan
A dwindling aging population and low youth-retention rate in Nagoro, Japan, has left behind a shrinking village. Artist Ayano Tsukimi reportedly moved back to her hometown to find the lessened local population. In response, she created life-size dolls to place around the village to give it a sense of life. Atlas Obscura reports there are now at least 350 toy citizens inhabiting the village.
9. The Door to Hell – Derweze, Turkmenistan
The so-called "Door to Hell" or "Gate to Hell," is a natural gas crater in Derweze, Turkmenistan. The crater is the result of a natural gas field that collapsed into an underground cavern in 1971. Geologists reportedly set it on fire to curb the spread of methane gas, but it continues to burn.
10. Hanging Coffins of Sagada – Sagada, Philippines
The Hanging Coffins of Sagada are just a few of the cliff-side burials around the world. The tombs in the Philippines reportedly follow an ancient funeral custom that entombs the deceased in coffins attached to rock faces or within caves in the face of cliffs. Ancient literature from the Tang Dynasty suggests the coffins' placements corresponded with status, while others say the placements prevented animals from reaching the bodies and did not take up value farm space for burials, according to CNN. Philippines Lifestyle reports that the Sagada people have practiced such burials for more than 2,000 years, and that some of the coffins are "well over a century old."
11. Beelitz-Heilstätten Hospital – Beelitz, Germany
Once a sanatorium to reportedly house people with fatal tuberculosis, the site in Germany was converted into a military hospital complex used during World War I. Adolf Hitler is said to have been treated at the site after he was wounded in the war. The primarily abandoned complex still features crumbling surgical and psychiatry wards. A small portion of the complex is reportedly still used for neurological rehabilitation and Parkinson's research.
12. Sedlec Ossuary – Kutná Hora, Czech Republic
The Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic chapel that is part of the former Sedlec Abbey. It is estimated to contain the skeletons of at least 40,000 people. Their bones have been artistically arranged in ornate decorations and furnishings within the chapel. It is a popular tourist attraction in the Czech Republic.
13. Centralia – Pennsylvania, United States
Centralia is a borough and near-ghost town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its population has dwindled from more than 1,000 residents in 1980 to 63 by 1990, to only five in 2017—a result of the coal mine fire which has been burning beneath the borough since 1962
1.5 hours away from East Stroudsburg
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