13 of the World’s Spookiest Travel Destinations

Are you planning to travel this October? Why not add some of the world’s spookiest haunted attractions to your itinerary? From scary walking tours and haunted accommodations to sites of tragic religious intolerance and catastrophes, these haunted destinations and attractions are bound to make the scariest month of year frightfully interesting!

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1. Salem, Massachusetts

The infamous Witch Trials of 1692 make Salem, Massachusetts one of the top haunted destinations in the United States. Visitors to Salem can experience the haunted tales and mysteries surrounding the Witch Trials firsthand by visiting one of many museums in the area or embarking on a guided walking tour led by some of Salem’s leading witches. Discover one of several family-oriented haunted attractions and scare yourself silly.

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2. The Cemeteries of New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans, one of the oldest cities in the US, is known as the City of the Dead for good reason. In addition to having a long history of war heroes, plague victims, voodoo queens, and horrid catastrophes, the city’s cemeteries actually look like miniature cities. The citizens of the dead are housed above ground in rows of family tombs that resemble ornate houses. Back in the day, burial plots would become submerged in water, because the city sits mostly below sea level. Watery graves, floating coffins, and noxious fumes were the end result and became a major source of contamination. Following a series of nasty epidemics in the early 1830’s, city officials decided that all further bodies would be buried in tombs above ground. Some of the most famous cemeteries in New Orleans are the Lafayette Cemeteries, Metairie Cemetery, and the St. Louis Cemeteries.

3. Manila Film Center, Philippines

Back in the 80s, construction teams were rushing to complete the the Manila Film Center in time for a film festival. An untimely accident claimed the lives of several construction workers. Rather than give the workers a proper burial, the contractors allegedly poured concrete over the remains in order to keep on schedule. Since then, visitors have reported hearing strange voices throughout the Film Center.

4. Yu Shan Fan Hotel, Chengde, China

The Yu Shan Fan Hotel in Chengde, China is a 220-room hotel located on the Yangtze River. Although it is a popular spot with summer vacationers, it is also known for scaring the daylights out of its guests. The ghost of Dowager Empress Cixi is said to haunt the hotel and grounds.

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5. Marfa, Texas
The town of Marfa is well-known for its mysterious reddish-orange lights. The spherical lights where first seen in the late 1800s by early settlers in the area and have appeared in all kinds of weather, moving at slow to high speeds. Some claim to have seen the lights moving up and own, while others have seen them divide into separate balls of light. Sometimes they blink on and off, sometimes they shine like spotlights, and sometimes they glow softly like the stars. Photographers and filmmakers have caught these lights in action, but their existence has never been unexplained.

6. The Old Montreal Ghost Walking Tour

A ghost tour of Old Montreal is bound to send chills up your spine. Les Fantomes de Vieux Montreal (Old Montreal Ghosts) offers a variety of tours, including a traditional ghost walk around the streets, alleyways, and piers of Old Montreal. This walk includes the locations of historical events such as political gatherings, fires, hangings, crimes, ghostly appearances, heroic acts, and unexplained mysteries. Visitors arrive at each destination and are greeted by a ghostly apparition who tells the story and circumstances of their untimely demise. Each haunting ghoul refers to different aspects of life in New France in the 17th and 18th century.

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7. The Rose Hall Great House – Montego Bay, Jamaica

The Rose Hall Great House is a popular tourist attraction in Jamaica because of the spooky stories and legends surrounding its mistress, Annie Palmer. Palmer arrived at Rose Hall in 1820 and was well-known for abusing her slaves. Locals believed she was a Black Witch because she brutally tortured her slaves. Legend has it that she murdered at least one of her slaves and three of her husbands.

8. Singapore

Singapore is home to a number of paranormal activities and it also holds the honor of being Asia’s most haunted city. The Old Changi Hospital, once a military hospital, is haunted by the spirits of soldiers looking for a way home. The morgue is said to be a  hot spot for ghost sightings. Other parts of the city are equally ghoulish. Certain MRT stations are terrorized by headless apparitions, while the ghosts of the poverty-stricken at Lor Halus haunt the streets begging for food and money. The Punggol White House in the Fort Sentosa District is haunted by a family that committed suicide together, while on East Coast Beach, strange lights have be seen sparkling through Hougang School. Changi Beach in Singapore is an especially frightening place at night. Thousands of Chinese were tortured and killed there during the Sook Ching Operation because they were suspected of being anti-Japanese. Today, visitors have reported hearing strange noises and seeing headless bodies walking along the beach.

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9. The Catacombs Museum – Paris, France

The Paris Catacombs are a maze of tunnels and crypts underneath the streets of the city. They were created at the end of the 18th century when the city cemeteries started running out of space. Improper burial techniques had caused the cemeteries to become a source of infection, and city officials decided to move the bones of the dead to their final resting place in an underground section of quarries in Paris between 1786 and 1788. The catacombs are thought to contain the remains of 6 to 7 million Parisians.

10. The Tower of London – London, England

Executions, torture, and murder are all a part of history at the Tower of London. The tower was once a prison for the crown of England. Hundreds of ghost sightings are reported here each year, and include the spirit of Ann Boleyn, one of Henry VI wives, who was beheaded in 1536. Other ghosts include Henry VI, Thomas Beckett, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the Countess of Salisbury.

11. The White House – Washington D.C., USA

The White House is a hot spot for ghost hunters, who say that the ghosts of several former presidents haunt many of the rooms there. Abraham Lincoln is the most frequent apparition in the White House, having been spotted several guests, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and Calvin Coolidge’s wife. Other presidents have also made the rounds in the White House. President Harrison has been seen and heard, as well as Andrew Jackson and Abigail Adams.

12. Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan, India

The most haunted place in India is in Rajasthan. According to legend, a black magic tantrik cursed the fort by proclaiming that anyone who died there would be trapped in the palace without the possibility of rebirth. It is said that nobody returns from this place after dark. The Indian Government has prohibited people from staying in the area after sunset.

13. 50 Berkeley Square in the United Kingdom
There are several stories surrounding the haunting of 50 Berkeley Square. One legend recounts the murder of a young girl by a servant. Another legend is of a young woman who lived in the house with her evil uncle. She perished while trying to escape from a window. Since then, the top floor is said to be haunted. Strange noises, ghostly apparitions, and strange mists have been seen in the area. 50 Berkeley Square is now occupied by a bookshop and the employees are not allowed to go up to the top floor.

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HAVE A POSITIVELY GHOULISH HALLOWEEN!