The cracking noise from the half-opened door, that eerie whooshing wind, a cat crying somewhere far off, and distant foot-steps on the top-floor of a huge, abandoned mansion.
Cliché, right? All of this was good when we were children and these things made us crawl into our parents’ bedrooms. Now, we need some real thrill in our lives.
So, here are some places you could go backpacking this spooky season to get your kick from some actual creepy places.
1. Edinburgh Castle, Scotland
This is castle is here since the Iron Age. So, you know how old castle and spirits go right? But it’s not just the old historical walls that give it the creeps, in fact during the day this is a great tourist attraction. The real spookiness happens at night when a spectral dog, a headless drummer, and a phantom piper roam the castle at night. Even researchers found ghost-sightings in the castle and since then people have only been scared of the place.
2. Island of Dolls, Mexico
If the movie Annabelle didn’t scare, this place surely will. It is that little girl drowned in the Mexican Canal and when somebody moved to this island later, he was haunted by the girl’s spirit. To please the little girl’s spirit this man hung several dolls on trees and even might have sacrificed his nephew to give her a playmate in the afterlife. People report that they can hear laughing and whispering voices and observed that the eyes of the dolls follow them.
3. Screaming Tunnel, Canada
Located in Ontario, this tunnel is right beneath the railway track Toronto to New York via Niagara Falls. Legends say a house burned on one end of the tunnel and a young girl from the house came running towards the tunnel for burning and screaming for help. It is said that if you try to light anything in the tunnel you hear screaming of voices of the girl and the it turns out the fire.
4. Bhangarh Fort, India
Over 200 miles from Delhi, this fort stands tall in Rajasthan. It is said that a sorcerer tried to lure Princess Ratnavatil through magic and when she became aware of his evil plans, she ordered to get him killed. Before dying, the sorcerer cursed the town to be roofless and its people to die. Since then, every time a roof is built it collapses. It is one of the scariest places in India and the world and nobody is allowed to visit it after dark.
5. Aradale Lunatic Asylum, Australia
Admit it, there is something strange about the mental asylums or at least the ones that are shown in tv shows. This one in in Victoria, is one of the largest mental hospitals. It is said that the ghost of Nurse Kerry haunts the women’s wing. Another ghost of a patient, who was forced to leave the asylum when it was shut down, is sighted in various parts of the asylum. The asylum was said to be the home of many lunatics.
6. Tao Dan Park, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
The beautiful garden during day, turns different in the night. It is said that the ghost of a man killed in one of the attacks still wanders there in search of his love.
7. The Catacombs of Paris, France
Do I need to say anything else apart from the fact that the remains of more than 6 million people lie there in the undergrounds of the tunnel. You may take a tour as some parts of the tunnel is open for tourists, see for yourself and experience the horror.
8. Casa Loma, Toronto, Canada
This Gothic-style is filled with corridors and secret pathways, and of course creepy stories. There have been sightings of ghosts all around the mansion, which is also open for tourists. And because the builders knew that hunger could make even the sanest people mad and scary, there are also two restaurants open for the visitors.
