The Most Haunted Destinations In The Entire World

During the Roman Empire, a guy named Pliny the Younger wrote a letter that would go down in history as one of the earliest records of a ghost encounter. Pliny wrote that he saw an old man with a beard who was bound by chains wandering around his home, but he wasn't quite a living human. He was a phantom. That experience occurred about 2,000 years ago, and if anything, there are even more ghosts hanging around now than there were before. 

Traditionally, a ghost is believed to be the spirit of a person who has died that is still roaming the physical world.The living interact with these otherworldly beings way more than you may think. One 2023 survey conducted by YouGov found that 20% of participants reported having at least one ghost encounter in their life so far, which means that there could easily be millions of people coming across apparitions in the United States alone. 

While you probably won't have to worry about a poltergeist popping up in your living room unannounced, there are definitely other places where there is a much higher chance of getting spooked. In fact, certain locations are so incredibly haunted today that you are practically guaranteed to have a freaky experience there. These are some of those most ghost-ridden destinations on the planet. 

The movie "The Shining" based on Stephen King's novel has terrified millions of viewers since it was released in 1980, but did you know that the writer based it on a real place? Let's introduce you to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado. By all first impressions, this hotel looks grand and beautiful, which is precisely why Stephen King and his wife Tabitha decided to have a romantic weekend alone there in Room 217. 

Since it was the end of the season, they were the only two people in the entire accommodation. That was eerie enough on its own, but then Stephen had a nightmare that evening about his son being chased by a supernatural being through the halls of the Stanley. That's when a story was born in his mind. 

"The Shining" is a work of fiction, but the hauntings at the Stanley Hotel are very legit and it's even been dubbed "Disneyland for Ghosts." Former guests have reported that there are cold spots and orbs on the hotel's big staircase and the sound of children laughing come from the fourth floor. The reoccurring spirit of a man named Paul often appears in the concert hall at night uttering "get out" to people who were there too late. Even famous actor Jim Carrey allegedly spent time in the infamous Room 217 and got so scared by the spirits that he ran out in the middle of the night with barely any clothes on.

Is it really surprising that an underground tomb holding more than 6 million bodies is one of the most haunted locations in the world? The Catacombs of Paris are one of the creepiest, most recognizable dark tourism destinations. In the 18th century, the city had a problem because their graveyards were getting overcrowded with corpses. They decided the easiest way to handle the problem would be building an underground tunnel system as a final resting place for the remains. 

It took years to build the Catacombs and transfer all those bodies into them. By the time they were finished, there were 2,000 acres of tunnel hiding underneath the streets of Paris. Today, approximately 200 miles of it is open for the public to explore. Of course, these passageways are extremely haunted. Visitors have said that they heard disembodied voices whispering to them as they were passing through and even saw apparitions disappear before their eyes. 

Based on this description, most people would likely want to stay far away from the eerie spot, but the Catacombs are a Paris attraction worth waiting in line for. One of the best-rated experiences is the Skip-The-Line Paris Catacombs Tour with VIP Access to Restricted Areas, which brings visitors into the depths of the tunnels in a small group with an expert guide. Former participants loved how much history they learned along the journey and said it was amazing seeing the parts that weren't open to the public. 

The Island of the Dolls is one of those places where you don't have to be deeply familiar with the history or spot a ghost with your own eyes to know that it's infested with spirits. This small island has a very sad past that's turned it into a notorious haunted destination in Mexico. The legend goes that in the 20th century a man discovered the body of a dead girl on the island where he lived. Soon after he found a mysterious doll washed up on the shores and he began hearing the ghostly sobs of a child in the night. 

Feeling haunted by the girl's spirit, his solution was to start hanging dolls everywhere.The trend stuck and today there are around 4,000 hanging dolls in various parts of the island. Not only does this create an incredibly unsettling atmosphere, but the island is also cursed by the presence of ghosts. The current caretaker of the island claims that he still hears the cries of a young girl there. 

Others say the dolls' gazes followed them around or that they even heard them talking amongst themselves. A lawyer who visited the Island of the Dolls told ABC Australia, "Truth be told you get goosebumps; I mean, yes, you can sense a different energy, yet I liked it a lot. I think it is a different experience, yet unique." Visitors are allowed to bring a doll to the island, but taking any of them is considered very bad luck. 

The Whaley House in San Diego has garnered a reputation for being the most haunted house in the United States. Built 167 years ago by Thomas Whaley, this brick home is one of the oldest structures of its kind in the entire city. However, it was supposedly constructed on top of an execution site where a thief was put to death, and that caused a little more bad mojo than the Whaleys were intending. After moving into the house, the Whaley family faced many painful tragedies, including their business burning to the ground in a fire and their youngest child dying from scarlet fever. 

Even though it's been well over a century since they physically inhabited the house, it seems as though the Whaleys and the thief who died on the property still linger around the residence. People have witnessed ghosts walking about, heard phantom footsteps, and experienced other strange sounds inside the Whaley House. Over the years, it's become a very popular destination for paranormal enthusiasts to try to capture proof of the spirit realm. The home has been featured on shows like "Ghost Adventures", "Most Haunted", "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files", and "Buzzfeed Unsolved". 

Romania's Corvin Castle looks like another one of Europe's fairy-tale-like palaces, but it is actually hiding an extremely checkered past within its walls. Erected in 1441, the castle was used as a prison and torture chamber that tormented its inmates without a drop of humanity. One of its most renowned captives was a man named Vlad the Impaler who was supposedly locked up in the dungeon at Corvin for seven years. 

The story goes that Vlad wasn't even given food by the guards and had to keep himself alive by eating rats that he'd impaled. The lifestyle drove him mad and he went on to be a ruthless ruler whose favorite method of execution was impaling his victims with a large stake, which is how he got his name. He was just one of many prisoners who faced unthinkable conditions at Corvin Castle and many believe the extreme suffering here has led the building to being incredibly haunted. 

It's said that the Capistrano Tower is currently occupied by the presence of a ghost monk. People have also felt the touch of a hand when nobody was there.  One time a few tourists broke into the castle and came to regret that choice when they got themselves locked inside. By the time they were discovered the next day, they were totally beat up and they said they'd been harassed by an entity they couldn't see.

The most-visited attraction in all of Scotland is Edinburgh Castle. The 12th century fortress welcomed nearly 2 million tourists in 2023 alone and there are plenty of tours that give visitors access to the grounds. For instance, this Guided Walking Tour of Edinburgh Castle is highly recommended by 95% of participants because it was so informative about the palace's lengthy past. 

While there is no doubt a lot of history here and interesting areas of Edinburgh's iconic castle to explore, it also happens to be one of the most haunted locations on the planet. Edinburgh Castle saw its fair share of deaths with up to 300 people being burned at the stake here for witchcraft. It was also used as a prison at one point to hold soldiers and pirates that were taken captive. 

Many people were not treated very humanely at Edinburgh Castle back in the early 1800s and it's now believed to be cursed due to this dark history. Visitors have claimed to hear the sound of bagpipes playing from underground and have come across a headless drummer. The figure of a noblewoman from the 16th century has also been spotted walking around the castle crying.

The Green Lady is a well-known ghost who has been haunting the 11th century Château de Brissac castle in France for many years. Humans that are still amongst the living say they've seen her wearing her signature green dress inside the tower room of the castle's chapel, but terrifyingly there are holes where her eyes and nose are meant to be.In the very early morning, her wails are often her vibrating through Château de Brissac. 

This sad apparition is thought to be a woman named Charlotte de Breze who was the child of King Charles VII and his secret lover. Charlotte was apparently forced into a marriage with a nobleman named Jacques. However, their vastly different lifestyles kept them apart, and they never actually loved each other. 

Scandalously, she ended up taking a lover while they lived in the Château de Brissac. When her husband walked in on them together one night, he couldn't control his temper and murdered them both on the spot. It wasn't long before Jacques fled because he apparently couldn't stand the sounds of his murdered wife's ghost around the castle. 

One of the saddest haunted destinations in the world is definitely the Aokigahara Forest in Japan, also known as the Suicide Forest. Located at the bottom of Mount Fuji, this forest has unfortunately become a hot spot for people to take their own lives since as far back as the 1960s. It's estimated that somewhere between 30 and 100 people commit suicide at Aokigahara every year. However, the numbers aren't exact because the Japanese government actually stopped releasing statistics about how many deaths happen in the forest because they wanted to ward off the association. 

The bodies of the deceased can remain in Aokigahara Forest for years without being found and some probably never get discovered. As such, it is a very eerie and supposedly haunted woods. Explorers have claimed that their phones, GPS tools, and compasses have stopped working while they were in the forest increasing the chances of getting lost or losing contact with the outside world. For a long time, there have been legends of evil ghosts called Yurei living in Aokigahara and luring people into its depths, too. 

Off the coast of Venice, there is an entire island that is tormented by spirits from the other side. After learning a bit about the history of Poveglia Island, it'll be clear why this place is so haunted. Poveglia was used as a normal residence since as early as the 7th century, but it was eventually deserted by the people who lived there. It wasn't until the 18th century that the island took on a new purpose: controlling the spread of the Bubonic Plague. 

It became Italy's main quarantine station for patients who suffered from deadly disease and many of them never made it back off the island alive once they were taken there. In the 1800s, Poveglia was converted into an insane asylum that was rumored to have performed cruel experiments on the patients. Needless to say, all different kinds of suffering occurred on this island. These days it is completely abandoned, except for the ghosts of course. 

According to fisherman, a spirit named Little Maria has been seen and heard roaming the island and crying along the shoreline. She's thought the have been a victim of the plague, and her ghost has been stuck on the island for 400 years. The bell tower, that's been torn down, has also been heard mysteriously tolling in the night. 

Most people think that hauntings occur strictly on dry land, but there are plenty of creepy bodies of water as well. After all, there have been just as many tragedies and deaths in the ocean. Although most places in Micronesia are ideal for a tropical escape, Chuuk Lagoon is a perfect example of a haunted destination under the sea. 

Chuuk Lagoon was a major Japanese naval base once upon a time and it was the site of one very deadly battle in particular. The massive attack lasted three whole days and resulted in the deaths of 4,500 Japanese service members. Many of these people died when their ships and planes sunk into the Chuuk Lagoon, which resulted in the area becoming a famous ship graveyard that's believed to be afflicted by serious paranormal activity. 

It's actually become a popular location for divers to explore shipwrecks. However, these people have terrifying experiences down there, like hearing ghostly machinery running. Some divers have even heard a voice cut through the sea and whisper into their ear when nobody is around or spotted human-looking shadow figures moving around the wrecked boats. 

There is something especially horrifying about the idea of a medical facility being haunted and Singapore's Old Changi Hospital only strengthens this perception. This hospital was originally created almost a century ago as a component of a British Royal Air Force base, and a lot of devastating things happened within its walls during World War II. It was shut down for good in 1997 and the structure has been sitting abandoned in the middle of the country ever since.

While it's technically closed off to the public, many explorers have braved the Old Changi Hospital over the years to check out its spooky status for themselves. Their experiences are like something out of a horror movie. Some have said that they have seen phantom reflections in glassless windows, and others have reported having such an overwhelming feeling of dread when approaching the facility that they had to turn back. Another visitor said that they saw things moving inside the vacant building. 

There is a home in one of the most quaint Swedish island towns that is so filled with specters that it is considered the most haunted place in the country. Borgvattnet Vicarage was constructed almost 150 years ago and the residents started having some odd experiences inside the structure around 1927. Nils Hedlund, a former resident of the home, wrote in letters that an unseen force was pulling his laundry from the line. 

Another person who lived there said they started seeing the ghost of a gray woman roaming the home. Others throughout the years said they would simply hear out-of-place noises, like footsteps, strange music,or furniture moving around on its own. Perhaps one of the most unnerving experiences inside Borgvattnet Vicarage came from a woman who was staying there on a business trip and said she awoke in the middle of the night to see three unhappy-looking ghostly women staring at her from the foot of the bed.

The Tower of London is one of the capital city's most treasured tourist attractions, an impressive UNESCO World Heritage Site, and an unbelievably haunted fortress with at least 13 different ghosts that are known to live there. The structure is almost a century old. Throughout its long history, it has served as a military fortress that protected the royal family and their riches, an opulent palace, and a callous prison that caused many people pain. 

During its time as a prison, 22 people were put to death inside the tower and over 100 more were executed right outside of the palace on Tower Hill. Today, there are a bunch of well-known spirit residents who are still tethered to the grounds. A man named Guy Fawkes was subject to horrific torture techniques in the tower such as the rack after planning an assassination. It's said that you can still hear his screams. 

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, was put to death by beheading at the Tower of London. And hundreds of years later, soldiers claimed to see a headless Anne leading a group of knights. Henry VI was held prisoner and later murdered here. His spirit allegedly comes to Wakefield Tower every evening at midnight. Even the ghost of a wild bear that was kept in Henry III's at-home zoo is occasionally spotted lumbering through the grounds.