The Spookiest Places to Visit Around the World!

Bones of Neamt Monastery

I should clarify something right off. Perhaps a better title for this post would have been The Spookiest Places Around The World! (that we have visited). There may be scarier places that we haven’t been (yet), but if a place gave us goosebumps, hair-raising chills or an any way tipped off our spooky-radar – we included it here. We started this list in 2014 and it’s grown ex-BOO-netially since then! Sorry! πŸ™‚

In no particular order of spookiness, creepiness, or chill-producing vibes – here are some of our Spooktacular Places to Visit Around the World!

The Bone Church of Kutna Hora (Czech Republic)

Yes, this is a new addition this year. SHIVERS! You’d never guess this quiet village just outside of Prague would hold such macabre works of “art”? to practically guarantee goosebumps from visitors around the world. The angelic cherubs perched atop gaping skulls were the first to tingle the spine, but certainly not the last. What about a crow made of bones, pecking at a Spaniard’s eye socket? YIKES! The Bone Church of Kutna Hora rates #1 this year in our list of spookiest places!

bone church

bone church

bone church

Bran Castle (Romania)

Even though Vlad Tepes, aka Count Dracula, likely never set foot inside this magnificent cliff-side castle, author Bram Stoker has the world believing that this was his lair. Full of secret stairs, passageways, and creepy carvings – Bran Castle is one seriously spooky place.

spookiest places in the world

Bran Castle aka Dracula’s Castle

spookiest places in the world

The secret stairway…

New Orleans, Louisiana (USA)

Teeming with ghosts, vampires, cemeteries and famous voodoo worshipers – New Orleans wins hands down for the most scares per capita. A visit to the famous St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 to see voodoo priestess Marie Laveau’s gravestone is a must-do during the daytime hours only. At night in New Orleans, it’s the living you have to worry about!

YIKES! I'm frightened already!

YIKES! I’m frightened already!

 

House of Voodoo on Bourbon Street

House of Voodoo on Bourbon Street

Hill of Slane (Ireland)

High on a grassy mound at the end of a deserted country road in County Meath Ireland, you’ll find the ancient Hill of Slane. Known as the place where St. Patrick angered the pagan ruler of Ireland in 4 by lighting the first paschal fire. With a history that can be traced back to Neolithic times, this sacred space puts off a very distinctive feeling. It’s not entirely unpleasant, but more of a feeling of energy surrounding it. It was fascinating to wander though the graves and wonder what spirits were sharing the space.

spookiest places

Found on a grave site…

spookiest places

Hill of Slane

Killing Fields (Cambodia)

Few places we’ve ever visited have felt quite as powerful as The Killing Fields of Cambodia. Perhaps because the atrocities were so recently committed, it feels as though their voices can be clearly heard in the quiet meadows if one simply takes the time to listen.

spookiest places in the world

We don’t even know their names…

spookiest places in the world

Paying tribute to the past

Jack the Ripper’s Neighborhood (England)

Yes, it was a tour. Yes, there were 8 other people present. And yes, this neighborhood practically scared me to death! Seeing the exact spots where Jack the Ripper stalked and killed his victims in London’s fading afternoon twilight was enough to ruin my good sleep for several weeks afterwards.

Jack's London at night...yikes!

Jack’s London at night…yikes!

 

spookiest places

The letter from Hell

Neamt Monastery (Romania)

Here in this dusty basement of Neamt Romania, the Bones of Neamt Monastery tell the story. Over 530 monks who lived and worshiped here are on display as both a tribute to their service and a grim reminder for history. Steeping down into the basement to be greeted by hundreds and hundreds of skulls and bones certainly made my hair stand on end!

spookiest places in the world

The history is written on the bones

spookiest places in the world

Romania’s Neamt Monastery

Glasnevin Cemetery (Ireland)

Only in Ireland would a famously spooky cemetery have it’s very own pub! Glasnevin Cemetery is the earthy eternal resting place for over 1.5 million people over the years.

spookiest places

Glasnevin Cemetery in daylight

spookiest places in the world

Glasnevin Cemetery at night

The history of this fascinating place includes notorious gravediggers and ghoulish characters who awake from the “dead” and have the unique distinction of being buried twice. If the goosebumps at Glasnevin Cemetery get to be too much to bear, it might be a good idea to stop in for a pint of Guinness at The Gravediggers Pub.

You never know who you might find…

spookiest places in the world

Cheers to Our Favorite Ghoul!

Just be careful when the bar closes that you know your way…there are always those who are more than willing to help you find another route home!

Have you ever been scared here? What’s the scariest place you’ve ever visited?

 

 

 

About the author

Lisa is a traveler, photographer and pharmacist. She and her partner Cheryl MacDonald enjoy sharing inspiration and good health with fellow travelers!

18 Comments

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  • You’ve got some scary choices here! I agree that Cambodia was very grim and sad..I had to leave early I found it so upsetting. Romania overall was also a bit frightening as during my visit it was raining and dark most of the time plus I visited a few fortune tellers who didn’t have any good news to tell me about my future. In general though, any graveyard tour is scary enough for me….

  • I think the dude in his underwear was scariest! πŸ˜€ You’re right about the residual energy around the Hill of Slane, and Slane itself. We visited Newgrange one gloomy afternoon and then ventured back into town for an early dinner before heading back to Dublin. Our meal took the edge off in the old Conyngham hotel’s bar, but it was truly about the only bright spot other than the headlights of nightly commuters. There was one elder seated next to us whose brogue was unintelligible. We looked up and he’d just suddenly disappeared. An overall creepy vibe where you’d swear spirits were about.

  • The castle in Romania has a seriously creepy feel to it. You have been to your fair share of scary places. I like your Hill of Slane photo too; it’s got a lot of moodiness to it.

  • So many creepy places to visit. I am only an hour away from London and have been planning a trip to do the tour of Jack the Ripper for several months now. If you are looking for other creepy places to visit in the UK, head down to Pluckley in Kent which is famed for being the most haunted village in England.

  • I can’t remember ever visiting a place specifically for its spookiness but I do remember a time when we had watched the sunset from high on a Tuscan hilltop and on our way back we came upon a creepy cemetery. Tim stopped the car and told me to get out and take a picture, it was full of flickering lights, it was pretty but what he couldn’t see from the car was that there were dozens of bats flapping around.

  • We don’t usually seek out spooky places although we love graveyards, the older, the better, and can spend hours wandering around admiring the headstones and trying to read them. So many of the spooky places you mentioned are rich in history or, like Cambodia’s Killing Fields, memorials to honor the dead and illustrate wars horror’s that they are high on our list of places to visit. So maybe, even though we don’t like being chilled to the bone, we do seek out the macabre… !

    • I keep hearing about the Bone Church and how wonderfully creepy it it – we will definitely have to put that one on the list for next time πŸ™‚ Thanks for stopping by!

  • It’s fascinating to read about all these places that are supposedly spooky and/or haunted. I actually don’t find death to be a scary thing, and I find cemeteries quite peaceful. However, the pictures of the Glasnevin cemetery are a bit spooky looking. Perhaps I don’t mind cemeteries because I’ve never been there at night!

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