Because Halloween is just around the corner and I already made a top of the best destinations around the world for this holiday, I thought an article containing some of the world’s scariest places was in order. If you’re up for a good scare and plan a holiday, you might want to consider some of these places. But be aware, some of these places are genuinely scary so you might want to think twice before visiting some of them.
If you are a fan of the American Horror Story show and you watched the third season, Coven, the name Lalaurie will most likely ring a bell. The Lalaurie mansion is a prominent New Orleans landmark and was the home of the notorious Madame Lalaurie a Louisiana-born socialite and serial killer known for the torture and murder of slaves. The story behind the mansion is terrifying. Although a woman of importance in the social circle of New Orleans, Marie Delphine Lalaurie is definitely one of the cruelest killers in the history of America. She killed and tortured to death a significant number of slaves until April 1834 when a fire that is said to have been set by the cook broke and fire fighters discovered the horrible sight in the attic of the house. I don’t feel like describing the horrors that went down there and I think it’s already obvious that some creepy events happened there even after the house was first sold as it was said to be haunted by the slaves that lost their lives by the hands of Madame Lalaurie.
The Island of dolls located just south of Mexico City between the canals of Xochimico is a small island that for decades has been the home to hundreds of dilapidated dolls. The island was once the property of Don Julian Santana, a local farmer. Legend says that in 1950 he saw a little girl drown in the canal and her spirit began haunting the place. In order to protect himself from the ghost, Don Julian started collecting dolls and hung them around the island like creepy Christmas ornaments. Nowadays the place gathered more than 1,500 dolls with the oldest one still hanging in a shed by the entrance. Santana died of heart attack in 2001 and his cousin is now living on the island.
Hashima Island is an uninhabited island in the Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan located about 15 kilometres from Nagasaki itself. The images of the abandoned island are haunting and seem like being ripped from a post-apocalyptic zombie movie. The island was populated from 1887 to 1947 as a coal mine facility. It was bought by Mitsubishi in 1890 and officially closed down in 1947 leaving it completely empty and bare with undisturbed concrete apartment buildings and the surrounding sea wall. This ‘ghost island’ was opened for travel on April 22, 2009 after 35 years of closure.
Another haunting place in Japan is Aokigahara forest which has the unfortunate distinction of the world’s second most popular place to take one’s life, the first one being the Golden Gate Bridge. The forest spreads over 35 square kilometres on the northwest base of Mount Fuji. Maybe because of its association with demons in Japanese mythology the forest is a popular place for suicides despite the numerous signs in both Japanese and English urging people to reconsider their actions. Legend says that in ancient times families would abandon people in the forest during periods of famine when there wasn’t enough food to go around. Wataru Tsurumui’s 1993 bestseller, The Complete Suicide Manual recommends Aokigahara forest as the perfect place to die, as if Japan’s suicide rate wasn’t already bad enough.
I don’t know about you but if there is one thing that really freaks me out are abandoned asylums and hospitals, especially ones with ghost stories and paranormal activities. One such asylum is the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, subsequently the Weston State Hospital which was a Kirkbride psychiatric hospital that operated from 1864 until 1994. In the 1950s it became overcrowded with patients and it was close in 1994 due to changes in treatments of patients. The place is said to be haunted and by the looks of it some of the stories must be true. The asylum was featured on paranormal television programs and there are even day time guided tours.
Of course these are just a small number of the world’s scariest places. If you want to read more terrifying stories and find out about more terrifying places you might want to check out this masterpost.
