There are some places where you can feel entirely at ease exploring your paranormal curiosity, while others will make you feel like you’re about to leap out of your skin. Some are just fantastic destinations, while everywhere in this collection guarantees an abundance of intrigue.
Romania’s Transylvania
The considerable territory in the center of Romania is characterized by sylvan hills and mist-topped mountains, the minor ringing reverberation of church bells, and the stone-built medieval steeples of cities like Sibiu, Brasov, and Cluj.
However, Bran Castle is one location that causes chills and goosebumps.
This fortress, with its Gothic towers and gargoyle-adorned roofs, rises from the woods on the outskirts of Wallachia.
It has become synonymous with several shady and mysterious characters, including the most gruesome of the Wallachian kings, Vlad the Impaler, and the prototypical Nosferatu, Count Dracula.
The Banff Springs Hotel, Canada
The Canadian Banff Springs Hotel is supposed to be the site of several ghost stories and odd occurrences, evoking comparisons to the Timberline Lodge from Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
The locals claim that a family of four was brutally killed in room 873. Some people claim to have seen doorkeepers emerge out of nowhere.
If you can get over the supernatural stigma, you’re in for a treat.
There is easy access to the world-famous ski resorts of Jasper and Banff from this magnificent hotel, which exudes Scottish Baronial traditions and is surrounded by the fir-dressed peaks of the Canadian Rockies.
Is it worth taking the chance?
Poland’s Crooked Forest
For years, a little group of slightly more than 400 pine trees just south of the unpronounceable city of Szczecin on Poland’s extreme eastern haunch, a stone’s throw west of the border with Germany, have attracted the attention of Atlas Obscura types and off-the-beaten-path travelers.
The trees in this woodland appear crooked by nearly 90 degrees at the base before straightening out and shooting upwards toward the Slavic sky.
The peculiar appearance of the wood has sparked much speculation, with proposed explanations ranging from extreme weather conditions to the unique growing practices of loggers.
Bhangarh Fort, India
It is said that the old walls of Bhangarh Fort, which is nestled in the folds of the Aravali Hills and scorched by the Rajasthani heat, reverberate with the voices of a cursed princess and the wizard Sinhai, who attempted to capture her.
According to legend, Sinhai lured the young princess with the promise of a love potion.
Unfortunately, the wizard’s scheme backfired, and he was killed before he could cast his jinx on the citizens of Bhangarh.
One of the most haunted places in India is the Mughlai complex that Madho Singh I once walked through.
It is forbidden to enter after sunset, and residents claim that deaths have occurred due to the curse.
The Skirrid Mountain Inn, Wales
Located on the eastern fringe of the picturesque Brecon Beacons National Park (Wales’ lesser-known southern mountain range), the Skirrid Mountain Inn reeks of the legends and lore of the ancient Gaelic people who formerly lived there.
Rumor has it that this is where rebels gathered to battle for Owain Glyndr, the legendary leader of the Welsh revolt against Henry IV. Some say it was a courthouse where the notorious “Hanging Judge” George Jeffreys oversaw the execution of convicted criminals by hanging.
There’s a dangling noose in the ceiling and plenty of ghost stories to share over a bowl of cawl (a traditional Welsh soup).
The Atlantic Ocean’s Bermuda Triangle
Legends of missing sailors, vessels, planes, and even people have circulated throughout the waters of the Bermuda Triangle for generations.
There are several reasons why so many visitors become caught in the Devil’s Triangle, the name given to the enormous region that spans over 500,000 square miles.
Some people blame tropical cyclones, others point the finger at magnetic anomalies, and others claim there’s no mystery.
With the sun-kissed islands of Turks and Caicos to the south and the bays of Bermuda to the north, vacationing in the area is now more enjoyable than one may assume.
The Tower of London, England
Between the crenulations of London’s historic castle on the north bank, all manner of dark and murky actions have gone down, from the beheading of kings to the imprisonment of state adversaries and the scheming of political maneuvers from the Tudors to the Elizabethans.
A martyred saint named Thomas Becket is claimed to have appeared from the grave to prevent the development of the palace, which sparked rumors of ghosts and other supernatural occurrences.
But the ghost of Anne Boleyn, beheaded at Henry VII’s order in the 1530s, has everyone talking.
Eternal Flame Falls, United States
Explore the twisting paths traverse Chestnut Ridge Park to find Shale Creek, an undiscovered natural gem.
Aptly named Eternal Flame Falls, this natural phenomenon is quite baffling.
The breathtaking waterfalls will be your first sight, plunging over tiers of sculpted granite. Why? Because it is the only place on Earth where two of nature’s most primal forces may be combined.
And then there’s the flame, a glimmering presence beyond cataracts. Natural gas seeping from the ground is blamed by scientists as the source of the perpetual fire.
Richat Structure, Mauritania
The vast Richat Structure in the bowels of Mauritania is something genuinely mysterious (though you’ll indeed have to take to the air to see it), as it appears to swirl, spin, and twist like a cyclone through the center of the mighty Sahara Desert.
How the perfect circle of concentric rings formed has baffled scientists for years.
It has been speculated that an asteroid hit the Earth hundreds of years ago.
The basic process of geological attrition and erosion, according to another theory.
Of course, others believe it was built by aliens who had previously visited Earth and used this spot as a landing pad for future trips. Could be!
Peru’s Nazca Lines
The Nazca Lines, a cryptic and awe-inspiring prehistoric artifact that scars the arid landscapes of southern Peru, is among the most intriguing and impressive archaeological sites in all of South America.
While they are not as famous as Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley, or Cuzco, they have their share of tourists.
The unique geoglyphs of spiders and monkeys are best seen from above, which is why most visitors choose flyovers of the landmarks.
Despite its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the ancient Nazca people’s motivations for creating them remain a mystery. It’s possible that they were meant to appease the gods. Could they have been a cult emblem? It is still up in the air.
Area 51, United States
Area 51 is the most popular destination on our list for conspiracy theorists and UFO enthusiasts. It was also featured in Roland Emmerich’s alien-filled masterpiece Independence Day from 1996.
Deep in the Nevada desert, the facility has been a closely guarded secret since the 1950s when the United States government first began producing observation and spy planes.
Currently, speculation is that it might be anything from a public surveillance hub to a weather control station to a time travel station. There isn’t a visitor’s center, although Las Vegas isn’t far away.
Australia’s Uluru
A massive rock formation in the center of the Australian outback is known as Uluru.
A massive sandstone rock formation resembling the skeleton of a long-dead creature looms far above the surrounding plains.
All sorts of people, from hikers to history enthusiasts, visit because it’s so stunning to look at (who come mainly for the prehistoric petroglyphs that mark the caves nearby).
On the other hand, the ancient customs of the Australian Aborigines center on Ayers Rock, another name for the landmark.
To them, it seems like one of the final bastions of the beings who shaped the World. Other people come here to get their “energy” from the underground rivers.
Easter Island, Polynesia
Around the turn of the first century AD, the Rapa Nui people of eastern Polynesia arrived on Easter Island and began exploring its windswept coastlines.
Of course, the island wasn’t known as Easter Island back then; the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen gave it that name in 1722.
What he found would have blown his mind: innumerable effigies of giant heads chiseled and chipped from the black rock boulders of the country.
Over 880 of these moai heads have been counted; each is believed to symbolize the last surviving member of a different tribal familial clan.
Stonehenge in England
Stonehenge has always exuded an air of mystery and magic from its location in the heart of the green lowlands of south-central England, where Salisbury Plain emerges in peaks and troughs of heath from the oak trees.
It is believed that the bluestone used to construct this 5,000-year-old circle of megalith stones came from a quarry in Wales’s Preseli Hills, located around 200 miles away.
The building’s function and how the Neolithic people managed to move such massive stone remain a mystery. Modern-day visitors include Pagans and those interested in Arthurian mythology celebrating the summer solstice.
Highgate Cemetery, England
Highgate Cemetery in London is home to a plethora of creepy-crawlies, ivy shoots, towering oak trees, and lichen-spotted tombstones; tread carefully if you decide to visit, as many consider this to be the most haunted location in all of the United Kingdom (Tower of London omitted, of course).
There are ancient angelic figures hidden in the shadow vegetation, laughing gargoyles in the cracks, and countless rows of tombs stretching into the distance; it’s enough to make your blood run cold. Ghost hunters claim to have witnessed apparitions darting among the Gothic sculptures.
Vampires, so the rumor goes, skulk in the darkness.
To read more on topics like this, check out the Travel category
Leave a Reply