Spooky season has finally arrived, and if you’re like me, you can’t wait for a good fright. Whatever your passion is for all things horrific — whether you’re a horror movie buff, enjoy exploring haunted video game levels, or just love hearing a good ghost tale — nothing compares to seeing real-life haunted sites up close. So grab your flashlight (and perhaps some salt, just to be safe) as we enumerate 10 of the world’s scariest, most haunted places.
10. Bodie Ghost Town, California
High in the California hills sits Bodie, a perfectly preserved ghost town frozen in time since the 1940s. Around 170 buildings still stand from its gold rush days, but the real story is its curse: steal anything—even a nail—and you’re doomed to bad luck. So many visitors returned stolen trinkets that the local museum has boxes of “cursed objects” mailed back in desperation. Moral of the story? Look, don’t touch.
9. Lake Shawnee Amusement Park, West Virginia
There are few things more unsettling than abandoned amusement parks, and Lake Shawnee is no exception. Constructed during the 1920s, it was dogged with horrific accidents and fatalities, including children. Excavations in later years uncovered Native American burial sites under the park, further imbuing it with negative energy. These days, visitors claim to hear ghostly laughter, ghost swings swinging by themselves, and weird figures manifesting in photographs.
8. Lake Lanier, Georgia
Lake Lanier might appear to be a summer resort, but its waters conceal a dark history. Whole communities—such as the Black town of Oscarville, destroyed by racial violence in 1912—were inundated to create it. Hundreds of others have since died there, spurring rumors of vengeful spirits. Stories of the “Lady of the Lake,” a ghost who reportedly drags swimmers down into the depths, only add to its sinister reputation.
7. Nusa Penida, Bali (The Island of Black Magic)
This beautiful island seems paradise itself, but the locals have a secret. According to legends, Nusa Penida used to be inhabited by a notorious sorcerer, Jero Gede Macaling, who caused disease and disorder. To this day, Balinese Hindus make pilgrimages to the island’s Pura Ped temple to seek harmony between good and evil. Tourists occasionally report unexplained forces drawing them into the ocean or eerie meetings with ghosts.
6. Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, Oregon
“Terrible Tilly,” this lighthouse that was ravaged by a storm, has a scary past. In 1881, it was built on a lonely rock far away from the Oregon shore, but it got worse and worse to be known as a bad luck place. The haunt saga grew from shipwrecks, deaths, and strange reports from the keepers. From spooky ships appearing in the fog to the sound of voices coming with the breeze, Tilly is as awful as it is famous.
5. The Queen Mary, California
The Queen Mary Long Beach is not only a retired ocean liner, but also a haunted house that drifts on the water. It was last employed during the Second World War, when it only experienced mishaps and deaths. Both visitors and staff have experienced ghostly footsteps, sudden temperature drops, and even the apparition of a sailor who was violently killed in the engine room of the ship. Paranormal investigators are always saying it is one of the most haunted places in the United States.
4. Paris Catacombs, France
Just below the classy streets of Paris is a frightful maze. The Catacombs are a network of tunnels where six million people are dead, and their bones are arranged in a particular manner. People passing there confessed whispering of their names in pitch-dark, they saw something moving quickly with their peripheral of the sight, and they felt they were going to suffocate. Some adventurous souls went deep and never came out of the maze.
3. Bhangarh Fort, India
Known as “the most haunted place in India,” Bhangarh Fort has been associated with the occult and curses. People living near the spot say that a wizard cursed the town hundreds of years ago and that it was left with evil spirits inhabiting it. The Indian government forbids anyone from being there after dark, which in fact contributes to the already existing dark past. Foreigners say that while there, they hear weird sounds, see strange things, and the feeling of being stalked.
2. Aokigahara Forest, Japan
At the bottom of Mount Fuji is Aokigahara, formerly known as the Suicide Forest. Due to its melancholic background and sad associations, it is probably the most terrifying place on earth. The forest is so thick that even the breeze and birds cannot be heard, thus creating a peculiar silence. Several people have said that the atmosphere is heavy, almost alive, as if it is a place that is still gloomy, and the feeling does not go away even when you have left.
1. Tutankhamuns Tomb, Egypt
The top place on this list is the famous burial place of King Tut. Ever since it was found by the archaeologists in 1922, stories about a deadly curse have been accompanying it. People from the digging crew mysteriously passed away, and the pharaoh was rumored to curse anyone who disturbed his sleep. Be it a coincidence or a curse, the tomb of Tutankhamun still remains one of the biggest scary mysteries of history.
Ghost towns to haunted tombs, these venues really tell us that sometimes the scariest stories are not in books or movies, but they are these venues themselves. Whether you are a believer in ghosts or just a fan of good legends, these places are sure to make you feel the shivers down your spine.