Terrible and unusual in the world. The most mystical and scary places on the planet. Top scariest places

We are not going to intimidate you with ominous fictions at all, but we just want to take a tour of very real places that smell of danger and mystery.

Warning: this post is not suitable for impressionable natures. But if you're brave enough, just follow us.

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Old Jewish cemetery in Prague, Czech Republic

Processions in this cemetery took place for almost four centuries (from 1439 to 1787). More than 100,000 dead are buried on a relatively small plot of land, and the number of tombstones reaches 12,000. The workers of the cemetery sprinkled the older burials with earth and erected new tombstones in the same place. On the territory of the cemetery there are places where 12 grave tiers are located under the earth's crust. As time passed, the sagging earth opened the eyes of the living to the old tombstones, which began to shift the later ones. The view turned out not only unusual, but also creepy.

Island of abandoned dolls, Mexico

There is a very strange abandoned island in Mexico, most of which is inhabited by scary dolls. It is said that in 1950, a certain hermit Julian Santana Barrera began to collect and hang dolls from wastebaskets, who in this way tried to calm the soul of a girl drowned nearby. Julian himself drowned on the island on April 17, 2001. Now there are about 1000 exhibits on the island.

Hashima Island, Japan

Hasima is a former coal miner's settlement founded in 1887. The island was considered one of the most densely populated places on earth - with a coastline of about a kilometer, its population in 1959 was 5259 people. When coal production became unprofitable here, the mine was closed, and the island city added itself to the list of ghost towns. It happened in 1974.

Chapel of Bones, Portugal

The chapel was built in the 16th century by a Franciscan monk. The chapel itself is small - only 18.6 meters long and 11 meters wide, but the bones and skulls of five thousand monks are kept here. On the roof of the chapel is the phrase "Melior est die mortis die nativitatis" ("Better the day of death than the day of birth").

Suicide Forest, Japan

Suicide Forest is the informal name for the Aokigahara Jukai forest, located on the island of Honshu in Japan and famous for its frequent suicides. Initially, the forest was associated with Japanese mythology and was traditionally represented as the abode of demons and ghosts. Now it is considered the second most popular place in the world (the championship at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco) to settle accounts with life. At the entrance to the forest there is a poster: “Your life is a priceless gift from your parents. Think about them and about your family. You don't have to suffer alone. Call us at 22-0110."

Abandoned psychiatric hospital in Parma, Italy

Brazilian artist Herbert Baglione made an art object from a building that once housed a psychiatric hospital. He portrayed the spirit of this place. Now ghostly figures of exhausted patients roam the former hospital.

Church of St. George, Czech Republic

The church in the Czech village of Lukova has been abandoned since 1968, when part of its roof collapsed during a funeral ceremony. Artist Jakub Hadrava populated the church with ghost sculptures, giving it a particularly sinister look.

Catacombs in Paris, France

Catacombs - a network of winding underground tunnels and caves under Paris. The total length, according to various sources, is from 187 to 300 kilometers. Since the end of the 18th century, the remains of almost 6 million people have been buried in the catacombs.

City of Centralia, Pennsylvania, USA

Due to the underground fire that broke out 50 years ago, which continues to burn to this day, the population has decreased from 1,000 people (1981) to 7 people (2012). The population of Centralia is now considered the smallest in the state of Pennsylvania. Centralia served as the prototype for the creation of the city in the Silent Hill series of games and in the film based on this game.

Akodesseva Magic Market, Togo

The market of magic items and magical herbs Akodesseva is located right in the center of the city of Lome, the capital of the state of Togo in Africa. The Africans of Togo, Ghana and Nigeria still profess the voodoo religion and believe in the miraculous properties of dolls. The fetish assortment of Akodesseva is extremely exotic: here you can buy the skulls of cattle, the dried heads of monkeys, buffaloes and leopards, and many other equally “wonderful” things.

Plague Island, Italy

Poveglia is one of the most famous islands in the Venetian lagoon, in northern Italy. It is said that since Roman times, the island has been used as a place of exile for plague patients, in connection with which up to 160,000 people were buried on it. The souls of many of the dead have allegedly turned into ghosts, with which the island is now full. The island's dismal reputation is exacerbated by tales of horrific experiments allegedly subjected to patients in a psychiatric clinic. In this regard, paranormal researchers call the island one of the most terrible places on earth.

Hill of Crosses, Lithuania

The Hill of Crosses is a hill on which many Lithuanian crosses are installed, their total number is approximately 50 thousand. Despite the resemblance, it is not a cemetery. According to popular belief, the one who leaves the cross on the Mountain will be lucky. Neither the time of the appearance of the Hill of Crosses, nor the reasons for its occurrence can be said with accuracy. To this day, this place is shrouded in secrets and legends.

Cabayan burials, Philippines

The famous fire mummies of Kabayan dating back to 1200-1500 AD are buried here, as well as, as the locals believe, their spirits. They were made using a complex mummification process, and are now carefully guarded, as cases of their theft are not uncommon. Why? As one of the robbers said, “he had the right to do so,” since the mummy was his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather.

The old arch bridge is located near the Scottish village of Milton. In the middle of the 20th century, strange things began to happen on it: dozens of dogs suddenly rushed from a 15-meter height, fell on stones and broke to death. Those that survived returned and tried again. The bridge has turned into a real "killer" of four-legged animals.

Aktun Tunichil Muknal is a cave near the city of San Ignacio, Belize. It is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization. It is located on the territory of the Tapira Mountain Natural Park. One of the halls of the cave is the so-called cathedral, where the Mayans performed sacrifices, as they considered this place to be the Xibalba - the entrance to the underworld.

Leap Castle in Offaly, Ireland is considered one of the world's cursed castles. Its dark attraction is a large underground dungeon, the bottom of which is studded with sharp stakes. The dungeon was discovered during the restoration of the castle. In order to take out all the bones from it, the workers needed 4 wagons. Locals say that the castle is inhabited by many ghosts of people who died in the dungeon.

Chauchilla Cemetery is located about 30 minutes from the deserted Nazca plateau, on the south coast of Peru. The necropolis was discovered in the 1920s. According to researchers, bodies were found in the cemetery, which are about 700 years old, and the last burials were carried out here in the 9th century. Chauchilla differs from other burial sites in the special way in which people were buried. All the bodies are "squatting", and their "faces" seem to be frozen in a wide smile. The bodies are perfectly preserved thanks to Peru's dry desert climate.

The most infamous feature of Carthaginian religion was the sacrifice of children, mostly infants. It was forbidden to cry during the sacrifice, as it was believed that any tear, any plaintive sigh would detract from the value of the sacrifice. In 1921, archaeologists discovered a place where several rows of urns were found with the charred remains of both animals (they were sacrificed instead of people) and small children. The place was named Tophet.

Queimada Grande is one of the most dangerous and famous islands of our planet. On it there is only a forest, a rocky inhospitable coast up to 200 meters high and snakes. There are up to six snakes per square meter of the island. The poison of these reptiles acts instantly. The Brazilian authorities have decided to completely ban anyone from visiting this island, and locals tell chilling stories about it.

The largest monument in Bulgaria, located on Mount Buzludzha with a height of 1441 meters, was built in the 1980s in honor of the Bulgarian Communist Party. Its construction took almost 7 years and involved more than 6 thousand workers and experts. The interior was partly finished in marble, and the stairs were decorated with red cathedral glass. Now the memorial house has been completely looted, leaving only a concrete frame with reinforcement, similar to a destroyed alien ship.

During the First and Second World Wars, the hospital was used by the military, and in 1916 Adolf Hitler was treated there. After World War II, the hospital ended up in the zone of Soviet occupation and became the largest Soviet hospital outside the USSR. The complex consists of 60 buildings, some of which have now been restored. Almost all abandoned buildings are closed to access. Doors and windows are securely boarded up with high boards and sheets of plywood.

Abandoned subway depot in Cincinnati - project built in 1884. But after the First World War and as a result of changing demographics, the need for the subway disappeared. Construction slowed down in 1925, half of the 16 km line was completed. There are now guided tours of the abandoned subway twice a year, but many people have been known to roam its tunnels alone.

On the island of Luzon in the village of Sagada is one of the most frightening places in the Philippines. Here you can see unusual burial structures made of coffins placed high above the ground on the rocks. There is a belief among the indigenous population that the higher the body of the deceased is buried, the closer his soul will be to heaven.

On our beautiful planet, there are places that cause mystical horror. Many of them are the work of man himself, like abandoned cities and accident zones, but even more of them were created by nature itself. Travel companies offer trips to those and other places, because a person is arranged in such a way that he is attracted not only by everything beautiful and interesting, but also by the terrible and mysterious.

The most terrible places on planet Earth

Swamp Manchak

Such a swamp is located in the US state of Louisiana. An abandoned place with a huge number of alligators, crumpled and rotten trees. Mysticism emanates from it, many tourists see ghosts, the guides explain this by the fact that many slaves who once fled from their masters found their death in the swamp. In 1915, a terrible hurricane swept through here, which added more victims - several villages were washed into the swamp along with people and animals. That is why the swamp is called the place of ghosts. It's especially creepy there at night.

Suicide Forest in Japan

At the foot of the famous Mount Fuji lies the dense forest of Aokigahara, which attracts suicides. But the fact is that since ancient times this forest was considered the "place of residence" of ghosts and sick and infirm people were brought here to certain death. Mostly they were the elderly, children and the disabled. Yes, the customs then were such that if a person cannot feed himself on the site, then his place is in this quiet and gloomy forest, full of dark rocky caves. The forest is literally saturated with dark energy, the suffering of people abandoned here affects. No wonder people who want to commit suicide choose this place.

Not many tourists risk seeing the Aokigahara forest, mostly suicides and rescuers come there, trying to find them and dissuade them from a fatal mistake. They also install signs with inscriptions about the value of life and relatives left at home. But it seems that this stops a few, since every year more than a hundred corpses are found in the forest, which marauders have already managed to search. And since it is very easy to get lost in the forest, the corpses of marauders are also added to the suicides.

Chernobyl Ukraine

Here the human factor played a tragic role. In 1986 there was an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant site. Within two days, the city of Pripyat and the settlements adjacent to the station were urgently evacuated. People were sure that they were leaving their homes for a few days, so they left not only their acquired goods, but also animals. To date, the level of radiation has significantly decreased and short-term excursions are conducted in the exclusion zone. Tourists are invited to inspect the sarcophagus and walk around the streets of an abandoned city. A very painful impression is left by residential buildings abandoned in a hurry with children's toys, empty kindergartens and schools, to which people will not return for a long time, or maybe never.

Danakil Desert

This is the Ethiopian desert, which is also called "Hell on Earth." She got this name because of her strange landscape, similar to Martian. All this is aggravated by the lack of oxygen, the fetid smell of saturated gases, and the burning air. They are born by the earth boiling under the feet of the site and melting stones. Traveling in a fifty-degree heat, suddenly awakening mini volcanoes, harmful sulfur fumes, militant semi-savage tribes - all this is a great harm to health for thrill-seekers. But this does not stop many, because the African Danakil desert is very beautiful and mysterious.

Babi Yar

Another terrible place in Ukraine in terms of its tragic events is the Babi Yar tract. Here, during the Second World War, mass executions of the Jewish population of Kyiv were carried out. The German occupiers drove Jews, Gypsies and those who sheltered them here and, according to eyewitnesses of those events, the executions did not stop for several months. Historians claim that more than a hundred thousand people died here. Those tragic events left their mark on the entire area.

Today there is a memorial "Menorah in Babi Yar" and many monuments with a variety of inscriptions. So the site was immortalized the memory of all the innocent victims.

Hell Gate

In 1971, after an accident at a Soviet drilling rig in Turkmenistan, a fault 100 meters wide was left. Gases began to come out of the crack, which it was decided to set fire to. But no one could calculate their number, and since then a fire has been raging in the well. It can be seen for many kilometers and it looks like it will burn there for a very long time.

Island of abandoned dolls

In Mexico, among the many islands, only one is marked by a terrible feature - the Island of the Dolls (La Isla de las Muñecas), the territory of which is hung with dolls forgotten or thrown into the trash. It all started with the death of a girl who drowned in one of the island's reservoirs. The guy who witnessed this tragedy kept the doll of the drowned child and hung it on a tree, supposedly in memory of the deceased. Since then, the site has constantly found discarded dolls and brought them to the island, and in 2011 he himself drowned in the same lake, shortly before becoming a hermit and the only inhabitant of the island. Most of the toys are broken and mutilated, which is why a creepy and sinister atmosphere reigns throughout the island.

Capuchin catacombs

In the Italian city of Palermo, there are catacombs with the mummified remains of monks, numbering about five thousand. The last burial here dates back to 1990. Since then, the catacombs have been open to tourists.

Overtown Bridge

The arch bridge near the Scottish city of Glasgow became famous not for its beauty, but because of the strange suicide of dogs that began in the middle of the 20th century. The mysticism is that every month on the same day dogs jumped from the fifteen-meter bridge. Under the bridge is a waterfall site with many stones, so almost all the animals died. Those that survived climbed the bridge again and jumped from it.

The Scots explain this behavior of dogs with a legend about how a father threw his son off this bridge and now the ghost of the child calls the dogs to him on the very day he drowned. Most likely, only dogs see the ghost of the boy and rush to his aid.

Scientists, on the other hand, explain the fact of dogs' suicide by the fact that they are all hunting breeds and, passing over the bridge, they see and smell minks living under the bridge, and in this way, obeying instinct, they die. But there were skeptics who refute such a theory, saying that dogs jump from the bridge on a certain day, and not spontaneously. The question remains open, although more and more new versions of the strange behavior of animals constantly appear. One of which, quite incredible, is the opening of a portal site to other worlds. But there is still no clue, and the dogs continue to die.

Paris catacombs

Unlike the Italian catacombs, the Parisian ones are much larger and famous all over the world. They are a chain of winding tunnels with many caves and descents. The length of the catacombs is about 300 kilometers, they pass under the whole of Paris. According to experts, more than 6 million people are buried here.

Despite the fact that such places negatively affect a person, hundreds of tourists visit such creepy corners in search of thrills.

For many of us, horror is purely a movie or, at the very least, a Halloween element. However, there are places on Earth that attract lovers of adrenaline and creepy stories. For normal people, such spectacles freeze the blood so much that you want to run wherever your eyes look. However, for many thrill-seekers, the goal is to visit the maximum number of such places. We will tell below about the 10 most terrible places on Earth.

Mutter Museum of Medical History, Philadelphia. This complex belongs to the oldest medical training institution in North America, the College of Physicians in Philadelphia. All sorts of pathologies are collected here, as well as ancient medical equipment and biological exhibits. The museum is most famous for its collection of skulls, there are also unique and terrible exhibits, for example, a female corpse that turned into soap in the ground after burial, or an intestine 12.5 centimeters long. You can also see Siamese twins with a common liver, the skeleton of a two-headed human child, and other creepy exhibits. Many wax models and simply preserved organs and bodies are stored here. We can safely say that a visit to the museum is recommended either for doctors or for people with a strong psyche.

Truk Lagoon, Micronesia. A significant part of the Japanese naval forces are buried here, which were sunk here during the American air raid in 1944. The shallow Micronesian lagoon Truk southwest of Hawaii has become the last refuge and real underwater graveyard for 40 Japanese ships and more than 100 aircraft. For the first time these places were explored by Jacques Yves Cousteau in 1971, after which there are often divers who love extreme experiences. Although many are scared away by thousands of crews of the Japanese, who remained in the hulls of sunken ships. Today, planes and ships have become part of the reef kingdom, but excessively curious tourists and divers still disappear here.

Sonoran Witch Market, Mexico. In the city of Mexico City, the Sonoran Market houses cramped booths full of witches. Terrible women for just $10 promise a speedy deliverance from both poverty and adultery. Frog carcasses, birds and exotic iguanas hung on the walls of their tents give color to the interior. Anyone can purchase these items. Sonora is open every day, both tourists and pilgrims from Mexico City come here. All of them are attracted by the opportunity to receive predictions of fate and promises of another life. In these places, the entire local population believes in the power of supernatural amulets and potions; both Aztec recipes and Buddha figurines are held in high esteem here. Enthusiasts can find here for their experiments the blood of a rattlesnake or dried hummingbirds, which give good luck. Witchcraft in Mexico should not be taken as a joke and local exotic, the local National Association of Sorcerers even took part in the presidential elections. Witches with the help of spells turned the vote into free and fair.

Easter Island, Chile. This place is considered to be one of the most mysterious on the planet. On the island there are several hundred huge stone statues of giants that have grown into the ground under their own weight. The statues seem to be guilty of something and look to the sky, repenting of their own mystical crimes. Until now, no one can understand where the creators of these sculptures disappeared. It is difficult for us to even understand how giant sculptures were made and moved. But their height reaches 21 meters, and their weight is up to 90 tons! Meanwhile, from the quarry where the statues were made, they moved over distances of up to 20 kilometers. Scientists agree that a powerful civilization once existed here, but today life on the island has practically stopped. When and where the mysterious builders left, it remains a mystery. Only statues remained, inspiring awe and awe-inspiring horror. However, having familiarized with the travels and diaries of Thor Heyerdahl, one can reveal the secrets of the manufacture and placement of ancient figures.

Manchak Marshes, Louisiana. It's especially scary here at night. Tourists are taken through the swamps on a boat, lighting the way with a torch. All around, old cypresses grow out of the water, with long threads of moss hanging from their branches. At times, a distant, drawn-out howl is heard in the swamp, which some believe belongs to rougarou, the legendary werewolf of folklore. These swamps are also referred to as "ghost swamps". Places located near New Orleans simply beckon ready. According to local legend, the swamps were cursed by a voodoo queen who was taken prisoner here in the early 20th century. Added credibility to the legend and the hurricane that arose here in 1915 and destroyed 3 villages. Cemeteries of animals and people turned out to be under water, which is manifested in periodically floating corpses. They are not disdained by local alligators, who would love to try fresh tourists.

Paris catacombs, France. There are corridors underground here, in which skulls and bones are neatly stacked on both sides of the passage. In the dry air of the catacombs, decomposition is extremely slow. On the walls, there are well-preserved inscriptions from the times of the Great French Revolution with calls to overthrow the royal power and nobles. Once in the Parisian catacombs, it becomes clear why masters such as Anne Rice and Victor Hugo wrote about these mysterious and enigmatic places. The total length of the catacombs is 187 kilometers, they are located under the entire city, and only a small part is open to the public. There are rumors about the existence of the legendary special underground police, and many mention in whispers about the legions of the roaming dead and vampires. The lack of accurate information and inflames the fantasy, giving rise to terrible images. Meanwhile, quarries in these places existed in the time of the Romans, and in 1785 the tunnels acquired their final form, which was associated with the growth of the city and the overflow of the cemeteries of Paris.

Winchester House, San Jose, USA. This California construction is a house with a lot of prejudice and magic associated with it. Once upon a time, a fortune teller predicted to Sarah Winchester, whose late husband's ancestors founded a well-known arms company, that she would be constantly haunted by the ghosts of people killed from Winchesters. To end the nightmare, the woman had to move from Connecticut to the West and build a house that would not have time to finish during her whole life. The cessation of knocking hammers here will mean the death of the hostess. Sarah listened to a fortune teller, and in 1884, construction began on a house in San Jose, which lasted 38 long years, while the woman was alive. At the same time, the hostess did not use the services of professional architects. The building has 160 rooms, which successfully demonstrate all the madness of the hostess - there are stairs leading to the ceiling, doors in the middle of the wall, the design is replete with spider motifs. This was done in order to confuse the spirits that would come after the soul of Mrs. Winchester as much as possible. There are many secret windows and doors, many rooms contain 13 windows, and the number of steps on all stairs is 13. The house was made exclusively for the hostess, guests were never expected here. It is said that the future President Roosevelt himself received a refusal to visit the house. Since the building opened to tourists, there have been constant complaints about footsteps at night, doors slamming, lights moving, and doorknobs turning inadvertently. The house is interesting for everyone. Those who do not believe in ghosts can simply enjoy its size.

Dead End Mary King, Edinburgh. Under this name, several streets of the Old Town of Edinburgh in Scotland are united. Everything here breathes the Middle Ages. Once upon a time, victims of the plague were left to die here in the 17th century, but now many felt the presence of a poltergeist. Tourists are often touched by something invisible by the arms and legs. Tradition says that the ghost of a young girl, Annie, lives in the dead end and was left here to die by her parents in 1645. The dead end was named after the owner of most of the buildings in the area. Rumor has it that during the epidemic, the entire quarter was sealed off in order to stop the march of the plague. A century later, a large and new building was built here. Today, the place has been open for several years to tourists who come here from all over the world to listen to tales of supernatural spirits and, perhaps, feel their touch for themselves. Tour guides lead people down stone steps into oppressive alleys, cramped and cold. You can see Annie's room, as well as an exhibition about life in the Middle Ages and the plague. It is not surprising that tourists prefer not to linger in this place.

Thelme Abbey, Sicily. One of the most famous and nefarious occultists in the world was Aleister Crowley, his stone farmhouse in the 1920s was considered literally the world capital of Satanism and related orgies. Crowley's fame today is based on fans, one of them is Marilyn Manson, the occultist himself even appeared on the cover of one of the Beatles' albums. Alistair founded his own Abbey of Thelma, named after Rabelais's utopia "Gargantua" with the ringing motto "Do whatever you want". The community has become a place of free love. The newcomers were placed in the Nightmare Room, where they stared at frescoes of heaven, earth, and hell under the influence of drugs. When a famous English aristocrat died in the abbey, the press raised a scandal and forced Crowley to close his establishment. In 1945, this story was filmed by underground filmmaker Kenneth Angier, but the film mysteriously disappeared. Today the abbey is ruined and overgrown with grass. However, the walls still contain the frescoes that Crowley used to scare his henchmen. The place attracts esoteric lovers with strong nerves.

Chernobyl, Ukraine. When in 1986 there was an accident at a nuclear power plant, the city of Pripyat was abandoned by tens of thousands of people within a few hours. Today here is an exclusion zone, things have been thrown in a hurry, apartments and institutions have been discovered. Ivy has settled in kindergartens, and abandoned toys are lying on the floor. Gusts of a dead wind swing the swing that no one needs. Today, the level of radiation is already safe enough for a short-term tourist, the zone is open to tourists. Excursions to Chernobyl do not differ in variety, since the time of stay is rather limited. People arrive by bus from Kyiv, walk to the station itself, where they are offered an excursion. Those who wish can inspect the sarcophagus and wander through the streets of Pripyat, a ghost town. There are also parking lots of infected vehicles. If you're lucky, you can also meet self-settlers, residents of the forbidden zone who have returned to their native lands.

Ossuary, Kutna Hora, Czech Republic. The tradition of storing skeletal remains of mankind has existed for a long time. But the most famous ossuary was the Czech one in Kutna Hora. Once there was built the Chapel of All Saints with a basement chapel. About 30 thousand people who died during the plague in 1318 were buried in the local cemetery of 3.5 hectares. Over time, the victims of the Hussian wars were also buried here. The necropolis was so overcrowded that the bones began to be removed from the ground and dumped into the basement chapel at random, turning it into a crypt. In 1511, a half-blind monk decided to restore order here and built six pyramids of bones in honor of the dead. But the matter was limited to that until the 18th century, until the local lands passed into the possession of Prince Schwarzenberg. The new owner commissioned the well-known woodcarver František Rint to decorate the chapel and arrange the remains. As a result, the entire interior of the chapel and even the coat of arms of the prince is made up of human bones. According to anthropologists, the remains of at least 40 thousand people are represented here.

Museum of Devils, Kaunas, Lithuania. This is the only place on Earth where the exclamation "A thousand devils" will be very appropriate. Just about as many devils, devils and devils are collected here. The museum was created on the basis of the personal collection of Professor Žmuidzinavičius in 1966, and has been continuously replenished since then. By 1991, there were already 1742 exhibits. The materials of the figurines are the most diverse - plastic, leather, metal, wood and ceramics, there are also quite exotic ones. The homeland of the exhibits is more than 20 countries, as a result, this representation of evil spirits is the largest in the world.

Elmina Castle, Ghana. Once in this fortress of the 15th century there was a center of the slave trade. Today it is a monument to the crime of white people in front of the entire population of Africa. There are quite a lot of such buildings in Ghana, they are found every 15 kilometers. There are all the attributes of slavery here - a stuffy casemate with a tiny window under the ceiling, shackles, a narrow gap in the wall called the "Gate of Non-Return" is the exit for loading. The most terrible place is the stone well where people stayed for months, waiting for their turn to be sent.

"Gate of prisoners", The Hague. There are many torture museums in the world, in Holland, even the Amsterdam museum is much more famous than The Hague. However, it is in the political capital of the Netherlands that the most terrible exposition is located. Once upon a time, an ancient casemate built in the 13th century was located on the central square of the city of Bautenhof. Criminals from all over the kingdom came here for torture. Today, visitors are invited to take a look at the working tools of executors. Falling in horror from fainting here is a common thing, the museum guide will tell you in detail about all the intricacies of using certain instruments of torture.

Museum of the Lost Souls, Rome. In the sacristy of the Italian church of Del Sacro Cuore there is a small museum that proves the presence of the souls of dead people on earth. In order to get here, you need to ask permission from the priest. However, usually this is just a formality, the doors are open to everyone, and the holy father will also tell about everything. The collection of objects was born thanks to the local abbot in 1912. Today there are hundreds of exhibits testifying to the existence of ghosts. For example, there is a nightcap on which the sooty fingers of the ghost of Louise le Senechel remained. Her ghost appeared on May 7, 1873 to her sleeping husband, pinched him several times on the nose and pulled off his cap. The widower himself later said that this is how his deceased wife punished him for frivolity during mourning. Only here you can’t find photographs of ghosts here - they remain undeveloped.

Dracula's castle, Romania. Transylvanian Bran Castle is better known as Dracula's Castle. It was built in the Carpathians on the edge of the most terrible abyss here. The style of the castle corresponds to the Gothic standards to the maximum - there are narrow passages, stone stairs, and cramped rooms are more suitable for a vampire than for a normal person, whom they put pressure on the psyche. The castle looks quite in the spirit of its presentation in Stoker's famous novel "Dracula". Yes, and the main chimney seems to have come from horror films, with a strong wind, special howling sounds are heard here. There are 56 rooms in the castle, one of them has a huge bed with four pillars and a canopy. According to legend, it was here that the owner sucked the blood from his victims. The house was named "Castle of Horrors" thanks to Vlad IV or Vlad the Impaler. He got such a nickname and reputation as a bloody monster because of his passion to impale everyone in a row. And the road that leads to the castle is still called the "Road of Pointed Stakes".

Museum of Torture, Mdina, Malta. This museum is one of many of its kind in Europe. However, the Maltese congregation is unrivaled in its power of influence. The museum is located in the ancient capital of Malta, the city of Mdina. Now life here has almost stopped, there are practically no people on the medieval streets. Going down to the basement, the tourist will be shocked. People without heads, hangmen, a rack, tongs for tearing out nails, a vice for squeezing the skull immediately catch your eye. All instruments are real, from the Middle Ages. But the characters are made of wax, but they look extremely naturalistic. Here you can see a man with eyes bulging in pain, because an executor pours hot oil into his throat. A scene of pulling out the tongue is shown, you can see two mesh bags, one of which contains a whole person, and the other is a skeleton. The hunchback caretaker relentlessly follows the brave sightseers, giving even more flavor to this terrible place.

Tower of the Mad, Vienna. Sometime in the 18th century, a lunatic asylum was located in Spitalgasse. Today there is a museum of pathological anatomy, where it is recommended to visit either very brave people or notorious cynics. Visitors are offered an elegant mahogany gynecological chair, alcoholized and dried organs, mummified bodies and dissected skulls, exhibits with the consequences of venereal diseases and cases of unnatural enlargement of the genitals. For a long time, the pride of the museum was the sculptural composition of Laocoon with his sons, entirely made of the bones of people and animals, but it was destroyed during the bombing of World War II.

Museum of Hygiene, St. Petersburg. The St. Petersburg Kunstkamera is known to many, but not everyone knows about this museum on the Italian street. Here, everyone can get acquainted with the stuffed dog of Pavlov, which is enclosed in his famous torture device with a bell, transparent figures of a man and a woman with an inactive, alas, mechanism for demonstrating the circulatory system. In the "motherhood and childhood" protection section, there are postcards frankly urging not to twist children in swaddling bags and not to feed them with a chewed nipple. Mothers were once even forbidden to kiss their children on the lips. The dental chair of the end of the 19th century looks like a terrible torture device. Tourists can be frightened by very natural dummies of female and male genital organs. There are both enlarged and reduced samples among them, which also demonstrate the course of intimate diseases in different stages. The revelation with which our museum shows all these horrors often makes foreign visitors realize that their native horrors are rather harmless.

Castle of Horrors, London. The interior of the castle is made quite naturally, the British even managed to create the appropriate aroma. Real historical events are displayed here, for example, a fire in London in 1666, you can see medieval confinement chambers and torture instruments. Spectators are involved even in the action. So, the court of the 16th century is staged. Judges in wigs sit upstairs, and the attendant announces the lists of tourists sitting in the dock, pronouncing them a disappointing verdict - "Guilty!"

If it seems to you that there is nothing more terrible than Dracula's castle in the world, then you read a lot and travel little. The island of dolls, the cemetery of hanging coffins, the forest of suicides - ELLE has selected the TOP 10 scariest places in the world, visiting which can not only expand your horizons, but also deprive you of sleep.

Nazca is the name of a city and a desert plateau in southern Peru. A tiny city with a population of 27 thousand people is constantly teeming with tourists. Some want to look at the mysterious drawings left on dry desert soil, others want to visit the Chauchilla cemetery. Spread out in the suburbs of Nazca, this necropolis is literally open to visitors. Imagine large pits paved with sticks in which the dead sit. The amazing technology of embalming kept the bodies - at least the bones - in perfect order. Among the inhabitants of Chauchilla, there are many who can boast of magnificent hairstyles - despite the fact that the last dead man was buried here 11 centuries ago.

The city on the banks of the river of the same name stands two kilometers from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Until April 27, 1986, it was a rapidly developing atomic city, all the inhabitants of which were somehow related to nuclear power plants. Immediately after the terrible accident at the station, almost fifty thousand of its population was evacuated and the city turned into a monument. Or rather, a memorial. So it stands empty for more than thirty years, becoming a creepy open-air museum. Residential buildings, a hospital, kindergartens and schools, playgrounds, a Ferris wheel - everything remains. And not a single soul.

The Echo Valley in the Philippines is full of rocks. Coffins hang close to each other on them. The locals are convinced that the higher the body of the deceased is located, the faster he will be in heaven. Forcing them to bury the bodies is useless. The tradition of burying the dead in the air has existed for more than two thousand years, and how and on what the coffins are attached, the locals do not tell - this is a secret.

There are many islands in the suburbs of Mexico City, the most famous of course is La Isla de las Muñecas, the Island of the Dolls. In the fifties of the last century, a young man named Julian Barrera witnessed the death of a child, a girl, who drowned near this island. Barrera kept her doll for himself, and from that moment the spirit of the deceased began to appear to him. To appease the spirit, Julian began to hang old dolls found in the garbage heaps on the island. And in the end, he settled on this island. In 2001, after his death (Barrera, like that same girl, drowned near the island), enthusiasts, his relatives, continued the work. There are a lot of dolls here and together they look very creepy.

The real name of the mansion located in Transylvania is Bran, but it is known, of course, as the castle of Dracula, Count Vlad the Fourth, who received the nickname the Piercer because of his love for impaling his subjects. The castle, built on the edge of the abyss, is one hundred percent the embodiment of the Gothic style: gloomy decoration, howling sounds (the cause of which is the chimney, which begins to hum in strong winds). The main attraction of the castle is Dracula's bedroom with a huge bed, it is here, according to legend, that the owner preferred to drink the blood of his victims. The "house" looks very well-groomed, for which thanks to Francis Ford Coppola, who invested in the reconstruction of the castle when he filmed his film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel there.

In the Czech village of Lukova, the church of St. George (St. George) has been standing since the 14th century. It was empty in 1968, after a fire broke out during the funeral service and the roof collapsed. A few years ago, the sculptor Yakov Hadrava, preparing to submit his thesis, decided to turn the church into a platform for his experiments. And he populated the empty building with human statues, whose heads are covered under the covers. The sight is mesmerizing and scary. The teachers, by the way, were also imbued with Jacob's diploma - in such an original form - they accepted.

The famous Mount Fuji is known not only in itself: at its foot lies Aokigahara, a dense forest full of rocky caves. Aokigahara is incredibly quiet and very, very gloomy. Already in ancient times, the forest was considered a place of "residence" of monsters and ghosts. And it was here that the inhabitants brought and left their loved ones whom they could not feed - the infirm old people and children. The dark reputation of Aokigahara with might and main attracts people who are inclined to take their own lives there. Over the past 60 years, the bodies of more than five hundred suicides have been found in the forest - in this sense, Aokigahara is second only to the famous Golden Gate Bridge.

Not surprisingly, the "Suicide Forest" is crammed full of signs urging would-be suicides to come to their senses. The Japanese believe that once they enter Aokigahara, they cannot leave it. Therefore, it is visited only by rescuers who are looking for those who want to commit suicide, and daredevil tourists.

They buried here for four centuries in a row, until the end of the 18th century. There was little space, a lot of bodies. As a result, more than 100,000 dead people found shelter in a small area. So that everyone had enough space, the old tombstones were covered with earth and new ones were immediately put up. Thus, 12 layers of graves were accumulated. Over time, some layers due to the sagging earth crawled out into the light of day, running into later ones, and the cemetery became like a crowd at rush hour in public transport.

Here it is, South American Gothic in all its glory. The Manchak swamp is located near New Orleans and is called nothing more than a swamp of ghosts. Slaves fled here from their masters, but none of them got out of here - they were all eaten by giant crocodiles. The spirits of the dead and those same crocodiles are the main ingredients in the eerie menu of Manchak, a place that attracts tourists so much. Excursions are actively led in the swamp, both during the day and at night.

Built in Portugal in the 16th century, the chapel is filled with the remains of monks: in total, more than five thousand people rest there. Bones, skulls are everywhere, wherever you look. And the inscription on the roof of the building - "Better the day of death than the birthday" - sets in an optimistic mood.

During the visit, the skin is covered with goosebumps from what he saw here. We will get acquainted with the most terrible places on earth further.

Old Jewish cemetery in Prague, Czech Republic

Processions in this cemetery took place for almost four centuries (from 1439 to 1787). More than 100 thousand dead are buried on a relatively small plot of land, and the number of tombstones reaches 12,000.
cemetery workers covered the burials with earth, and new tombstones were erected in the same place. On the territory of the cemetery there are places where 12 grave tiers are located under the earth's crust. As time passed, the sagging earth opened the eyes of the living to the old tombstones, which began to shift the later ones. The view turned out not only unusual, but also creepy.

Island of abandoned dolls, Mexico

Hashima Island, Japan

Hasima is a former coal miner's settlement founded in 1887. It was considered one of the most densely populated places on earth - with a coastline of about a kilometer, its population in 1959 was 5259 people. When coal became unprofitable to mine here, the mine was closed and the island city added itself to the list of ghost towns. It happened in 1974.

Chapel of Bones, Portugal

Copella was built in the 16th century by a Franciscan monk. The chapel itself is small - only 18.6 meters long and 11 meters wide, but the bones and skulls of five thousand monks are kept here. On the roof of the chapel is the phrase "Melior est die mortis die nativitatis" ("Better the day of death than the day of birth").

Suicide Forest, Japan

Abandoned psychiatric hospital in Parma, Italy

Church of St. George, Czech Republic

Catacombs in Paris, France

City of Centralia, Pennsylvania, USA

Akodesseva Magic Market, Togo

Plague Island, Italy

Hill of Crosses, Lithuania

Cabayan burials, Philippines

Overtown Bridge, Scotland

Aktun Tunichil Muknal Cave, Belize

Leap Castle, Ireland

Chauchilla Cemetery, Peru

Sanctuary of Tophet, Tunisia

Snake Island, Brazil

Buzludzha, Bulgaria

City of the Dead, Russia

Dargavs in North Ossetia looks like a pretty village with small stone houses, but in fact it is an ancient necropolis. In crypts of various types, people were buried along with all their clothes and personal belongings.

Abandoned military hospital Beelitz-Heilstetten, Germany

Unfinished subway in Cincinnati, USA

Hanging coffins of Sagada, Philippines

Nuclear lighthouse at Cape Aniva (Sakhalin)

The lighthouse was built with great difficulty in 1939 according to the project of the architect Miura Shinobu - it was a unique and most complex technical structure in all of Sakhalin. It ran on a diesel generator and backup batteries until the early 1990s, when it was re-equipped. Thanks to the atomic energy source, maintenance costs were minimal, but soon there were no funds left for this - the building was empty, and in 2006 the military removed two isotope installations from here that fed the lighthouse. Once it shone for 17.5 miles, but now it has been plundered and fallen into disrepair.

Eighth workshop of the Dagdiesel plant, Makhachkala

Naval weapon test station, commissioned in 1939. It is located at a distance of 2.7 km from the coast and has not been used for a long time. Construction was carried out for a long time and was complicated by difficult conditions. Unfortunately, the workshop did not serve the plant for long. The requirements for the work carried out in the workshop changed, and in April 1966 this grandiose structure was written off from the factory balance. Now this “Massiv” is abandoned and stands in the Caspian Sea, resembling an ancient monster from the shore.

Lier Sikehus Psychiatric Hospital, Norway

The Norwegian psychiatric hospital, which is located in the small town of Lier, half an hour from Oslo, has a dark past. Once, experiments were carried out on patients here, and for unknown reasons, four buildings of the hospital were abandoned in 1985. Equipment, beds, even magazines and personal belongings of patients remained in the abandoned buildings. At the same time, the remaining eight buildings of the hospital are still working today.

Gunkanjima Island, Japan

In fact, the island is called Hashima, nicknamed Gunkanjima, which means "cruiser island". The island was settled in 1810 when coal was found there. Within fifty years, it has become the most populated island in the world in terms of the ratio of land and the number of inhabitants on it: 5300 people with a radius of the island itself of one kilometer. By 1974, the reserves of coal and other minerals on Gankajima were finally exhausted, and people left the island. Today, visiting the island is prohibited. There are many legends about this place among the people.