The Origins Behind Many Vampire and Horror Stories

Horror movies, scary stories or anything related to ghosts: we all love to be scared sometimes! The ten places we have selected for you take us beyond fiction, All these places have the reputation of being haunted and would make the most adventurous trip! Sensitive souls attention please: we would even meet ghosts! From Italy to the United States to Japan, here is our world tour of the haunted houses.

The Island of Poveglia

Although it is located in the lagoon of Venice, you will not find any tourist on the island of Poveglia: the latter is closed to the public because of its reputation! The island of Poveglia is par excellence, the place that one seeks to avoid at all costs when one comes to spend a romantic time in the city of lovers. This small island has a terrible reputation that some fishermen refuse to venture there. In the sixteenth century, the island was transformed into a lazaretto: a place of isolation for the sick of the plague, and thus became the last home of 160,000 people. The island remained a place of quarantine until the Second World War, where it was occupied by the troops to store the bodies of the victims.

Sanatorium of Waverly Hills, Louisville, Kentucky

What has now become one of the scariest places in the United States was built in 1911 to deal with the tuberculosis epidemic that was raging in the area at the time. Doctors thought that the best way to 'cure' the white plague patients was to place them in an environment with clean, sunny air, and to submit them to a medical facility. The sanatorium of Waverly Hills was built for this purpose, to provide a place of convalescence and comfortable rest for all people with this respiratory infection. But, you will tell me, so far so good, right? Well, of course, the official version gives a vision of the sanatorium that approaches much more of a quiet spa than a place of suffering, but the reality was far from what was proposed in the brochures. In reality, Waverly Hills was a scary homeland, and patients were subjected to all sorts of barbaric and bloody treatments. One of the most popular practices was to saw partially or completely the chest of patients, to give more space to the lungs to breathe. Unsurprisingly, the survival rate after this procedure was 5%.

Aokigahara, a Cursed Forest

If the thought of losing yourself in a forest is scary to you, do not go to Aokigahara, at the foot of Mount Fuji, Japan. The latter is haunted by many spirits. In addition, the GPS does not work inside this thick labyrinth of greenery, it is very difficult to find! Nailed on the tree trunks, you will also meet some evil voodoo dolls.

Leap Castle, County Offaly, Ireland

The chapel of Leap Castle is thus nicknamed by the locals the 'bloody chapel'. The origin of this nickname comes from a tragic story that dates back to the sixteenth century when, after the death of the chieftain, one of his sons decided to kill his brother, who was a priest, in order to get the title and the inheritance without having to share it. He interrupted the ecclesiastic in full service and thrust his sword into his heart. Since then, the chapel has the reputation of being cursed, and many claim to have met the ghost in a cassock.

Poenari Castle, Transylvania, Romania

This castle has a sinister reputation with the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. The origin of rumors circulating on this citadel perched on a rocky peak is the great Vlad Tepes, who led the region in the fifteenth century. This lord was known for his cruelty, impaled the weakest and sent the strongest to restore the castle. Those who did not die of abuse or exhaustion were impaled once their work was done, which earned the Lord the well-deserved nickname of Vlad the Impaler.

The spirits of all these unfortunates would still haunt Poenari, but the best-known ghost remains that of the wife of Vlad Tepes, who during an invasion by the Turkish armies preferred to throw herself from the ramparts of the castle and not to be captured. Legend has it that at the moment of her death, the nearest river suddenly became blood red. Nowadays, many visitors to the citadel of Poenari claim to have witnessed strange things.