Frighteningly interesting: Top 10 creepy sights of the world

Kostnica, Czech Republic

At all times, believers have wanted to settle down near a church, or even better, inside it. But they hardly wanted to become elements of the church interior. However, this is what happened to many people.

Deep in the crypt of the Church of All Saints in Sedlice there is a horror-filled monument to human mortality, which was created over centuries. A small Roman Catholic chapel adorned with the bones of over 40,000 souls. The interior of this church is made entirely of human remains once buried in the church cemetery. Skulls are everywhere here: on the chandeliers, on the walls, and on the iconostasis.

Some people find the church made of bones creepy or even grotesque, while others see it as a poignant reflection of the belief that the body is only a temporary receptacle for the soul.

Island of the Dolls, Mexico

This island in Mexico has a scary reputation, even though it is located near the capital. According to legend, the only resident of the island Julian Santana in 1950 heard the screams of a girl, but did not have time to save her, she drowned. He found a doll in the water and hung the doll on a tree in memory of the deceased.

Then Santana began to hear screams and moans again, it was repeated regularly — it seemed that the ghost of the girl asks for new toys. For the next 50 years, the man found dolls and hung them in trees. In total, there were almost a thousand dolls scattered everywhere on the island. However, as the sight is creepy enough in itself, the natural phenomena and time have made the surrounding dolls look particularly gruesome.

Santana died in 2001. It is said that this happened not far from the place where he was unable to save the girl. Now the place, which has already received the name "Island of Dolls", is rushing to visit thousands of inquisitive tourists.

Winchester House, USA

Many movies have been made about this house and hundreds of stories have been told. It was built by Sarah Winchester, the heiress of a gun company. Because of a terrible prophecy, the death of her daughter and husband, or for some other reason, Sarah went insane. An amazing house in California is a figment of her crazy fantasy.

The huge and horrible estate got a folk name — "The house that the ghosts built". Miracles in Sarah's head and in the house began after a spiritist séance, at which the seer as if to communicate with the spirit of William. The one "told" that all the tragedies in the Winchester family were due to the revenge of those who died from the weapons created by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. To save herself from them, Sarah must build an unusual house that would confound the wayward souls. It was necessary to finish the house regularly, because, stopping construction, Sarah will certainly and immediately go to her husband.

The widow so penetrated the prediction that literally from the first day began to "upgrade" bought a mansion. This happened in 1884 and did not stop for 38 years.

Sarah Winchester did not resort to the services of specialists and herself developed a "master plan". She ordered to create a labyrinth of corridors, staircases leading to nowhere, secret doors, non-opening windows and so on. Sarah spent her entire fortune (20 million dollars (507 million by today's standards)) on these fads. After her death in 1922, not a dime was found in the safe — only strands of her daughter's and a man's hair.

Ghost Town, Taiwan

In general, it should be a luxury resort on the seashore: here were built houses in a futuristic style with round rooms and curved stairs. However, even during construction, it became clear that Sang Jae was under a curse.

Dozens of workers died in bizarre circumstances: breaking their necks, falling from heights despite safety ropes, dying under cranes. Residents of the surrounding area thought the city was infested with evil spirits.

As a result, in the 1980s, they changed their minds about completing the resort. It gradually turned into a ghost town: the luxurious estates were deserted, and the store counters were not filled with branded goods. Today, St. Jean is visited only by tourists who want to tickle their nerves.

Suicide Forest, Japan

Japan's Aokigahara forest is famous all over the world. And not just because it is located at the foot of Mount Fuji, a few hours away from Tokyo, and is also amazingly beautiful to look at. The thing is, it's also called the "suicide forest." Since the 1950s, more than five hundred people have lost their lives here. In terms of suicides, the Aokigahara Forest is surpassed only by the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

In the forest there are notices everywhere asking people to think about their relatives before killing themselves. There are also phone numbers for psychological services and video surveillance. But despite this, suicides are constantly occurring here.

In Japanese society, there is a complex set of cultural and social factors that can lead people to become depressed, anxious, isolated and decide to leave the world. More often than not, it's done by harried office clerks in business suits. Walking in the woods is almost guaranteed to have a chance of encountering at least one hanged man.

But even scarier here are the ribbons that hang all over the forest. They are left in the trees so that someone will follow the path and find the body. Whoever hung them up had no intention of coming back.

Cannibal Capital, New Guinea

The main city of eastern New Guinea, Port Moresby is the most dangerous of the capitals. It looks quite attractive from the sky, although in reality many of its neighborhoods are littered with garbage. Port Moresby is run by gangs of thugs. And for the white man, it's not a good vacation spot. In fact, some Papuans still kill foreigners for food and for occult reasons. Papuans walk around with huge machete-like cleavers or knives. Some knives reach a length of half a meter.

If you read more about this place, you can come across such headlines on the web, dated 2021-2023: "Papua New Guinea cannibals disrupted local elections by eating seven people — five men and two women — who they believed were practicing black magic in remote jungles and deceiving sick people".

Despite all these gruesome stories, particularly extreme tourists still head to New Guinea. However, we recommend doing so only with an experienced guide.

Museum of Pathological Anatomy, Austria

There are dozens of museums around the world that feature exhibits not for the faint of heart. The Kunstkammer, the Mütter Museum of Medical History in Philadelphia and many others. The Vienna Museum of Pathology among them is the most famous, a real monument to pathologies, mutilations, gene mutations and harsh medieval medicine. The second name of the museum is the Tower of Fools. The fact that the museum is located in a former mental hospital, in the isolation ward for lunatics. In the XVII century there was a madhouse on the modern Spitalgasse.

Among the most remarkable exhibits here are a mahogany gynecological chair, spiraled organs, dissected skulls, mummified heads, exhibits clearly demonstrating cases of venereal diseases or pathological enlargement of genitalia.

Even the most daring tourists who have traveled the world in search of the desired dose of adrenaline will certainly agree — it is really scary.

Snake Island, Brazil

This island looks like a snake from the outside. It has beautiful white beaches where you want to go down. But if you do, it will be the last day of your life.

The island is infested with poisonous spear-headed snakes, whose venom causes almost instant death. The word "swarming" in this case, as never better describes the situation — every square meter of the island will find from one to five snakes. The Brazilian authorities have imposed a complete ban on tourists visiting this island.

Count Dracula's Castle, Romania

The medieval castle of the famous vampire stands on the edge of a precipice. Built on the edge of a gorge in the Carpathian Mountains, Bran Castle has the reputation of being the scariest place in Romania.

Through cramped passageways, dark rooms and a giant stone staircase, you'll make your way to a bedroom where, on a huge four-poster bed, a vampire sucked the blood from his victims. But even if you don't want to believe in the stories about Dracula, the creepy reality will hardly make you happy.

After all, in this castle lived one of the most terrible people of the Middle Ages. The Gothic silhouette of the castle, soaring its spires into the sky, inspired terror for centuries thanks to the deeds of Prince Vlad IV, better known as Vlad the Impalement. He gained fame among his descendants as a bloody monster for his unhealthy passion to stake everyone. The road leading to the castle is still called "The Road of Sharp Circles".

Stanley Hotel, USA

The house that became the prototype for the hotel in Stephen King's The Shining was once a manor house. With a former U.S. Army composer leading the opening orchestra, a former U.S. Army composer tuning the piano for the landlady, and Harry Houdini performing in the hotel's concert hall, this was definitely not an easy house to live in.

There was an explosion in it in 1911. A maid was injured, she fell to the floor below, broke both ankles, but survived.

Now the hotel has references to King's work almost everywhere, daily Ouija tours, a psychic and a poster "What to do if your phone photo is haunted". Both regular and cursed rooms can be booked at the hotel: 401, 407, 428 and the famous 217 room. The four cursed rooms are best booked in advance.