11)
The Beechworth
Lunatic Asylum, Australia
Abandoned asylums, for my money, are the creepiest places
ever, and Australia has a good one. The Beechworth Lunatic Asylum — originally
called Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum — is located in Victoria, Australia. It
served as a mental hospital from 1867 until 1995. At its highest capacity,
1,200 patients lived there. About 9,000 patients died in its 130-year history,
and there’s little doubt those souls are haunting it this very day. Visitors
can take a nighttime ghost tour, to which I say, no thank you.
22)
The Princess
Theatre, Australia
Elsewhere in Australia, you’ll find the Princess
Theatre, which is haunted by a ghost named Frederici. According to
lore, Frederick Baker, or “Frederici,” was an Italian baritone singer who died
on stage in 1888. He was finishing a performance as Mephistopheles in Faust
when a trapdoor dropped beneath his feet and he fell beneath the stage, dying
from a heart attack. For many years, the Princess Theater saved an open seat
for Frederic at every opening-night performance.
33)
The Bhanghar
Fort, India
If you’re not scared yet, head over to India, where you’ll
find the Bhanghar Fort in the Alwar
district of Rajasthan. The fort was built in 1573 and remains today a ruin of
several temples, palaces, and smaller living units.
44)
Aokigahara,
Japan
f you’ve ever visited this haunted place, you’re way braver
than I am. At the base of Mt. Fugi, you’ll find Aokigahara, Japan’s globally infamous Suicide Forest. Hundreds
of people have journeyed into the forest to kill themselves amidst its dense
trees and vines, so many people that the local police do annual sweeps to clear
away the bodies. They no longer publicize the number of bodies discovered, out
of fear that those numbers actually encourage suicides. In 2004, 108 people
committed suicide there. Signs around the forest placed by local police plead
with suicidal visitors to reconsider: “Your life is a precious gift to your
parents” and “Please consult with the police before you decide to die.”
Understandably, many people believe that the forest is
haunted by the souls of those who have died there. Others point to a different
haunting origin, though. According to one legend, during times of famine in
ancient Japan, families couldn’t feed themselves. Some would be abandoned in
Aokigahara, where they died of starvation. Those ghosts haunt the forest today,
of course.
5)
Iulia Hasdeu Castle, Romania
The Iulia Hasdeu
Castle was built by Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu in Campina,
Romania after the death of his 19-year-old daughter, Iulia. Hasdeu dedicated
the castle and the rest of his life to lulia. He became a practitioner of
spiritualism in an attempt to reconnect with her spirit, and designed one room
in the castle solely for the purposes of these daily spiritual exercises. Its
walls are all black. Iulia reportedly haunts the castle still, walking through
the courtyard in a white dress and holding daisies. Oh, and she still plays the
piano each night
No comments:
Post a Comment