Ghost Tours: Haunted Places
A trip to a foreign destination always packs a punch if you get to visit some haunted attractions there. Deemed unfit for faint hearted people, there are several haunted attractions in the world that promise to make your hair stand on end and your blood run cold.
And to add importance to the ghoulish stories behind these attractions, several agencies operate ghost tours that take tourists to the most haunted landmarks in a particular city or area.
Listed below are three of the most haunted places in the world and the ghost tours that arrange visits to these places are deemed to be the scariest and most unnerving of all.
Charleston, U.S.A: Located in South Carolina, the city of Charleston is vibrant and historically active. The city has not changed much since its discovery in 1670 and is also called the Holy City owing to the large number of churches present here.
What many may not know is that Charleston is also a spiritually active city. By spirituality, we don’t mean religious beliefs but rather, ghostly ones and the city is filled with century old buildings and sites that are supposedly haunted by the former residents of the city. If you are in Charleston and opt for a ghost tour in the city, there’s a very high chance that you would pass by the following attractions.
The Old Exchange Building and Provost Dungeon were the last two buildings several pirates ever saw after they were jailed here in the 18th century. Brutally tortured and hanged till their deaths, these pirates apparently were at unrest and hence still inhabit the building and the dungeon.
Located on East bay Street, the Old Exchange Building also functioned as a slave market and is today considered as a cursed site by the locals. Several visitors who have toured the building and the dungeon have claimed to have been disturbed by ghosts.
Loud noises can be heard in the dungeon, stones and small pebbles fly from out of nowhere and some ghosts even get physical. There have been reports of people being touched, pinched, scratched or choked by these unseen forces. In addition to this, people have also reported experiencing sudden temperature chills and blackouts while exploring the establishment.
Touted to be one of the oldest cemeteries in the entire country, the Unitarian Church Graveyard is the resting place for the former residents of the city. Visitors to the cemetery have claimed to have seen several ghostly like apparitions floating about in addition to hearing ghostly whispers and being touched by unseen hands.
Formerly Charletons’ County Jail from 1802 to 1939, the Old City Jail was changed into an establishment that housed an asylum, workhouse, and a hospital. The workhouse was inhabited by runaway slaves who were worked to death in deplorable conditions, with many of them being tortured to death, burnt at stake, executed, quartered and even branded. It is said that more than 10000 people died within the walls of the Old City Jail which to this day reflects the pain and agony suffered by its inmates.
Prague, Czech Republic: The capital city of the Czech Republic and the former capital of Bohemia, Prague is known for its wonderfully structured historical monuments and cultural landmarks that have stood with the passage of time to speak volumes about the city’s rich cultures and traditions.
However, the city also has a not so favorable face and is home to some of the most unusual and disturbing ghosts in all of Europe. Most of the ghost tours in and around Prague take visitors to the following attractions which are dreaded by the locals.
Built in the 14th century, the Charles Bridge is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Prague. It also happens to be one of the most haunted sites in the entire city and there have been reports of several supernatural encounters here.
The bridge is lined with statues of saints and it is popularly known that they were placed there to bless anyone who steps on the bridge. But not many know that some of the saints were tortured and killed and hence were captured as ghosts and imprisoned in their statues.
For example, the statue of St. John who refused to divulge a secret to the king and was tortured to death for the same is said to house his spirit and anyone who has a secret and touches the statue can be rest assured that their secret will never leak out.
The bridge is also said to be haunted by 10 Lords who were beheaded and placed on the bridge during the Middle Ages. Those who venture out at midnight claim to hear sad ballads coming from the bridge and say it is the work of the lords.
The Little Quarter lies just behind the Charles’ Bridge and is said to be haunted by a headless horseman who carries his head in a burlap sack. Visitors on the ghost tour are also taken to a former Jewish ghetto called Josefov. It is here that locals say a giant called Golem rests and the place he rests upon, called the Old New Synagogue is impenetrable.
Another area in the city that is teeming with ghosts is the Old Jewish Cemetery. Housing the remnants of more than 100000 individuals who were buried here, the cemetery is closed for burials to day but allows visitors to tour it’s grounds at their own risk. It is said that no one ventures near the cemetery at night.
Gettysburg, U.S.A: Located in the state of Pennsylvania, the otherwise quiet town of Gettysburg was the site of mass destruction and resulting death during the American Civil War. It is touted that nearly 51000 people either died or were wounded in the campaign and the anguish and sufferings of the departed can be felt to this day by any individual who visits the city.
The town is said to be haunted by those killed in the campaign and there are several places in the town to prove the fact that the city is indeed haunted. Several sightings have been reported in addition to supernatural encounters which included a large ball of blue colored light which descended from the sky and completely covered a monument in the East Cemetery Hill.
Visitors to the city also claim to see hazy apparitions, apparently soldiers floatind around in civil war uniforms. This phenomena is more concentrated in an old civil war home in the town. There have also been sightings of battalions marching around in formations before disappearing into thin air.
The Spangler’s Spring Area is supposedly haunted by a nun who tended to the wounded in the war and most of the dorms and fraternity houses in the region have experienced strange noises in the middle of the night. Formerly a Civil War Hospital, the administrative building in a college is the site of supernatural reenactments where people claim to see real visions of gruesome hospital scenes that took place during the war.
