Winchester Mystery House began its strange construction around 1884 in Santa Clara Valley, California. A family curse had been put on the Winchester family for the deaths correlated to creation of the Winchester gun. As the last living member of the family, Sarah Winchester was told to build a house and never stop building if she wanted to live.
The house itself is said the hold in spirits because of the strange and confusing design that was meant to act as protection from the supernatural. There are rooms with no entrances, upside down stairs and pillars, secret rooms, and many structures made up of 13 parts.
Winchester Mystery House is now a place that people can visit for those wanting to experience a haunting or two. Some of the weird activities are the mischievous spirits that create havoc for employees, footsteps being heard in the empty house, and the piano that is said to play on its own. To date, the house is still being built upon, so the supernatural housed inside do not stray back out. For more information on the Winchester Mystery House, click here.
Aokigahara Forest is at the base of Mount Fuji, Japan, a beautiful landscape marked with insidious tales starting around the 1950s. The density of the trees shrouds the sun and buffers out any wind, leaving the forest dark and misty. All sound is muted and not even the sound of wildlife disturbs this eerie place. Aokigahara is also known as the Suicide or Hanging Forest since every year hundreds of people kill themselves within the depths of the forest.
One of the weird activities that mark the forest as a cursed dwelling is the fact that electronics and compasses do not seem to work. Bones and discarded shoes seem also always seem to be found across the ground or tangled in tree roots.
Today, tourists come through Aokigahara Forest because of the magnificent scenery, unexplored caverns, and hiking exhibitions. However, it still holds true to its nickname, with many people still making their way to the forest for death. For more information on the Aokigahara Forest, click here.
Leap Castle is thought to be the longest inhabited castle in Ireland, built in the early 1500s by the O’Carroll’s. The castle has a bloody history with warring clans and sieges from enemy soldiers. With a place filled with bloodshed and tragedy for decades, it is no wonder the castle is thought to be one of the most haunted places in the world.
There are 8 specific haunting that go on in Leap Castle. A few of the creeper ones are the Elemental, Emily and Charlotte, and the Red Lady. The Elemental is a monstrous skeletal creature with human-like features, a dormant spirit that comes out when emotions are high. Emily is a little girl who is seen falling out of the window, and Charlotte is seen walking through castle with a disfigured leg dragging behind her. The Red Lady is a tall woman cloaked in red who carries around some blade.
Tours can be arranged to go through the Leap Castle for those wanting a historical and haunting adventure.
Waverly Hills Sanitarium was created in 1926 in Louisville, Kentucky. The hospital was built during the time of the “white death” – tuberculosis – and became a place of torture rather than healing. Horrible methods of treatment were given to patients, and there were only a lucky few who got out alive, while the others went down the “body chute.”
The haunted hospital has a reputation of having many forms of paranormal activity from ghosts to suicides. Some of the hauntings include a little boy seen with a ball, a woman with bleeding wrists pleading for help, and doors that slam shut or windows that seem to have lights on. The suicides come from the fifth floor in room 502 where people have jumped to their deaths, nurses have hung themselves, and a disembodied voice says “get out.”
The hospital has officially been shut down, but it is now a place for teenagers to visit, homeless to take shelter in, or supernatural enthusiasts to go on ghost hunts. More information can be found here.
The Island of the Dolls is just south of Mexico, along a number of canals. The legend came about with the drowning of a little girl. Don Julian, the caretaker of the island, later on found a few dolls in the canal and in respect for the girl, he hung the dolls on a tree. Being thought to have been haunted, Julian continued to hang dolls around the island until his mysterious drowning at the same place the little girl died.
Locals of reported that the dolls talk to one another and sometimes turn their heads when people pass by them. With 50 years of hanging dolls, the island has a creepy aura with weather-torn dolls and sightless eyes.
The island isn’t visited very often today, but there are many photographers and ghost hunters that explore the island filled with cursed toys. More information can be found here.
