Paris Catacombs - Paris, France

When Christianity flourished early in Paris' history, the practice of burying the dead on the outskirts ended in favor of church burials within the city limits. As the city grew, its cemeteries became overcrowded and increasingly unsanitary. The grounds surrounding the most popular cemeteries were so heavily contaminated by decomposing remains that a new large-scale burial ground was needed. In the late 1700s, 6 million of Paris' dead were exhumed and transferred to the underground tunnels of the Paris Catacombs. Angered by the disturbance of their bodies, hostile spirits are said to now haunt the tunnels. Visitors report not only being super creeped out at the sight of human remains arranged neatly into rows and stacks, but also by more supernatural phenomena: cold spots, feelings of being followed, shadowy figures, and even a few cases of ghost-strangulation.
Photo: Steve Duncan

Leap Castle - Roscrea, County Offaly, Ireland

If there's a room in an old castle nicknamed the "Bloody Chapel," that's enough of a deterrent for me to never want to set foot in the building. The chapel earned its name and its history of hauntings sometime in the mid-1500s, when its priest was stabbed mid-ceremony by his lunatic brother, who left him bleeding out on the altar. The oubliette, a long, spike-adorned shaft in the back of the chapel that enemies of the castle were thrown into to die, is another likely source for the 20 or so spirits rumored to haunt the building today, the most terrifying of which is the Elemental, a hunched creature with a decaying face that smells of rotting bodies and sulfur.
Photo: AlisonKillilea

Aokigahara Suicide Forest - Base of Mt. Fuji, Japan

The dense Aokigahara forest was a popular suicide destination even before Wataru Tsurumi's 1993 bestseller The Complete Manual of Suicide listed it as an ideal place to die. Suicides here were so prevalent that in the 1970s annual sweeps were instituted by the government to remove the bodies -- most of which were found in various stages of decay, hanging from trees in homemade nooses. With approximately 70-100 bodies recovered here each year, it's shockingly likely that the sounds of wailing heard through the trees might be from actual living people committing suicide, but many believe the forest is cursed by the tortured souls of those who died here. I don't think I'd like to find out either way.
Photo: Simon le nippon

Tower of London - London, England

Since the 1070s, the Tower of London has been used as a royal residence, menagerie, mint and treasury, and weapons arsenal, but it's remembered most often as a torture chamber and prison used by English monarchs to appease their taste for violent punishment. Anne Boleyn, famously executed here in 1536, haunts several areas of the Tower, especially the place where her execution happened. Her ghost has been seen floating around the Chapel Royal, usually headless. Another victim of Henry VIII, the Countess of Salisbury, managed to run before being beheaded, but executioners chased her down with an axe and hacked her to death instead -- a gruesome scene that you can still see being repeatedly played out by spirits on the Tower Green.
Photo: sksamuel

Linda Vista Hospital - Los Angeles, California, USA

The Linda Vista Hospital flourished in Los Angeles' earlier years, but as its East LA neighborhood transformed, so did its clientele and staff. In the 1970s and '80s, the quality of care in the hospital took a turn as doctors chose to move to facilities in more affluent neighborhoods, leading to an unusually high death rate at Linda Vista. By 1991, the hospital was defunct and quickly abandoned. In the following years, the building deteriorated rapidly, and reports of cries in the night, unexplained voices, visions of apparitions, and sounds of disembodied insanely creepy humming were on the rise. "Urban explorers" (aka, trespassers?) swear that a little girl still hangs around one of the old surgical rooms and occasionally tries to grab a living person's hand for comfort. The hospital is on track to be converted into senior living apartments shortly, in case you have any grandparents you particularly dislike.
Photo: Neil Kremer

Edinburgh Castle - Edinburgh, Scotland

Castle dungeons, especially ones with a 900-year history, are expected to have seen some rough times. The dungeons at Edinburgh Castle held a wide variety of kooky personalities, including Lady Janet Douglas, an accused witch who was later burned at the stake (along with around 300 other women over the castle's history), and Duke Alexander Stewart of Albany, who escaped by killing his guards and burning their bodies. When visiting, expect to see their ghosts, plus the spirits of a headless drummer, a phantom piper, a dog wandering the dog cemetery, and many other departed prisoners roaming the halls. Visitors also report a creepy feeling of being watched, unnatural temperature fluctuations, sounds of breathing coming from who-knows-where, and, worst of all, unseen things touching their faces.
Photo: photojenni

Shanghai Tunnels - Portland, Oregon, USA

Portland's underground network of tunnels were in heavy use during the 1850s through the 1940s for human trafficking and other seedy purposes. Many of those who were "Shanghai-ed" (dropped into the tunnels via trap doors hidden in bars and other unsavory establishments to be sold as labor on long sea voyages) didn't make it out of the tunnels alive. The dark and dusty passages are now home to the spirits of former tunnel workers and those who were trapped and imprisoned here, including "Strawberry Shortcake," a little girl who lives in the basement with Nina, a long-dead prostitute.
Photo: masha/scott