13 Haunted Locations Across 7 Continents

In the spirit of Halloween, let's explore some ghostly tales. Here are 13 historically haunted locations spanning the 7 continents.

There a plenty of locations around the world that have been known to experience a haunting or two. Let's dive into these spooky tales, and get to know the ghosts behind them. Grab your blanket, flip off the lights, and prepare for these 13 haunted locations spanning the continents.

1) Wolfsegg, Bavaria

Home to the Wolfsegg Castle, this building was meant to be a destination for weary travelers.

This haunting originates in the 1500s, when Ulrich von Laaber hired two farmers to kill his wife, Klara von Helfenstein, after finding out about her secret affair.

But very soon after, Ulrich and his sons died suddenly. Since then, there have been reports of strange noises coming from the caves near the castle. Expeditions to the cave have revealed numerous animal skeletons, which led locals to believe it to be a location where hunters were hiding their kills. But the sources of the noises were never identified.

Ever since the murder, there have been ongoing tales of a white woman wandering the halls of the castle, especially within Klara's bedroom. Thought to be Klara's spirit, she's considered the source responsible for local poltergeist activity, causing disturbances with electromagnetic fields, creating strange lights and full-bodied apparition sightings.

Klara von Helfenstein, the believed ghost roaming as the "White Woman".

2) Colosseum - Rome, Italy

According to testimonies from witnesses and researchers, the Colosseum is reported to have some haunting activity. From ghostly figures wandering the staircases, to the sounds of cheers and screams from a ghostly crowd, with no sign of anyone nearby.

Reports say the vaults were active with the spirits of gladiators ready to enter the battle, actors eager to perform, and prisoners preparing for execution. The sounds of animals were also said to have come from the same vaults.

Accounts from employees and tourists have mentioned cold touches or pushes within the Colosseum.

3) Aradale Mental Hospital - Ararat, Australia

This psychiatric hospital was originally known as the Ararat Lunatic Asylum. With 13,000 deaths in 130 years, it's said to be the most haunted place in Australia.

Today the grounds are used for ghost tours, where many visitors have reported feeling nauseous, fainting unexpectedly, and feelings of pain when entering certain rooms.

Often noted are wards with eerie smells and "methodical banging sounds", like patients hitting their heads against the walls.

Visitors have reported feelings of being "shoved or bitten", in addition to screaming voices, ticking clocks and electric interference with their equipment.

The  Aradale Ghost Tours Facebook page  provide the following reviews.

  • "My son saw a figure in the women's area."
  • "I took many photos, a few potentially showing some shadows/faces."
  • "[My] son fainted in one of the rooms."
  • "Didn't see a ghost but did get a tingling sensation on one half of my head in one of the rooms, which I was later told was the shock therapy ward..."

4) Chaonei Church - Chaoyangmen, China

Building records predating the 1949 establishment of the People's Republic of China are inconsistent, so it's difficult to get the history straight for this building. But it's believed to have been built around 1910 as the North China Union Language School.

The ghost of a woman is claimed to haunt the house. She's thought to be the wife/lover of an officer in the National Revolutionary Army during the Chinese Civil War in the 1940s. She was left behind when he fled to Taiwan in advance of the Communist victory at the end of the war.

Heartbroken, she hung herself from the rafters. Local lore claims she can be heard screaming from the house during thunderstorms. But others think the screaming stems from people who sneak into the house at night to contribute to the legends.

Unexplained disappearances have been connected to the house. The first relates to a British priest who was building the house as a church, but went missing before completion. The second disappearance talks of three construction workers who broke through a thin wall in the basement, went through, and were never seen again.

Locals claim further paranormal activity from the house, just walking by it you may experience a sense of dread and unease.

5) Dow Hill of Kurseong - West Bengal, India

Just 30 kilometers from Darjeeling, Dow Hill of Kurseong is considered to be one of the most haunted places in West Bengal, especially the corridors of the Victoria Boys' School and the surrounding woods, where a number of murders have taken place.

Local woodcutters who spend time in the forest speak of watching the headless ghost of a young boy walk by and disappear into the forest. Others have reported being followed and watched by something unseen, some mention red eyes watching from the darkness.

Nestled right in the forest is the Victoria Boys High School, where numerous unnatural deaths have taken place. Locals say they've heard loud whisperings and footsteps, even after the school has closed for the winter season.

Kurseong is home to a death road, a headless ghost, a haunted school, and plenty of ghost stories. Creepy creatures are more concentrated here than anywhere else in India.

6) Chase Vault - Barbados

The Chase Vault is a burial spot in the cemetery of the Christ Church Parish in Barbados, known for the legend of the mysterious moving coffins.

One account states the vault being opened in 1812 to bury Thomas Chase. But upon opening, all the other coffins of the Chase family had moved, and "in a confused state, having been apparently tossed from their places."

Similar disturbances were found during burials in 1816 and 1819. "Each time that the vault was opened the coffins were replaced in their proper situations ... The vault was then regularly closed; the door (a massive stone which required six or seven men to move) was cemented by masons; and though the floor was of sand there were no marks of footsteps or water."

Despite the massive stone door, every time this sealed vault was opened in the early 19th century to bury a family member, all the coffins appeared to have moved...

7) Pelabuhan Ratu - Indonesia

Pelabuhan Ratu is an ideal seaside resort just 90 km from Jakarta. But this popular destination has a darker tale to tell.

Legend says that Nyai Roro Kidul, the Queen of the South Sea and daughter of King Prabu Siliwangi, committed suicide by jumping from a cliff into the sea.

Rumors state that anyone wearing green (the Queen's favorite color) while swimming here is pulled down into the sea by her ghost.

A handful of visitors have never resurfaced after taking their dip in the water. Many of them were men suspected of wearing green in the water. It's said her ghost took their lives because she was upset that they were wearing her favorite color.

Room 308 in the Samudra Beach Hotel is even set aside for the Queen's ghost.

8) Temple of Amida - Shimonoseki Strait, Japan

The Shimonoseki Strait is the location of a legendary haunting. It's said that strange things can be heard along these shores, even ghostly fires on the darkest nights. Because the area is thought to harbor restless spirits.

Legend says that the blind Biwa h ō shi Hoichi, a resident of the temple, encountered nightly visits from the ghost of a dead samurai.

Once a priest learned of this, he had the heart sutra painted on every part of the Hoichi's body, apart from his ears. When the ghostly samurai returned, Hoichi was nearly invisible, and the samurai could only see Hoichi's ears. So he took them, leaving Hoichi earless.

To this day, the legend lives on of Hoichi the Earless.

9) Castle of Good Hope - Cape Town, South Africa

One of Cape Town's oldest buildings, the 17th-century Dutch East India Company fort is believed to be the most haunted site in South Africa. Many ghosts are said to reside here, including the ghost of Lady Anne Barnard, the colony's First Lady. Her ghost is said to appear still today.

Another is the ghost of a soldier who hung himself from the bell tower (which has been known to ring itself), as well as the ghosts of soldiers who pace the castle grounds.

Many have reported hearing voices and footsteps in the windowless dungeon, as well as in the corridors of the building. A black dog is also known to wander the grounds, and will approach visitors before disappearing.

The most famous sighting is the ghost of Governor Pieter Gysbert van Noordt. A profanity-filled man believed to have unjustly sentenced several soldiers to death for military desertion in 1728. A soldier put a curse of the governor, and he was later found dead at his desk, with the cause of death being recorded as a heart attack.

Workers and guests today have mentioned hearing cursing inside the castle walls. Modern day soldiers in charge of guarding the castle walls through the night are known to prefer walking all the way around the building rather than passing through the grounds, for fear of the restless souls that wander about.

10) Stanley Hotel - Estes Park, Colorado, USA

The 142-room hotel sits just 5 miles from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Horror writer Stephen King spent a night at the Stanley Hotel in 1974 with his wife. They were checking in when everyone else was checking out, because the hotel was closing for the winter season.

"I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire-hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk, sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed. I got up, lit a cigarette, sat in a chair looking out the window at the Rockies, and by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of The Shining firmly set in my mind." - states Stephen King.

The hotel's origins are very peaceful. It was only after The Shining was released that the Stanley Hotel earned a reputation for paranormal activity. Now offering guided tours of its "spirited history" to guests which features areas especially active with paranormal events.

Referred to as the "Disneyland for ghosts", guests have reported lights flickering off and on, doors slamming shut on their own, shadow figures, feeling chills, and hearing children laughing...

Room 217, where Stephen King spent the night, is perhaps the most famous spot in the hotel. The room is believed to be haunted by the ghost of Elizabeth Wilson, the hotel's head housekeeper who injured herself in the room during a storm in 1911.

Guests have reported eerie activity in room 217, such as items moving on their own, unpacked luggage that was all packed up the night before, and lights turning on and off.

The concert hall is thought to be haunted by Paul, one of the former hotel employees. Guests claim to hear "get out" being whispered late at night in the room.

Room 401 was a former attic space where children, female employees, and nannies would stay. Guests report hearing children running around, and the sounds of laughter in this room. There's also a famous closet door that seems to open and shut all on its own.

Room 428 provides even more chills. Guests report hearing footsteps and moving furniture above them, which isn't possible given the slope of the roof. There's also a figure of a cowboy that's said to appear at the corner of the bed.

11) Raynham Hall - Norfolk, England

Raynham Hall is reportedly haunted by the Brown Lady. The image to the right was captured by Country Life magazine and published in 1936, supposedly depicting the Brown Lady herself.

Legend says the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall is the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole. She was the second wife of Charles Townshend, who had a notoriously violent temper.

After Charles discovered Dorothy had committed adultery, he locked her in her room at the family home, Raynham Hall, where she stayed until her death from smallpox in 1726.

The first reported sighting of the Brown Lady was on Christmas in 1835. She was seen approaching their bedrooms that night, in her tattered brown dress. And she was spotted again the next evening, with reportedly empty eye-sockets. These two sightings led some staff members to leave Raynham Hall permanently.

12) The Wordie Hut - Winter Island, Antarctica

Named after James Wordie, the chief scientist on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance Expedition of 1914.

Although the hut was built after his death, the Wordie Hut is thought by some to be haunted by the spirit of Sir Ernest Shackleton to this day.

Paranormal researchers spent a night exploring the famed hut, which was still set up with canned food and furniture, as if those explorers still lived there.

The researchers heard frantic flipping of a light switch and doors slamming during their stay. Items fell from shelves on their own, and crew members noted how they felt a presence in the room.

13) Joelma Building - SãoPaulo, Brazil

The Joelma building is reportedly haunted by the victims of a 1974 fire. The fire was started by a faulty overheated air conditioner on the twelfth floor. With no fire alarms, sprinklers, or emergency exits, the residents of the building had no escape.

After the fire extinguished itself, fire crews entered the building to find bodies everywhere, eventually totaling at 179 deaths.

As crews came across a sealed elevator, they opened it to a horrifying sight. The elevator acted as an oven for the 13 unfortunate victims inside. Their bodies were partially fused together, and it took some time to count the 13 separate victims.

Those 13 individuals were never identified, and became known as the "13 Souls".

After the fire, the building was repaired and reopened as the 'Praca de Bandeira'. But it's said that every floor above the fifteenth was haunted. From apparitions in the stairways, to malfunctioning elevators and fire alarms, there is plenty of paranormal activity here.

Klara von Helfenstein, the believed ghost roaming as the "White Woman".