On occasions like Halloween, nothing beats a good scary story, and our world is full of them: Alien abductees, luxury cruise massacres, castle haunting.
You’ll almost certainly come across some form of haunted places, as well as a paranormal tour, no matter where you go.
Even if you’re into haunting kinds of stuff, some of the scariest places on earth are definitely worth a visit for their magnificent architecture, jaw-dropping sites, or intriguing legacies.
This isn’t your typical scary mansion night, where enthusiasts get a few laughs and screams in the darkness. Instead, they are scary landmarks full of skeletons, skinny animals, and the otherworldly.
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Scariest Places on Earth
From terrifying carvings to dolls all over everything you look (even hanging in tree branches!), here are 10 scariest places on earth that might keep you awake at night for months you should dare to visit.
Take into account peep at the pictures or watching Shawshank Redemption—one of the areas represented as a filming location for the film’s jails sequences. Your brain will applaud you for not going into full-fledged insanity by visiting these places.
1. Island of the Dolls – Mexico City, Mexico
How often do you see dolls hanging from the tree?
These dolls aren’t your babies Barbie dolls!
Or just a soft toy… you can get creepy shivering just by looking at them. C’mon, how often do people see such creepy dolls in an abandoned place like this.
A visit to an island near Mexico sounds awesome, but not if it’s crammed with dolls that appear to be deceased.
The Spanish name for the island is Isla de las Muecas, and it is located in the south of Mexico City.
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While the surrounding area is heavily populated, the island is totally abandoned, with exception of hundreds of dolls hanging from the branches. Many of them are naked and have blinking eyes, and they’re supposed to be occupied by the ghost of a drowned girl who drowned near the shore. The density of these crazy dolls has made it one of the scariest places on earth.
The former island keeper began hanging the dolls after discovering the drowned child and being troubled by her soul, according to folklore.
2. Capuchin Catacombs-Italy
Well, how exciting does it sound to you to visit a museum with dead mummies hanging over the walls?
What! Aren’t you excited?
Palermo’s Capuchin Catacombs are burial crypts in southern Italy. They attract tourists as gruesome tourism destinations.
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An estimated 8,000 mummies’ walls are lined of the catacombs, which serve as a graveyard. Some of the human remains are now a skeleton, but there are other well-preserved corpses in the catacombs. In 1920, the very last corpse was put to rest at the cemetery.
Because of those scary mummies, this is one of the scariest places on earth.
3. Village of Nagoro – Japan
How will you feel to live in a deserted village where your neighbors are not human but human-like dolls!
Nagoro, Japan, has a disappearing village due to a falling aging population and a poor youth retention rate.
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Ayano Tsukimi, an artist, is said to have returned to her hometown due to a reduction in the local inhabitants.
As a result, she built life-size dolls to be placed throughout the town to give it a sense of realism. According to Atlas, the community presently has at least 350 doll residents. That’s why it is on the list of the scariest places on earth.
4. Hanging Coffins of Sagada – Philippines
The Sagada Hanging Coffins are just one example of cliff-side tombs around the globe.
The Philippines’ tombs are said to replicate an indigenous funeral tradition in which the departed are buried in coffins fastened to rock faces or within caverns in the face of mountains.
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According to CNN, ancient Tang Dynasty history claims that the positioning of the coffins connected with prestige, while others claim that the positioning kept wildlife from getting the remains and did not take up valuable agricultural space for funerals.
The Sagada people have been doing such funerals for almost 2,000 years, and some of the tombs are “far over a century old.” Well, they have their own funeral museum, I must say…
the coffins have made this one of the scariest places on earth.
5. Sedlec Ossuary – Czech Republic
Seriously this one really can creep anyone out! This place looks like an exorcist’s home…
The former Sedlec Abbey contains the Sedlec Burial chamber, a Roman Catholic church.
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At least 40,000 people’s bones are reported to be buried there. Their carcasses have been elegantly arranged in the chapel’s beautiful decorations and fittings. In the Czech Republic, it is a major tourist destination.
It is not only one of the scariest places on earth but also horrific historical architecture.
6. Centralia –United States
Centralia is a barren wasteland in a Pennsylvania mine site.
The community was relocated in 1962 due to the Centralia mine fire, which was a deadly subsurface fire. The fires are still blazing, and very few people have risked dwelling among the toxic gases. Which makes this place one of the scariest places on earth.
The danger level of the city has made this one of the scariest places on earth.
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A ghost town, I see!
7. La Recoleta Cemetery – Argentina
I personally find this place beautiful but to keep this place on this list of the scariest places on earth was the reason for it to be a cemetery.
Some cemeteries are lovely, such as Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, but one Buenos Aires burial place is notoriously haunted—the tour and travel website even acknowledges the Neo-Gothic cemetery’s reputation.
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You might hear rings jingling as you walk among the 6,400 statues, coffins, cemeteries, and headstones. That’s most likely the late grim reaper David Alleno, who reportedly died by suicide after working for the company for three decades… and the completion of the statue of himself that he had constructed.
8. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum – West Virginia
This is one of my favorite scariest places on earth.
There is no asylum on a list of horrific places! It sounds so morally reprehensible…
The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, which has been a home for the mentally ill since the 1800s, is available for visitation from March to November, capitalizing on Halloween’s atmosphere.
The hospital was declared a National Historic Monument in 1990, but it closed in 1994, leaving the building haunted by rumored spirits ever since.
9. Akodessewa Fetish Market – Togo
What comes to your mind when you think about Voodoo?
Something horrifying, I bet.
How do you feel about the idea of the world’s largest voodoo market?
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The Akodessewa, located in Lomé’s capital city, is the world’s largest voodoo market, and it is not for the weak of heart.
Consider walking through the stalls and coming face to face with a human or animal skull.
The market is maintained by Beninese folks, who think that totems can connect you with the correct medication to treat or free oneself of a curse.
Benin, not New Orleans or Haiti, is regarded to be the origin of voodoo culture.
These terrifying human and animal skulls are the reason this place is on the list of scariest places on earth.
10. Hill of Crosses – Lithuania
One cross is not scary. Thousands, on the other hand, can be intimidating!
Since the 14th century, people have placed crosses at this location in northeastern Lithuania for a myriad of purposes: The symbols reflected a desire for Lithuanian independence during the medieval period.
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After a rural rebellion in 1831, locals continued to add to the monument in honor of deceased rebels, and the hill once again had become a symbol of resistance under the Soviet regime from 1944 to 1991.
End Words
These are the scariest places on earth. All of them are full of thrilling adventures. There are also some places that are scary enough.
Our world is full of thrilling places. I would like to take a ride through the scariest places on earth. For an adventurous scary visit, I would try the island of dolls.
Which one would you like to visit?