Catalog
Catalog of phenomena
Every kind of phenomenon – from white ladies and haunted castles to vampires and cursed dolls – and the countries where they were recorded. Each page has a map and a chronological list of cases.
Apparitions Ghosts, phantoms and spectral figures · 59
Figures seen where no living person could have been: white ladies in castle corridors, headless riders, phantom armies fighting long-finished battles and ghost ships gliding under full sail. Some accounts are legends passed down for centuries, others are modern sightings that still have no single explanation.
- White ladies Female ghosts in white, grey or black – most often ill-fated lovers, murdered wives or imprisoned noblewomen from castles and palaces.
- Headless riders and wild hunts Headless figures, spectral horsemen, black coaches and processions of the dead travelling roads and forests at night.
- Phantom armies and battles Battles replayed in the sky, marching legions and soldiers seen years or centuries after their deaths.
- Ghost ships Phantom sailing ships, abandoned vessels drifting without a crew and ships that reappear on the anniversary of their sinking.
- Roadside and bridge ghosts Vanishing hitchhikers, women in white by the roadside and places where drivers see figures disappear in front of the bonnet.
- Ghosts of historical figures Queens, presidents and heroes whose ghosts, witnesses say, still appear where they lived or died.
Haunted places Castles, houses, hotels and prisons with ghosts · 153
Places that residents, guests and guards say have been haunted for years: medieval castles, manor houses, hotels, former prisons and asylums, cemeteries and ossuaries, as well as forests and islands nobody wants to visit after dark. Their reputation comes from a tragic history, legends and accounts that keep multiplying.
- Haunted castles Medieval fortresses and family seats where, according to legends and accounts, the ghosts of former residents still wander.
- Haunted houses and manors Mansions, rectories and ordinary homes that tenant after tenant moved out of – and that inspired books and films.
- Hotels and inns Hotels, coaching inns and pubs where guests report night-time visitors – sometimes in rooms owners happily rent out at a premium.
- Prisons, hospitals and asylums Former prisons, psychiatric hospitals and sanatoriums – places of suffering where, guards and visitors say, someone is still present.
- Cemeteries, crypts and ossuaries Necropolises, catacombs and chapels made of human bones – places where the living and the dead are unusually close.
- Forests, islands and abandoned places Forests, islands, villages and ruins people give a wide berth – because of legends, tragedies or strange events.
Poltergeists Poltergeists, possessions and séances · 41
Knocking in the walls, flying furniture, stones falling on the roof, voices in the dark – and people said to have been taken over by a demon. Also mediums and séances that in the 19th and 20th centuries were meant to prove contact with the dead. Many of these cases were investigated by scientists, priests and courts; some proved to be fraud, others still divide researchers.
- Poltergeists 'Noisy ghosts': knocking, moving furniture, flying objects and fires – usually centred on one family or one child.
- Possessions and exorcisms People said to have been taken over by a demon – from mass possessions in convents to exorcisms that inspired films.
- Séances and mediums Spiritualism, table-turning and mediums who claimed to summon spirits, materialise hands of ectoplasm and speak with the voices of the dead.
Revenants Vampires, werewolves and night beasts · 50
The dead who would not stay in their graves, people accused of turning into wolves and beasts that prowled at night. Many of these stories are backed by real documents: reports by imperial officials, trial records and, today, finds by archaeologists who uncover graves with a sickle across the neck or a stone in the mouth.
- Vampires and strigoi The dead rising from their graves to drink the blood of the living – from Habsburg officials' reports to anti-vampire burials found in Poland.
- Werewolves People accused of turning into wolves, beasts that terrorised whole provinces and modern accounts of creatures on two legs.
- Spectral creatures and night demons Black dogs, weeping women, leaping attackers and other beings from urban legends that caused real panic.
Curses Curses, cursed objects and witchcraft · 48
Tombs whose opening was said to bring death, dolls and paintings that bring misfortune, diamonds changing hands after one tragedy after another – and witches who were tried and burned at the stake. This category is where superstition, coincidence and a very real history of human fear meet.
- Tomb and family curses Curses of pharaohs and kings, deaths of researchers who opened tombs and families haunted by misfortune for generations.
- Cursed objects Dolls, paintings, chairs and jewels that owners say bring bad luck, illness or death – and end up behind museum glass.
- Witches and witch trials Trials, pyres and mass witch hunts – from Salem and Pendle to Reszel, where Europe's 'last witch' was burned.
Countries
- Argentina 4
- Australia 12
- Barbados 1
- Belgium 1
- Bolivia 2
- Brazil 5
- Bulgaria 1
- Cameroon 1
- Canada 25
- Chile 2
- China 1
- Colombia 1
- Costa Rica 1
- Croatia 1
- Czechia 2
- Denmark 1
- Ecuador 1
- Egypt 4
- Ethiopia 1
- France 14
- Germany 9
- Ghana 1
- Greece 1
- Haiti 1
- Hong Kong SAR China 1
- India 4
- Indonesia 1
- Ireland 16
- Italy 5
- Jamaica 1
- Japan 8
- Kenya 2
- Latvia 1
- Madagascar 1
- Malaysia 1
- Mauritius 1
- Mexico 8
- Morocco 1
- Namibia 1
- New Zealand 3
- Nigeria 1
- Norway 1
- Peru 2
- Philippines 2
- Poland 41
- Puerto Rico 1
- Romania 1
- Russia 1
- Saudi Arabia 1
- Serbia 3
- Singapore 1
- Slovakia 1
- South Africa 5
- South Korea 1
- Spain 2
- Sweden 1
- Switzerland 1
- Taiwan 1
- Tanzania 2
- Thailand 1
- Tunisia 1
- United Arab Emirates 1
- United Kingdom 53
- United States 72
- Uzbekistan 1
- Venezuela 2
- Zimbabwe 1