Ghost Map

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Haunted places

Forests, islands and abandoned places

It is not only buildings that are haunted. Japan's Aokigahara forest, Romania's Hoia-Baciu forest, the Venetian island of Poveglia where plague victims were sent for centuries, or Mexico's Island of the Dolls are the places that have gathered the darkest stories. Some of it is tragic reality, some legends amplified by the internet and television. This kind also covers abandoned villages and towns where time stopped at the moment of disaster.

cases
34
years
450–2026

Disputed: 4 Legend: 26 Explained: 4

  1. 5th century

    1. c. 450–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Tlachtga, the hill where the fires of Samhain were lit Hill of Ward (Tlachtga), near Athboy, County Meath, Ireland Tradition says the druids lit a fire on Tlachtga on Samhain eve, and that every hearth in Ireland was rekindled from it.

  2. 9th century

    1. c. 900–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Oweynagat, the “Cave of the Cats” and gateway to the Otherworld Oweynagat Cave, Rathcroghan, near Tulsk, County Roscommon, Ireland A narrow cleft in a Roscommon field was said to be the entrance to the Otherworld, from which ghosts and the Morrígan emerged on Samhain night.

  3. 13th century

    1. c. 1260–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Halina Krępianka in the Sandomierz Underground Underground Tourist Route, Old Town, Sandomierz, Poland Legend says Halina Krępianka lured the Tatars into a maze of cellars beneath Sandomierz and died with them – her ghost is said to slip among the tourists.

  4. 16th century

    1. c. 1545–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend El Tío – the Devil of the Cerro Rico Mines Cerro Rico, Potosí, Bolivia Deep inside Potosí's “mountain that eats men,” miners make offerings to the horned Tío. They believe he decides who comes out of the mine alive.
    2. c. 1600–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend The Ruins of Gedi – a Town Guarded by “the Old Ones” Gedi Ruins near Malindi, Kenya In a forest on the Kenyan coast stand the ruins of a medieval Swahili town. Local people believe the spirits of its old priests keep watch over it.

  5. 17th century

    1. 1685–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Mary King's Close – the Street beneath Edinburgh Mary King's Close beneath the City Chambers, Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom A 17th-century alley sealed beneath Edinburgh's City Chambers has long been famous for ghosts – from floating heads to little Annie, who gets dolls from visitors.
    2. c. 1700–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Jan van Hunks and the Devil of Table Mountain Devil's Peak, Cape Town, South Africa When a “tablecloth” of cloud spills over Table Mountain, Capetonians say the pirate van Hunks is smoking with the devil again. But where did the story come from?

  6. 18th century

    1. c. 1735–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend The Hellfire Club on Montpelier Hill Montpelier Hill, Dublin Mountains, South Dublin, Ireland A hunting lodge built from the stones of a prehistoric tomb, where the aristocrats of the Hellfire Club are said to have played cards with the Devil.
    2. c. 1748–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Dudleytown – Connecticut’s “Cursed” Village Dark Entry Forest, Cornwall, Connecticut, United States An abandoned settlement in the Connecticut woods was supposedly doomed by a curse on the Dudley family – madness, suicide and death by lightning.
    3. 1783–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend The Abandoned Lake Shawnee Amusement Park Lake Shawnee near Princeton, Mercer County, West Virginia, United States An amusement park built where a settler’s children were killed in 1783 was said to be cursed. Its rusting swing ride still stands.
    4. 1785 Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Burns’s “Halloween” and the fairies dancing on Cassillis Downans Cassillis Downans, by Cassillis House near Maybole, South Ayrshire, Scotland, United Kingdom “Upon that night, when fairies light on Cassilis Downans dance…” – in 1785 Robert Burns described Scotland’s Halloween charms and games.
    5. 1793–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Poveglia – the Plague Island of the Venetian Lagoon Poveglia Island, Venetian Lagoon, Italy An abandoned islet between Venice and the Lido is sometimes called “the most haunted place on Earth” – but its most frightening legends were born on television.

  7. 19th century

    1. c. 1825–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Kuldhara – the Cursed Village of the Thar Desert Kuldhara, Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan, India According to legend, the people of a thriving village near Jaisalmer left in a single night, cursing anyone who would ever try to settle there.
    2. c. 1850 Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend The Dungarvon Whooper – a Scream in the Miramichi Woods Dungarvon River, Northumberland County, New Brunswick, Canada A lumber-camp cook, murdered for his money belt and buried in the woods, is said to have howled so terribly at night that the men fled the camp for good.
    3. 1883–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Disputed The Marfa Lights of the West Texas Desert Mitchell Flat between Marfa and Paisano Pass, Presidio County, Texas, United States Since 1883 flickering lights have appeared at night on the desert plain near Marfa. A cowhand took them for an Apache campfire; others for the ghosts of conquistadors.

  8. 1900–1909

    1. c. 1900–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend The Screaming Tunnel, Niagara Falls Screaming Tunnel, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada A girl is said to have burned to death in this damp stone tunnel under an old railway embankment. Strike a match here at midnight, they say, and you'll hear her scream.
    2. 1901 Forests, islands and abandoned places · Explained Ibini Ukpabi – the Oracle That “Devoured” People Long Juju shrine, Arochukwu, Nigeria Anyone who lost a case before the oracle at Arochukwu vanished into a tunnel – people believed the god had eaten them. In fact many were sold into slavery.
    3. 1908 Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Headless Valley on the Nahanni River Deadmen Valley, South Nahanni River, Northwest Territories, Canada In 1908 Charlie McLeod found the skeletons of his gold-seeking brothers by the Nahanni. Both were headless – and so Headless Valley was born.
    4. c. 1909–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Queimada Grande – Snake Island and the Last Lighthouse Keeper Ilha da Queimada Grande, Atlantic Ocean off São Paulo state, Brazil Thousands of venomous lanceheads live on a small island off Brazil. Legend says a lighthouse keeper's whole family died there – and no one may land.
    5. c. 1909–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Disputed The Mysterious Brown Mountain Lights Brown Mountain, Burke County, North Carolina, United States For more than a century balls of light have been seen rising at night over an Appalachian ridge. Geologists, physicists and balladeers have all studied them.

  9. 1940–1949

    1. 1940 Forests, islands and abandoned places · Explained Lake Crescent and the “Lady of the Lake” Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park, Washington, United States People said the icy lake never gave up its dead. In 1940 the body of a woman turned to something like soap floated to the surface – and gave away her killer.

  10. 1950–1959

    1. c. 1950–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend The Island of the Dolls in Xochimilco Isla de las Muñecas, Xochimilco canals, Mexico City, Mexico On an islet among the canals of Xochimilco hundreds of decaying dolls hang from the trees – a hermit hung them to appease the ghost of a drowned girl.
    2. c. 1950 Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend The Procession of Dead Miners on Bell Island Iron ore mines, Wabana, Bell Island, Newfoundland, Canada On a Sunday, with the mine shut, a Bell Island family watched a hundred miners walk out of a barred slope two by two. There were no footprints in the snow.
    3. 1956–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Kolmanskop – the Diamond Town Swallowed by the Desert Kolmanskop near Lüderitz, Namibia A rich German mining town in the Namib was abandoned in 1956. Today sand fills its rooms knee-deep, and some visitors say they are not alone there.

  11. 1960–1969

    1. 1960–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Aokigahara – the Sea of Trees at the Foot of Mount Fuji Aokigahara Forest, northwestern slope of Mount Fuji, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan A dense forest on old lava at the foot of Mount Fuji is said to be home to yūrei, spirits of the dead – today it is also a place of sorrow that deserves respect.
    2. 1968–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Jazirat Al Hamra – the Abandoned Pearling Town Jazirat Al Hamra, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates Abandoned in 1968, the pearling town of Jazirat Al Hamra in Ras Al Khaimah became known as a ‘djinn town’. Its former residents, though, come back to remember.
    3. 1968–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Hoia-Baciu Forest – the “Romanian Bermuda Triangle” Hoia-Baciu Forest, western edge of Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, Romania A forest outside Cluj is famous for a round clearing where nothing grows, tales of disappearances and 1968 photographs of a “flying saucer.”

  12. 1970–1979

    1. 1974–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend The Joelma Building – the Thirteen Souls from the Elevator Edifício Praça da Bandeira (formerly Joelma), Avenida 9 de Julho, São Paulo, Brazil The Joelma tower fire of 1974 killed 191 people. Thirteen unidentified victims are now venerated like saints, and the building is said to stand on cursed ground.

  13. 1980–1989

    1. 1986 Forests, islands and abandoned places · Explained Lake Nyos – the Night the Lake Killed Lake Nyos, Northwest Region, Cameroon On the night of 21 August 1986 a cloud rose from a lake in Cameroon and killed more than 1,700 people. Local legends had long warned of “evil” lakes.
    2. 1989–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend Pluckley, “the most haunted village in England” Pluckley near Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom A Red Lady in the churchyard, a highwayman pinned to a tree by a sword, a screaming brickmaker – this Kent village of twelve ghosts made the Guinness Book of Records.

  14. 1990–1999

    1. 1992 Forests, islands and abandoned places · Explained Kłomino – a Ghost Town Left by the Soviet Army Kłomino, Borne Sulinowo commune, West Pomerania, Poland A town hidden in the forest, home to thousands of Soviet soldiers and their families until 1992, emptied almost completely and nobody wanted to resettle it.
    2. 1998–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Legend The Abandoned Tat Tak School in Ping Shan Ping Shan, Yuen Long, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR China A primary school in the New Territories closed in 1998 is Hong Kong's most famous haunted place. Its former pupils remember it quite differently.
    3. 1999–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Disputed The Latoon fairy bush that stopped a motorway Latoon near Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare, Ireland In 1999 the storyteller Eddie Lenihan warned that felling a lone hawthorn for the Ennis bypass would anger the fairies. The bush was spared – and still grows today.

  15. 2000–2009

    1. 2001–present Forests, islands and abandoned places · Disputed The South Bridge Vaults of Edinburgh and the ghost experiment South Bridge Vaults (Blair Street Vaults), Old Town, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom The dark chambers beneath Edinburgh’s South Bridge are billed as the city’s most haunted place. In 2001 psychologists tested what visitors really feel there.