Top 6 Real-Life Haunted Places
Ted Hentschke
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I’ll admit that I’m a skeptic when it comes to ghosts. I know, as a horror movie fan, not believing in the supernatural is akin to sacrilege. It’s not that I discount that they could exist or that people have had paranormal experiences; I just think that most reports are inspired by marketing rather than true events.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop me from loving the hell out of ghost hunting shows/documentaries. I might not believe in it all, but I’ll watch Zak Bagans yell at some ghosts until the sun rises. 99% of the time it’s just a bunch of laughs for me, a good time with my girlfriend while we snuggle after a tough day of media journalism.
Then there’s that 1% of the time that makes me turn the channel to cartoons. Sometimes a place is so creepy that even I have trouble not looking at it and going, “Yup, that’s haunted as shit.” Aokigahara, the macabrely nicknamed “suicide forest” and subject of 2016’s The Forest, is one of those places.
With the film being released on Blu-ray and DVD on April 12th, it got me thinking about my favorite most haunted places.
6) Castle of Good Hope
A cursory look at Castle of Good Hope’s haunting history isn’t going to seem that impressive. Shrieking specters and sad looking fellows leaping off of ledges is all pretty run-of-the-mill ghost stuff, and Castle of Good Hope has that in spades. We can only really guess at the motivations of spirits, but one particular tale stands out as the most spine-chilling. For a time, many reported seeing a woman running through the castle, holding her face and crying hysterically. Like I said, pretty normal ghost stuff. It’s always hard to tell what’s real and what’s bullshit. However, reports stopped after they found a woman’s skeleton during an excavation of one of the castle’s entryways. Think what you will of ghosts, but a real body was found. If ever I’ve seen cause and effect in the paranormal world, that has to be it.
5) Isla de las Muñecas (Island of the Dolls)
This one would be higher up on the list if it weren’t just questionably haunted. It’s unclear if this place is legitimately cursed or the product of a delusional man. Either way, it’s creepy as hell and was definitely real for the island’s caretaker, Don Julian Santana Barrera. As the story goes, he one day happened upon a girl drowned in the canal. Saddened by his inability to save her, he soon found a doll in a spot near where he found her body. As a sign of respect, he hung the doll in a tree. Afterward he found himself haunted by the young girl’s spirit and began hanging more dolls to appease her. As he hung more and more dolls, he became convinced that the dolls contained the spirits of other dead girls. According to those that knew him, it’s as if he was completely changed by some unseen force. Sadly, after 50 years of collecting dolls, he was found drowned in the same spot where he reported finding the girl. Fact or fiction, in Julian’s mind, he was certainly plagued by something.
4) Hoia Baciu Forest
As the popularity of a haunted area grows, so do the legends. The Hoia Forest is one of those catch-all haunted locations that draws in all kinds of legends. Aliens, ghosts, disappearing people and livestock, and even portals to other dimensions are par for the course in the Hoia Forest. Of all the various spectral sightings and haunted happenings, it’s the tangible ones that get me. Deep in the forest, an almost perfectly circular clearing is devoid of all life. Soil samples have been taken, and no tests have explained why nothing will grow in the particular patch. Legends abound about it being a supernatural hub, an alien landing ground, and/or a demonic gateway. For me, plants deciding this isn’t a place they want to live is spooky enough.
3) Poveglia
You know there has to be some serious history to make an entire island haunted. For Poveglia, that history has been one of storing the most pitiful of exiles. Originally a small refuge from the mainland, the island first became crowded in the mid 1300s when Venice exiled its bubonic plague-stricken citizens there. Being sent there was essentially a death sentence, as the dead and dying were burned day and night in massive bonfires at the island’s center. It would become a plague quarantine once again when the Black Death swept through a few hundred years later. After that, the island became home to an insane asylum, once again serving as a place of banishment for the ill. It’s reported that a doctor there was quite fond of lobotomies before hurling himself from the asylum’s bell tower after going mad himself. Today the island remains abandoned, but the Italian government has announced that they hope to lease the property as redevelopment into luxury hotels. Because we all know that hotels have never ever been haunted.
2) Eastern State Penitentiary
When our country was young and punishing crime still sometimes led to public floggings, there were two prevalent theories as to how to best punish and rehabilitate criminals. The “Auburn system” followed that prison labor and teamwork was essential to building the productive values crucial to living in a society, but also thought that the occasional flogging was in order. Eastern State Penitentiary was the first prison to be built and run in what would be known as the “Pennsylvania system.” Based on Quaker philosophy, practitioners of this style believed that physical violence should never be inflicted, and the path to redemption was solitary confinement to reflect on one’s sins and repent. They took their solitary confinement very, very seriously. Prisoners would be covered in a black hood if they had to be moved, so as not to see or be seen by others. During their assigned exercise time, they would go out into a small enclosed yard by themselves. Exercise times were scheduled so that no two prisoners would be able to communicate through the walls. This could last decades. As modern medicine will tell you, this type of isolation causes people to completely lose their minds. With that amount of untold silent suffering, it’s no wonder that the place would be packed with spirits who are unable to move on. After being stuck in a room with no contact for most of your life, how would your soul even know how to find the afterlife?
1) Aokigahara
Unfortunately, there’s a long history of suicide in Japan. It’s hard to shake centuries of tradition teaching that suicide is a noble option for preserving honor. Thankfully, many younger Japanese reject these notions, and there’s a national concerted effort to offer help to those in need and offer alternatives to the desperate. Even so, Japan has one of the highest suicide rates of any developed nation, and prominent public officials and businessmen still turn to it in times of scandal or economic hardship. In the woods of the Aokigahara forest, as many as 105 bodies can be found a year. For every body found, it’s terrifying to imagine how many are undiscovered. Japanese lore is rife with tales of restless spirits that took their own life, and Aokigahara is no different. People report strange voices and sightings and spirits leading them astray as if to pull them deeper into the labyrinthine forest. For me, the real ghosts will always be the ones that bring people here, those specters and demons that lead people to take their own lives.
Those interested in the mythic Aokigahara will have a chance to check out The Forest (review) on April 12th. Along with the standard director’s commentary is a slew of behind-the-scenes content involving photos, set illustrations, visual effects, concept art, and storyboards. A featurette titled “Exploring The Forest” is also included, delving deeper into the lore and visual design with the cast and crew.
Whether you believe in it or not, there’s a nugget of truth in the heart of every ghost story. Tales of loss, betrayal, suffering, and sadness tie us as the living to our past as much as those spirits. These sentiments persisting past our death, a mark that our existence leaves smeared on the fabric of reality, is what fascinates us about these paranormal tales. Ghosts might terrify us, but we all want them to be real.
