No. 1:
Catacombs,
Paris, France.
Is this a real Paris Catacomb
Ghost Photo asks Harold Grant Ghost Picture
from his recent trip to Paris 2008.
Long ago, as the city of Paris grew, it
became necessary to provide more space
for the living. To do so, engineers and
planners decided to move the mass of humanity
least likely to protest: in this case,
the dead. Millions of Parisian dead were
quietly disinterred in one of the largest
engineering feats in history and their
remains were deposited along the walls
of the chilly, dank passageways lying
beneath the City of Light. They lie there
to this day, in the eternal darkness,
an Empire of the Dead.
The Paris Catacombs are infamous and much
has been written about their history and
purpose. A million visitors a year are
said to walk the dank corridors and to
stare at the bones and gaze fixedly into
the empty eye-sockets of the long dead.
Many of these same visitors, and some
of their guides, have encountered more
than just the silence in the catacombs:
they have had encounters with ghostly
inhabitants that roam the empty passageways
and mutely follow the tour groups around.
Ghost Photos and erie feelings or often
reported through out the internet from
the many visitors to the locations. Ghost
are often said to be felt more the witnessed
eye to eye. Many have reported to us that
they have been grabbed or have felt ghost
touching them even grabbing their hands
and clothes.
A Real Paris Catacomb
Ghost Photo sent to us by Brian Lundsguard
Several report seeing a group of shadows
in one area of the catacombs; as the living
walk along, the dead follow in complete
silence. To some the experience is completely
overwhelming and tours have been cut short
by the growing sense of unease. Photos
have revealed orbs and ghostly apparitions,
and EVP's have been recorded throughout
the vaults. And many, many ghost photos
happen all the time.
The catacombs were first cleared in Roman
times, with succeeding generations of
Gauls and Frenchmen perfecting the Roman
engineering. Now the catacombs are a veritable
rabbit’s warren, and though many
boldly enter without a guide, to do so
puts one at risk of being lost there forever.
There have been many reports of rash individuals
who wandered into the catacombs for a
laugh and who have never been seen again.
Ghost Photo of Paris Catacombs
sent to us by Linda Graham
This, and many chilling tales of experiences
in this Empire of the Dead, put the Paris
Catacombs on our list of most haunted
places.
No.
2: Haunted New Orleans, Louisiana
Haunted
New Orleans is by far considered
by locals, visitors and paranormal
investigators world wide as actually
the most haunted and No. # 1 Haunted
City in all the United States.
With all the past and present
spiritual activity taking place
in this central plot The haunted
French Quarter - transcendent,
dark, and in between two worlds
- most who witness this City for
all it's worth of supernatural
origins.
With 200 years of ghostly legends
involving Voodoo curses, Spanish
moss draped oak encircled duels,
cold-blooded murders, Stories of
Revolutionary War Pirates and Civil
War soldiers, and Jazz. New Orleans
has earned a serious reputation
as one of Haunted New Orleans Tours
most haunted cities. Locals say
that the concentration of extremes
leaves the city open to ghosts within
the homes and businesses of Central
New Orleans.
"
The most popular tourist site
to have your possible brush
with the supernatural. But
there is more to Haunted New
Orleans then just the supernatural
Locales. It's an experience
you will never forget!"
Haunted
New Orleans Voted Haunted
New Orleans the best Haunted
City in the United States
for 2004 -2009.
South
Louisiana possesses the Crown
Jewel of all Haunted Cities
- New Orleans.
Long
before the docks of haunted
New York City became crowded
with European refugees, the
port of New Orleans was already
melting everything in its
wondrous Creole pot. Among
the earliest settled cities
of the New World, New Orleans'
place at the bend of the mighty
Mississippi River more than
guaranteed it a unique and
interesting life. Held by
French and Spanish, threatened
by the British, and governed
by Abraham Lincoln's Army
of the Republic during the
Civil War, this venerable
"Old Lady" has seen
generations come and go with
grace and quiet charm.
One
could spend an entire lifetime
in the Crescent City - so-called
because of its auspicious
placement at the river's turn
- and still not know all there
is to know of her, nor ever,
it has been said, get enough
of her. Characterized as an
almost living being, the City
itself has been suspected
of casting a spell over all
who come to her, assuring
that all who visit will eventually
come back.
This
magic translates into the
architecture and, indeed,
the very air of this infamous
city; like a chameleon, she
can change in a moment and
become anything desired. In
Congo Square one-time slaves
beat the rhythm of the Old
Lady's heart to an African
frenzy under the watchful
tutelage of Marie Laveau,
the greatest Voodoo Queen
to ever live; the well-to-do
built mansions Uptown, while
the immigrants and natives
packed into the ramshackle
row houses of the burgeoning
French Quarter, where the
true soul of this old city
is really to be found. Jean
Lafitte and his pirates plotted
in a blacksmith shop that
is still preserved amid the
neon and decadence of Bourbon
Street; blocks away the memories
of the great priest Pere Antoine
seem to resonant still from
the walls of the St. Louis
Cathedral; and all around
the seething, humid air seems
filled with memory and thoughts
of days gone by.
In
Haunted New Orleans the theorem
works opposites and the supernatural
easily becomes the natural.
It is a city to be savored,
like fine wine or a choice
cut of meat, slowly, with
relish and delight, and so
strong is its hold that even
the dead have a hard time
leaving it behind.
With
New Orleans graveyard, Haunted
Houses, Buildings and battlefields.
New Orleans is said to be
haunted by the ghost of the
world famous Voodoo Queen
of New Orleans, Marie Laveau.
Her spirit has been reported
inside of the St. Louis Cemetery
No. 1, walking between the
tombs wearing a red and white
seven knotted turban , and
mumbling a New Orleans Santeria
Voodoo curse to trespassers.
Her Voodoo curse is loud and
even heard by passerby's on
nearby Rampart Street. Locals
say this has started in recent
years for she is alarmed by
the many vandals and state
of the cemetery. Voudon Believers
and Tourist and locals still
come to her tomb every day
and leave many, many Voodoo
offerings (candles, flowers,
the
monkey and the cock
statue, Mardi Gras beads,
Gris Gris bags, Voodoo dolls
and food in hopes of being
blessed by her supernatural
powers from beyond the grave.
Many make a wish at her tomb
marking three X's. while others
say they have her Ghost on
film emerging undead from
her tomb. They say her soul
appears here as a shiny black
Voodoo cat with read eyes.
If you see it run!
Other
well known ghost haunt New
Orleans, as do haunted legends
like that of the Laularie
House. Delphine LaLaurie and
her third husband, Leonard
LaLaurie, took up residence
in the house at 1140 Royal
Street sometime in the 1830's.
 |
MORE
ON THE LALAURIE HOUSE
Lalaurie
Mansion
New
Stories About Madame
Delphine Lalaurie's
Ghost And Her Real Haunted
New Orleans Mansion
Madame
Delphine LaLaurie Crucible
of Horror on Royal Street
Paranormal
Photos of the Lalaurie
House
|
There
are reported incidents of people
seeing, feeling and hearing the
ghosts of tormented slaves in
the LaLaurie home, and there are
even reports of the Madame herself
being seen there. The docile house
servants who entreated the assistance
of outsiders when the house was
about to burn to the ground are
said to often return to their
task - running and slamming doors
and shouts are heard repeatedly.
Nor are the spirits of the restless
dead quiet: the reports of moans
and weeping outnumber all others,
and there are several who have
seen the ghostly faces of the
dead peering from the upper windows
and the chamber of horrors that
became the crucible of their miserable
lives. New Orleans is one of the
oldest and most multi-faceted
cities in the United States, and
there are other tales, similar
to those of the LaLaurie home
that, sadly, have made their way
into our history. But the gruesome
horror of this particular event
was so ghastly that it stains
the city's memory to this very
day.
Ghost
cats and dogs are said to prowl
the New Orleans Haunted cemeteries
daily. Very near the great walls
of oven tombs. None of these ghost
animals have ever shown signs
of meanness. Several Tour guides
say these are the animals of an
1800's cemetery keepers guard
dogs and pets. Orbs, ghost photos,
EVP"S, strange phenomena,
Voodoo rituals, witchcraft, and
Haunted Mardi Gras Parades. Haunted
hotels abound Footsteps are heard
stomping up and down halls and
stairways at night. Doorknobs
to your hotel room turn, Closet
doors open and close, and a rush
of air follows as if someone is
walking through. Haunting's to
many to mention here, all happen
in this New Orleans, the number
one most Haunted City in America.
Whether you come for Haunted New
Orleans haunted history, enchanting
shops, night life or just a getaway,,
let your next destination be Haunted
New Orleans, Louisiana!
The
history of modern day Haunted New Orleans
would not be complete without
mention of the most traumatic event
in the city's history -- the Great Storm
of 2005. Devastated by hurricane
Katrina August 29th, 2005 the worst
hurricane this century to hit the Gulf
coast. New Orleans remains the most
haunted city of all times. Making a
tremendous comeback for 2010 Mardi Gras
Season this is what New Orleans is all
about... and the many, many
FRENCH
QUARTER PHANTOMS THE NUMBER 1# BEST MOST HAUNTED GHOST TOUR IN NEW
ORLEANS... AND VOTED AS ONE OF THE BEST GHOST TOURS IN AMERICA FOR 2010-
2011 by the many millions of visitors to HAUNTED AMERICA TOURS hauntedamericatours.com
And Please accept no imitations!
No. 3:
Aokigahara Forest, Japan
Aokigahara (青木ヶ原?), also
known as the Sea of Trees (樹海, Jukai), is a forest that lies at the base
of Mount Fuji in Japan. The caverns found in this forest are rocky and
ice-covered annually. It has been claimed by local residents and
visitors that the woods are host to a great amount of paranormal
phenomena. It is an old ancient forest reportedly haunted by many urban
historical legends of strange beasts, monsters, ghosts, and goblins,
which add to its serious and sinister reputation.
The forest floor consists
primarily of volcanic rock and is difficult to penetrate with hand tools
such as picks or shovels. There are also a variety of unofficial trails
that are used semi-regularly for the annual "body hunt" done by local
volunteers, who mark their search areas with plastic tape. The plastic
tape is never removed, so a great deal of it litters the first kilometer
of the forest, past the designated trails leading to and from known
tourist attractions such as the Ice Cave and Wind Cave. After the first
kilometer into Aokigahara towards Mount Fuji, the forest is in a much
more pristine state, with little to no litter and few obvious signs of
human contact. On some occasions human remains can be found in the
distant reaches of the forest, but these are usually several years old
and consist of scattered bones and incomplete skeletons, suggesting the
presence of scavenging animals.
Ghost encouters of the
wandering dead are said to be often encountered more then just
frequently as well as many ghost photos and EVP's.
A very popular myth states that
the magnetic iron deposits underground cause compasses to malfunction
and travelers to get lost in the forest. However this myth is largely
false. Japan's Self Defence Force and the US Military regularly run
training practices through portions of the forest, during which military
grade lensatic compasses have been verified to function properly.
Vehicles, GPS equipment, and other electronic devices function properly.
It is also a popular place for
suicides, reportedly the world’s third most popular suicide location
after San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge , and (before the installation
of the Luminous Veil) Toronto's Bloor Street Viaduct, due in some part
to the novel Kuroi Jukai (黒い樹海, lit. Black Sea of Trees?), which ends
with the lovers of the novel committing suicide in the forest. Since the
1950s, more than 500 people have lost their lives in the forest, mostly
suicides, with approximately 30 suicides counted yearly. In 2002, 78
bodies were found within the forest, replacing the previous record of 73
in 1998. The high rate of suicide has led officials to place signs in
the forest, urging those who have gone there to commit suicide to seek
help and not kill themselves. The annual search, consisting of a small
army of police, volunteers and attendant journalists, began in 1970.
Typically most suicides are
men, with over 71% of suicides in 2007 being male. The rate among the
over-60 population is also high, but people in their thirties are most
likely to commit suicide. Suicide is the leading cause of death for
people under 30.
The most frequent location for
all in japan are often suicides is in Aokigahara, In the period leading
up to 1988, about 30 suicides occurred there every year. In 1999, 74
occurred, the record until 2002 when 78 suicides were found. The area is
patrolled by police looking for suicides, and that same year 83 people
intending suicide were found and taken into protective custody.
Railroad tracks are also a common place for suicide, and the Chūō Rapid Line is particularly known for a high number.
Aside from those intending to
die there, the dense forest and rugged inaccessibility has attracted
thrill seekers. Many of these hikers mark their routes by leaving
colored plastic tapes behind, causing concerns from prefectural
officials for the ecosystem of the forest.
In 2004, a movie about the
forest was released, called Jyukai — The Sea of Trees Behind Mt. Fuji
(樹の海, lit. Sea of Trees?), by the director Takimoto Tomoyuki. It told
the story of four people who decided to end their lives in the forest of
Aokigahara. While scouting for shooting locations, Takimoto told
reporters that he found a wallet containing 370,000 yen (roughly $3,760
USD), giving rise to the popular rumor that Aokigahara is a treasure
trove for scavengers. Others have claimed to have found credit cards,
rail passes, and driver's licenses.
CNN article about the forest
Suicide in Japan is considered
to be a major problem nationally.Causes of suicide include unemployment
(due to the economic recession in the 1990s), depression, and social
pressures. Japan has one of the world's highest suicide rates,
especially amongst industrialized nations, and the Japanese government
says the rate for 2006 is ninth highest in the world. In 2007, the
number of suicides exceeded 30,000 for the tenth straight year. - Since
2008, the economic situation worsened in Japan due to the global
financial crisis, and this has pushed the suicide rate in Japan even
higher. The industries are becoming smaller which is causing higher
unemployment. This in turn leads to the Japanese husbands being at home
much more and this is causing domestic problems because it has been the
traditional role of the Japanese women to be in the home. This situation
has been the cause of some marriage breakdown, even divorce. Being
unable to cope with these stresses, the Japanese men have turned to
suicide.
The rapid increase in suicides since the 1990s has raised concerns, with 1998 having a 34.7% increase over the previous year.
Also, suicide of the youth in
Japan is becoming more serious in recent years. The financial crisis has
impacted also on the Japanese youth, and they see that there are few
possibilities of work. A number of youth in Japan cannot see any
improvement for themselves in the near future and because of this they
are turning to suicide.
Common methods of suicide are
jumping in front of trains, leaping off high places, hanging, or
overdosing on medication. Rail companies will charge the families of
those who commit suicide a fee depending on the severity of disrupted
traffic.
A newer method, gaining in
popularity partly to publicity from Internet suicide websites, is to use
household products to make the poisonous gas hydrogen sulfide. In 2007,
only 29 suicides used this gas, but in a span from January to September
2008, 867 suicides resulted from gas poisoning.
No. 4: Underground
Vaults, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Far below the busy streets of modern Edinburgh
lies a dark, forgotten corner of history.
Discovered in the mid-1980’s, the
Edinburgh Vaults had been abandoned for
nearly two hundred years. Lying beneath
the South Bridge, a major Edinburgh passage,
the rooms were used as cellars, workshops
and even as residences by the businesses
that plied their trade on the busy bridge
above. Abandoned soon after they were
built due to excessive water and moisture,
the vaults remain, unaltered, never illuminated
by the light of day.
This location is said to be very haunted.
Many visitors have been attacked by the
unseen and left with bruises, cuts, and
scratches. Others have been knocked unconscious
and overcome by debilitating nausea and
vomiting.
A reported as real UnderGround
Edinburgh ghost Photo Sent to us by Shana
Chrystal Ferino
The South Bridge has stood since 1785
and it was around this time that the huge
supporting arches were first divided for
use by nearby businesses. The vaults were
once bustling with life, the vast overflow
of an ever-growing city.
When the vaults became mostly abandoned
because of the unwholesome atmosphere
they were still used sporadically by the
poor and homeless of Edinburgh society.
As with any great concentration of unhealthy
people, there were outbreaks of plague
and other devastating illnesses; many
of the people who took refuge in the vaults
ultimately died there. There is evidence
that at least some of these people may
have met untimely ends because it was
here in the Edinburgh Vaults that the
nefarious pair, Burke and Hare, plied
their trade of providing cadavers to the
nearby teaching hospitals of Infirmary
Street.
Underground Scotland Ghost
Photo Sent to us by Gaylen Tamber
Paranormal investigations have been conducted
in the vaults practically since their
discovery and to date the location has
not failed to provide a wealth of disturbing
and unexplainable activity. Recently visited
by the crew from England’s “Most
Haunted,” the vaults maintained
their reputation as the spookiest place
in Edinburgh – no member of the
team would voluntarily return there.
No. 5: Coliseum, Rome,
Italy.
At the height of Rome’s power the
Coliseum represented everything that was
Imperial to the citizens of Rome. Gladiators
would fight to the death here for the
amusement of Caesar and the mobs; thousands
of prisoners of war and victims of religious
persecution met their end in the jaws
of lions and tigers in the sandy arena
of the Coliseum; and even those animals
were decimated, for in its time the Coliseum
consumed tens of thousands of animals,
some reportedly driven into extinction
by the Roman lust for blood and gore.
The workings of the Coliseum, the place
where the real grit of life took place,
were in the vaults beneath the sandy floor.
Now long ago exposed by the ravages of
time, there is still a pervasive feeling
of awe associated with the lingering presence
of a power so mighty it once encompassed
the entire known world.
In the pits beneath the Coliseum, gladiators
waited to fight, prisoners waited to die,
and average Romans placed bets on the
outcomes of myriad competitions. Such
a fabric of life can’t help but
wrap itself around the pillars and posts
that make up the foundation of this ancient
charnel house, and it is no surprise that
many reports of ghostly activity have
been associated with the Coliseum over
the years.
Tour guides and visitors alike have reported
cold spots, being touched or pushed, hearing
indiscernible words whispered into their
ears; security guards with the unenviable
task of securing the ancient edifice have
reported hearing the sounds of swords
clashing, of weeping in the more remote
areas, and, oddly enough most disconcerting,
the sound of ghostly animal noises such
as the roars of lions and elephants. Ghostly
citizens have been seen among the seats
of the Coliseum, and the sight of a Roman
soldier standing guard, silhouetted against
the night sky, is a common one.
With such ancient history and such a legacy
of death and bloodshed, there is little
wonder why the Roman Coliseum is one of
the most haunted places in the world.
No. 6: Walachia, Transylvania, Land of
Dracul, Romania.
“Beyond the green swelling hills
of the Mittel Land rose mighty slopes
of forest up to the lofty steeps of the
Carpathians themselves. Right and left
of us they towered, with the afternoon
sun falling full upon them and bringing
out all the glorious colours of this beautiful
range, deep blue and purple in the shadows
of the peaks, green and brown where grass
and rock mingled, and an endless perspective
of jagged rock and pointed crags, till
these were themselves lost in the distance,
where the snowy peaks rose grandly . .
.
“Just then a heavy cloud passed
across the face of the moon, so that we
were again in darkness . . . This was
all so strange and uncanny that a dreadful
fear came upon me, and I was afraid to
speak or move. The time seemed interminable,
as we swept on our way, now in almost
complete darkness, for the rolling clouds
obscured the moon.
“We kept on ascending, with occasional
periods of quick descent, but in the main
always ascending. Suddenly, I became conscious
of the fact that the driver was in the
act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard
of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall
black windows came no ray of light, and
whose broken battlements showed a jagged
line against the sky.”
-- “Dracula” by Bram Stoker.
“Perhaps the only place I felt Dracula’s
presence was on a long, curving road that
twists over the Transylvanian Alps. The
area is so remote and impenetrable that
no major road crossed this often stormy
mountain pass until 1974. As my car climbed
into the mist, traffic disappeared, and
the radio stopped working. The road passes
a dam and a hydroelectric plant guarded
by a handful of soldiers standing alone
in the gloom. And at the bottom of the
road are the ruins of a castle.
Dracula’s castle.
Really.
Dracula created this fortress as a refuge.
When the Turkish army surrounded him,
he is said to have escaped through a tunnel
and disappeared into the mountains.
His young son was strapped to the side
of his horse but slipped off and was left
for dead. His wife didn’t even try
to flee. She threw herself to death from
a tower window.
I stepped out of the car to take a look.
But it was night now, and the climb to
the castle would be difficult. I looked
up at the dark mountains and started to
shiver, glad to have a car to spirit me
away.”
--Larry Bleiburg, The Dallas Morning News,
January 2, 2005
We think that’s enough said!
No. 7:
Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp,
Oswiecim, Poland.
Auschwitz death camp was in operation
from May 1940 until its liberation by
Soviet forces in January 1945. It is estimated
that 2.1 to 2.5 million people were killed
in the gas chambers during that time,
of whom 2 million were Jews and the remainder
were Poles, Gypsies and Soviet POWs. But
this estimate is considered by historians
to be strictly a minimum, because the
total number of deaths at Auschwitz and
its sister camp Birkenau can never really
be known.
It is clear that Auschwitz-Birkenau was
considered by the Germans to be one of
their most efficient extermination centers
as early as 1941 when the mortuary crematorium
at the Auschwitz main camp was adapted
as a gas chamber. Additional huts, called
“bunkers,” were added around
January 1942 and were especially active
in the autumn of 1944 when extra capacity
was needed for the systematic murder of
Hungarian Jews and the liquidation of
the ghettos. Between January 1942 and
March 1943 over 175,000 Jews were gassed
to death here, their bodies burned in
open pits nearby.
By early 1943 it was clear that Hitler’s
SS were using Auschwitz as a mass-murder
factory. Twin pairs of state of the art
gas chambers using Zyklon-B gas were opened
in March and April 1943. The capacity
of these crematoria was 4,420 persons.
Once inside the chambers it took about
20 minutes for the gas to kill this number
of people. The killings took place in
the underground chambers and the bodies
were carried to five crematoria ovens
on an electrically operated lift. Before
cremation, gold teeth, jewelry, and other
valuables were removed from the corpses.
Captured Jews, known as “sonderkommandos”
were forced to work the crematoria under
SS supervision.
Anyone who has visited Auschwitz-Birkenau
is struck by the overwhelming sense of
melancholy and foreboding; visitors have
been known to break down in tears for
no apparent reason and many have to abandon
their tour groups without ever completing
the tour. Visitors are struck not only
by the horrific memory of the place, but
also by the effect it has on the present
day: birds still refuse to sing in the
trees surrounding the death camps and
there is little evidence of a thriving
natural environment anywhere nearby. The
silence, as they saw, is deafening, even
after all these years.
People have reported cold spots and areas
of intense emotional concentration. Recent
reports have come in that while touring
the camp some have been touched or even
grabbed by unseen hands. One visitor report
that someone or something tugged on her
clothes and she heard a voice whispering
to her but could not make out anything
but one or two words. " Please and
leave"!
As of date no paranormal group or investigator
has released their findings of the most
haunted place on earth to the public.
But often tales of this the Most Haunted
Hot Spot in the world has many haunted
secrets yet to reveal.
Photographs over the years have revealed
the presence of spirit manifestations
in the form of misty apparitions, shadows,
light anomalies and orbs. Given its history
and the imprint of horror it leaves on
the modern mind, Auschwitz-Birkenau is
the most haunted place on earth.
No. 8:
Whitechapel/Spittalfields, London East
End, London, England.
The Whitechapel / Spittalfields area of
East London has been actively settled
since Roman times. Many of the historic
buildings are built on the remains of
old Roman settlements. Throughout the
Dark and Middle Ages, the East End was
a burgeoning commerce area, mostly inhabited
by Anglos and Jewish moneylenders. In
Elizabethan times the East End looked
and smelled like something right out of
one of Shakespeare’s history plays,
and, in fact, the character of Falstaff
(Henry V) is said to have been based on
an innkeeper from the notorious East End.
It was a place of soldiers and prostitutes,
brawls and bawdy houses.
The coming of high Victorian morals did
nothing to dull this seedy reputation
and the Whitechapel / Spittalfields area,
while known to humanitarians for its extreme
poverty, was also known to all as the
home of thieves, prostitutes, and the
most derelict of English society.
In 1888 the Whitechapel area of London
was the scene of some of the most brutal
murders ever recorded: the famous Jack
the Ripper crimes. Yet the murders –
and the identity of Jack – remain
unsolved, even today. Many assert that
the killer was a doctor or was somehow
connected to the medical profession; others
believe the killer to have been Queen
Victoria’s grandson, Prince Albert
Victor, though nothing substantial has
ever arisen to support the theory.
Five women, all of them poor prostitutes,
were slaughtered by the mysterious Jack
in the span of just four months, known
collectively as “The Autumn of Terror.”
Four of the women – Mary Nicholls,
Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine
Eddowes – were found in various
streets and alleys throughout Whitechapel
horribly disfigured and mutilated. The
fifth – Mary Kelly – was the
only victim murdered in an interior location;
as such she was the most horribly mutilated,
the death scene like something from a
slaughterhouse.
Jack the Ripper enjoyed a brief career
as London’s most infamous serial
murder and the fact that he was never
caught still adds to the mystery surrounding
him. Nevertheless, it is thought that
his horrible mutilation of Mary Kelly
was his last act of violence and there
is no evidence that Jack, whoever he may
have been, killed again after November
1888.
Today visitors to London’s East
End can walk the streets that Jack prowled
and visit pubs and other locations he
may have haunted in life – and death.
Walking tours of the area are very popular
and although Jack’s legacy is certainly
the most enduring, other ghosts that haunt
the East End are those of Jack’s
victims, in various stages of mutilation;
a ghostly band of Roman soldiers; a murderous
sea captain’s ghost that haunts
a local pub; and a mysterious black carriage
drawn by ghastly white horses that approaches
without a sound and disappears right before
your eyes. These and other haunts, combined
with the long haunted history of the East
End make it one of the must visit ghostly
locations in the world.
No. 9:
Unit 731 Experimentation Camp, Harbin,
Manchuria, China.
“It is called the Asian Auschwitz
and, in terms of inhumanity and horror,
it certainly warrants this description.
Yet there remains a fundamental difference
with the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis
against Jews: While Germany has shown
deep contrition and remorse, the leaders
the country that spawned the evil of Unit
731 still struggle to come to grips with
what occurred . . . In the end at least
3,000 prisoners, mainly Chinese, were
killed directly, with a further 250,000
Chinese left to die through the biological
warfare experiments.”
In the gruesome world of Unit 731 the
unthinkable was done on a daily basis.
Prisoners, mostly taken in Japan’s
conquest of Manchuria at the beginning
of WWII, were subjected to unimaginable
horrors. They were infected with diseases
such as anthrax, cholera and even bubonic
plague. To gauge the effect of these diseases
on their subjects – whom they dehumanized
by calling them “logs” –
live, un-anesthetized vivisection was
performed. In many cases the subjects
would regain consciousness while the dissection
was taking place.
Whole towns and villages were decimated
by the ghoulish doctors and researchers
of Unit 731 and the effects of their horrible
crimes still resonate there to this day.
Parts of the Unit 731 complex still remain
– there are buildings where frostbite
experiments were performed, courtyards
and open areas where prisoners were subjected
to live bombs detonated at close range
to enable researchers to evaluate the
effect of explosives of the sort that
Japanese soldiers were encountering in
the fields. Other buildings where live
human vivisections took place overlook
the prisoner holding area and the long-unused
railway station where the “logs”
were offloaded for their horrible fate.
The Chinese government sanctioned the
Unit and the surrounding area as a learning
center for future generations of Chinese,
and just recently visitors from the West
have been allowed access to the killing
fields at Harbin. But for many years there
have been reports of paranormal activity
associated with the old charnel houses:
ghost lights and apparitions are frequently
seen, including a ghostly figure that
walks the empty precincts surrounding
the frostbite units. Ghostly voices have
been heard and anomalies frequently appear
in photographs taken in the area. Recently,
during the filming of a BBC television
documentary, the English film crew experienced
unexplainable problems with their lights
and batteries – often a sure sign
of ghostly activity. Many speculate that
as the story of Unit 731 is more widely
told, the ghosts of those tragically tormented
and murdered there are becoming more and
more active, and more anxious for justice
than ever before.
No.
10: Haunted Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
The most
deadly battle of the Civil War took
place in 1863 in the tiny Pennsylvania
town of Gettysburg. Union soldiers
were low on ammunition and losing
the fight, nearly capitulating them
to the advancing Confederate army.
Then, as they used up the last of
their gunpowder, a ghostly George
Washington on a white stallion appeared
before them, urging them on to victory
— an event that ultimately
turned the tide of the war. That's
the way the legend tells it anyway,
and to this day, the people who
live in and around Gettysburg maintain
that George Washington's ghost rides
regally across that same battlefield
every summer. Of all the forlorn,
countless souls awash in time, none
reach out to us more than those
of the dead at Gettysburg . . .
Their presence on earth was silenced
forever by death. Or maybe not."
-- Mark Nesbitt.
Terrifying
visions and horrible scenes of the
atrocities of a Civil War. Battlefields,
houses, lonely roads and shallow
entrenchments all still bear the
tell-tale marks of three days of
gore and terror that seared themselves
into the collective memory of America.
"Gettysburg"
This one word can conjure up all
these Haunted images and chills.
But the
horrible days of the Battle of Gettysburg
are not just distant memory in this
haunted Pennsylvania town. It is
as if the soldiers who fought and
died here, and the people whose
lives were touched by this great
catastrophe, cannot help but continue
to remind us of what sacrifices
were made here, of what was won
and lost on the sprawling hills
of Gettysburg.
It is said
that Gettysburg is very likely the
most haunted destination, "acre
for acre," in all of America.
The dead do not rest easy in Gettysburg,
and they are not hesitant to remind
the living that they refuse to be
forgotten.
Across the many regions of France, there are innumerable
cities whose wonderful food, 
