1. Island of the Dolls, Mexico
Xochimilco is a district of Mexico City that contains an extensive system of canals and artificial islands, or chinampas, the most famous of which belonged to a man named Julian Santana Barrera. After he discovered the body of a dead girl in a nearby canal, he began collecting discarded dolls and doll parts, which he would hang from the trees on his island in an attempt to ward off evil spirits. Mr Barrera died in 2001, but the dolls remain, and the creepy island can be visited by boat.
2. The Hill of Crosses, Lithuania
The Hill of Crosses is a Catholic pilgrimage site that was established in the 1830s. It is thought to contain at least 100,000 crosses and giant crucifixes, and was been described by Pope John Paul II as a place for hope, peace and love. You wouldn't want to spend the night here alone, however.
3. Paris Catacombs
This underground ossuary contains the remains of some six million people. Its countless caverns and tunnels extend for 280km beneath the city and were used by the French Resistance during the Second World War. They are open to tourists in search of the macabre - an entrance can be found at Place Denfert Rochereau. Similar catacombs can also be found in Rome and Palermo.
4. Pripyat, Ukraine
There is something undeniably disconcerting about a ghost town, and it's not just the name. Prypiat, within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, was founded in 1970 to house workers at the doomed power plant, and was subsequently abandoned in 1986 after the disaster. Tourists can now visit.
5. Stanley Hotel, Colorado, USA
Situated high in the Colorado Rockies, this reputedly haunted hotel was the inspiration for Stephen King’s spine-chilling novel The Shining. The idea came to King during a stay in room 217, but it’s room 418 – believed to be visited by the ghost of Lord Dunraven – that is considered to be the hotel’s most haunted. Guests and staff have also reported hearing children playing in the corridors late at night, and piano music coming from the empty ballroom.
6. Battleship Island, Japan
This island can be found not far from the city of Nagasaki. It was originally used as a coal mine, but after the popularization of petroleum, this place was abandoned. It has been called “Ghost Island” since then.
7. Security Prison 21, Cambodia
Prisons aren't the best spots to have a nice little walk in, but some of them are turned into the museums and are opened for public. Security Prison 21 in Cambodia is a former high school which was used as a modern inquisition underground between 1975 and 1979. Up to 20,000 people never left this place alive.
8. Plague Pit, Italy
The Poveglia Island is known as a place where people infected with plague were kept during the "dark times." You can imagine the atmosphere there. Later on, there was built a mental hospital with doctor who is believed to torture poor people kept in there. This island is closed to visitors for good, and it's better to stay that way forever.
9. Snake Island
The only way this island could be more terrifying is if it were actually made of floating snakes. And for all intents and purposes, it may as well be. Ilha da Queimada Grande is a restricted island 93 miles south of Sao Paulo, Brazil and its home to an species of lethal pit viper known as the Golden Lancehead, which is one of the most venomous snakes in the entire world.
10. The Winchester Mystery House
With mile-long hallways, staircases to nowhere and doors that open into walls, this mysterious maze-like Victorian mansion in San Jose, California, boasts 160-rooms. The home was originally built by Sarah Winchester, the wealthy widow of William Wirt Winchester (son of the manufacturer of the Winchester repeating rifle). Sarah tragically lost both her daughter and husband to illness and later sought help from a spiritual advisor to overcome her depression. The medium warned Sarah that the Winchester family had been struck by a terrible curse, and would be haunted by the ghosts of the many deceased killed by the Winchester rifle. The only way to appease the dead according to the medium, was to build a house for the lost souls and never stop building. For 38 years, construction on the house continued for 24 hours a day, until Sarah died. Today, visitors to the home will want to look out for the many unlucky number 13's featured in the house design as they roam the haunted halls.
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