Leap Castle has been classified as one of the world’s most haunted locations for good reason. Located only four miles north of the small Irish village Roscrea, it is all that remains of an estate first built by the O'Bannon clan around 1250 A.D., and has since had many owners. However it wasn’t until the mid 1500’s, when the O'Carroll clan took possession of the castle and all its land that the castle’s dark history began to unfold. Within its walls the dungeon was used to hold many innocent men, women, and even children, who were subsequently tortured in specific chamber, and left bleeding and broken as they slowly died.It wasn’t until recently, that workers discovered a hidden oubliette, in which many were locked away and forgotten about, dying in their cells. The excavation also revealed an opening, an other oubliette that had been covered by a trap door, built into one of the castle’s original walls. It was here the victims of those fighting the O’Carrol’s were tossed through, only to land and a series of wooden spikes buried in the ground on which the prison would
become impaled, and left to rot. It is reported that during the latest renovation, when the oubliette was discovered, bones were of the many victims were sill where they landed, and it took workers days to gather them and remove them.Over the years numerous reports of unexplained phenomenon have occurred in and around the castle. A majority of which has been centered around one particular entity thought to be on Elemental. Whose presence has often been accompanied by, what has been reported a the stench of decomposing flesh and a strong smell of sulfur. It is also said that people have been physically and psychically attacked, including being pushed and scratched. It is purported that apparitions have been seen in around the castle’s many dark hallways, and when an attempt is made to photograph the entity, their cameras and video equipment malfunctions, and will work within the building.
Waverly Hills Sanatorium is located in Louisville, Kentucky opened in 1910 as a two-story hospital to accommodate tuberculosis patients. However, during the early 20th century there was a major pandemic outbreak of tuberculosis that affected not only several areas within the United States but major cities around the globe. In order to combat and contain the disease various hospitals were redeployed to house thousands of these patients worldwide. Often referred to as \houses of death.’ In 1926, Waverly Hills hospital became on of the largest structures in the United States to accommodate a large number of these patients. And was expanded into a five story structure that could house up to 400 patients at a time. After the introduction of streptomycin in 1943, the number of tuberculosis cases gradually decreased and Waverly Hills had outlived it’s purpose, and closed in 1961. From 1961 to 1981 it was utilized as a medical asylum for some of countries most mentally ill and psychotic patients on the Eastern Seaboard. It is because of this history that the skeleton of this famous buildings is now known as one of the most haunted hospitals in world. As it has been estimated that over 63,000 people died with the walls of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. Rumors also abound that so many patients that had been mistreated, tortured, and even used for experimentation died so
regularly that a body chute, known as the ‘death tunnel’ was built to drop the bodies into for immediate burial, traveling just over 500 feet to the bottom of the hill where they were quickly disposed of. Many people visiting this building, now only open to those that dare venture inside, have reported malevolent entities and spirits, inclining them to run quickly out of the building. Today, the sanitarium is under reconstruction to become a haunted hotel for those daring enough to stay.
It was thus the decision to make use of an underground section of Paris that had one time been quarried for stone. Thus all the bones from Parisian cemeteries were moved underground between 1786 and 1788. This process was carried out with extreme reverence and without discretion, and the quarry caverns blessed prior to moving any bones into them. As the bones were moved, it was done with quiet parade of carts accompanied by Roman Catholic priests, and always under the cover of night. The quarries continued being used for the collection of bones from the Paris cemeteries all the way through 1814 and contain the bodies of over 6-7 million Parisians.The Paris Catacombs (or Catacombes de Paris, as they’re called in French) are a maze of tunnels and crypts beneath the streets of Paris, where Parisians stacked the bones of their dead ancestors for nearly 30 years. Prior to the creation of the Catacombs in the mid-1700s, residents buried their dead in cemeteries near churches as is still customary in most localities. However with space at a premium as Paris grew, cemetery space just wasn’t available, and the catacombs were the end result.And in addition to the improper burial techniques near their cemeteries, ground water and the surrounding land become contaminated and spread disease to those living in proximity, thus the French officials had moved to condemn all cemeteries within the city’s limits and moved the bodies from those cemeteries, elsewhere.
In the first century, Roman Christians did not have their own cemeteries, and unless they owned land were relatives could be buried, they resorted to the common cemeteries where pagans were also buried. That is how Saint Peter came to be buried in the great public ‘necropolis,’ or ‘city of the dead’ on Vatican Hill, which was available to anybody and everybody. Likewise Saint Paul was buried in another necropolis along the Via Ostiense.During the first half of the second century, various grants and donations were given for Christian burial of the dead underground. That is how the catacombs came to be. Many developed close and around family tombs, whose owners, usually newly converted pagans, did not reserve them strictly to family members and opened them up to their brethren in the faith.Over time, these burial areas grew quite large by gifts from wealthy Romans or through the purchase of new property, often by encouragement of the Holy Roman Church itself. A typical case like that of Saint Callixtus: the Church managed donations for the organization and administration of the cemeteries, assuming they were communal.With the edict of Milan, promulgated by the emperors Constantine and Licinius in February 313, the Christians were no longer allowed to be persecuted. Thus they were
free to practice their faith openly, have places of worship and build churches both inside and outside the city. And that included the ability to buy plots of land without the fear of it being confiscated by Rome. Nevertheless, the catacombs continued to function as regular burial chambers until the beginning of the 5th century, when the Church began to bury its member exclusively above ground or within the basilicas dedicated to the important early martyrs of the Church.
city. The White Tower has changed surprisingly little from that time, but other buildings and towers have grown around it, so that there are now around 20 towers, and a mix of different buildings dating from different periods of history.Many of the towers once held prison cells, and the White Tower once held torture chambers within its crypt. Tower Green outside the White Tower was reserved for Royal executions, while Tower Hill served as the public execution place for all the other traitors. Over the centuries the tower has performed diverse royal functions, it has been a prison, palace, observatory, menagerie, place of capital punishment and a museum.With all the blood, death and intrigue the Tower of London has been involved with in its 900-year history, there is little wonder that it has the reputation as one of the most haunted places in Britain. There have been literally hundreds of executions on Tower Hill, from claimants to the throne, to political activists and petty criminals. Many of the towers have also served as prisons, and places of misery for those on the wrong side of powerful people. If anywhere could lay claim to a host of tortured souls it would be the Tower Castle, which has been classified as one of the world’s most haunted locations for good reason. The first structure on the site was a motte-and-bailey castle, which was started not long after William the Conqueror became king in 1066.The castle was built on the old Roman walls, which once formed the corner of Londinium. The first stone building on the site was the White Tower, which was commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1078 and completed in 1097. Gundulf, who was made bishop of Rochester in 1077, oversaw the building of the tower to its completion. It was a bastion of Norman power, towering 90 feet over the capital
Poltergeist, yet the actual identity of the entity is open for debate. Many believe the poltergeist to be genuine, and not the ghost of any particular person, but rather a manifestation of the psychic trauma generated in 1679 when more than 1000 Covenanter’s (Scots who declared themselves Presbyterian at a time when only Episcopalianism was the sanctioned religion) were imprisoned. Many died here without food and water, starving slowly to death as they awaited trial. Others believe it to be the spirit is George MacKenzie, who died in 1691 and was interred here in what is now known as the Black Mausoleum. MacKenzie was famous for his brutal persecution of the Covenanter’s, thus a poetic justice making the stories seem more likely over time. And it’s not unusual for visitors, totally unaware of the tales, to report being struck from the back or even choked, emerging with unexplained scratches and bruises.This ancient cemetery has the definitive atmosphere of a haunted graveyard, and is well known to two distinctive hauntings. The first is a rather charming tale of a dog named the Greyfriars Bobby. Bobby was a terrier owned by John Gray, a local night watchman in Edinburgh who died of tuberculosis and was laid to rest in the Greyfriars Kirkyard in 1858. According to legend, Bobby was extraordinarily dedicated to his late master and kept watch over Gray’s grave until his own death 14 years later. Because Bobby was a dog, he couldn’t be buried on consecrated ground, so he was laid to rest just beyond the borders of the cemetery. A tombstone marks his grave, and he is commemorated by a small statue outside a nearby pub that bears his name. Since Bobby’s passing, visitors to Greyfriars Kirkyard have reported seeing, and hearing, the small dog’s spirit roaming the cemetery, and is presumably still guarding his master’s grave.Towards the back of the cemetery, in an area called Covenanter’s Prison, a much more malevolent entity can be found. Commonly called the MacKenzie
Eastern State Penitentiary, was built in 1829 and closed in1971. In its time was a very active prison, and thought to have been built specifically to instill regret into the hearts of all its inmate population. Who spent much of their time alone within their dark cold cells.Built to accommodate nearly 300 inmates, it is where the worst of the worst were taken. Especially since it was taunted as new kind of prison, where inmates would be required to spend much their time in self reflection, believing they would become more penitent to their crimes (hence the name penitentiary). And it wasn’t until 1913, that solitary confinement was phased out. In 1951, the prison began housing the more violent criminals, murderers and rapists, and a fact when combined with the prison's history of physical torture as a form of punishment, has contributed to it's ranking as a prime haunted location.On one of the catwalks, voices, laughter and cackling has been heard within the restricted are of cell-block 12. Other areas of activity include cell-block 6, where shadowy figures are said to be seen walking against the walls. Then in cell-block 4, ghostly faces have been seen appearing before the visitors, and often accompanied by the sound of footsteps along the long dark corridors. Not to mention unexplained wails that eminate from within the secluded cells.
Recently a locksmith, Gary Johnson, came to do some work at the prison restoring a lock on an external cell-block door when he suddenly felt as if he were being watched. When he turned around, he claims to have had a large black shadow jump out of a nearby cell and leap into a cell on the opposite side. However, many sightings at Eastern State are usually much more malevolent.
guards the cupola at the top of Pennsylvania Hall at the Gettysburg College. The apparition of a rebel soldier has been on duty for over 145 years. In some ways it’s said to behave as a normal residual haunting, pacing back and fourth on the Cupola as though the college is still in southern hands, yet every now and then he is reported to take aim with his rifle at students on the campus grounds. A behavior that has fascinated may paranormal researchers because there seems to be a trend of hauntings looking more and more, interactive, with intelligent intent, going on in Gettysburg. Everywhere else in the paranormal world intelligent hauntings are extremely rare, even when compared to the ghost lore of other battle grounds like Shiloh or Antietem, and no one know is quite sure why Gettysburg has so many interactive spirits.Anyone can usually count on paranormal activity being present in locations where lives were lost suddenly and unexpectedly. However, they cannot hold a candle to the battlefields of Gettysburg. However this should not come as a surprise, since Gettysburg is a place where approximately 165,600 soldiers met their deaths in a three day battle from July 1st to July 3rd, 1863. With nearly 8,000 of them dying in a single massacre along with nearly 3000 horses.So it’s not surprising that Gettysburg has long been the setting for strange tales of the supernatural. Everything from phantom apparitions on the battlefields to strange disembodied screams coming from nowhere. Locals claim that the constant influx of visitors from the south actually tends to trigger off a flurry of paranormal activity in the summer months, sometimes resulting in mysterious backward glimpses through time during the summer of 1863.One of the many examples is a mysterious ghost known as the Sentry, who still
Several rooms in the hotel purported to be haunted include Room 407, which is said to sometimes be occupied by Lord Dunraven, who owned the land prior to F.O. Stanley. Reportedly, he likes to stand in the corner of the room near the bathroom door. However room 418 gets most reported more often, as many have reported seen apparitions of children’s playing in the room and in the hallway. Cleaning crews have also reported hearing strange noises emanate from the room. Including seeing impressions on the bed as if someone had been sitting on it when the room was empty. One couple reportedly had angrily checked out of the hotel, complaining that the children in the hallway kept them up all night. However, there were no children even booked in the hotel at the time.This Georgian style hotel opened in 1909 and was built by F.O. Stanley, who created the Stanley Steam Engine; a steam powered horseless carriage, which catered to the rich and famous.Stanley, who suffered tuberculosis, had been advised to not make plans beyond six months. So the doctor arranged for Stanley and his wife to stay in a friend’s cabin in Estes Park for the summer. Immediately, they fell in love with the area and F.O.’s health began to dramatically improve. After their summer in the cabin, Flora wanted a home like the one she had left in Maine, and they built a home about one-half mile west of where the Stanley Hotel was later built. Today the house is a private residence.Employees and guests over the years have reported hearing music coming from the ballroom, and when investigated, they can see the piano keys moving. However, as soon as anyone walks across the thresh-hold to investigator, the music stops and keyboard activity mysteriously stop.
Over the years, and with the advent of paranormal television, the Queen Mary has been the subject of many programs and investigations into the paranormal activity purported to take place about the vessel. With many of the eyewitness reports being identical in the phenomena reported to occur in the same area, more and more credence has been given to the authenticity of the hauntings. TV programs such as Most Haunted, Dead Famous, and Ghosts & Legends have all conducted investigations, and all yielded very similar results. With psychic Peter James, a former ghost tour guide, stating he has identified over 150 separate entities and amazed his tour participants by knowing where to go aboard ship. Many of whom were not disappointed treated to see, hear or capture paranormal phenomena on their cameras.Voices, apparitions and unexplained phenomena have all been reported by visitors, passengers, crew and ghost hunters over the many years the Queen Mary has been docked in Long Beach California. Can there be something to it, or are people just letting their overactive imaginations get the best of them?The RMS Queen Mary I was launched from Glasgow, England, on May 27, 1936 by Cunard Lines, and retired in 1968. Then 1971 it was purchased by the City of Long Beach in California. Today, she is permanently anchored and has been renovated to serve as a hotel and museum. During her active service, the ship carried thousands of troops across the Atlantic during the Second World War, who nicknamed the “Grey Ghost” because it had to be painted gray, to camouflage it from German U-boats during its ocean crossings. After the war was over, the Queen Mary was refitted as a luxury liner carrying famous people like Sir Winston Churchill, members of the British Royal family, and many movie stars across the Atlantic.
Called "the perfect place to die," the Aokigahara forest has the unfortunate distinction as the world's second most popular place to take one's life. (The first is the Golden Gate Bridge.) Since the 1950s, Japanese businessmen have wandered in, and at least 500 of them haven't wandered out, at an increasing rate of between 10 and 30 per year. Recently these numbers have increased even more, with a record 78 suicides in 2002.Japanese spiritualists believe that the suicides committed in the forest have permeated Aokigahara's trees, generating paranormal activity and preventing many who enter from escaping the forest's depths. Complicating matters further is the common experience of compasses being rendered useless by the rich deposits of magnetic iron in the area's volcanic soil.Due to the vastness of the forest, desperate visitors are unlikely to encounter anyone once inside the so-called "Sea of Trees," so the police have mounted signs reading "Your life is a precious gift from your parents," and "Please consult the police before you decide to die!" on trees throughout.Contemporary news outlets noted the recent spike in suicides in the forest, blamed more on Japan’s economic downturn than on the romantic ending of Seicho Matsumoto’s novel Kuroi Jukai, which revitalized the so-called Suicide Forest’s popularity among those
determined to take their final walk. (The novel culminates in Aokigahara as the characters are driven to joint-suicide.)It is believed that if the corpse is left alone, it is very bad luck for the ‘Yurei’ (ghost) of the suicide victims. They're spirits are said to scream through the night, and their bodies will move on their own.
The ruins of Bhangarh Fort in the Rajasthan state in India are known for being the most hunted place in this south Asian country. While it’s understandable that not all people believe in ghosts, there are warnings at all entry points to the Bhangarh Fort advising people not to venture into the city at night. In fear that something terrible could happen, some of the signs posted by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) not only advise against, but literally prohibit visitors from entering Bhangarh Fort at night. The sign reads in Indian language: “Entering the borders of Bhangarh before sunrise and after sunset is strictly prohibited.” If you are a ghost hunter or like visiting mysterious places, especially those known to be haunted by ghosts, then Bhangarh Fort deserves a solid spot on your “Must Visit Before I Die” list.The abandoned fortress of Bhangarh is located between the Pink City of Jaipur – the capital of Rajasthan and Alwar, a city in the same state located about 160 km south of Delhi. Rajasthan is located in the north-west of India and it’s country’s largest state.The story (and the history) of the Bhangarh began in the year of 1573 when the fortress was established. Built by Raja Bhagawant Das – the ruler of the city of Amber, Bhangarh Fort has become the residence of Madho Singh, ruler’s second son who fought alongside his father and brother in many wars. The decline of Bhangarh Fort started in 1630 after Chhatr Singh, son of Madho Singh got killed in a violent attack.
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In the Shadows Paranormal Project and the Dimension Zone would now like to present you with
places around the globe that have not only been classified as fascinating, exciting, and mysterious, but
they qualify as the ‘World’s Most Haunted’ locations.
However, a few points of advice. If and when you do plan your visiting to these locations understand
that there are a few key points that any experienced paranormal research/investigator will follow
when doing so. Otherwise you may be disappointed, when your expectations are not realized.
1.
Forget everything you've ever heard or read about the location being haunted, including legends
and folklore,
2.
When visiting or investigating the locations, concentrate your effort on a potential natural cause,
3.
Look for consistent information regarding the location from various independent witnesses,
4.
Only use the definition ‘haunted’ when you’ve actually experienced it for yourself.
If you apply this type of analysis to your visited location, you’ll most likely appreciate any actual
paranormal phenomena when it does happen a lot more. It is unfortunate that media hype regarding
the paranormal is so consistently incorrect. But experiencing truth behind the paranormal in a realistic
manner can be quite rewarding, and very exciting, when it does happen. And please don’t forget to
drop us a post card.
