10 most haunted places in the world

A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property. Supernatural activity inside homes is said to be mainly associated with violent or tragic events in the building's past such as murder, accidental death, or suicide. There are certain haunted places where the restless spirits of the night linger. They manifest as eerie voices and strange perfumes; they move things about; they creep out of the shadows as apparitions. Sometimes they even attack.

10. The Tower of London, London

The Tower of London, one of the most famous and well-preserved historical buildings in the world, may also be one of the most haunted. The most well-known ghostly resident of the Tower is the spirit of Ann Boleyn, one of the wives of Henry VIII, who was also beheaded in the Tower in 1536. Grace-and-favor residents in neighboring apartments have claimed to hear screams coming from the gallery.

Visitors today are often strangely affected in the gallery. On one evening in 1999, during separate tours of the palace, two female visitors fainted on exactly the same spot in the Haunted Gallery approximately half an hour apart. Psychologists from the University of Hertfordshire could not explain the eerie feelings of visitors following a week-long investigation in 2000.

They found, against their expectations, visitors’ experiences tended to occur in specific areas of the gallery. 

9. The White House, Washington DC

The home to the presidents of the United States has been haunted. President Harrison is said to be heard rummaging around in the attic of the White House. The White House has long had a reputation for being haunted -- most famously by the ghost of former President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's wife, Mary, reportedly heard the ghost of Andrew Jackson "swearing up a storm," Walters said. Other stories of the supernatural related by Walters included a séance by Mary Lincoln to recall the spirit of their dead son, Willie.

 When the wife of President Woodrow Wilson wanted to dig up the rose garden, legend has it that the spirit of former first lady Dolley Madison appeared and warned them not to disturb her garden, Walters said. The most frequently sighted presidential ghost has been that of Abraham Lincoln. Eleanor Roosevelt once stated she believed she felt the presence of Lincoln watching her as she worked in the Lincoln bedroom. Also during the Roosevelt administration, a young clerk claimed to have actually seen the ghost of Lincoln sitting on a bed pulling off his boots. 

8. Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia

Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA operated from 1829 to 1971 was the first prison of it’s kind.  Built in what is known as a “wagon wheel design”, the prison was intended to reform prisoners rather than punish them and was the most expensive public building ever constructed when it was erected. One of the earliest known paranormal sightings on the property was by notorious prisoner Al Capone who served an 8 month sentence in the prison in 1929.  He was often heard screaming at the ghost of Albert Kachellek aka “James Clark” in his prison cell to go away and leave him alone.  James Clark was one of the victims of the St Valentine’s Day Massacre and was the brother-in-law of one of Capone’s well known rivals – Bugs Moran.

The most active parts of the penitentiary are generally considered to be cell blocks 4, 6 & 12.  Cell block 12 is where shadowy black figures are often seen roaming the catwalks, and where voices and laughter have been heard.  Cell block 6 is known for black figures that have been seen moving in and around the dark corners, and cell block 4 is well known for sightings of the faces of former inmates in their cells.  Beyond this, the ghost of a former prison guard is believed to still be watching the prison from the Guard Tower.

7. Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Kentucky

In 1910, a wooden two-story hospital was built on the site, which was the highest elevated hill in southern Jefferson County, but with tuberculosis rampant in the area, the building wasn't big enough to house all of the patients.  And so a new building was constructed in 1924, and the new Waverly Hospital opened in 1926.

One of the most well-known ghost stories about Waverly Hills centers on Room 502. Legend has it a crazy patient murdered a nurse in this room by stabbing her to death. People claim to see the patient's ghost running out the hospital's front door in a white nightgown, screaming at the top of her lungs. Many people have experienced strange things in that room, and most believe it is her ghost that haunts it. The Death Tunnel is another popular haunted area. One of the uses for this tunnel was transporting dead bodies out of the hospital.

6. Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland

This magnificent castle is typically medieval, perched atop a rocky crag, giving it an amazing vista of Scottish hills. But inside the empty halls and narrow streets of Edinburgh, there are the echoes of the dead. On various occasions, visitors to the castle have reported a phantom piper, a headless drummer, the spirits of French prisoners from the Seven Years War and colonial prisoners from the American Revolutionary War – even the ghost of a dog wandering in the grounds’ dog cemetery.

5. Monte Cristo, New South Wales, Australia

Monte Cristo has been plagued by many horrific incidents and deaths over the years. Not surprisingly, the homestead is known as 'Australia's Most Haunted House'. It has been featured on several TV shows including The Extraordinary, ABC TV's Big Country  and more recently, the psychological gameshow, Scream Test.

The house and grounds are reported to have seven ghostly residents, although there could be more.

The most dominant ghost according to psychics is Mrs. Crawley herself, which isn't at all surprising since she was known to rule Monte Cristo with an iron fist. During the first few years she spent a great deal of time in the Drawing Room. However, after Mr. Crawley passed away she spent most of her time in the newly converted Chapel. It is here that she is seen most frequently, dressed in black and carrying a large silver cross. Her ghost has been known to order people out of the Dining Room and her presence is felt when a room suddenly becomes icy cold.

4. Bhangarh Fort, Rajasthan, India

People say that nobody returned from there who stayed there after dark. The biggest thing is that as per Govt. of India rules there has to be an office of Archaeology Survey of India (ASI) beside every historical structure in India. But even Government authorities couldn't dare to open an office there and they opened their office about one kilometer away from the ruins of Bhangarh.

Madho Singh built the town of Bhangarh with the approval of an ascetic Baba Balanath, who meditated there, though Baba Balanath predicted “look my dear chap! The moment the shadow of your palace touches me you are undone. The city shall be no more!” In ignorance Ajab Singh, the grandson of Madho Singh raised the palace to such a height that the shadow reached the forbidden place. Hence the devastation of entire town of Bhangarh happened.

3. Highgate Cemetery, North London, England

Highgate Cemetery was constructed in 1839 and it was a very fashionable burial place for Victorians. By the 1960's Highgate Cemetery had fallen into neglect and decay. Stories started circulating that the cemetery was haunted and newspapers started reporting England's first Vampire in over a hundred years.

In 1971 several years after the many publicised vampire sightings, a young girl claims she was actually attacked by the vampire in the lane outside the cemetery. She was returning home in the early hours of the morning when she was suddenly thrown to the ground with tremendous force by a "tall black figure with a deathly white face. At that moment a car stopped to help her and the vampire "vanished" in the glare of the headlamps.

2. Screaming Tunnel, Niagara Falls, Ontario

This one is for those brave hearts boasting hard of their fearless spirits. This is located beneath the railway track that connects Niagara falls to Toronto and New York. As per a legend about a century ago there was a farm house located just near the south entrance of this tunnel. One night the farm house caught fire and a young girl doused in flame screaming for help running wild.Nobody knows the story how the farm house caught fire. She ran through the tunnel if in case she could get some help but alas she was burnt completely and collapsed. So from that day onwards whoever tries lighting a match in the tunnel the spirit comes out screaming and haunting the person till dead