From sinister abandoned asylums, forests infested with phantoms and folkloric monsters that roam the landscapes, to houses that were once home to homicidal maniacs, museums devoted to the macabre and castles haunted by their harrowing pasts, The Traveler’s Guide to Cursed and Creepy Destinations is an essential companion to any budding paranormal investigator, amateur historian and dark tourist.
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WHAT DO WE MEAN BY CURSED AND CREEPY? • For as long as man has walked the Earth, there have been matters of the strange and unexplained to frighten and excite us
THE RISE OF HAUNTED TOURISM • Humans have a natural tendency towards the macabre and a curiosity that would kill a cat, leading to an insatiable appetite for the supernatural
A FIELD GUIDE TO SPOOKS • When dipping your toe into the world of investigation, knowing what to look out for can be pretty overwhelming. Luckily, the most important tool of all is your own senses; what can you see, hear, smell? And of course, how does it make you feel? Here’s what to look out for…
PERFORMING A PARANORMAL INVESTIGATION • Investigating the paranormal can be fun and easy, but to enhance the experience, you may want to add a few items into your spooky toolkit
HOUSES OF HORROR • Check out these haunted locations around the world and find out what makes them spooktacularly scary
SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN • Don’t like to sleep alone? Check into one of these haunted hotels, and you might find your room already occupied…
THE WORLD’S CREEPIEST CASTLES • What terrors lurk in the walls of the world’s most fearsome fortresses? Castles weren’t just opulent homes, they were citadels; strongholds designed to endure invasion, built not only to fight off their enemies but to capture, imprison and torture them. If you are seeking spine-chilling spectres, these palace phantoms won’t disappoint…
PUBLIC SPECTRES • Ghosts don’t discriminate when it comes to haunts, and with so many people coming and going inside these public spaces it’s no surprise that they are teaming with poltergeists…
SHOCK TREATMENT! • If Victorian hospitals weren’t creepy enough with their derelict halls, wards, clinics, and equipment, why not add the tortured souls of those who never left?
PHANTOMS OF THE OPERA • It’s not just the Paris Opera House that boasts a legendary phantom. Pick the right theatre, and you might see more than an excellent performance!
PARANORMAL PRISONS • It’s been more than a life sentence for these incarcerated spirits, still trapped within the walls of the prisons they were left to perish within
A GUIDE TO TOMBSTONE TOURISM • Visiting graves and cemeteries has been a popular pastime for centuries, and there’s no better time to keep that rich tradition alive
THE WORLD’S SPOOKIEST CEMETERIES • Cemeteries don’t often make the list on tourists’ ‘must-see’ places, but some of the greatest, most fascinating and strange places are actually sites of burial
BLOOD CURDLING BONE-YARDS AND MORBID MAUSOLEUMS • From underground catacombs to entire buildings devoted to the dead, these macabre displays of devotion are a striking reminder of our own mortality
SUBTERRANEAN SPOOKS • From slaves to scorned women, it’s not only graveyards and abandoned buildings that have their fair share of ghosts, some spirits prefer to seek solace underground…
GHOST TOWNS • Abandoned places preserve a snapshot of how life once was, although their tendency to crumble makes them an eerie place to visit…
ILL-FATED ISLANDS • Islands are the epitome of isolation. Surrounded by water, your only escape is to risk the peril of the depths below. Let’s hope you don’t wind up sharing your seclusion with something sinister…
CURSED LANDSCAPES • From mountain...