10 of the world's most haunted places, including one in Ireland
Sleepy Hollow in upstate New York has major ties to the other side, if is home to the Headless Horseman. Picture: Getty
It may have competition from Salem, Massachusetts but Sleepy Hollow in Upstate New York proudly lays claim to the title of America's most haunted town. It’s all thanks to Headless Horseman, the iconic character from Washington Irving’s novel who is still said to gallop around the area come nightfall. The village (next to the town of Tarrytown) lies just an hour north of Manhattan and makes a particularly festive day-trip for New Yorkers at Halloween when the town is festooned in all its spooky finery. Most of the action occurs around Sleepy Hollow’s cemetery which is where Irving is buried and is listed on America’s national register of historic places.
Any building which was set to be a location for a Samantha Mumba slasher movie must be worth its spooky salt. Loftus Hall, which looms large across Hook Head peninsula with ethereal drama is said to be Ireland’s most haunted home. The devil himself is believed to have dwelled in the building as well as the ghost of a young resident named Lady Anne who had an ill-fated encounter with a cloven-hoofed suitor. The property has more recently become known for its all-night paranormal experiential events and this year visitors can join in on the action with a number of live events via Loftus Hall TV (loftushall.ie). Sadly, for those hoping to ghostbust in person, Loftus Hall is currently up for sale with an uncertain fate…Â
Sandwiched between Quebec and Nova Scotia, New Brunswick rarely steals the limelight of its neighbouring provinces, but it’s home to spectacular infinite forests, a wild rugged coastline and possibly Canada's most haunted building. In the charming coastal town of St. Andrews, which feels like a quirky throwback setting to , sits the luxury vacation getaway of the Algonquin Resort. Thousands of tourists have checked into the hotel over the decades, but some, it’s mooted, have never checked out. Not least a jilted bride who is said to still appear on the hotel rooftop. Atlantic sea fog? An eerie apparition? It can be hard to tell, hey.
The Mother City boasts beauty in spades but as South Africa’s oldest city it also lays claim to a chequered, haunted history. The country’s oldest building is the Castle of Good Hope (Aka Cape Town Castle) which is located right in the Cape Town CBD and dates back to 1679 when it was built as bastion fort. Several residents ghosts are said to provide phantom footsteps here. Not least of them, Lady Anne Barnard, an old-school socialite who was the official hostess of the castle at the turn of the 1800s. Not one to hang up her mantle, her apparition is still said to shimmy around the castle, particularly for visiting dignitaries.
Located close to the popular beach resort of Cancun, the ancient ruined Maya city of Chichen Itza is a massive attraction for day-tripping tourists. But come la noche, legend has it that this wonder may have its own residents. Its pyramids, temples and arcades are said to be the stomping ground for the fabled aluxes, the name given to mythical sprites or spirits most succinctly described as a native Mayan leprechaun. The dwarf-sized characters who typically frequent maize fields can wreak havoc on those who don’t respect their legend — it’s been reported that archaeologists working in the area have hosted ceremonies in order to get them onside during excavation projects.
Few travel experiences cap the eeriness of driving Australia’s great Red Centre where hundreds of barren miles are punctuated with little more than an occasional car graveyard or dingo sighting. This is what makes the spectacular sight of Uluru all the more welcome. While not known for being haunted, some say that climbing or interfering with the sacred Aboriginal site can lead to a curse. To avoid such a fate, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park receives hundreds of packages of rocks and sand each year, returned by previous visitors who had pilfered them as souvenirs — many experiencing a run of bad luck in the aftermath. I guess when you visit it’s best to leave nothing but footprints (just not on Uluru itself).
You can expect Iceland to harbour a few ghouls and goblins. This is, after all, a country with such a rich folklore tradition that over half the population is said to believe in elves. But for those of you who’ve visited Reykjavik, it’s very likely you’ve passed Iceland’s most haunted building, Höfði. The house was the scene of a famed summit between Regan and Gorbachev in 1986 which was said to have been a crucial step in ending the Cold War. But chills still linger here. The house is rumoured to be frequented by a ghost named the white lady while the house is also reportedly built on a Viking burial site. Either way, alcohol is said to frequently disappear from the reception room’s drinks cabinet here. Does that make spirit levels high or low?
Even one of the most remote settlements in the world can’t escape a little spook. The archipelago of Svalbard which lies halfway between the Norwegian coast and the North Pole lays pretty much claim to world’s northernmost everything, from town to ghost town. Pyramiden (named after the mountain which backdrops its setting) is a frigid mining town, located a 50km snowmobile ride north of Svalbard’s capital Longyearbyen. Abandoned by Russian miners since 1998, the harsh weather has protected the town to eerie effect with a lone, if curious hotel offering accommodation for those wishing to venture on the most remote ghost-busting on Earth. Spirits aren’t the only presence, do keep an eye out for wandering polar bears if you make it this far north.
With its misty mountains and moody valleys, driving through the Scottish Highlands is one of the most ambient road-trips in the world. But the natural attractions here are almost outdone by those of the supernatural.Â
Located en route to the Isle of Skye, Eilean Donan Castle guards over a loch rich in the lore of sea creatures and selkies, but the building itself is also said to be one of Scotland’s most haunted. Legend has it that a Spanish soldier who was slain in a siege in 1719 during the first Jacobite rebellion still makes his appearance felt here. Visitors can also keep their eye peeled for the ghost of ‘Lady Mary’ who has also been spotted in one of Eilean Donan's bedrooms. Whether scotch played a part in the sighting is also up for debate.
It may look like a fairytale chateau, set serenely on the banks of Lake Geneva, but upon closer inspection, Switzerland’s most visited building reveals a rather more sinister history. The castle, whose chequered history dates back one thousand years, inspired Lord Byron’s The Prisoner of Chillon; a poem based on Genevois monk François Bonivard, who was chained in the gallows here during the Wars of Religion. But he’s not the only spirit around. The ghost of Agnès de Faucigny, a duchess and member of the house of Savoy, is said to haunt the building too. Some years ago a European paranormal troop (named the XBI, no less) tried to encourage the spirit to make an appearance by playing 13th Century music throughout the castle. Unfortunately, she didn’t provide them with an encore.
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