Halloween is probably the biggest day of the year for fear of all sorts, especially
if you’re near a cemetery. Man: What in the heck is going on here? Get back in your graves.
If you’re the type who doesn’t scare easily, there are several old cemeteries around the
world, some of which are popular tourist attractions! But if you’re a scaredy cat,
you might want to skip this one – because we’ve gathered all the spookiest burial grounds in the
world into one shiver-inducing list. Here are the 10 Scariest Cemeteries on Earth!
What’s up, fact-natics! This is Discovery Amuse, serving up your daily dose of the most outrageous,
outlandish, and out-of-this-world fun facts! Stay tuned for number one because that will surely
scare the living daylights out of you! *woman
screaming #10 Greyfriars Kirkyard
Body snatchers, violent ghosts, and Harry Potter characters may seem like strange bedfellows,
but in Scotland’s gorgeous, gothic capital city of Edinburgh, the four merge to make
up the ghostly lore surrounding one of the world’s most haunted graveyards.
If you’re a certified Potterhead, you may have heard of Greyfriars Kirkyard.
Harry Potter devotees make pilgrimages to the site,
leaving notes and flowers on the 197-year-old grave that inspired the names of Tom Riddle,
Alastor “Mad-eye” Moody, and professor Minerva MacGonagall.
*McGonagall’s spell
Probably the world’s most dangerous graveyard, Greyfriar is so renowned for its violent
paranormal activity that it was made inaccessible to tourists. While most "haunted" cemeteries have
a variety of ghosts and weird phenomenon, Greyfriar's has one, rather angry spirit.
It’s allegedly haunted by the ghost of George Mackenzie, a.k.a. the MacKenzie Poltergeist,
whose spirit is said to have been released by a
homeless man who broke into his grave in 1999. Man; He ended up falling through the floor,
the wooden floor underneath the chamber, and as he did so, he knocked the coffin
of George MacKenzie. The coffin fell over, George macKenzie’s body unfortunately came out.
George MacKenzie was a ruthless prosecutor who brutally imprisoned thousands
of Scottish Covenanters in the 17th century. He had them locked up in what is known as the
Covenanter’s Prison, which is located near the mausoleum where MacKenzie was laid to rest.
Today, tour purveyors conducting nighttime excursions around the graveyard have
reported some mysterious happenings; many participants have emerged from inside
the prison and mausoleum with bruises, burns, scratches, and even broken bones, attributed to
long-dead prisoners and their violent oppressor. Man: My back actually feels like it’s on fire,
it’s the most bizarre thing, it feels like I’ve been whipped.
Several famous paranormal investigators have visited the site and many claim to
see orbs floating among the small, ruined tombstones. With a violent poltergeist,
known to harm late-night visitors, and a history of stolen bodies,
it’s no wonder Greyfriars Kirkyard is one of the most haunted cemeteries in the world.
*Man screaming
If that had you quaking in your boots, just wait until you hear about our number one pick!
#9: Stull Cemetery The Stull Cemetery in Stull, Kansas already has
the perfect horror movie setting: a sleepy town and an abandoned church. The local graveyard has
quite the sinister reputation too—all because of horror stories that got way out of hand.
Back in 1974, a piece that was published in the student newspaper of the University of
Kansas sparked a wild rumor that the devil visits Stull Cemetery during Halloween
and Spring equinox. Man: No f***** way.
Rumors then spread like wildfire and the once peaceful town became known as the “gates of hell”.
Several stories have been passed down over the years of witchcraft
and diabolical occurrence surrounding the overgrown cemetery and its crumpling church.
Man: There’s literal fires. Patches of them all over the cemetery, it’s not a controlled burn.
We don’t know where it’s coming from. Here’s no bonfire anywhere, no leaf piles.
Its age, coupled with its lack of upkeep, makes for a straight up haunting cemetery.
#8: Old Jewish Cemetery This place may look like
something out of a horror movie, but this is a real cemetery located in the
vibrant city of Prague in Czech Republic. The old Jewish cemetery in Prague is a
small cemetery that is said to house more than 12,000 graves. However, an estimation suggests
that while an approximate 12,000 tombstones are there, it actually holds about 100,000 burials.
This explains why thousands of crumbling Medieval headstones are clustered
so close together you wouldn’t be able to walk around the graves—even if you’re brave
enough to actually set foot in this eerie place. Woman: The oldest one belongs to Avigdor Kara,
he was a very famous person, a man that survived one of the biggest
attacks against Jews that happened here in the old town of Prague in the end of 14th century.
It’s a Jewish custom not to remove old graves. So, over the centuries,
people had to pile the dead on top of one another. It’s said that one marked grave has
up to 12 bodies stacked one over another! Whoa, overcrowding is real, even in the afterlife!
Woman: Can someone exhale so I can inhale? Woman: Equal rights for all skin rash people!
#7: Catacombs of Paris
Did you know that hidden right underneath the City of Lights is a subterranean labyrinth that has
over 200 miles of bone-lined walls, and houses the skeleton remains of around 7
million former Parisians? Man 1: They’re literally
lost in the catacombs with no guides. Man 2: They came here with no guides.
Man1: And they’re lost, they didn’t know how to get out.
This isn’t their original burial ground, though. Since the Roman times, Parisians have been burying
the dead on above-ground cemeteries in the middle of town. However, as time went by, these burial
grounds became too overcrowded. Church graveyards were quite full and folks began to bury their
loved ones in shallow graves in the backyards of their homes, or on illegal burial sites.
The king then ordered all graveyards in Paris to be shut down and to have the bodies transferred
to the city’s unused underground tunnels, which were once limestone mines in the 13th century.
Today, dark tourists sneak into the catacombs, but enter at your own risk because it’s
considered trespassing and is therefore illegal. Man: I’m legitimately sitting on hundreds if not
thousands of dead bodies right now, and there’s nothing I can do about it because
the entire floor, entire everything basically is made of human skeleton.
#6: Recoleta Cemetery Graveyards can be very morbid places; however,
they can also be places of celebration, where a person's life can be remembered.
The Recoleta cemetery of Buenos Aires, Argentina is a popular tourist attraction for it has graves
of many renowned people of Argentina, including that of the famous first lady, Eva Peron!
Evita: Don’t cry for me Argentina
This cemetery is filled with picturesque and lavish vaults
but that’s not the only thing said to call the grounds home.
One of the mausoleums in this cemetery is that of Rufina Cambacérès, a beautiful Buenos Aires
socialite who passed away due to a heart attack. She died in 1892 at the age of
19 after the deaths of many around her, and when exhumed she seemed to have shifted in her coffin!
The lid was said to have been broken in various places. Suspecting that it might have been
a grave robbery, a worker opened the coffin only to find the insides covered in scratches
and Rufina’s hands and face bruised like she was
trying to break out. *Buried alive scene
That story there evolved into numerous tales about grave-robbing, which apparently is still a thing,
if you’re looking for some further, very interesting reading. Some visitors have
also reported a sense of unease while on the grounds of the cemetery—especially at night!
#5: Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings located in Luxor, Egypt,
was considered as the primary burial place of royal figures and privileged nobles of
the Egyptian New Kingdom. In fact, in 1922, the valley gained more international attention from
the public when the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun was discovered here by British
archaeologist Howard Carter. Man: My perception is
that when Tutakhamun died, they hired the Egyptian equivalent of a packing company, and
anything and everything that was associated with him in life was packed and crammed into that tomb.
Since then, it has become one of the most famed archaeological sites in the world—and
that’s not just because of the intricate design and artifacts inside.
There have been rumors circulating that anyone who disturbs the tombs
will be struck down by the Curse of the Pharaohs. People speculated that this
might be the reason for the early deaths of some of those involved in the discovery of
King Tut’s tomb. *archaeologists
running #4 Resurrection Cemetery
The Chicago area has several allegedly haunted cemeteries,
but this graveyard in Justice, Illinois, might be the creepiest.
Ever hear the urban legend about the driver who picked up a hitchhiker, then dropped her off
at a cemetery where she turned into a ghost? One of America's favorite ghost
stories—particularly for Chicagoans-- is the tale of the vanishing hitchhiker, Resurrection Mary.
Man: Resurrection Mary story should be given a lot more credence than a lot of ghost stories
in Chicago just for the fact that there are so many good witnesses that are out there.
Since the 1930s, a number of people who drove by Archer Avenue have claimed seeing
a young female hitchhiker dressed in white with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Witnesses also say the woman asks to be dropped off at the cemetery, whereupon she disappears.
There’s even an account of a man allegedly meeting a woman at a bar and offering to take her home,
but when they drove by Resurrection cemetery… Man: He offered to drive for the rest of the
way home, instead she put her hand on his and said, “Where I’m going, you can’t follow.”
#3: Capuchin Monastery Catacombs The Capuchin monks of Palermo, Italy used to bury
their dead in a traditional cemetery. But when it started to become overcrowded in the 16th century,
they decided to excavate crypts underground. When Father Silvestro of Gubbio died in 1599, the
friars mummified his corpse and placed it inside the catacomb. Instead of burying the remains,
they were either hung in a standing position from the walls or displayed in glass caskets.
Man: When the Capuchins went on missions, especially in Mesoamerica, the ethnic cultures
there introduced them to the ways they process the dead bodies.
The friars mastered this preservation method and it eventually became a tradition. Of the close
to 2,000 bodies displayed inside the catacomb, one of the most famous ones is the perfectly preserved
remains of a girl named Rosalia Lombardo, who tragically died of pneumonia at the age of 2.
Man: She was stunning, she was beautiful, she was very sweet and no one could give me an explanation
for this exceptional embalming. #2: Highgate Cemetery
The cemetery’s tombs and buildings are constructed in an imposing Victorian
Gothic style and during the mid- to late 1800s it was a highly sought-after burial ground.
Among the impressive Victorian and Egyptian influenced tombs
are the gravestones of Karl Marx sci-fi author Douglas Adams; James Holman,
a sightless 19th-century adventurer known as “the Blind Traveler”; and Adam Worth,
a famous criminal and the possible inspiration for Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis, Professor Moriarty. Oh,
and the unmarked tomb of the legendary George Michael can also be found here.
George: Coz I gotta have faith, ooh I gotta have faith.
In the 1960s, the public regained its interest in the cemetery but not in a good way. Stories
of people seeing a tall, dark figure with a ghoulish face floating around the graves
quickly circulated and caused a vampire panic that was later dubbed
as the Highgate Vampire Sensation. Man: I don’t know, maybe… okay.
People began to mob the graveyard at night hoping to catch the so-called vampire.
Things worsened when a pair of magicians named Seán Manchester
and David Farrant declared a “vampire hunt”. However, no vampire was ever found.
Before we go to our number 1 pick, do us a solid and make sure to smash the subscribe button and
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life-changing, boredom-busting content! And of course, be sure to turn on notifications
in your app’s settings! #1 La Noria Cemetery
Located in a remote place in the Atacama Desert in Chile, the deserted town of
La Noria was once a saltpeter mining hub in the 1800s. During the saltpeter boom,
thousands of people settled in the place. But when the supply and demand plummeted, people slowly
moved out and left some of their belongings. The abandoned town has been looted over the years,
especially their cemetery. When the people left, they left behind their dead loved ones who are now
said to haunt the cemetery and the town. *Girl screaming
Headstones are broken, fences are torn and falling down,
and overgrowth swallows the cemetery whole. If you ever find yourself exploring the grounds,
be extra careful. You might just step on opened coffins and scattered human bones.
Andy: This is more props. No!
There are also reports of apparitions, odd sounds when no one is around,
and ghosts appearing in pictures. So, which of these spooky places
gave you the heebie-jeebies? Lt us know in the comments section below.
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