- The world is overflowing with places
of wonder and spectacle, however some places
take a turn into the darker aspects of life.
These places are filled not with happy thoughts or positive
experiences but are instead a source of fear and horror.
(ominous music)
Here are 10 nightmare places that really exist.
Number 10 is the Hoia Baciu Forest.
Transylvania is most famously associated with the story
of Dracula, but deep within its borders
it hides a real place with true nightmares.
Hoia Baciu is regarded by many
as the creepiest forest in the world.
The forest was named after a shepherd who disappeared there
along with a flock of 200 sheep.
Since that time, the trees have been linked
to vengeful spirits and UFO sightings.
A large section of it known as The Clearing is a spot
where nothing grows and there's a pervasive sensation
that something is tainting the land from beneath.
Those who visit the forest often report feelings
of nausea and anxiety along with the unnerving experience
of being watched from between the crooked trees.
Strange shadowy figures are often seen wandering nearby,
and locals believe that whatever walks there
is too frightening to confront.
Number nine are the Izu Islands.
Off the coast of Japan just south of Tokyo
resides a group of islands
which are among the most frightening in the world.
Known as the Izu Islands,
one in particular is a literal hell on Earth.
It's called Miyake-Jima, and those who live there
face danger unlike anywhere else on Earth.
The island sits on top of an active volcano chain.
In 2000, one of the volcanoes erupted,
spewing toxic gas into the air.
People were evacuated and not allowed to return
to their homes until 2005.
Now residents and visitors must carry gas masks
with them at all times.
If an air raid siren sounds, everyone must put on their mask
to protect themselves from the coming toxic fumes
which are regularly released.
If they don't, they will be consumed by the sulfur gas
and become a permanent part of the island landscape forever.
Number eight is the Museum of Sin.
The Museum of Sin is one of the most horrific places
on Earth and almost too horrible to describe in detail.
You can find the museum in Tambov in Russia,
though its unlikely many would want to actually go there.
It contains anatomical collections preserved in jars.
The man who owns the collection has gathered these specimens
as a twisted way to teach people mortality.
For example, one jar tells the story of a man
who cheated on his wife.
Trying to avoid being caught, he sneaked out
of the apartment and then climbed quickly over a fence.
There his hand caught on the railing,
and he had to wrench it free before escaping.
The jar contains a warning for those who cheat
on their partners, along with a piece of the man
he left behind when trying to free his hand from the fence.
There is much worse than that at the Museum of Sin
and it is not for the faint of heart.
Number seven is the Hell Garden.
Another horrifying place filled with nightmares
is the Hell Garden.
This bizarre park can be found in Thailand
and contains within it gruesome statues of those reborn
in a form of Buddhist hell.
These statues surround the ruins
of an 11th century monastery, only adding to the already
potent atmosphere of a place suffocated by decay and fear.
Most of the statues are too shocking to show as
their skeletal frames writhe and twist in unnatural fashion.
Each statue represents what awaits sinners should they
be reborn in Naraka, a place of torment and pain.
Many believe that these ghoulish human statues
are more than simple nightmares brought into form by artists
but that they are actual representations of the terror
which awaits in Naraka,
a true living nightmare from which no one can wake.
Number six is the Halloween house.
Some places begin with a positive history.
However, in some circumstances, the twisted minds
of storytellers can turn the most idyllic environments
into stark images which haunt our dreams.
This is the case with the Halloween house.
It was used in the classic
1978 John Carpenter movie Halloween.
The house sits on a quiet street north of Sunset Boulevard
called Orange Grove Avenue.
Tourists visit this location to revel in the fear
that they experienced as moviegoers.
However, rumors persist that the very act of filming
a horror story there about a psychopath who has escaped
incarceration and fled into the night to terrorize people
has left a strange imprint on the place.
Some visitors say that they see things out of the corner
of their eyes when standing outside of the house,
and others believe there is much worse to be found inside.
Number five is the Aldgate Pump.
Water fountains were common in Victorian times
and were often found on the busy streets of London.
These fountains gave the general population direct access
to clean drinking water.
One of the most interesting water fountains in London
is known as the Aldgate Pump.
But this strange pump, complete with a sculpted wolf head
where the water flows from, hides a dark history.
The pump was designed to commemorate the last wild wolf
killed in the city of London.
But in 1876, people began to complain
about the taste of the water it produced.
They also noticed lumps of congealed matter
in the water that they drank.
The true horror was revealed when engineers investigated
the source of the contamination.
As it turned out, the well beneath the ground ran directly
underneath a cemetery and had infused the water
with disgusting pieces of deep earth that lay there.
Number four is the Park of Monsters.
Theme parks are usually places of joy.
But in a small town called Bomarzo in Italy,
a park filled with woods has a truly ghastly theme.
It's known as the Park of Monsters.
The park was founded in the 16th century by a prince.
Between the trees and grass, it has ever since
been populated with statues depicting
strange and frightening creatures.
Not much else is known about the park,
and the true purpose of the bizarre statues
which leer at passers by remains uncertain.
The statues themselves are carved directly out of rocky
outcrops and seem to depict madness and terror personified.
Some speculate that the prince who created
the strange carvings did so after returning home
from a traumatic war to find his wife dying.
The monsters and nightmarish shapes of this park then can be
seen as the direct expression of grief and personal horror.
Number three is Mystery Hill.
H.P. Lovecraft created some of the most compelling
horror literature ever put on paper.
His stories often contain descriptions of ancient evils
far beyond the comprehension of us humans.
While Lovecraft's stories are controversial today
due to his prejudiced perspective, some of those stories
were based on real places.
One such location is Mystery Hill,
which is often called America's Stonehenge.
No one knows exactly who built these structures, but some
believe that they're far older than written history itself.
Tourists who have visited this location have often been
overwhelmed by a sinister atmosphere.
Others have heard whispers and unseen footsteps
around the decaying ruins.
Such experiences leave open the possibility
that Lovecraft's stories of ancient horrors were based on
a very real lurking terror from humanity's past.
Number two is Nazino Island.
Nazino island contains one of the most tragic
and unnerving events of the 20th century.
In 1933, Stalin sent 6,200 prisoners and a few Soviet guards
to the frozen Siberian island.
It was there that the people were charged
with creating a new settlement, but they were given
very few tools and almost no food to survive.
Many of those living there were quickly claimed
by the ice and snow.
Some attempted to escape by building makeshift rafts.
Many of those broke up in the icy waters,
but even those who escaped were only rewarded
with a barren wasteland.
For those who survived,
the starving reality of the situation was unbearable.
Thousands disappeared, and I'm sure many of you
can imagine what happened to them.
If Nazino Island teaches us one thing,
it's that of all the nightmares on Earth,
the worst ones come from humanity's capacity for cruelty.
And number one is the Forbidden Cave.
Deep beneath the idyllic ski town
of Steamboat Springs in Colorado
lurks an unsettling subterranean world which is deadly.
In the darkness, a cave system there is covered
with a horrid mucous.
The slime has congealed on the ceilings to create
dangling blobs which drip on whomever enters the cave.
The dripping sludge is made from sulfuric acid,
which burns anything it touches.
The few who have seen the cave use breathing apparatuses
and protective clothing because its darkened tunnels
and caverns are filled with a toxic gas
which will suffocate anyone unprepared.
Amongst the slime, strange insects scurry about
and are joined by wriggling, blood-red worms
which thrive in the toxic environment.
The forbidden cave beneath Steamboat Springs
is the very definition of a nightmare
and will consume anyone who enters its dark domain.
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