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Picturesque Places with a Dark Secret
We don’t know about you, but we love a good ghost story this time of year! There’s nothing better than that queasy feeling you get in the pit of your stomach and the lightheaded, dizzying panic that sets in while someone is sharing a spooky story they swear is real.
We’ve compiled a shortlist of our favorite frightful destinations from the United States and beyond and paired them with an attractive canvas print associated with the haunted haven’s resident city.
Buckle up buttercup and enjoy the next few moments of the uncanny!
The Paris Catacombs
Paris's infamous underground ossuary emerged out of grim necessity, as increasing population and decreasing room for the dead forced Parisian officials to get creative with the disposal of bodies.
The maze of elaborately arranged stacks of bones adds to the city's famous repertoire. The corridors of Paris's abandoned limestone deposit mines were embedded with the remains of countless generations of Parisians, by some estimates 6-7 million, on display for all to see.
Aside from being frequently haunted by the many unrestful souls, knowledgeable curators use the catacombs to educate and enlighten visitors. From time to time, a selection of bones is put on display in curiosity cabinets to explain mineral content and the pathologies that invaded and eventually led to their former host's demise.
The Dakota
As the late 1800s saw a massive influx of European immigrants to U.S. shores, the nation’s most populous city – New York, New York – became home to many, prompting a boom of construction projects.
Of these projects, one such building, completed in October 1884, is The gothic-style Dakota Apartments, located on the Upper Westside of the City. Floors lined with mahogany and cherry, modern amenities and a spacious layout, the building was known as one of the first in luxury accommodations.
Over the years, several famous residents, such as Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland and Leonard Bernstein, graced the halls and extravagant quarters of this dwelling. The most notable occupant was the late, great front man of the Beatles, John Lennon. John lived in the Dakota building until his untimely departure in December of 1980, when a deranged fan fired five bullets that ended Lennon's charmed life.
Before his death beneath The Dakota's outer archway, Lennon himself claimed to have witnessed the phantasm of a woman, seen in various locations within the building, whom he named "Crying Ghost Lady." Recent inhabitants of the Dakota, including Lennon's wife Yoko Ono, claimed to have seen the musician's ghost in various locations within the building.
Other unexplained happenings associated with the building include construction workers in the 1960s feeling watched by someone or something, and a few randomly saw the body of a man with the face of a boy. Current residents claim to see a young girl dressed in old-fashioned clothing waving from windows.
Poveglia Island
Ahhh, Poveglia Island. What did this little landmass do to deserve such a tortured fate? One can find the small island nestled within the lagoon off the Venetian coast.
From 1346 to 1353, Europe found itself devastated by death and disease. More commonly known as the Black Death, the bubonic plague stole the lives of 75 to 200 million Europeans.
Still, in their heyday, the Romans decided the best course of action was to quarantine the sick to mitigate the spread of this horrific disease. Poveglia Island was chosen to house the masses of diseased mortals left to die a slow and torturous death.
In the years following the plague, custodians of the Poveglia again used the island to exile the ill of subsequent epidemics. Until the 20th century, the use of the island fell into obscurity.
In the 1920s, a new doctor of medicine transformed Poveglia into an asylum for the mentally ill or chronically debilitated. Rather than treat their patients, cruel physicians practiced a disturbing treatment, which included brutal experiments and psychological torture on the residents.
Locals of the Venetian metropolis still refuse to visit this island where it’s believed hundreds, if not thousands, of tortured souls, still roam its shores.
Tri-County Truck Stop
Initially built in 1927, the Tri-County Truck Stop located in Villa Ridge, Missouri, has gone through several owners and structural iterations since its conception.
In the 1960s, workers and visitors at the truck stop complained of being touched, hearing voices, seeing unexplained figures, and moving objects.
Paranormal teams have set up investigations that produced some well-documented images and videos of ghostly activity. Their findings included a levitating coffee pot, someone trying to force a door open or keep people from entering, a full apparition in a flannel shirt, and a baffling glowing blue formation.
Now closed, the location and it's lingering poltergeists patiently await their new tenant.
Rose Hall Jamaica
Like most islands in the Caribbean, Jamaica is home to numerous sugarcane plantations, including Rose Hall, located on Jamaica's northern coast, Rose Hall was erected in the 1700s and maintained 250 slaves. Once owned by John Palmer and Annie Palmer, the property carries a gruesome history.
Annie, was born in Haiti and practiced voodoo. Shortly after the purchase of Rose Hall, Annie killed John, with no apparent motive cited. She proceeded to take the lives of two more husbands and countless more slaves. As fate would have it, Annie ultimately died at the hands of the slave's wronged by her contemptuous actions.
Some historians state that the fine China, which Annie used as dinnerware, contained lead that slowly poisoned her and drove her to become a torturing killing machine.
Dubbed The White Witch, Annie Palmer's spirit still wanders the grounds of Rose Hall.
The Cecil Hotel
Opened in 1927, the notorious Cecil Hotel, located in the downtown area of Los Angeles, CA, initially catered to those of the business class. Two years later, the area surrounding the hotel succumbed to homelessness and despair when The Great Depression took hold of the nation. The once beautiful hotel became a breeding ground for criminals and the unsavory.
A propensity for darkness and death held a firm grip on the Cecil Hotel for the next several decades. The 1930s saw six suicides at the hotel, and the 60s brought with them a jumper who killed an unsuspecting passersby with her fateful leap.
The 80s were no better, as Richard Ramirez, known as the Los Angeles Night Stalker, called the Cecil home for several months during his reign. Ramirez would regularly make his way back to the Cecil, semi-naked and covered in blood, after performing his gory misdeeds.
Fast forward to 2013, when a young Canadian college student, Elisa Lam, made the Cecil Hotel her home away from home. Three weeks after her disappearance, the LAPD made a gruesome discovery in the hotel's rooftop water tank following complaints of foul tasting water. Although the coroner deemed her death an accident, mystery still engulfs the details involved in the woman's death.
Billions of beings have called our planet home and have passed on to a location beyond our comprehension. Occasionally, a clashing between the here and now and the afterlife creates a series of events inexplicable by modern scientific analysis.
The above tales are but a mere drop in the ocean compared to actual occurrences throughout time and what has yet to occur.
