10 famous haunted houses

Ghost stories have always excited the minds of people, captured their imagination and invariably attracted attention.

In the human mind, a ghost is a restless soul, doomed to rush between life and death, tied to one place. Most often, such a place is the house where the unfortunate person lived or ended his life.

Legends are written about such houses, they are included in excursion tours, people visit them with curiosity, hidden fear and hope.

We have collected ten of the most famous haunted houses in this top.

10 Edinburgh Castle (Edinburgh, Scotland)

The history of the castle begins in the 13th century. Like any decent castle, Edinburgh Castle has seen bloody wars, numerous sieges, conspiracies and executions. Many tragic events overgrown with speculation and turned into real legends.

So the sad ghost of a piper roams the dungeons of the castle. He was sent in search of a secret passage, and he never returned, and his fate is unknown.

Before dawn, a headless ghost appears in the castle. This is a drummer who was executed by cutting off his head.

A little less often, moans and cries come from the dungeons. There you can see transparent silhouettes of tortured and starved prisoners.

There is also a ghost outside the fortress walls. On the slope of the volcano sometimes appears the ghost of the unfortunate, who tried to escape from the castle, but died from a fall from the slope.

9. The Stanley Hotel (Colorado, USA)

The Stanley Hotel, in Colorado, attracts guests not only with its beautiful setting and proximity to the Rocky Mountains, but also with mysterious stories about spirits.

Stephen King once stayed here and had a nightmare involving his son. In the morning, a plan for the novel The Shining, which became a cult, matured in the writer’s head. The writer himself claimed to have seen the ghost of a little boy.

Nobody died in the hotel, but the guides say that the ghosts of the first owners roam here. Also among the ghosts saw the maid Wilson, who opened the portal to the other world. Once she did not notice the acetylene leak, she entered the room and provoked an explosion.

Also in the hotel you can hear the piano playing at night, children’s screams and laughter, even if there are no guests with children, and Count Dunravinsky lives in room 407, who loves to smoke a ghost pipe.

8. Embassy of Tunisia – “House of Beria” (Moscow)

House number 28 on Malaya Nikitskaya in Moscow now houses the Tunisian embassy. But in the last century, it was here that Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria lived, whose figure and death are shrouded in mystery.

He was shot under mysterious circumstances, and it is still not known for certain where his body is buried.

Eyewitnesses claim that the ghost itself cannot be seen. But you can clearly hear how the engine is running on the street (sometimes completely empty), how the door of a ghostly car slams, and someone invisible is stomping heavily around the house.

7. The Myrtles Plantation (Louisiana, USA)

Myrtle Plantation is one of the most visited places in America. According to legend, at least 12 ghosts live here.

The most famous story is about the slave Chloe, who belonged to Clark and Sarah Woodruff. According to one version, Clark forced the girl to be his mistress, according to another, Chloe loved to eavesdrop on the conversations of the owners through the keyhole, for which her ear was cut off.

Be that as it may, one day Chloe baked a poison oleander pie. Only Sarah herself and her daughters, who died from poisoning, managed to try it.

Chloe was hanged by the slaves themselves and drowned in the Mississippi, either as punishment or to avoid the wrath of the owner for hiding Chloe.

The house is said to have been built on an old burial ground and is often haunted by the ghost of an Indian girl. A mirror hanging in the house encloses the ghosts of Sarah Woodruff and her daughters.

Dwells on the plantation and another ghost of a girl who was treated with voodoo, but could not be saved.

The shadow of a man sometimes crawls up the stairs and each time stops at the 17th step, where, according to legend, he died.

6. Point Hicks Lighthouse (Point Hicks, Croagingolong National Park, Australia)

Point Hicks Lighthouse in Croagingolong National Park is the tallest lighthouse in Australia.

In 1947, his caretaker disappeared. The police logically assumed that the man went out to sea to fish and drowned.

Everyone began to forget about the accident when the new caretaker announced that he was not alone at the lighthouse. He assured that he heard someone walking, breathing heavily, pulling the door handles.

The public unanimously decided that it was the ghost of the deceased caretaker who returned to his beloved lighthouse and did not want to leave it.

5. Joelma Building/Praca da Bandeira Building (São Paulo, Brazil)

Sao Paulo is the most ordinary city in Brazil. But there is one building here, the Joelma Building, which has an extremely bad reputation.

In 1974 there was a major fire here. Fire exits were inaccessible, people were locked in rooms filled with the fumes of burning plastic.

Firefighters managed to save several hundred people, but this turned out to be too little. People jumped from the windows, hoping to escape or end the torment.

Half a century has passed, the building is equipped with the most modern fire extinguishing system, but people are still very reluctant to get a job there and never stay until dark.

They claim that screams of pain and pleas for help are heard in the empty corridors, here and there you can see the ghost of a burning person. Even the guard is in the annex outside and will never enter the Joelma Building at night.

4. Château de Brissac (Brissac-Quencé, France)

Brissac Castle has a long glorious history. The first fortifications appeared here already in the 11th century. In the 15th century, at the behest of Pierre de Brese, the castle was rebuilt, but since then only the towers have come down to us.

The name of his son, Jacques de Breze, is associated with a terrible story and the appearance of a ghost. Jacques married the beautiful Charlotte of Valois, the illegitimate daughter of King Charles VII. There was no love between them, it was exclusively an economic union, as was customary at that time.

One day, Jacques de Brezet was awakened by a servant and told that his wife was indulging in passion with an unknown man. Jacques broke into his wife’s bedroom and really saw her in the hands of another. In a fit of rage, he inflicted dozens of blows with his sword on his wife and her lover.

Jacques de Breze was sentenced to death, but later pardoned, stripped of titles and property. And since then, the ghost of Charlotte, dressed in a green dress, has been wandering in the castle.

3. Old New Synagogue (Prague, Czech Republic)

The synagogue was completed in 1270 and several legends are associated with it. One of them claims that some of the stones from which the synagogue was built belonged to the Jerusalem Temple, which protect it and give it special power.

Another legend tells of the Prague Golem, an animated clay monster. Its creator, Rabbi Loew ben Bezalel, witnessed the beginning of the persecution of the Jews.

From clay, he created a mystical creature – a golem, who was called upon to protect the people. He successfully coped with his task, but over time he began to demand more and more from his creator, and Rabbi Loew was forced to put him to sleep.

They say the golem rests in the attic of the synagogue. The stairs there were destroyed during the Second World War, when the Nazis, again according to legend, wanted to capture the Prague Golem.

2. Grand Hyatt Taipei Hotel (Taipei, Taiwan)

The Grand Hyatt in Taipei is known for its high level of service, comfortable rooms, great service and… ghosts.

When reading reviews on the Internet, it is easy to stumble upon an opinion like: “Everything is fine, but strange rustles did not let me sleep” or “Beautiful hotel, service is on top, ghosts are attached.”

The fact is that in the place where the hotel stands, there used to be a prison. From the first days the hotel began to work, workers and guests have been pestered by voices, noises and rattles coming from empty rooms.

Sometimes in the corridor you can see a translucent figure. Objects are not in the places where they were left.

In a word, an ideal place for those who want to tickle their nerves. The owners of the hotel turned to the masters of feng shui, so here and there you can see scrolls that drive away ghosts.

1. Winchester Mystery House (San Jose, California, USA)

Perhaps the Winchester house in California, USA, is one of the most famous haunted houses. It was built by Sarah Winchester, the widow of the son of the same Winchester who invented the famous rifle.

According to legend, Sarah erected this house on the advice of a certain medium Alan Koons, in order, according to one version, to escape from the victims of a rifle or, according to another, to build a refuge for spirits.

The construction of this house became the life work of Sarah Winchester. She was a wealthy lady and invested all her money in the mansion. Initially, it had 7 floors, but after the earthquake, 4 remained.

In addition, after the earthquake, part of the structures collapsed, some stairs began to lead nowhere, doors went out, and windows – on blank walls.

The number 13 reigns in the house: steps, windows, decor – all in the amount of 13 pieces. True, this is not Sarah’s idea, but part of a talentedly fabricated legend of the subsequent owners of the house.