5 Haunted Destinations To Explore This October

October 12, 2020

It is fall, the perfect time for cozy sweaters, pumpkin spice lattes, and of course HALLOWEEN! Let’s get our creep on. In honour of Halloween approaching, I decided to write about some of the creepiest destinations on the planet that you can go visit and explore.

Quick fun fact about Cass, I find unusual, spooky stories and places to be super interesting. I’m not obsessed but I do enjoy researching topics like vampire legends, folklore from around the world and supernatural events. Let’s dive into the creepiness and maybe explore one or all of these spooktacular places in the future.

5 Haunted Travel Destinations

Transylvania, Romanian

I visited Romanian for a few weeks and I spent some time exploring the beautiful region of Transylvania. I 100% recommend visiting Transylvania, (it even made my top 10 favourite places to travel to) it’s a stunning mysterious area with beautiful mountains, curved roads, and thick, enchanting forests. It is also the home of the legendary, real-life (and fictional) Count Dracula, and the beautiful, Bran’s Castle aka Dracula’s castle. Transylvania has a deep, dark history of vampires and werewolves, which is why it has made this list of haunted destinations.

Side note: I love vampires! The Vampire Diaries was one of my favourite shows #teamdamon. Getting to go on my own “vampire hunt” in Transylvania was super cool.

The real Dracula, lived in the 1400s and was the Prince of Wallachia (modern-day Transylvania). His name was Vlad Tepes, and was referred to as both Vlad Dracula and Vlad the Impaler. During his time in power, it is said that he committed some extremely gruesome acts, a lot involving impaling those who opposed him, including women and children. He, like a vampire, loved bloodshed and would proudly display his impaled victims throughout the city, and along the roads.

In 1897 Bram Stroker wrote his famous horror novel, Dracula, which told the tale of a vampire disgusted as a count, who travelled from Transylvania to England trying to turn everyone into vampires along the way. This is why we think of Count Dracula as more of a modern vampire than as an uncontrollable impaler. Despite Vlad Dracula never living in Bram’s castle, it has been labelled as Dracula’s castle because it’s the only castle in Transylvania to resemble the description of the castle in Bram’s novel. While there is no actual evidence that Bram based his character and location on true events, there are some very interesting coincidences between his novel and history.

You can explore the area, stopping at Bran’s Castle, Sighisoara which is the birthplace of Vlad Dracula (I’ve been here and it’s eerie AF), go for a hike in Transylvania’s haunted Hoia Baciu Forest aka the world’s creepiest forest, and go on a vampire tour. You can also spend the night in Bran’s Castle on Halloween!

Packing tip for Transylvanian: Bring garlic! 😉

Island of Dolls – Mexico

Quick side story, dolls freak me out! One day I was going through some of my childhood toys, and while I was looking through one of the boxes I found a doll that looked very similar to me. It was the creepiest thing ever, and I was super freaked out.

Anyways, in Mexico there is an island that is literally filled with creepy dolls. It is just south of Mexico city and is called Isla de las Munecas which translates to the Island of Dolls. The dolls are hung from trees and scattered around the island. They are in rough shape, some missing limbs, eyes, bodies, and have ratty hair and dishevelled clothing. Legend states that the dolls were placed on the island to represent the death of a young girl and her spirit now possesses all the dolls. Some locals and visitors to the island have told stories of the dolls moving and whispering, while others have said they were lured to the island by the dolls.

Screaming Tunnel, Niagara Falls, Canada

OK just a warning this next story is little disturbing.

There are many reasons to visit Niagara Falls, the biggest reasons being of course THE NIAGARA FALLS! But another reason is to visit one of the most haunted places in Canada, the Screaming Tunnel. It is said that if you enter the tunnel at night with only a single wooden match, you will hear the screams of a little girl who died in the tunnel. As I was researching this tunnel a few different stories came up about how this little girl died. All of them are super disturbing, and most of them say that she was assaulted and she burned to death. Clearly, whatever happened to the little girl was so traumatizing that she haunts the tunnel still screaming in pain.

I actually have family that lives in Niagara Falls, and next time I visit I am going to go and check out this tunnel!

4. New Orleans, USA

New Orleans is a wild area that is perfect for anyone who is into the “unusual”. The area is known for its legends of ghosts, vampires, werewolves and witches. You can enjoy numerous tours that will give you a good glimpse of all the haunted places in the city. New Orleans is also home to the first-ever vampire shop and is home to people who proclaim to be real vampires. Grab your garlic and crucifixes and enjoy exploring the Bourbon street.

5. Kilkenny, Ireland

Kilkenny is actually my favourite town in Ireland and it just happens to be known as the most haunted city in all of EUROPE! How wild is that? Kilkenny is a small medieval town that is the location of Ireland’s first-ever witch trail. It is also home to haunted rivers, pubs and castles and many people have reported seeing ghosts in the town throughout the centuries.

I went to a haunted bar in Kilkenny, Kyteler’s Inn, and saw a ghost! Ok, well I didn’t see a ghost while I was at the bar, but the next day while I was looking through the photos I took at the bar I found a ghost in the background of one of my selfies. How crazy is that?!