Most Haunted European Destinations

Can you brave Europe's 20 spookiest places?

Sinister apparitions. The walking dead. Ghost carriages and the eternal shades of dogs and horses.

Europe is home to many tourist attractions, but there is a darker aspect of the continent that might appeal to lovers of the paranormal. Haunted forests, castles with plenty of bumps in the night, ghostly cities with ghoulish underground ossuaries and terrifying tales of murder and unrest await visitors.

Why not diverge from the regular tourist route and delve beneath the surface of this fabulously creepy continent?

Europe can be creepy any time of year, but the run up to Halloween is just the time to explore these 20 destinations that bring out the continent’s quirky, fun and truly terrifying aspects.

The Catacombs — Paris, France

The Paris Catacombs is a vast underground network of tunnels and cemeteries housing the dead. Getty Images

“Halt, this is the realm of Death” may not be the warmest greeting, but it’s the perfect preparation for entering the creepy Paris Catacombs. A vast underground network of tunnels and cemeteries housing the dead, the Paris Catacombs contain six million skeletons in an area spanning almost 300 kilometers.

The former limestone mines were historically converted into a massive graveyard as crowded cemeteries closed and ghoulish remains were hidden 20 meters below the city’s surface. Today, the catacombs are a morbid museum and those braving the tour traverse eerie tunnels of human bones arranged in macabre designs as they reflect upon their own mortality.

Paris Museums recommends booking your tour eight weeks in advance and discourages the faint of heart from attending.

Bran Castle — Transylvania, Romania

Bran Castle is the fictional (or is it?) home of Dracula. Getty Images

Are you brave enough to celebrate Halloween with the Vampires? You can at Transylvania’s Bran Castle. Commanding the landscape from a high rock, Bran Castle perches between fiction and history — and really, whose blood hasn’t run cold at the thought of Dracula, the fictional vampire who made the site famous?

Author Bram Stoker drew upon local myths of blood-sucking creatures to create his famous character. Vlad the Impaler, the king Stoker also tapped to create Dracula, was a fierce opponent of the Turks, known to have impaled thousands of them upon stakes, further cementing the ghoulish castle’s bloody literary tradition. Though not directly tied to Vlad the Impaler, the castle inspired the author while he wrote his classic novel.

Spooky Bran Castle is open to visitors any time of year, but Vampires celebrate the New Year on Halloween. Join their Halloween party, where Vlad the Impaler hosts a night tour of Dracula’s Castle, ending with a courtyard serving of blood-red red wine. Bring your scariest costume for the adult-only Halloween after-party!

Tower of London — London, England

The Tower of London was the site of several executions. Getty Images

Home to royals, a fortress and a prison, the Tower of London ranks among England’s most haunted locations. Over nearly a thousand years it has seen nine beheadings and several other executions — and its brooding walls have kept people out as well as in.

Its past is notorious as a haunted prison. Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, has been seen carrying her head and there are reports of ghostly visions of the botched execution of Margaret Pole, a sixteenth-century Countess of Salisbury, who was hacked to death as she ran from the headsman. The haunting sounds of children playing through the corridors are attributed to the two lost princes, maybe murdered by their uncle in a bid for the throne.

Visitors to the Tower can expect to see execution sites and the church where victims were buried, while the especially daring can brave the Tower Twilight Tour. The tour includes the Traitors’ Gate, the Scaffold Site and the Bloody Tower, with spine-tingling tales of prisoners and past residents.

Edinburgh Castle — Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh Castle is a supernatural hotbed — scientifically proven! Getty Images

The most haunted castle in Scotland has dominated the capital’s skyline for over 900 years. Edinburgh Castle, the strategic key to the kingdom, is a supernatural hotbed. Many have heard the sound of a ghostly drummer, as well as eerie bagpipes. Sightings of a ghostly dog have been recorded in the dog cemetery and the gruesome torture chamber, which you can see on castle tours, is an easily assumed source of poltergeist unrest.

Visitors beware, some spooks were the subject of a 2001 psychology study that had more than 200 participants, many of whom had strange experiences in the most haunted parts of the castle, including temperature drops, feelings of being touched or watched and visions of misty figures. If that’s not enough to chill your blood, don’t miss out on Edinburgh’s ghost tours, any of which will be certain to raise goosebumps!

Frankenstein’s Castle — Darmstadt, Germany

Castle Frankenstein hosts the biggest Halloween party in Germany. aaronj_chase / Aaron Chase / Instagram

Mary Shelley, author of “Frankenstein,” traveled to Castle Frankenstein to find tales of a frightening alchemist seeking immortality through strange experiments. He supposedly created a monster, which lurked in the woods enticing virgins to play until they disappeared forever. Today, Castle Frankenstein is open year-round for individual tours and functions.

The destination is at its spookiest in October, when it hosts the biggest Halloween party in Germany. Up to 100 monsters and zombies fill the castle with stage shows and scary dinners. For a medieval fright, visitors venture up the tower to find out just how gruesome the Middle Ages were.

Dragsholm Castle — Zealand, Denmark

Dragsholm Castle dates to the 12th century and is home to three ghosts. Getty Images

Ancient and haunted, Dragsholm Castle dates to the 12th century and is home to three ghosts, who, unlike visitors, never leave the premises.

The most famous ghost is the Scottish Earl of Bothwell, third husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Through a series of misadventures he found himself imprisoned here, went mad and died in captivity. His ghost has been seen riding a carriage, hopefully to freedom. The spectral Gray Lady is thought to be a former servant grateful for having been cured of a toothache, returning to make sure the castle’s inhabitants are comfortable.

On a darker note, there is the more tragic White Lady, the shade of a noble girl walled up alive by her father upon discovering her illicit affair. Frighteningly, in the early 20th century, a girl’s skeleton was found in a wall.

Dragsholm Castle welcomes visitors today as a hotel, so between the beautiful surroundings, great food and fun activities offered, you may also meet a ghost.

Leap Castle — Coolderry, Ireland

Leap Castle calls itself the world’s most haunted and has stories to back this claim. libbygutgesell / Libby Gutgesell / Instagram

Fortress, home and tomb, Leap Castle calls itself the world’s most haunted. Built on a Druid site atop powerful ley lines, complete with a long and bloody history, it has collected a colorful assortment of haunts, including It, a small, sheep-sized creature summoned in the early 1900s by a resident occultist. A murdered priest, stabbed by his brother in a rivalry over clan leadership as he celebrated mass and a knife-wielding Red Lady and her two little girls also stalk the premises.

Taking fright to a new level, a shaft found in the course of a renovation contained three cartloads of skeletons impaled upon spikes. Visitors have experienced mists, sounds and even a ghostly touch. Leap Castle has appeared on Ghost Hunters and TV’s Most Haunted.

Castello Della Castelluccia — Rome, Italy

The ghost of Emperor Nero wanders the path from his grave to the Castello Della Castelluccia. castellodellacastelluccia / Instagram

The Castello Della Castelluccia has offered respite since the mid-14th century. Built on the site of an ancient Roman Villa, it’s a romantic spot for the living. At the same time, it’s also home to a variety of eccentric spectators.

Apparently unable to rest, the mad Emperor Nero wanders the path from his grave to the Castello Della Castelluccia. Ghostly horses streak through the premises and if you’re interested in turning metal into gold, watch out for the shade of the alchemist who died in the tower by lightning strike in the 1600s.

Located in the countryside north of Rome, the Castello Della Castelluccia offers outdoor sports, and a comfortable welcome with just a slight chill. Visitors might even get to say they shared digs with Nero.

Chillingham Castle — Chillingham, England

At Chillingham Castle, a perpetually thirsty white lady appears requesting drinks of water. randomtimes_com / Instagram

Feel the chill at England’s most haunted castle. Take the ghost tour, join an all-night ghost vigil or even stay overnight. The 12th-century Chillingham Castle in Northumberland combines a sojourn to medieval times with modern comforts and an array of paranormal activity.

A perpetually thirsty white lady appears periodically requesting drinks of water. Voices are heard in the chapel, invisible moving things are felt and ghosts can be glimpsed in the courtyard. Visitors can book a Halloween tour or a more involved vigil. The castle takes its spooks seriously enough to retain its own paranormal team known as “Chillingham Castle Uncovered.”

Hoia-Baciu Forest — Cluj-Napoca, Romania

The 700 acre Hoia-Baciu Forest is known as the Bermuda Triangle of Romania. 10000.miles / Nat Melissa / Instagram

The world’s most haunted forest is near the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Known as the Bermuda Triangle of Romania, the 700-acre Hoia-Baciu Forest once swallowed a shepherd and 200 sheep. A 5-year-old girl went missing here and reappeared five years later, unchanged and wearing the same clothes. The trees of Hoia-Baciu grow in counterclockwise spirals and the apparent ground zero of the paranormal activity is centered around a circle where nothing can grow.

Visitors report feelings of fatigue and in one instance a man remembered everything in his life while in the forest, only to forget it moments later upon leaving. Others have seen UFOs, and ghosts and orbs have been photographed. The Hoia-Baciu truly rivals the Dracula legend in the area and visitors enter it at their own risk.

Houska Castle — Blatce, Czech Republic

Houska Castle is called the “Gateway to Hell” for good reason. yuliya___bazilewitch / Instagram

A beautifully preserved 13th-century castle known as the Gateway to Hell, Houska Castle has a terrifying reputation. The fortress served as an administrative center until it the early 19th century and was later a site of Nazi experimentation. Local legend says it was built to contain demons from a hellish hole, now set under the chapel. The facade looks as if it might be trying to keep something in and locals tell stories of terrifying animal/human hybrids and flying creatures emerging from the hole.

The castle has been featured by Ghost Hunters International and Most Haunted Live. Houska Castle hosts tours and events.

Mary King’s Close — Edinburgh, Scotland

Mary King’s Close is a fragment of Edinburgh’s old city. nbarrphoto / Neil Barr / Instagram

Strange lights. A ghostly woman in black. Mary King’s Close is a fragment of Edinburgh’s old city hidden deep beneath the Royal Mile. Once a bustling tenement, the close was struck by the bubonic plague in the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th century, the place was so dilapidated that the city removed its inhabitants and built the Royal Exchange on top of it.

A little girl named Annie has haunted the close since her death from the plague and visitors often leave her a doll. Strange lights and sharp drops in temperature have been experienced since the 17th century.

The close is open for tours and access is possible for paranormal research. Halloween tours are available with a focus on witchcraft throughout October.

The Capuchin Museum and Crypt — Rome, Italy

Thousands of skeletons lay beneath the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini church in the center of Rome. Erlin Krotpong / Flickr

About 3,700 skeletons lay beneath the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini church in the center of Rome.

Believed to contain the remains of Capuchin friars, the ossuary is organized into six underground chapels, including the Crypt of the Skulls and the Crypt of the Pelvises.

The bones are displayed in chillingly ornate arrangements, designed to help you reflect upon your own mortality. The site is maintained by local Capuchin monks, who lead visitors on regular tours.

Black Forest — Germany

The Black Forest is Germany’s most infamous haunted spot. Getty Images

This aptly named forest, where the sun is blocked out by densely packed trees, has inspired some seriously spooky tales. The forest was said to inspire the Brothers Grimm as they wrote their classic dark fairy tales “Rapunzel,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Hansel and Gretel.” It’s also featured prominently in the famed Gothic novel “Necromancer; or, The Tale of the Black Forest.”

According to legend, the forest is home not only to ghosts, but also to mythological creatures like werewolves, witches and sorcerers.

Windsor Castle — London, England

Windsor Castle has a storied past and tales of royal ghosts. Getty Images

The ghost of Henry VIII has been heard shouting and seen dragging himself through the corridors, his second wife Anne Boleyn appears weeping, Queen Elizabeth I appears clad in black stating that she is married to England and Mad King George III peeks from the windows.

Windsor Castle has been a royal residence for 900 years and it seems many of its residents have never left.

Visitors can visit the castle and take the Windsor Ghost Tour, a spooky walk through the city’s past including stories of the Castle.

Blokhuispoort — Leeuwarden, Netherlands

Blokhuispoort witnessed several public executions. Gouwenaar / Wikimedia Commons

A prison from 1580 to 2007, Blokhuispoort has seen its fair share of horrifying incidents — and the victims of those traumas continue to haunt the fortress today.

In the 17th century, people were tortured and publically executed here. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it housed a sick ward with tuberculosis patients. Take a tour through the building, now a museum, to hear the stories of the tragic spirits who continue to roam its dimly lit halls.

Palazzo Dario — Venice, Italy

Several of Palazzo Dario’s owners have met tragic fates. Getty Images

Take a boat ride along the Grand Canal in Venice and you’ll see many historic facades lining the waterway. But be warned that one is cursed: Palazzo Dario, aka “the house that kills.”

A staggering number of people who’ve owned the five-century-old building over the years have met dark fates, including an aristocrat who saw several of his family members killed, an opera performer who got in a serious car accident and a count who was murdered by his lover. For a time, it was owned by Kit Lambert, manager of The Who, but he allegedly stayed at a nearby hotel after one too many ghost sightings.

The Haunted Vicarage — Borgvattnet, Sweden

The Haunted Vicarage is so notorious that exorcisms have been attempted here. Airbnb

Hauntings at this circa-1876 vicarage date back to 1927, when the resident vicar first reported suspicious happenings. Tales of ghostly mischief — suspicious screams, rocking chairs rocking with no one in them, the spirits of old women seen sitting on the sofa — continued for decades.

The stories gained so much notoriety that, in the 1980s, an outside priest came to perform an exorcism to rid the place of its unwelcome residents. But his efforts were unsuccessful and people still report mysterious happenings today. Even some of the former vicars are said to roam here now.

As of recently, the house was operating as a small B&B.

Wolfsegg Castle — Germany

Wolfsegg Castle is haunted by a white-clad woman. luckyprof / Wikimedia Commons

The story of the ghost who haunts this striking Bavarian castle in the heart of a remote German village is a sad one. Legend has it that when the original owner of this 13th-century castle discovered his wife was having an affair, he had her killed in her chamber. Today, her spirit haunts the room she once lived in.

There is some indication that this story isn’t actually true and that the wife actually outlived her husband. But in any case, witnesses have long reported seeing a mysterious apparition of the “White Woman” wandering the castle. Who could she be?

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Amsterdam Dungeon has a variety of Halloween activities, as befits the city. Getty Images

With names like Blood Street and Spook Alley, pragmatic Amsterdam has its share of haunts.

The blood of condemned prisoners is said to have flowed through Blood Street as it drained into the canal and Spook Alley is the eternal home of the ghost of Helena, who killed her sister in a fit of jealousy. Nearby Dam Square is known after dark as home to the spirits of victims of the witch trials, while the nearby Amsterdam Dungeon, itself built over a medieval cemetery, offers a chilling exhibit of the city’s darker past.

To get the most out of Amsterdam’s haunted past, visitors can join a local ghost tour. The Amsterdam Dungeon also has a variety of frightening but fun Halloween activities.