Haunted Places

The first church in Wilmington, North Carolina, St. James Parish has survived war, disease, and over 300 years of changes. But some of the churches' oldest parishioners aren't ready to leave their congregation behind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Located in southern Belgium, La-Roche-En-Ardenne is a small medieval village. Though picturesque and peaceful today, legend says the town was the site of a devastating deal with the devil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Boston Harbor, a pentagonal-shaped military fort sits on Georges Island. Originally intended as a defense against foreign powers, the fort became a prison for confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Its most famous resident, a woman who broke in to free her captured lover, still haunts the parapets today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Beginning in the 1990s, Melbourne’s Hosier Lane became a mecca for graffiti artists. But the neon painted patterns hide a sinister secret: a murderous ghost has been haunting this alleyway for over 100 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For 150 years, this mysterious vessel has traversed the Platte River in Wyoming. It appears as a boat with frosted sails that emerges from an inexplicable fog. And it brings visions of death and destruction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This French baroque house in Beijing has been many things: a colonial officer's house, a missionary school, and a general's residence. Every iteration has left its mark, leaving neighbors to claim it's haunted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Known as Toronto’s Camelot, this 1914 replica of a Medieval castle remains an imposing figure in the city skyline. A decade after its completion, the financiers who built it went broke and were forced to move out. But people say their spirits refused to leave. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This uninhabited island off the coast of Thailand may look like a secluded paradise. But with century-old graveyards and a history of malaria outbreaks, hundreds of people call this island home — just none of them are living. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In downtown Milwaukee, the Pfister Hotel is an elegant time capsule from the Victorian era. But the architecture isn’t all that’s been preserved… The spirit of the builder’s son haunts these halls, looking to live up to his father’s reputation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kryžių Kalnas is a small hill in northern Lithuania that is completely covered in crosses. Going back to 1850, it's been the site of religious persecution and a battle between freedom and oppression. Fallen souls from that struggle still haunt it today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Fayetteville, Arkansas, locals speak of a secret mountain hidden in the Ozarks. The souls of Ghost Mountain's isolated residents are still said to haunt the area today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A romantic restaurant in a trendy NYC neighborhood occupies a building with a storied history. Since the 1700s, it’s been used as a firehouse, a brothel, even a carriage house for notorious politician Aaron Burr. Its walls may still be occupied by those early residents… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the hills near Athens, Greece is a labyrinth of tunnels called Davelis Caves. Over the millennia, it has been used by shadowy religious groups, cults, and even by top secret government projects. Some say the ancient grotto has powerful physical properties that draw people in. Others are convinced it's haunted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Once the home of the acclaimed Grand Ole Opry, Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium has played host to decades of stars. Some of them never left. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A New York home was the site of a brutal family murder in 1974. When a new family moved in less than a year later, they lasted just weeks before being driven out by bizarre and horrifying events. The house is featured in the opening scenes of The Conjuring Two. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1980, a family in Connecticut encountered a demon while checking out a rental home. Paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren were brought in to help, inspiring The Conjuring film franchise's third installment, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. The building became known as the Brookfield House... and many believe the demon still lurks there, waiting for its next victim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A single mother and her four children are plagued by paranormal activity at their house in Enfield, England. Everyone who visits has a different explanation for its terrors — medieval yeomen, an evil magician, “ten naughty things''... The haunting becomes one of the most well-publicized cases in modern history, and the inspiration for The Conjuring 2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The original film of The Conjuring franchise was inspired by a centuries-old Rhode Island property. Built in 1736, the Old Arnold Estate was allegedly once the home of a satanic witch. When the Perron family moved into the home in 1973, they reawakened her spirit — and famed paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren showed up to investigate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 16th-century England, the Black Monk House was a seat of power, a magnet for intrigue, and the tragic scene of terrible bloodshed which reverberated through the ages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Romania's Transylvania region is notorious for its connection to vampires, but it’s also home to one of the most haunted places in the world. And while the Hoia Baciu Forest may seem like a place of great beauty, it’s a hotspot for paranormal activity, disappearances, and murder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1900, a category 4 hurricane reached the shores of Galveston, Texas and swept through the city, killing thousands. A decade later, Hotel Galvez opened its doors, offering a grand seaside stay to vacationing visitors… and to souls who never left. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A 19th-century Australian jail was notorious for its poor living conditions and roughly 100 deaths, including 42 hangings. Queensland’s last execution is allegedly the main source of the prison’s hauntings — a ghost who’s known to harass both prisoners and guards, the latter of whom would do anything to avoid working the night shift. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Craftsman-style home in Spokane, Washington has attracted misery and misfortune ever since it was first built in 1916. Haunted by victims of the “Mad Doctor of South Hill,” the house has undergone extensive renovations over the years — but some horrors are built into its foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This graveyard is home to one of Chicago's most famous ghosts, Resurrection Mary. Supposedly, she's been around since the 1930s, when she died en route to a dance hall. And since then, it seems she hasn't stopped dancing at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This 11th-century fortress was built on a pre-Roman spiritual site, which might explain the strange sounds many hear through its walls. It was also once home to a young girl nicknamed Azzurrina. According to legend, she disappeared from the cellar and was never seen again. But some say she never left. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

San Francisco’s smallest public park is said to be haunted by the woman it’s named after: Mary Ellen Pleasant. But she's more than just a ghost throwing nuts at passersby. She’s one of America’s first Black millionaires, and she’s getting her due after a shocking betrayal… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Belize, the ruins of Xunantunich were once a prosperous Mayan city. After the Mayan civilization mysteriously collapsed, the city became home to the legendary Stone Woman — a ghost who may just hold the key to understanding what happened to the great empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dracula wasn’t the only frightful fiction conjured by Irish author Bram Stoker… In this retelling of “The Judge’s House,” a Cambridge student is overcome with curiosity — then dread — as he faces an evil man’s terrifying legacy. Listen to Part 1 right here, then search “Haunted Places: Ghost Stories” to hear Part 2, when the Judge himself comes calling… Haunted Places: Ghost Stories is a Spotify Original from Parcast. Every Thursday, find a new tale of terror from some of history’s greatest authors. Listen free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Famous for the cry "Remember the Alamo!” many of the site's ghosts are the 800 lives lost in the infamous battle. Yet there's something else lurking in the Alamo's walls — something that made even the soldiers afraid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Once an institution for the mentally and physically disabled, Pennhurst Asylum has been shut down for over twenty years. But that doesn't mean that some of its most notorious residents aren't still there today… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Chicago Water Tower was one of the few structures in the city to survive the great fire of 1871. But the original building isn't the only reminder that remains of that harrowing evening… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While today's Mackinac Island might conjure up images of bicycles and ice cream shops, it was once the site of vicious battles between French, American, and British armies — so when you step off the ferry, be wary of the ghosts still wandering today… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The most haunted place in Sweden lies isolated in the countryside. It's an old priest's house, but there's more than just the spirit of God walking through its walls… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Built in 1802 and operational for nearly 140 years, the Old City Jail in Charleston, South Carolina saw the deaths of over fourteen thousand people — and some of them, like ten-year-old Alonzo Small, are thought to still inhabit the imposing stone fortress. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the winter of 1846, a group of pioneers became trapped in a prison of ice, forced to perform unspeakable acts to survive. Now, the Donner Party is memorialized in Truckee, California. But the park’s pristine trails hold much more than nature’s abundance… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Since its establishment in 1855, the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D.C. has been a place of science and wonder. Its hallowed halls have seen generations of brilliant minds dedicated to their work — and it seems some of them carried their commitments beyond the grave. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Deep in the Alaskan wilderness is a harrowing dog-sled course. But it's not just the snow or terrain that makes this race dangerous — it’s the ghosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nicknamed the Grande Dame of New Orleans, this opulent hotel is known for its Carousel Bar and its location one block away from Bourbon Street. But it's also known for its spirits, and this doesn't just mean beverages. Here, “favorite haunt" takes on a different meaning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This cave system in England was once the site of a secret club for London's elite. But if you visit today, you'll find more than just stories of old rituals and debaucherous evenings. You might catch a glimpse of a woman in a wedding dress, telling you to leave. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we’re bringing you a special episode from another Spotify Original from Parcast. If you enjoy it, check out Mythology on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts! She’s the spirit of a woman, crying unceasingly for her lost children… whom she herself killed. But La Llorona isn’t simply a tragic figure who lost her mind with jealousy. She’s the ghost of Mexico’s bloody past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A historic residence in Salem, Massachusetts has a particularly witchy history: it sits atop the foundation of the home of George Corwin — the sheriff responsible for arrests and executions during the Salem Witch Trials. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An 11-mile stretch of highway between two suburbs in Denver, Colorado is desolate and lonely during the day. But at night, it comes alive with ghosts and demons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Afraid his mother, Catherine the Great, would have him assassinated, Russian Emperor Paul I built a fortress to protect himself. But after a shocking betrayal, death entered the castle… and with it, spectral soldiers, swirling fog, and a blue-eyed man with a grimace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 1928 murder of a Dutch faith healer led to not only one of Pennsylvania’s last witch trials, but one of the state’s most haunted homes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A psychic appears on a local talk show and predicts a serial killer's Halloween massacre on a college campus. That campus is your campus — and as the Halloween “fun” begins, you can only hope you're strong enough to change the grisly fate the psychic foretold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices