Spooky Places

Halloween Town-Bound

I am a HUGE fan of Halloween and all things that are spooky. OK, maybe I am not as gung-ho as I would have been, eh, let's say seven years ago, but I still love the Halloween stories, the spooky places, hayrides, pumpkin patches and the smell of cinnamon surrounding me.  That is why I love watching scary shows, movies too, if I am not home alone in this creepy, noises all through the night, house! 

What is it about Fall that makes the world a little more creepy?  A little more scary at night?  Why are we drawn to the abandoned, neglected places?  Is it because of fear?  How about those places that have been sitting for an extremely long time?  Or those where horrible things happened or stories have been told? 

I remember when I was in high school, my best friend and I loved Halloween and every year we would do something that would scare the crap out of us. One year we walked through a cemetery late at night and swear we saw shadows.  Another year we drove back by an old insane asylum that had been abandoned for years and we swear that someone was trying to chase us.  The fear was so real that I don't, to this day, know if there actually was anyone, but it was terrifying.  Then, our Senior year, we drove way out, into the country and there was a state park on one side of the road and a really old cemetery on the other and we saw Witches in the cemetery with a huge fire and cauldron dancing around.  It was well after midnight and we had to drive by twice to even believe our eyes.  To this day, we have no idea what was going on but it was crazy!

I have been looking around the internet for scary places, the kinds of places you see people obliviously waltzing into in horror movies, knowing full well that most or all of them will never make it out alive!  The only thing is, these places are not from the movies at all. 

1) Six Flags New Orleans

  

The New Orleans amusement park, Jazzland, opened in 2000 and Six Flags purchased it in 2002.  The park had a makeover to a Mardi Gras theme.  But, in 2005 a storm struck the area and this is what is left.  It sat deserted for years since Katrina.  Now it is owned by the City with tentative plans to put a mall in it's place. Now, it sits vacant and just plain creepy!  Enter if you dare, as an arrest for trespassing might be served...that is, if you make it out alive.

2) Danvers State Insane Asylum

   

Danvers State Hospital is located in Massachusetts and is old enough to have been known as the State Lunatic Hospital and other lovely monikers.  It was crowded during the 1920s and 30s and is rumored to have used shock therapy, drugs and frontal lobotomies on it's patients.  It is believed that this is the birthplace of those frontal lobotomies.

It closed in 1992 and has fallen into a state of creepy!  It was used in the 2001 horror film, "Session 9" and despite efforts to renovate the area, the spirits have not been very kind.  In 2006, some of the structures were demolished and apartments put in their place and in April 2007, ALL of the buildings and several of the construction trailers went up in flames.  All efforts to renovate have been stalled!

#supercreepy

3) The Domes

 

It is unknown who or why these giant, concrete, saucer-shaped domes were built out in the middle of Arizona's desert.  There is an oddity with the structure, the extreme neglect and when the sun goes down, you are served with a strong case of uneasiness.

They look like 50s era flying saucer replicas, but they were built in 1982 by an Electronics company.  They failed in 1983 and contaminated ground water was found at the site shortly after.  The cleanup was obviously, not a priority as the property went to a bank-owned property.  New owners took over in 2006 and yet, here these crazy building still sit.  So, would you pay money for these?  (I wouldn't - creepy!)

4) Holy Land, USA  

This place was once an 18 acre theme park in Waterbury, Connecticut.  It has it's peak in the 1960's and 70's and had upwards of 40,000 visitors per year.  In 1984, it closed for renovations, but it's owner, John Greco, passed away in 1986 and no one was sure what to do with it since.  

Nuns have watched the property over the years, as it sits and deteriorates and get's creepier and creepier.

From the crumbling statues, dark and still structures and vandalism don't make you want to run far, far away, there is fact that a teenager was murdered on these grounds in 2010.  Police reports show instances of trespassing, there are few people around the area, leaving it completely isolated.

#thanksbutnothanks

5) Ordour

  

Let's  go acrossed the pond, shall we.  Just down the road from a village called Oradour-sur-Glane, France, there is an original village called Oradour-sur-Glane- or what once was.  One June 10th 1944, the village was confused with nearby Oradour-sur-Vayres by a Nazi Panzer unit, where it was believed that a Waffen SS officer was being held by the villagers.  The Nazis massacred 642 men, women and children with incendiary devices and machine gun fire before the mistake was cleared up. This was pretty much the whole population of the town. 

The French President, Charles DeGaulle, ordered the town to be rebuilt, but he also ordered that the ruins of the old town should stay as a reminder to all.  

#ghosttownforreals

6. Beelitz Heilstatten Military Hospital

  

The former sanatorium southwest of Berlin, was built to deal with an explosion of tuberculosis in the late 1800s, and expanded twice throughout the next few decades.  It was put to use as a military hospital during both World Wars. Adolf Hilter recuperated from a leg wound here, as a young soldier in 1915.  It has seen death and crazy within it's walls.  The hospital was under the control of the Soviet Union until the country ceased to exist in the early 90s, and has stoop empty since.

There have been attempts at restoration and thoughts of demolishing the site have been toyed with as well.  But still, it stands, creepier than ever.  Urban explorers love this place and has been used as a set for films like, The Pianist.

#neverbeensocreepedoutbyapicture

7. Bhangarh, India

      

Bhangarh is an abandoned town in the state of Rajasthan, India.  It has become a tourist attraction.  There are no pictures of the place at night, because setting foot in the place at night is strictly forbidden, and Indian Government is very serious about that fact.  

The government lets people in to view but grudgingly. The legend that goes with the place is about a Heartbroken Magician who cursed the place in the 16th century after being rejected by the kingdom's princess, and all who lived within it with death- without the possibility of rebirth, which is kind of part and parcel of the Hindu religion.  So people living here are cursed not just with death, but with serious, permanent death. 

A sign outside of the small town reads, "Entering the borders of Bhangarh after sunset is strictly prohibited,"  and they do not promise paranormal activity, it is probably a good chance that that contributes to the sign.

8)  Suburbs of Lehigh Acres, Florida

Lehigh Acres is a sad place.  In the 1950s, Businessmen Gerald Gould and Lee Ratner (who earned his wealth by selling D-Con rat poison) divided up a huge stretch of land in southern Florida, owned by Ratner and made tiny half-acre parcels that we then sold to Northerners for a low price.  At ten bucks down and ten a month, it seemed like a bargain.  The down side was that there was no schools, roads, or running water.  A very few houses were built.  Many of the lots were resold when checks stopped coming in, and the place was barren by the 1980s.

When the real estate started to boom again in the late 1990's, hundreds of cheap, quick houses started flying up on those old lots that the baby boomers inherited from their parents.  To many houses went up than what could met the demand to live there.  When the real estate bubble popped, the suburbs of Lehigh Acres became a ghost town.

There are blocks with only one or two occupied homes and more without even that.  Plants, flowers and alligators rule over the empty lands. 

#spookytown

9. Discover Hut

Discovery Hut is located in Antarctica built by the party of explorer Robert Falcon Scott during the Discovery Expedition of 1901 to 1904. This was the second time anyone had ever tried to explore the region, and the first time in sixty years.  The hut is frozen solid, which is why it has been preserved so well.

This is a drafty little hut that sits in one of the coldest regions on the planet.  Inside you will find seal carcasses, meat and blubber, snow, ice and despair. The hut is sat, vacant for decades upon decades but stands as it does due to being in the middle of a deep freeze.

10. Anderlecht Veterinary School

This building is the last un-renovated building out of nineteen in a complex located in Anderlecht, Brussels.  This building was a veterinary complex and has stood deserted since the 1990s. 

The crumbling halls lead to rooms that are each full of more horrifying stuff than the last.  Old, hand-blown bottles of questionable fluids, syringes and other old, rusty medical equipment still stand in their given places. The main attractions are the animal heads and brains as well as assorted parts that have been stuffed into jars throughout the building.  It has appropriately been given the nickname, "Horror Labs", as some of the parts are still recognizable. 

This is fairly popular urban exploration destination, as it is not for the weak stomach fellows.

Hope you are not too spooked!  It's all in good fun, after all!

Until next time...if there is one... (ha ha ha ha ha)

I am working on OHIO spooky spots...should I add Gray Gables? 

~Kelley

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