Places They Could Write Horror Movies About
The world is a huge place full of so much beauty and wonder. But, just like it is filled with beauty, it is also filled with things that are a bit more on the scary side.
There are some places on Earth, either made by people or creations of nature, that would make excellent backdrops for a scary movie.
Mother Shipton's Cave And The Petrifying Well, England
Mother Shipton was said to be a sorceress who could see the future and did not see a very bright one. But the thing that drew so many people to her home was a natural well close by that could turn anything into "stone."
We now know that it is due to the high mineral content in the water, but a scary movie about a cursed well and a doomsday witch is one that I would watch.
La Isla De Las Muñecas, Mexico
I think that we can all agree that there is something about dolls that doesn't sit quite right. They've long been the center of scary stories involving possessions and evil spirits. That's why The Island of Dolls would make the perfect place to set a horror movie. The island is small but full of dolls hanging from the trees...not to mention the giant spiders that live there too.
The dolls were put there by a man who lived on the island after he had found the body of a little girl in the water. He put the dolls out to keep her company.
Deadman's Island, Wales
Deadman's Island is a place that isn't very well-known, and from first appearances, it seems like any other island. But there is a reason it has such an ominous name. Recently, coastal erosion has revealed some dark secrets, mainly a large number of buried bodies.
The island is littered with wooden coffins and skeletons sticking out from the mud, and since no one lives on the island, they remain untouched. There are even rumors that there are giant black dogs that roam the island eating the heads of the dead that had been left there.
Hill Of Crosses, Lithuania
The Hill of Crosses is a site of pilgrimage in northern Lithuania. It's still not clear how the Hill of Crosses came to exist, but it's generally thought that it was erected after the 1831 uprising. Over the years, it's not just crosses that have accumulated, but rosaries and statues of the Virgin Mary as well. It has since become a very holy place among Catholics and a symbol of resistance.
However, there is something a little unsettling and eerie about the destination. People who have visited the site say there is a weird energy about the place.
Boglands, Ireland
A bog is a type of wetland that accumulates peat, which is essentially decaying plants. On their own, the bogs are already something reminiscent of a fairy tale that could take a turn at any moment. However, the bogs often carry secrets, namely some very well-preserved bodies and artifacts of people from the past.
There have been a total of 17 bodies found so far in the Irish bogs. Some of them had been buried properly, but the majority of them bore the telltale signs of ritual sacrifice. Pretty great setup for a scary story, no?
Denver Airport, Colorado
You might not think of "scary" when you think of airports—apart from the ways airports are already a bit scary, like the fear of missing your flight. The Denver Airport in Colorado is going to challenge that view in a big way.
One of the most notable features is the giant blue horse with red glass eyes lovingly referred to as "Blucifer." But that's not all. With ties to the Freemasons, gargoyles coming out of suitcases, and questionably violent murals, the Denver Airport would be the perfect setting for a puzzling, scary story.
Centralia, Pennsylvania
On the surface, Centralia doesn't seem like much more than your typical American ghost town. If you look closer, though, you might start to notice steam coming up from cracks in the asphalt and big signs telling you to be careful of a coal mine fire...which has been burning underground since 1962.
As you can imagine, this makes the area very volatile with the presence of dangerous gases and the threat of the ground collapsing under you at any time. Imagine being chased by zombies through a place like this?
Nagoro, Japan
Dolls are creepy enough as it is, but then you add a backstory and they work themselves into something from a horror movie. A woman returned home to the nearly abandoned city of Nagoro only to find she was incredibly lonely. So, she created a doll for each person who used to live in the village with her. There are about 350 life-sized dolls occupying the village.
Lakeview Cemetery, Ohio
Lakeview Cemetery has over 100,000 graves, but its most striking monument is Haserot's Angel. She sits on the grave of entrepreneur Francis Haserot and his family. While the statue is beautiful, she's quite unnerving. To many, it looks as though the angel is weeping black tears as it sits in a silent watch.
I don't know about you, but that's not something I'd want to run into in the middle of the night.
Helltown, Ohio
If there was ever a place deserving of a horror movie, it's Helltown, Ohio. It originally went by Boston, but that name didn't quite capture the atmosphere of the town. After the residents were forced to move out in 1974 to make room for a park, the stories of construction workers taking ill and being covered in rashes began to crop up.
It doesn't stop there. Helltown is also allegedly home to a church built by Satanists, complete with upside-down crosses, abandoned school buses full of ghosts, and—craziest of all—a mutant snake created by a spill in the dump.
Cemitério De Navios, Panguila, Angola
Walking out onto the beach of Cemitério de Navios in Angola, you'd feel like you were on the set of a post-apocalyptic thriller. There are thought to be at least 50 ships rotting away on the shore.
There are a few narratives about how the ships got there, like ships being blown away from shore during storms. Others think because the area was abandoned, the ships were brought there and left to rot.
Old Bluffton, Texas
There are ghost towns, and then there is Old Bluffton: a ghost town with an extra layer of mystery and spookiness. It used to be a pit stop along the way of a well-traveled stagecoach line and was home to only 50 families.
In 1937, Buchanan Dam was built and officials thought it would take years for a lake to form, but all it took was one especially rainy summer for Bluffton to be covered in water. Now, it remains under the waters of Lake Buchanan until a drought dries up the water to expose relics of the old town.
Herschel Island, Yukon Territory
Herschel Island is a place that is no stranger to sadness and loss. It was a bustling whaling town between 1890 and the 1900s. It was a town that hosted luxurious balls and theatrical shows. However, not all was so rosy. In 1897, five men died while playing baseball because they got caught in an unexpected blizzard they couldn't escape from. Then, in 1907, the whaling industry collapsed and the town was largely left to the elements.
As time went on, Mother Nature took over, and large Inuvialuit graveyards began to emerge, leaving exposed bodies all over the island.
Son Doong Cave, Vietnam
Son Doong Cave is an incredible place. It's the world's largest natural cave, complete with its own free-flowing river, small patches of forest, and wildlife. It was originally discovered in 1991 by a local man who couldn't find the opening to the cave again until 2009.
It may not seem like a scary place, but being discovered so recently and teeming with life, it makes one wonder how many secrets the cave might still hold.
Craco, Italy
Craco just looks like the kind of place an archeological thriller would take place in. It was built on a very steep summit for defensive reasons, and it seems as though it juts out of the surrounding natural land. Tombs have been found there dating back to the 8th century. The city faced civil strife, wars, illness, and natural disaster before it was eventually abandoned.
Kawah Ijen Volcano, Indonesia
Volcanos are scary and unpredictable enough already, but there is something special about Kawah Ijen that makes it extra eerie. In a crater inside the volcano is a bright blue flame that's been known to reach as high as 16 feet high. The locals call it Api Biru. It's unlike anything else in the world and makes you wonder if it's hiding anything.
Ancient Ram Inn, Gloucestershire
The Ancient Ram Inn is thought to the most haunted place in the UK. It was built in 1145. Since then, it's been an inn, a priest's residence, and a public house. The building was built in an area that was thought to be rich with spiritual energy. It's also thought to be haunted by a witch. Inside the inn, evidence of ritual sacrifice has been found. People who have stayed there have been so afraid that they've jumped out of windows and left personal belongings behind.
Sloss Furnace, Alabama
Sloss Furnace looks like the kind of place that an industrial horror film from the future would take place in. It was built in 1882 as a pig-iron–producing blast furnace. It was impressive for its time, but it came at a great cost.
There have been 53 recorded deaths there. There have been reports of strange presences, and even a half-man, half-demon who would try to push people down the stairs. There was even a report of a man who was found unconscious covered in burns the night before Sloss closed its doors for good.
Chaitén, Chile
The town of Chaitén faced disaster in 2008, when a nearby volcano erupted for the first time in 9,000 years. Shortly afterward, a lahar caused the banks of a nearby river to collapse, bringing water into the ash-covered town. Images captured of the town during the disaster show an eerie, gray place.
Hoia-Baciu Forest, Romania
Hoia-Baciu Forest has also been called the "Bermuda Triangle of Romania." It is reportedly one of the most haunted forests in the world. The trees are crooked, and even in the middle of summer, they have a creepy air to them. It's said that ghosts and spirits live in the crooked trees.
There is a story of a young girl who wandered into the forest and returned five years later with no memory of where she was, and the story of a shepherd who disappeared and was never seen again. There are also rumors of alien sightings, as well, because the supernatural elements weren't creepy enough.
