Haunted Halloween tours
With Halloween looming, and everyone getting their costumes and trick or treat bags ready, Cheapflights has rounded out the top 10 creepiest tours from around the world.
From Chicago to India and in between there's no escaping spooky cemeteries, witch curses, headless ghosts of queens and clanging chains of prisoners long gone.
Scare yourself silly this Halloween, because we’ve picked our top five haunted tours from around the world to freak you out!
Ararat, Victoria, Australia
More than 13,000 people died at the Arandale Asylum over its dark 130 history, with the facility, located in country Victoria, the site of some of the most controversial psychiatric experiments in Australian history.
Today, the asylum is a true ghost town with around 70 abandoned buildings.
To explore this spooky spot, tours on offer include sleepovers across the weekend, with bizarre stories of the brutal treatment of patients and eerie night-time walk-throughs of the wards, operating theatres and morgue.
Salem, Massachusetts
Witchcraft is deeply ingrained in the history and reputation of Salem, where the infamous Salem Witch Trials took place in 1692.
Dive into the truly dark details surrounding the trials and throughout the city's past on a Spellbound Tour, where you'll visit the location of an old Witch Dungeon and the second oldest cemetery in the U.S.
For something a bit further off the beaten historical track, choose the Salem Tunnel Tour, where you’ll be guided to various locations in the city and hear ghost tales from a medium, as well as learning up on conspiracy theories that are ingrained into the city’s culture.
Edinburgh, Scotland
Edinburgh is said to be the most haunted city in Scotland, and with many underground tunnels and streets it's no surprise why.
In Old Town, Mary King's Close, a street now enclosed underground, is said to be where victims of the plague in the mid-1600s were quarantined and left to die.
Explore the ins and outs of the city’s underground history with a City of the Dead tour, where you’ll discover the South Bridge Vaults – abandoned pubs and shops that allegedly run rife with paranormal activity.
Rajasthan, India
It is believed that Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan, India, about four hours from Delhi, is the most haunted place in India.
The fort is supposedly cursed by a sorcerer living in the city who attempted, but failed to make the palace princess fall in love with him, in turn cursing the palace residents to death.
Select travel operators in India offer independent haunted tours of the area, but it is still prohibited for tourists to visit this unique site between sunset and sunrise, according to the Archaeological Survey of India.
In an even scarier twist, local residents claim that no one who has stayed in the ruins after sunset has returned.
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Chicago’s history is wrought with criminal activity and tragic happenings, which have left a spooky spell over the city today.
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 tore through the heart of the city, leaving at least 300 people dead, while the 1920s and 1930s saw mobs running the city, killing innocent victims.
The historically based Chicago Hauntings tours touch upon all this and more including Bachelors Grove Cemetery often referred to as one of the most haunted cemeteries in the world.
Spectators have admitted to seeing headstones moving as well as apparitions roaming the area at night.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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