From six million skeletons beneath Paris to a Mexican island populated by decaying dolls, these destinations prove that sometimes the best vacation stories begin after dark.
There are travelers who seek white-sand beaches, infinity pools and rooms with impeccable thread counts.
And then there are those of us who see the words underground ossuary containing the remains of millions of people and immediately start checking airfare.
Welcome to the darker side of travel.
Around the world, certain destinations have become famous not simply because they are beautiful or historic, but because something about them feels deliciously unsettling. Some are associated with documented tragedy. Others have accumulated centuries of folklore, ghost stories and legends that are impossible to prove but equally impossible to resist.
And a few?
A few contain thousands of human skulls.
In honor of spooky season, PALATE is traveling from the tunnels beneath Paris to the forests surrounding Mount Fuji in search of ten places that make Halloween attractions look positively adorable.
Pack comfortable shoes.
Maybe pack a flashlight.
And whatever you do, don’t wander off by yourself.
10. SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS
Where American history became permanently intertwined with witchcraft
The vibe: Colonial New England meets year-round Halloween.
Salem doesn’t need to manufacture a spooky backstory.
In 1692, more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, and 20 were ultimately executed. Centuries later, Salem has transformed that deeply tragic chapter of American history into an unusual combination of historic preservation, education and unabashed celebration of all things witchy.
Walk through downtown today and you’ll encounter historic homes beside occult shops, witch museums, ghost tours and visitors dressed as though October 31 is less a holiday than a lifestyle.
For travelers interested in the actual history, start at The Witch House, the former home of Judge Jonathan Corwin and the only surviving Salem structure with direct ties to the witch trials. The house dates to the 17th century and now interprets both everyday colonial life and the events of 1692.
October, however, is when Salem goes gloriously overboard.
The city’s month-long Haunted Happenings celebration draws enormous crowds, and 2026 is particularly significant: Salem is celebrating its 400th anniversary. This year’s festivities begin October 1 and culminate Halloween night with a 400-drone show over the North River.
How to get there: Fly into Boston Logan International Airport. Salem is roughly 16 miles north of Boston and can be reached by commuter rail, ferry seasonally, rideshare or car.
Where to stay: Stay downtown and ditch the car. The historic Hawthorne Hotel, overlooking Salem Common, puts you directly across from the Salem Witch Museum and within walking distance of many major attractions. Other central choices include The Hotel Salem, Salem Waterfront Hotel & Suites and The Merchant.
PALATE tip: October lodging can disappear astonishingly early. Destination Salem has previously advised travelers that October rooms can fill roughly a year ahead.
Scare factor: 👻👻👻½
9. BRAN CASTLE — TRANSYLVANIA, ROMANIA
The castle Dracula never actually lived in
The vibe: Gothic fantasy brought to life.
Pointy towers.
Stone staircases.
Foggy Carpathian mountains.
Transylvania.
Honestly, Bran Castle barely has to try.
The dramatic medieval fortress has become internationally synonymous with Count Dracula, although the relationship between the castle, Bram Stoker’s fictional vampire and Vlad III—better known as Vlad the Impaler—is considerably more complicated than souvenir shops would have you believe.
Bran Castle itself acknowledges the distinction: Dracula is Stoker’s fictional Transylvanian count, while Vlad Țepeș was a real Wallachian ruler. The castle became associated with Dracula largely because its dramatic position and appearance resemble descriptions in Stoker’s novel.
The fortress is real enough. Built at the end of the 14th century, it guarded the strategic Bran Pass between Transylvania and Wallachia before eventually becoming a royal residence and museum.
During October, the atmosphere becomes especially theatrical. Bran Castle has scheduled its 2026 Halloween programming for the period surrounding October 31.
How to get there: Most international travelers fly into Bucharest, then continue toward Brașov. Bran is approximately 30 kilometers southwest of Brașov, making the city an excellent base for exploring the region.
Where to stay: Stay in Brașov if you want restaurants, nightlife and easier transportation, or choose a guesthouse around Bran if waking up beneath the Carpathians sounds appropriately Gothic.
Make it a trip: Pair Bran with Brașov’s medieval Old Town and additional Transylvanian castles. Autumn—with turning leaves and mist settling over the mountains—is almost comically perfect.
Scare factor: 👻👻👻👻
8. THE TOWER OF LONDON — LONDON, ENGLAND
Nearly 1,000 years of executions, imprisonment and extremely unhappy royal residents
The vibe: Royal history with considerably more beheading.
The Tower of London has witnessed enough political intrigue to supply several seasons of prestige television.
William the Conqueror began constructing his fortress here around 1070. In the centuries that followed, the Tower served variously as fortress, palace, prison, treasury, armory, menagerie and execution site.
Its most famous doomed resident may be Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife, who was imprisoned and executed within the Tower complex in 1536.
And naturally, centuries of executions produced centuries of ghost stories.
Yeoman Warder tours openly incorporate tales of apparitions alongside the Tower’s documented stories of imprisonment, torture and execution.
Whether you believe any of those stories is beside the point.
Stand inside the stone fortress as London darkens around you and suddenly 1,000 years doesn’t feel nearly as long ago.
How to get there: This one is wonderfully easy. Tower Hill Underground station is about a five-minute walk away on the District and Circle lines. You can also arrive dramatically by boat at Tower Pier.
Where to stay: Base yourself around Tower Hill for maximum convenience, or stay across the Thames near London Bridge for spectacular nighttime views of Tower Bridge and the Tower precinct.
Don’t miss: A Yeoman Warder tour. The combination of British humor and gruesome royal history is half the experience.
Scare factor: 👻👻👻👻
7. EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY — PHILADELPHIA, USA
An abandoned prison where the architecture may be scarier than the ghost stories
The vibe: Gothic ruin meets psychological horror.
When Eastern State Penitentiary opened in 1829, its founders were attempting something revolutionary.
Instead of simply punishing prisoners, inmates would spend enormous amounts of time isolated from one another, supposedly contemplating their crimes and becoming penitent—hence the word penitentiary.
The concept became internationally influential. Eastern State’s radial design helped inspire hundreds of prisons around the world. Its inmates eventually included bank robber Willie Sutton and Al Capone. The prison closed in 1971.
Today, enormous cell blocks crumble beneath vaulted ceilings. Paint peels from walls. Rusting doors line abandoned corridors.
You honestly don’t need a ghost.
The building itself does the work.
But October takes things considerably further.
For 2026, Halloween Nights at Eastern State Penitentiary runs on select evenings from October 2 through November 7, with five immersive haunted houses, performances, historic experiences and more than 200 performers working within the abandoned prison complex.
How to get there: Eastern State sits in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood at 2027 Fairmount Avenue. Several SEPTA bus routes serve the area. During Halloween Nights, drivers park at the Philadelphia Zoo garage and take a shuttle because there is no event parking directly at the penitentiary.
Where to stay: Center City makes the most practical base, particularly around Logan Square or the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. You’ll remain close to Eastern State while also being within easy reach of Philadelphia’s museums and restaurants.
PALATE tip: Visit once during daylight for the history and return after dark for Halloween Nights. They’re fundamentally different experiences.
Spook factor: 👻👻👻👻½
6. ISLA DE LAS MUÑECAS — XOCHIMILCO, MEXICO
The Island of the Dolls
The vibe: Absolutely not.
Imagine floating through the peaceful canals of Xochimilco aboard a brightly painted trajinera.
There is music.
There is food.
There are flowers.
Then you turn a corner.
And hundreds of deteriorating dolls are staring at you from the trees.
Welcome to Isla de las Muñecas—the Island of the Dolls.
According to local legend, the island’s former caretaker, Julián Santana, believed the spirit of a young girl who drowned nearby haunted the area. He began hanging discarded dolls around his chinampa, reportedly believing they could ward off unwanted spirits.
Over decades, the collection multiplied.
Today the dolls remain: cracked faces, missing limbs and empty eye sockets weathered by years of sun and rain. Mexico City’s official tourism site describes the island as one of Xochimilco’s most enigmatic pieces of urban folklore.
How to get there: Xochimilco lies in southern Mexico City. Reaching the original Doll Island requires a longer trajinera excursion through quieter canals; tours marketed specifically for Isla de las Muñecas can run approximately four to five hours.
Where to stay: Don’t stay in Xochimilco solely for the island. Base yourself in central Mexico City—Roma Norte, Condesa or the historic center—and make Xochimilco a day trip.
PALATE tip: Confirm that your boat is visiting the original Isla de las Muñecas. The popularity of the legend has produced other doll displays around the canals.
Scare factor: 👻👻👻👻👻
Because no doll needs to be watching me from a tree.
5. SEDLEC OSSUARY — KUTNÁ HORA, CZECHIA
The church decorated with thousands of human bones
The vibe: Gothic interior design taken to its logical extreme.
From the outside, Sedlec’s Cemetery Church of All Saints looks almost peaceful.
Then you go downstairs.
The subterranean ossuary contains an extraordinary arrangement of human bones used to create garlands, pyramids, decorative flourishes and one of the most macabre chandeliers on Earth.
It isn’t a haunted-house attraction.
That’s what makes it more unsettling.
These aren’t props.
Sedlec belongs to Europe’s centuries-old tradition of ossuaries—places where human remains were preserved when burial space became scarce. The result is simultaneously art, religious meditation and an unavoidable reminder that every person in the room eventually shares the same destination.
How to get there: Kutná Hora makes an easy excursion from Prague and can be reached by train. The Sedlec complex sits outside the historic center of Kutná Hora.
Timed admission is important: the ossuary now limits capacity, and tickets are issued for specific dates and times.
Where to stay: Most visitors can comfortably return to Prague, making Sedlec an excellent day trip. But spending one night in Kutná Hora allows you to experience its medieval streets after the tour buses disappear.
Best for: Travelers fascinated by art history, medieval Europe and the strange ways humans have ritualized death.
Scare factor: 👻👻👻👻½
4. EDINBURGH’S UNDERGROUND & GREYFRIARS KIRKYARD — SCOTLAND
An entire city seemingly designed for ghost stories
The vibe: Harry Potter after three glasses of Scotch.
Edinburgh doesn’t merely have a haunted attraction.
Edinburgh feels haunted.
Medieval stone buildings tower over narrow closes. Alleys disappear beneath buildings. Cemeteries lean against ancient walls. Whole portions of older Edinburgh survive underground.
Which is why choosing one spooky attraction seems unfair.
Start with Greyfriars Kirkyard, where centuries-old gravestones crowd around one another beneath looming Gothic architecture. The cemetery has inspired generations of ghost stories.
Then go underground.
Edinburgh’s famous subterranean spaces—including historic closes and vaults—reveal portions of the city that vanished beneath later construction. Modern tours combine documented social history with some of Scotland’s most enduring paranormal legends.
Edinburgh’s official tourism organization enthusiastically embraces this reputation, listing Greyfriars Kirkyard, The Real Mary King’s Close and underground ghost tours among the city’s haunted highlights.
How to get there: Fly into Edinburgh Airport and take the tram into central Edinburgh. Once you’re in Old Town, walk. Wandering those narrow streets is part of the experience.
Where to stay: Stay in Old Town, preferably around the Royal Mile or Grassmarket. Options range from Hotel du Vin and Apex Grassmarket to perhaps the most thematically appropriate splurge imaginable: The Witchery by the Castle, tucked into historic buildings dating to 1595 near Edinburgh Castle.
PALATE tip: Book an evening underground tour rather than a daytime one.
There are some experiences that simply should not happen at 11:15 in the morning.
Scare factor: 👻👻👻👻👻
3. AOKIGAHARA — YAMANASHI, JAPAN
A forest where even the sound seems to disappear
The vibe: Beautiful, ancient and profoundly unsettling.
At the northwestern base of Mount Fuji lies approximately 30 square kilometers of extraordinarily dense forest.
Aokigahara grew over hardened lava following a major eruption of Mount Fuji in the ninth century. Its porous volcanic ground absorbs sound, creating an unusual sense of quiet and isolation beneath the trees.
Japanese folklore has long associated the forest with yūrei—restless or tormented spirits—and modern popular culture has amplified its ominous reputation.
A necessary distinction, however: Aokigahara has also become associated with real human tragedy. It should never be treated as a macabre scavenger hunt or paranormal playground.
Visit it instead for what it actually is: a beautiful volcanic ecosystem with an eerie natural silence, lava caves and centuries of folklore.
Stay on established trails and treat the forest—and the people connected to its difficult history—with respect.
How to get there: From Tokyo, travel toward Kawaguchiko Station via the Chuo and Fuji Kyuko lines. From Kawaguchiko, the forest is approximately a 30-to-40-minute drive depending on traffic.
Where to stay: Base yourself around Lake Kawaguchiko, preferably at a ryokan where Mount Fuji views and an onsen provide a considerably more serene counterpoint to the forest.
Pair it with: Narusawa Ice Cave and Fugaku Wind Cave, both formed within the volcanic landscape.
Scare factor: 👻👻👻👻👻
2. NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
America’s capital of beautiful things that refuse to stay dead
The vibe: Ghosts, jazz, wrought iron and something simmering on the stove.
Most haunted destinations give you a building.
New Orleans gives you an entire ecosystem.
Centuries-old French Quarter architecture, above-ground cemeteries, devastating epidemics, fires, hurricanes, African and Caribbean spiritual traditions, Catholicism, Louisiana Voodoo and generations of storytelling have created a city where supernatural folklore feels inseparable from the landscape.
Walk through the French Quarter after midnight and it’s easy to understand why.
Among the city’s most famous supernatural stories are those surrounding Marie Laveau, historic residences, old restaurants, former convents and hotels whose alleged long-term guests apparently never checked out.
New Orleans’ official tourism organization maintains an entire haunted itinerary through the French Quarter, including historic buildings, alleys, restaurants and hotels associated with ghost stories.
How to get there: Fly into Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and take a taxi or rideshare into the city. Once in the French Quarter, your feet are often the best transportation.
Where to stay: Why merely tour a supposedly haunted hotel when you can sleep in one?
Hotel Monteleone, Bourbon Orleans and the Andrew Jackson Hotel are among the French Quarter properties associated with long-running paranormal legends.
For travelers who would prefer their ghosts elsewhere, the French Quarter offers everything from intimate historic inns to luxury hotels.
PALATE after-dark itinerary: Dinner → ghost walk → nightcap or zero-proof cocktail in a historic bar → return to your allegedly haunted hotel → question every noise in the hallway.
Perfect.
Scare factor: 👻👻👻👻👻
1. THE CATACOMBS OF PARIS — FRANCE
Six million reasons not to wander away from the tour route
The vibe: The City of Light has a basement.
Twenty meters beneath the cafés, boulangeries and elegant boulevards of Paris lies another city.
A city of the dead.
Beginning in the late 18th century, human remains were transferred from overcrowded Parisian cemeteries into abandoned limestone quarries beneath the city.
Eventually, the underground ossuary would contain the remains of several million Parisians, making it the largest underground ossuary in the world.
Visitors descend 131 steps beneath Paris before following a roughly 1.5-kilometer route through dim quarry tunnels. Then comes the threshold to the ossuary.
Above it is one of travel’s great ominous greetings:
Arrête! C’est ici l’empire de la Mort.
Stop! This is the empire of Death.
Beyond it, skulls and femurs are arranged into enormous walls.
And they keep going.
And going.
The Catacombs reopened in April 2026 after major renovations, with redesigned interpretation and a more immersive audio experience.
How to get there: This is Paris, so getting there is wonderfully civilized. Take Métro lines 4 or 6 or RER B to Denfert-Rochereau. The entrance is at 1 Avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy in the 14th arrondissement.
Know before you go: The underground temperature stays around 14°C/57°F. There are 131 steps down and 112 back up, uneven surfaces, narrow passages and dim lighting. The attraction is not wheelchair accessible and is specifically discouraged for visitors with severe claustrophobia and certain cardiac or respiratory conditions.
Online timed booking is strongly recommended.
Where to stay: For easy access, choose Montparnasse or the 14th arrondissement. But since this is Paris, staying farther north in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and taking the Métro down is hardly a hardship.
PALATE tip: Take the last available afternoon or evening admission you can comfortably secure.
Then emerge from an underground empire containing millions of dead Parisians…
…and immediately go eat something spectacular.
Because if six million skeletons don’t remind you to order dessert, nothing will.
Scare factor: 👻👻👻👻👻+
THE PALATE VERDICT
The best spooky travel isn’t really about ghosts.
It’s about place.
The places that unsettle us most tend to sit at the intersection of history, death, architecture, folklore and memory. Paris’ Catacombs tell us how a growing city confronted its dead. Eastern State reveals an unsettling chapter in the history of incarceration. Salem shows how collective fear can become lethal. Aokigahara demonstrates how folklore can attach itself to landscape. Edinburgh proves that sometimes a city simply needs enough stone, fog and centuries to develop a personality of its own.
Whether any of these places is actually haunted?
We’ll leave that determination to you.
But if a doll turns its head on Isla de las Muñecas, PALATE would like to formally recommend that you run.
Immediately.
SAVE THIS FOR SPOOKY SEASON
The PALATE Scary Travel List
- Salem, Massachusetts 🇺🇸
- Bran Castle, Romania 🇷🇴
- Tower of London, England 🇬🇧
- Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia 🇺🇸
- Island of the Dolls, Mexico 🇲🇽
- Sedlec Ossuary, Czechia 🇨🇿
- Haunted Edinburgh, Scotland 🏴
- Aokigahara, Japan 🇯🇵
- New Orleans, Louisiana 🇺🇸
- Paris Catacombs, France 🇫🇷
Which one are you brave enough to visit—and which one is an absolute HELL NO?
