skip to main |
skip to sidebar
1. Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA
Although it's best known for its memorable views and Emma Stone-Ryan Gosling dance break, L.A.'s Griffith Park has a few ghost stories hidden behind its popularity. According to legend (as reported by The Washington Post),
the park was once owned by a wealthy bachelor named Don Antonio Feliz,
who lived there with his niece Petranilla in the mid-1800s. When the Don
died of smallpox in 1863, he left the entire ranch to a local
politician—and nothing for his niece. Petranilla, unpleased with the
lack of inheritance, cursed the entire park, declaring: "The wrath of
heaven and the vengeance of hell shall fall upon this place.” Over the
next few decades, horrible fates (mysterious deaths, crop fires, etc.)
befell every subsequent owner of the property. Add to that some
modern-day murders and satanic cult rituals taking place within the
park's dense woods, and you have yourself one enigmatic tourist
destinations. Those views though...
2. Elfin Forest, California
The community of Elfin Forest sounds like it belongs in the world of Tolkien,
even though it lies just southwest of Escondido in San Diego County.
How fitting, then, that it is crawling with tall tales, myths, and
stories of haunted spirits and goblins. Legend has it that gypsies used
to occupy Elfin Forest in the early 19th century, until nearby townsfolk
drove them out and slaughtered those that remained behind. The gypsies
exacted revenge by cursing the forest and all its surrounding lands.
Today, people have claimed to see all kinds of eerie apparitions, like a
floating woman dressed in white, a cloaked spirit riding a black
stallion, and mysterious footprints.
3. Highgate Cemetery, London, U.K.
This lush and leafy north London garden, fictionalized in Bram Stoker’s Dracula
as Kingstead Churchyard, has a pleasantly eccentric roll call of
notable graves, including those of Karl Marx and Douglas Adams. And
while it remains one of London's least-visited landmarks, those who do
enter its gates come seeking ghostly encounters as much as celebrity
headstones. The site was established in the mid-1800s and became
neglected and unattended by the end of WWII, the overgrown vegetation
and crumbling monuments only upping the fear factor. Then in the 1970s,
after appearing as a filming location in several horror movies, Highgate
reached a surge in popularity—namely among self-proclaimed vampire
hunters. Many visitors claimed to see a creature hovering over the
graves (a vampire, presumably), and stories of grave robbing began
appearing in the news. The so-called vampire hunters would open tombs to
drive wooden stakes into the corpses' chests, or steal the corpses and
relocate them to random places (including the car of one of the
cemetery's neighbors!). To this day, Highgate remains a go-to spot for
enthusiasts of all things fanged and occult.
Although it's best known for its memorable views and Emma Stone-Ryan Gosling dance break, L.A.'s Griffith Park has a few ghost stories hidden behind its popularity. According to legend (as reported by The Washington Post),
the park was once owned by a wealthy bachelor named Don Antonio Feliz,
who lived there with his niece Petranilla in the mid-1800s. When the Don
died of smallpox in 1863, he left the entire ranch to a local
politician—and nothing for his niece. Petranilla, unpleased with the
lack of inheritance, cursed the entire park, declaring: "The wrath of
heaven and the vengeance of hell shall fall upon this place.” Over the
next few decades, horrible fates (mysterious deaths, crop fires, etc.)
befell every subsequent owner of the property. Add to that some
modern-day murders and satanic cult rituals taking place within the
park's dense woods, and you have yourself one enigmatic tourist
destinations. Those views though...
Post a Comment