From energised rocks in the middle of the Aussie Outback to spooky hotels a la Stephen King, the homes of famous vamps to off-the-beaten track groves of malformed trees in the depths of Slavic Europe, this list of the world’s most mysterious places to visit is sure to have something to pique the interest. No matter if you’re a conspiracy theorist, a dedicated UFO hunter, a proponent of the Nosferatu, a medium, or a supernatural buff – or even if you just fancy heading away from the tourist trail for something a little different- there should be plenty to be getting on with.
Some spots are perfect places to indulge those weird and wonderful interests in the otherworldly, others will have you jumping out of your skin. Some are just awesome places to travel to, while everything here promises mystery by the bucket load.
1. The Bermuda Triangle, Atlantic Ocean
Tales of lost mariners and disappeared ships, crashed aircraft and even vanishing humans, have been emerging from the waters of the Bermuda Triangle for centuries.
The vast area of more than half a million square miles is also known as the Devil’s Triangle, and theories as to why so many travelers fall foul of its clutches abound.
Some say there are magnetic anomalies that throw compasses off course, others that tropical cyclones are to blame, and some say there’s simply no mystery at all! Today, visiting the area can be much more pleasant than you might think, with the sun-splashed islands of Turks and Caicos beckoning in the south and the coves of Bermuda in the north.
You may actually want to never be seen again!
2. The Banff Springs Hotel, Canada
With overtures of the Timberline Lodge of Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining fame, the Banff Springs Hotel of Canada is said to be the home of a plethora of ghost stories and mysterious happenings.
Locals tell tales of an entire family that was murdered in cold-blood in room 873. Others talk of reappearing doormen who vanish into thin air.
But if you think you can deal with the supernatural rep, then you’re in for a real treat here.
The handsome hotel oozes Scottish Baronial styles, is shrouded by the fir-dressed peaks of the Canadian Rockies, and offers access to the iconic ski fields of Jasper and Banff.
Worth the risk? We think so!
3. Transylvania, Romania
Sylvan hills and mist-topped mountains, the clanging echo of church bells and the stone-built medieval steeples of towns like Sibiu, Brasov and Cluj, all add to the eerie atmosphere of this vast region at the very heart of Romania.
But it’s one place that really brings the chills and gets the spine a-tingling: Bran Castle.
This turret-topped citadel soars from the forests on the edge of Wallachia in a medley of Gothic towers and gargoyle-peppered roofs.
Over the years it’s been associated with a number of less-than-savoury, uber-mysterious figures: Vlad the Impaler, the most bloodthirsty of the Wallachian kings, and – of course – Count Dracula, the archetype of the nail-biting Nosferatu.
4. Crooked Forest, Poland
Just south of the unpronounceable city of Szczecin on Poland’s extreme eastern haunch, a stone’s throw west of the border with Germany, a small clutch of just over 400 pine trees has been garnering the attention of Atlas Obscura types and off-the-beaten-track travelers for years.
The entire forest appears to be bent over almost 90 degrees at the trunk, before twisting back straight again and growing vertically into the Slavic sky.
Debate has raged as to what caused the unusual wood to come to look like it has, with theories as wide ranging as torrential snowstorms and lumberjack growing techniques.
Weird.
5. Bhangarh Fort, India
Enfolded by the rises of the Aravali Hills and baked by the Rajasthani sun, the old bulwarks of the Bhangarh Fort are said to echo with the ethereal presence of one cursed princess and her would-be captor, the wizard Sinhai.
It’s said that Sinhai tried to ensnare the young royal by offering her a love potion.
The plan backfired, the wizard ended up dead, but not before he could lay his hex on all the inhabitants of Bhangarh.
Today, the Mughlai complex once trodden by Madho Singh I is considered one of the most haunted spots in India.
No one is allowed to enter after dark, and locals have even reported deaths as a result of the continued curse!