The top 10 most haunted buildings in the world. If you’re interested in the paranormal and fascinated by ghost stories, prepare to embark on a spine-tingling journey through the eerie corridors of history’s most haunted buildings. From ancient castles shrouded in centuries-old mysteries to modern structures shrouded in inexplicable phenomena.
The world is home to an abundance of places where the veil between the living and the dead seems extraordinarily thin. Join us as we explore the chilling legends and disturbing encounters that have earned these structures the reputation of being the world’s most terrifying buildings.
The attraction of the supernatural and the inexplicable has always fascinated humanity. Among the most compelling manifestations of this curiosity are the stories surrounding haunted buildings.
Table of Contents
Here Are 10 Most Haunted Buildings In The World
10: Casa Loma
Known for being one of Toronto’s most stately historic homes, the Gothic-style Casa Loma Mansion is a famous haunted house. Completed in 1914 for the modern equivalent of about $110 million, it was the home of wealthy financier Sir Henry Pellatt and his wife, Mary, before financial difficulties forced them to move out. Yet despite this untimely eviction.
The couple and their servants are still seen on the grounds to this day. Among them are white women, who died of influenza in the early 1900s and are often seen cleaning up the cafeteria at the end of Mary Pellet’s shift. Often tampering with tapes and cameras when placed in her bedroom and Sir Henry himself, who wanders the premises.
09: The Halcyon House
Now, while the Halcyon House may just look like any other stately mansion in Georgetown, it hides its fair share of paranormal activities. Just a block away from the high-end boutiques that line Georgetown’s famed M Street, the home in question was built in 1787 by Benjamin Stoddert, America’s first Secretary of the Navy and a pallbearer at George Washington’s funeral.
He was an important figure in the early days of the Republic. Although over the years, the house has changed ownership multiple times, one of the most famous of these homeowners was Mark Twain’s nephew, Albert Clemens. He purchased the home from Benjamin Stoddert’s daughter in 1900, and for unexplained reasons, believed that if he perpetually rebuilt the house, this would extend his life.
It was because of this belief that he got to work making a dizzying array of bizarre changes, including the construction of staircases that led nowhere, the installation of an assortment of secret trap doors, and the building of tiny rooms that serve no real purpose. Well, in any case, the 21,000-foot home is now owned by a Japanese philanthropist.
Which uses it as the headquarters of a non-profit science, art, and business startup incubator called Halcyon. Despite being a forward-thinking place now, the house is believed to still be in the shadows of Benjamin Stoddart, and Albert Clemens. The spirits of a group of runaway slaves who perished in the building’s basement after escaping the South.
And a mysterious unknown woman who can sometimes be seen through an upstairs window. However, if you’re interested in seeing these ghosts for yourself, you may have some difficulty; after all, you’ll have to get in with the Halcyon Corporation as either a fellow in their incubator or as a sponsor holding an event to enter the premises.
08: Edinburgh Castle
So a trip to Edinburgh is incomplete without a visit to Edinburgh Castle. It dominates the city’s skyline and dates back to the 12th century. Due to its important strategic location, it has been an important fortress in many Scottish battles, some notably the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century and the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. These battles were so frequent that there were reportedly 26 sieges of the fort.
Its roughly 1,000-year history makes it one of the most attacked fortresses in the entire world. As such, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that quite a few spirits haunt the premises. One of the most famous is that of a young piper. The story is that a few hundred years ago some tunnels were found under the fort. This piqued the curiosity of the young bagpiper, who decided to explore them. Now, to let people above ground hear where he was, he brought his bagpipes.
However, after he got about halfway, the music stopped, and when rescuers were sent to find him, he had reportedly vanished without a trace. Yet, while his physical body may be missing, his spirit stuck around, as the music from his bagpipes can still be heard wafting through the tunnels to this very day. Beyond the piper, though, the castle is also haunted by many military men. One of the most notable of these is a headless boy who supposedly began making appearances in 1650.
While not much is known about him, his drumming is often heard from the battlements, and apparently, the sight of him is also a forewarning of danger about to come upon the castle. To top this off, the castle’s dungeons were also known to be spiritually active, as they’re home to the souls of many an English soldier who was captured in battle. So, if you’d like to see some paranormal activity in Scotland, you can’t go wrong booking a tour at Edinburgh Castle.
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07: Zak Bagans Haunted Museum
When you book a trip to Las Vegas in Nevada, chances are that opulent casinos, incredible shows, and top-tier restaurants are on your radar. However, one attraction that’s a bit off the beaten path but worth checking out is Zak Bagans’s Haunted Museum. You see, in 2017, Zak Bagans, who is the host of the popular Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures, opened this haunted museum in one of Las Vegas’s oldest residences.
The bunker was built in 1938 as Cyril Weigert’s mansion. The property was recently placed with the Nevada Bar Association. However, it seems to have also housed some paranormal activity. After all, it’s said that Wengert’s family members still haunt this home, and in the 1970s, Satanic rituals are said to have taken place in the basement. While it’s impossible to verify these claims, what is clear is that the home has now been filled with more than its fair share of unsettling artifacts.
For example, one room features memorabilia related to famous serial killers such as Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, and Richard Ramirez. Another allows visitors to peek inside Dr. Kevorkian’s Volkswagen death van. There is even a display of items owned by former Las Vegas residents and entertainers such as Michael Jackson and Liberace. While these macabre objects are strange enough, even worse are the exhibits that show haunted artifacts.
For example, there’s the infamous doll Peggy, who is said to have caused serious illness to over 80 innocent people, and the original staircase from the Indiana Demon House, which was notorious for its powerful paranormal activity. In any case, if you’d like to visit, you’ll have to meet certain requirements.
After all, children under the age of 16 are not permitted, and guests under 18 are not allowed in certain exhibits. You’ve got to sign a waiver before entering and be prepared for multiple jump scares and large graphic photos. However, so long as you’re not easily frightened, a trip to this incredible haunted building can be quite enjoyable.
06: Kelly’s Castle
So, when you think of Malaysia, lush rainforests and bustling cities are probably what comes to mind. However, it turns out that the country is also home to a very eerie haunted house: Kelly’s Castle. It was once the property of a certain William Kelly Smith. He was a civil engineer. Who carried dreams of making Malaysia rich.
He went through years of failed business. He eventually became very rich thanks to his investments. This incited him to build a massive mansion for his family, with the idea being it would be the largest building in all of Malaysia. He hoped to pick up his family in Scotland and bring them over.
These plans were cut short when William died of pneumonia while buying an elevator in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. In response, his family simply sold the unfinished house and remained in Scotland. The owners who received Kelly’s construction project never bothered to finish the home, and to this day, the castle remains uncompleted.
However, the castle’s lack of completion has not led to a lack of paranormal activity. There have been numerous reports of ghostly figures being seen through windows. Some even claim to have seen William’s daughter in the bedroom. However, given that they died thousands of kilometers away, many don’t believe that the ghosts of the Kellys can be found there.
Instead, most point the finger at the Tamil workers who died of Spanish Flu during the building’s construction. There are even weird reports that the compound has at least three secret tunnels, with eyewitnesses claiming that a car was parked inside one of the passages in the 1960s. Anyway, no concrete proof of this can be found to date. Well, regardless, I think it’s fair to say that Kelly Castle is nothing if not ominous.
05: The Demon House
Few things are as scary as the prospect of having demons in your house, yet that’s exactly what seemed to be the case for Latoya Ammons, her mother, and her three children. Located in Gary, Indiana, the home was moved into by the family in November of 2011, and it wasn’t long before paranormal activity began to happen. Just a few days after moving in, they claimed black flies swarmed the porch and would keep returning even after the family took measures to kill them off.
The fact that it happened outside, can only be described as an unfortunate external fact. However, what wasn’t so understandable were the creaking doors and unexplained footsteps they’d hear in the basement. Soon, things began to escalate, with Latoya claiming to have witnessed a shadowy figure of a man pacing in the living room and finding an unexplained bootprint in the home.
Meanwhile, Latoya’s mother claimed she was occasionally choked by an unknown force. Yet, all of this paled in comparison to what happened to the kids. For example, Latoya’s 12-year-old daughter levitated above the bed unconscious during a sleepover, only returning to the bed after her friends began praying. Even worse, Latoya’s youngest son was allegedly possessed by an unknown force, with his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he growled, saying, “It’s time to die, and I will kill you.
In May of 2012, the family decided to move to Indianapolis. After doing so, their paranormal encounters stopped. After being publicized in January 2014, the story gained national attention. It was probably because of this attention that Zak Bagans, who was the host and executive producer of the show Ghost Adventures, promptly purchased the home and got to work creating a documentary.
After filming was completed, he got his hands off the place, and in 2016, the so-called Demon House was demolished. Unsurprisingly, these stories garnered quite a bit of skepticism, with some experts from agencies such as the Department of Child Services believing that the children were simply performing for their mother. Anyway, others like 37-year-old police captain Charles Austin investigated.
And Father Michael Maginot, who performed three exorcisms on the house, all tell a different tale. Seeing dark and shadowy figures to sense the presence of demons. They all thought the house was far from normal. However, the reality is that as much as we may speculate, we’ll never know for certain what went on between those four walls.
04: Chillingham Castle
If you’re scared of ghosts, chances are that you’ll get chills at Chillingham Castle. It’s located in the North English County of Northumberland. It was originally built in the late 12th century as a monastery; however, its proximity to the border between England and Scotland turned it into a castle, and it served as a staging ground for many English and Scottish invasions. Yet, once wars between the two nations ceased.
The castle was converted into a more elegant abode, and it now serves as a stately hotel. While it may seem like a lovely place to stay the night, I’d suggest looking elsewhere. That’s because it’s reportedly one of the most haunted castles in England, and for good reason. Home to a host of different spirits, guests have reported all sorts of strange activity in the hotel. Yet, some spirits stand out in particular.
First is the Radiant Boy, a young boy generally seen in the Pink Room. His claim to fame is his shrieks of either fear or pain at the stroke of midnight. In the past, cries always seemed to come from a specific spot in the wall, and once the shrieks faded, a figure of a young boy dressed in blue would appear. Ultimately, The owners got curious and decided to open this part of the wall. They found the bones of a child surrounded by decaying pieces of blue cloth.
After being given a Christian burial, the Radiant Boy disappeared for quite some time. However, once guests began to sleep in the room, blue flashes of light began to appear, signaling that his spirit had continued to linger. The second famous ghost at Chillingham was the spirit of Lady Berkeley, the wife of a certain Lord Gray. She was left abandoned with their baby daughter when her husband ran off with her sister.
To this day, she can still be heard calling for her husband in the corridors, leaving a cold chill wherever she goes. The third and last important spirit is the so-called White Pantry Ghost. The story goes that a cache of silver was stored here, and a footman was locked inside at night to guard it. Yet, one fateful evening, he was approached by a wispy white lady who asked him for a drink of water. When he poured water for her and turned back to give it to her, she had disappeared. Ever since his faint form was seen in the room from time to time.
03: Houska Castle
Most medieval castles were made to serve as military forts, houses of the nobility, or a combination of the two; however, Houska Castle is a bit different. It’s located about 47 km north of the Czech capital of Prague. King Otakar II of Bohemia had the Gothic structure built there sometime between 1253 and 1278, and it stands apart due to it reportedly being made to house demons.
The evidence in favor of this conclusion is surprisingly concrete. You see, unlike most castles, Houska Castle was built in a remote area filled with forests, swamps, and mountains. This placement was far from all known trade routes, making its location seemingly pointless. If that wasn’t weird enough, it almost has no external fortifications, no source of water except for a small cistern to collect rainwater, no kitchen, and at the time of completion, no occupants.
The original construction was so odd that it omitted stairs from the courtyard to the upper floors and had most of the structural defenses built facing inwards. Looked at objectively, it was almost as if the purpose of the castle wasn’t to keep invaders out but rather to keep something trapped within and trap it. There is speculation in one house that the bottomless pit is known as the Gate of Hell. The fort may have been built to retain the hole.
According to some reports, beasts used to emerge from hiding in the hole and terrify local villagers. In response, the king sealed it off with stone plates and built a chapel dedicated to the Archangel Michael on top of it. This dedication is quite significant; after all, it was Michael who, according to the Bible, led God’s armies against Lucifer’s fallen angels. So, the idea behind it was probably to use the power of God to defeat the Devil.
In any case, despite its supposedly demonic duties, the castle has had a few occupants. For example, in 1639, it was allegedly occupied by a Swedish mercenary named Oronto who worked on black magic in an attempt to create an elixir for eternal life. It was also fully restored in 1823 and then in the 1870s purchased by Joseph Shimanek, who was the president of a famous auto company, Scotia. In the 1940s, the situation took an even worse turn.
When the Nazis occupied it and allegedly used the place to conduct occult experiments. It should be noted that some of the history surrounding the fort is a bit sketchy, with scholars since then discovering cracks in its history. The evidence for the existence of the Swedish tenant Oronto is rather dubious. Yet, despite there being some inconsistencies, what is clear is that Houska Castle is a pretty spooky place.
02: King Tut’s Tomb
Of all the Egyptian tombs in the Valley of the Kings, few are quite as famous as that of the boy king Tutankhamun. The story goes that in 1891, a man by the name of Howard Carter arrived in Egypt. By the time of his arrival, most of the tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs had been found, although one remained elusive: the tomb of King Tutankhamun. After the end of World War I, Carter made it his mission to find the tomb.
After years of work, on November 4th, 1923, he found the steps to the burial room hidden in the debris near the entrance of the nearby tomb of King Ramses VI. A few weeks later, Carter and fellow archaeologist and benefactor Lord Carnarvon ventured inside, and what they found was nothing short of incredible.
The luxurious four-room tomb consisted of more than 5,000 objects, the most famous of which was the sarcophagus of King Tut. Which is more than 3,000 years old and made of solid gold. The discovery of the tomb not only provided a wealth of insight into the material culture of the wealthy ancient Egyptians. But it also sparked a media frenzy that popularized ancient Egyptian designs among the Western public.
Perhaps more importantly, it also gave the newly independent state of Egypt a sense of national pride, with the discovery being considered to be a major victory. Given that most of the artifacts were brought back not to London but to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Now, there’s widespread speculation that King Tut still haunts this tomb and he’s laid a powerful curse on all those who disturb his final resting place.
This is because many of the archaeologists who discovered the tomb suffered strange and unusual deaths soon after its discovery. The first of these deaths was that of Lord Carnarvon, who was the man who financed the excavation. The story goes that soon after finding the grave, he was bitten by a mosquito. He then accidentally slashed the bite while shaving, and it became so badly infected that it resulted in blood poisoning, which ended up leading to his demise.
The next year, a certain George J. Gould I, who was a visitor to the tomb, died in the French Riviera after developing a surprise fever. About 5 years after that, A.C. Mace, who was a member of Carter’s excavation team. Passed away due to pneumonia. In 1929, excavation secretary Captain Richard Bethell died in his bed in a club. An investigation determined that he was likely the victim of smothering. Now, it should be noted that the evidence is far from conclusive.
After all, a study showed that of the 58 people who were present when the tomb and sarcophagus were opened, only eight died within a dozen years, but some lived for decades afterward. Interestingly enough, there was also no written curse found within the tomb. Therefore, while there may be many theories about the curse of the pharaohs, it’s hard to know whether or not it exists.
01: The Winchester Mystery House
You can visit a mansion that may be the most interesting haunted house in California. It’s known as the Winchester Mystery House. The property has had relatively humble origins. Back in the mid-1800s, it was a modest eight-room farmhouse in California’s Santa Clara Valley. However, after a certain Sarah Winchester inherited the Winchester rifle family fortune from her father-in-law and husband after passing between 1880 and 1881.
She decided that she wanted a change of scenery from the family mansion in New Haven, Connecticut. Based upon both happy memories from her travels and the recommendation of a doctor, she decided to move to California to take advantage of the warm weather. After looking around, she decided to buy the property, which became the Winchester Mystery House. With little to do and a large fortune, Sarah and her three sisters got to work on what became a lifelong renovation effort.
In just a few months, she has already added more than a dozen rooms and decided to do so despite having no formal carpentry training, construction, or interior design. Continued renovations ended only after his death in September 1922. Leaving the house unfinished and his plans unfulfilled. And despite this, the amount she managed to accomplish within her lifetime was impressive. Thanks to Sarah’s efforts.
What stands today is a four-story, 160-room, and 24,000-square-foot mansion. The home has 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 fireplaces, 17 chimneys, 40 stairways, 40 bedrooms, two ballrooms, 13 bathrooms, six kitchens, three elevators, two basements, and a partridge in a pear tree. These rooms are all decked out in opulent finishings such as gold and silver chandeliers, hand-inlaid parquet floors, and original stained glass windows.
However, this regal home isn’t just pretty; it’s also rumored to be haunted. This is because a medium allegedly told her that the ghosts of those killed by the Winchester rifle would haunt her until the day she left the West to build a house with room for them all. Other stories say that she was already being haunted by these ghosts at the family mansion in New Haven. However, after moving out west to California, the ghosts followed her.
As a result, she made the home very large and confusing. The hope was that by creating doors leading into blank walls, interior windows, zigzagging hallways, and stairs leading up to the ceiling, she could outsmart the ghosts that tormented her. There have also been stories of ghosts who haunt the house today. For example, there’s a ghost known as Clyde, who’s a popular resident at the Winchester estate.
Clyde is a man with a mustache and is usually seen either pushing a wheelbarrow in the basement or trying to repair the fireplace in one of the ballrooms. There are also less obvious paranormal phenomena, such as gentle tugs of shirts or skirts during tours and unexplained footsteps. Yet, like with many haunted houses, historians have their doubts about whether or not these ghosts are real or just made-up stories.
After all, many of Sarah’s longtime employees and friends denied the story about the medium, both during and after her lifetime, and some believe that the whole paranormal bit promoted by the Winchester Mystery House is just a marketing gimmick. However, the only way to know for sure is to visit the home for yourself.