17 Wikipedia Pages About The Most Horrifying Places In The World

Snakes, dolls, skeletons, cannibalism...oh my.

1. This chapel that's decorated in human bones and skulls.

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In the city of Évora, Portugal, there's a16th century chapel that's fully decorated with the bones and skulls of over 5000 monks. It also has two desiccated corpses hanging from the ceiling, one of them belonging to a child.

2. This island that's filled with some very charming dolls.

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There's a floating island in Xochimilco, a borough in Mexico City, that's covered in dolls. Really. Creepy. Dolls. But while some might consider this Island of Dolls to be horrifying, locals actually think it's charming.

3. This gas crater most commonly known as "The Door to Hell."

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This natural gas crater in Turkmenistan has been burning since 1971. In order to prevent the spread of methane gas, geologist set it on fire thinking it would burn out in two weeks. Instead, we've had a glimpse into hell for over four decades.

4. This village that was destroyed by Nazis.

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On June 10, 1944, a Nazi Waffen-SS company destroyed the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, France, massacring 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children. After the war ended, General Charles de Gaulle ordered the village not to be rebuilt, and instead left it as a memorial and museum to remind the world of the atrocities of Nazi occupation.

5. This cathedral that has cages hanging off it.

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In the German city of Münster, St. Lambert's Church is known for the three cages that hang off its steeple. Back in 1535, the leaders of the Münster rebellion were captured, tortured, and executed, and their corpses were put in these cages because...why the fuck not. The corpses eventually rotted away leaving only bones, which were eventually discarded...but the cages remained.

6. This amusement park that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and then abandoned.

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After Hurricane Katrina flooded Six Flags New Orleans back in 2005, park owners decided it wasn't worth rebuilding the park, and left it abandoned. The park slowly decayed and overrun with overgrown weeds and wildlife, establishing an eerie zombie apocalypse vibe.

7. This hotel with a VERY dark history.

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There have been at least 15 non-natural deaths at the Hotel Cecil in Downtown LA since it first opened in 1927, including homicides, suicides, and accidents. The Hotel Cecil was also known to house serial killers Richard Ramirez and Jack Unterweger, Black Dahlia murder victim Elizabeth Short, and Canadian tourist Elisa Lam.

8. This seemingly bustling tourist beach town that's actually been a ghost town since 1974

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Varosha is an abandoned quarter in the western part of Cyprus. It was a modern tourist area that flourished until the Turkish invasion of 1974, which turned the quarters into a heavily restricted ghost town. The area is still controlled by the Turkish Armed forces, and access to the quarter is not permitted.

9. The world's largest voodoo market.

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If you've ever wanted monkey heads, skulls, dead birds, crocodiles, skins, or any dead animal or voodoo equipment, the Akodessawa Fetish Market in Togo is the place to go.

10. These underground tunnels used for shipping goods...and kidnapping people.

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The Shanghai tunnels underneath Portland were used to carry goods from ships on the waterfront to businesses in Old Town/Chinatown section. However, the tunnels were also used to kidnap people and force them into labor on the ships in a practice called Shanghaiing.

11. This mass grave where the bodies appear to have been cannibalized.

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In Herxheim, Germany, there's an archeological site that contains the mass graves of between 500 to 1000 individuals. According to a 2009 study, many of bodies found at the site appear to have been butchered and eaten. Bon appetit.

12. This cave that has the skeletons of children, most of whom were sacrificed.

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The Actun Tunichil Muknal cave in Belize is an archeological site that houses notable Mayan artifacts like ceramics, stoneware, and skeletons (14 to be exact). The most famous is "The Crystal Maiden," a teenage boy who was used for human sacrifice. His bones have calcified, giving off a crystalized appearance.

13. This Nazi compound in Los Angeles.

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Murphy's Ranch in Los Angeles was built in the 1930s by two American white supremacists. The ranch served as a base for Nazi activities, equipped with a water storage tank, a power plant, a fuel tank, a bomb shelter, and everything needed to be self-sustaining for long periods of time. The ranch was eventually left in ruins and decay, until it was finally demolished in 2016.

14. This island full of snakes that's too dangerous for the public.

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There once was a piece of land in São Paulo that was home to the venomous golden lancehead pit viper. Rising sea levels eventually disconnected this land from the mainland, inadvertently creating an island of scary, venomous, snakes that LOVED to reproduce. Snake Island is now closed off to the public and only brave scientists and the Brazilian Navy are allowed on the land.

15. The Catacombs of Paris.

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While we've always known that The Catacombs are exceptionally unsettling in nature (underground ossuaries that hold the remains of over six million people), there is one tidbit about this place is, well, odd. In 2004, one of the caverns had a fully equipped movie theater with a screen, audience seats, projector, film reels, and a full restaurant and bar. The person who created this is unknown.

16. These hanging coffins that are placed at the side of a cliff.

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Sagada is a municipality in the Philippines where people are "buried" in coffins that rest on beams jutting out the side of the cliff. Only people who were married and had grandchildren are allowed to be buried this way.