The Whaley House: A Haunted Place In San Diego, California
Wikimedia CommonsNumerous spirits are said to lurk in the Whaley House, one of the most haunted places in the world.
The Whaley House in San Diego’s Old Town was officially labeled the most haunted place in the United States by the U.S. Commerce Department in the 1960s. The house was constructed in 1857 by Thomas Whaley, on a partial cemetery, and over the centuries it accumulated some “restless spirits.”
One of the earliest documented ghosts on the property is James Robinson, a small-time criminal who was better known as “Yankee Jim.” He was hanged to death off the back of a wagon in 1852 on the home’s property. And many accounts say that the ghost of Yankee Jim never left.
PinterestSpirits reported at the Whaley House have included children, adults, and even animals.
Other spirits sighted include Whaley and his wife, Whaley’s daughter, and the family dog, Dolly Varden, who is said to lick the bare legs of women.
Another ghostly presence that people have claimed to see is that of a young girl, who usually appears in the dining room. Sybil Leek, a psychic who visited the property in 1960, claims to have encountered this little girl’s spirit, saying, “It was a long-haired girl. She was very quick, you know, in a longish dress. She went to the table in this room and I went to the chair.”
Some speculate that this mysterious spirit belongs to a playmate of the Whaley children who died when she accidentally broke her neck on a low-hanging clothesline in the home’s backyard.
It’s easy for skeptics to explain away a couple of ghost sightings at the home, but the sheer number of paranormal experiences in this one location makes you wonder what is really going on at the Whaley House and whether or not it is, in fact, one of America’s most haunted places.
Poveglia Island: A Haunted Place In Italy
Wikimedia CommonsConsidering that Poveglia Island was once used for an infamous asylum, it’s no wonder why it’s thought to be one of the most haunted places in the world.
Located between Venice and Lido, Poveglia is uninhabited and off-limits to visitors. And legends say that’s because it’s haunted. It’s even been claimed that eerie moans and screams echo from across the waters. And considering the ominous history of the island, it’s little wonder why.
Originally a self-governing island, over time Poveglia was used as a burial ground for victims of the plague and a place to put soon-to-be victims. Both dead and barely alive bodies were burned, buried, or left to rot there.
The island’s history got even creepier once a mental hospital was built there in 1922. Rumors say that doctors used the secluded island as a place to enact their most twisted fantasies on their vulnerable patients.
One particularly heinous doctor was believed to have conducted a number of horrific experiments on patients, including lobotomies with no anesthesia — or consent. He allegedly performed his darkest experiments inside the hospital’s bell tower, and the stories say that the screams from the tortured patients rang out across the entire island.
But they also say that the doctor eventually paid for his demented deeds. He began to be plagued by the ghosts of those whom he tortured and, after going insane from all the hauntings, he flung himself off the top of the tower.
Now, his story just adds to the terror and death that make up this island’s macabre history.
