10 MOST

TERRIFYING
PLACES ON
EARTH
USMF
2015
Realized by
Vtmanu Corina-Verginia

10 Riddle House

The History
The Riddle House in Palm Beach
County, Florida, was originally a funeral
parlor. The Victorian house was
dismantled and rebuilt in Yesteryear
Village at the South Florida fair grounds.
In the 1920s the house became
privately owned by Karl Riddle.

The Terror
Joseph, one of Riddles former
employees, committed suicide by
hanging himself in the attic of the house.
Joseph, for whatever reason, hated
men, and displays this hatred by
attacking men who enter the attic. One
man had a lid flung at his head, and men
are now no longer allowed in the attic.
Other places in the house are haunted
as well, with furniture being frequently
moved.

9 Helltown

The History
The Northern part of Summit County in Ohio is
known by the eerily blunt moniker, Helltown. In the
70s, Boston Township was the site of a government
buyout, and subsequent mass eviction of citizens.
The houses were intended to be torn down and the
land used for a national park, but the plans never
quite manifested. Legends spawned wildly, and who
can blame the legend mongers? Driving through the
dark, wooded landscape was enough to give you
chills even when it was populated, let alone when
you have to drive by boarded up houses standing
next to the burnt out hulks of others (the local fire
department used some buildings for practice).

The Terror
Whether based on a kernel of truth or cooked up in
the heads of creative visitors, the persistent legends
of Helltown add to the creep factor. The steep
Stanford Road drop off, immediately followed by a
dead end, is aptly named The End of the World. If you
get stuck at this dead end for too long, according to
ghost story enthusiasts, you may meet your end at
the hands of many members of the endless parade of
freaks patrolling the woods. Satanists, Ku Klux Klan
members, an escaped mental patient, an abnormally
large snake, and mutants caused by an alleged
chemical spill proudly march in this parade. And if you
stray from the roads, you may find Boston Cemetery,
home to a ghostly man, grave robbers and, the
quirkiest of all, a moving tree.

8 Stull Cemetery

The History
Stull, Kansas, is a tiny, unincorporated town in
Bumfuck, Nowhere- er, pardon, Douglas
County. Ten miles west of Lawrence and
thirteen miles east of Topeka puts it far from
anything resembling a large population center.
The population of Stull is approximately 20
people. But, dont let the deceptively quaint
village fool you. A darker side lurks behind the
bushes and in the shadows.

The Terror
In the early 20th century, two tragedies rocked the tiny
settlement (please observe, these are not legend or folklore,
but fact). First, a father finished burning a farm field, only to
find the charred corpse of his young son in the aftermath.
The second incident to occur was a man went missing, and
was later found hanged from a tree. As far as legends go,
the infamous cemetery is where you can find your fill of
supernatural lore. The book Weird US has this to say on
Stull Cemetery:
There are graveyards across America that go beyond
merely being haunted and enter into the realm of the
diabolical. They are places so terrifying that they say the
devil himself holds courts with his worshippers there. The
cemetery on Emmanuel Hill in Stull, Kansas, is one of these
places.

Rumors exist stating that Stull Cemetery is

one of the 7 gateways to Hell. While the old
church is now demolished, many attempt to
sneak in at night for a peek at the unsavory
goings-on. But be warned, the police patrol
heavily, especially on Halloween and the
spring equinox. The place is supposed to be
so unholy, in fact, that some claim Pope John
Paul II refused to allow his plane to fly over
eastern Kansas, on his way to an appearance
in Colorado. The validity of this last claim is up
for debate, but none can deny that legends or
not, Stull Cemetery is a terrifying place to be.

7 The Ridges

The History
Originally known as the Athens Lunatic
Asylum, The Ridges was renamed after
the state of Ohio acquired the property.
The hospital saw hundreds of
lobotomies, and often declared
masturbation and epilepsy to be the
causes of insanity in patients.

The Terror
Athens, Ohio, is listed as the 13th most haunted place in
the world, as per the British Society for Psychical
Research. The nearby Ohio University (which currently
owns most of the property on which the Ridges is
located) is said to be heavily haunted. The notorious
rapist with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Billy Milligan,
was housed at the facility for years. The most famous
story, however is that of a 54 year old female patient who
ran away and was missing for 6 weeks. She was found
dead in an unused ward. She had taken off all of her
clothes, neatly folded them, and laid down on the cold
concrete where she subsequently died. Through a
combination of decomposition and sun exposure, her
corpse left a permanent stain on the floor, which is still
visible today. Her spirit now haunts the abandoned ward.

6 Humberstone and LaNoria

The History
These two abandoned mining towns in Chile were
recently featured on an episode of the SyFy
Channels show, Destination Truth. In 1872, the
town was founded as a saltpeter mine, and
business boomed. However, after several heavy
blows (including the Great Depression), the
business declined and then collapsed in 1958, and
the town of Humberstone and its surrounding towns
were abandoned by 1960. Treatment of workers in
both towns bordered on slavery, and now the towns
are left standing derelict.

The Terror
It is rumored that the dead of the La Noria
cemetery rise at night and walk around the town,
and ghostly images frequently show up in
photographs in Humberstone. These towns are
so terrifying, the residents of nearby Iquique
refuse to enter them. The former residents never
left, and can be seen walking around, and
children have been heard playing. The cemetery
of La Noria, regardless of whether its occupants
actually walk at night, contains opened graves
where the bodies are fully exposed, leaving you
to wonder why. Is it ghosts, or is it grave
robbers? As if either prospect is very appealing.

Byberry Mental Asylum

The History
The Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry, or known simply
as Byberry, was the poster image for patient maltreatment.
The hospital, in its most popular form, was founded in
1907, and known as the Byberry Mental Hospital. It
exceeded its patient limit quickly, maxing out at over 7,000
in 1960. It housed everything from the mentally challenged
to the criminally insane. Due to its atrocious conditions, and
the sub-human treatment of its patients, the hospital was
closed and abandoned in 1990. It had since become a
nuisance for the neighborhood, as it was a breeding ground
for vandals, arsonists, Satanists, and urban explorers. It
was demolished in 2006, in spite of the fear of spreading
asbestos, (which is what kept it standing for 16 years).

The Terror
The terrifying aspect of this location isnt so much its
hauntings or the unsavory characters that lurked after dark
(although you would have been wise to be wary of both
while exploring the building). The terror here comes from
the facts of the how the hospital was run. Human
excrement lined the hallways, which were also where many
patients slept. The staff was abusive, and frequently
exploited and harassed patients. One patient had a tooth
pulled without Novocaine, while another killed and
dismembered a female patient. Although the killer, Charles
Gable, was never found, the victims body was found strewn
across the property. Her teeth were found being played with
by another patient. Even as the hospital was in the process
of closing, two released patients were found dead in the
Delaware River, two successive days after their release.
Perhaps that gate in Stull Cemetery opens here.

4 Leap Castle

The History
While this Irish castle is perhaps the most popular
location featured on the list, it is worth recapping the long
and often gruesome history. Although it was built by the
OBannons in the late 15th century, the castle was taken
over by the ruling OCarrolls, to whom the OBannons
were subject. After the death of Mulrooney OCarroll, a
fierce rivalry erupted, culminating in two brothers
struggling for control. One of the brothers, a priest, was
brutally murdered in his own chapel, in front of the family,
by the other brother. This chapel is now know as the
Bloody Chapel, for obvious reasons. Many people were
held prisoner and even executed at the castle.

The Terror
The castle is rumored to be haunted by a vast
number of spirits, including a violent, hunched
beast known only as the Elemental. It is most
recognizable by the accompanying smell of
rotting flesh and sulphur. While renovating the
castle, workers discover an oubliette, which is a
dungeon accessible only through a ceiling hatch,
into which prisoners are thrown, then forgotten
and left to die. This particular oubliette contained
three cartloads of human remains, and was filled
with spikes to impale those thrown into its
depths.

3 Shades of Death Road

The History
This New Jersey road winds through 7 miles of countryside, and along that stretch
it gives us no definitive clues as to the origin of its eerie name (for those wondering,
Shades of Death is not a nickname given by locals, but is in fact the roads official
moniker). While the explanation for this highly unusual name has been lost, many
theories abound. Some say that murderous highwaymen would rob and kill those
along the road. Others say the reason was because of violent retaliations by the
locals against the very same highwaymen, resulting in their lynched corpses being
hung up as a warning. Some attribute it to three murders that occurred in the 20s
and 30s. The first murder saw a robber beating his victim over the head with a tire
iron, the second saw a woman decapitate her husband and bury the head and
body on separate sides of the road, and the third consisted of poor Bill Cummins
being shot and buried in a mud pile. Some attribute it to massive amounts of fatal
car crashes, while others consider it the fault of viscous wildcats from the nearby
Bear Swamp. The most likely explanation, however, is that malaria-bearing
mosquitos terrorized the locals year to year, and the remoteness of the area
prevented good medical attention from being prominent in the area. This is
supported by the fact that, in 1884, most of the swamps in the area were drained.

The Terror
Gruesome history and spooky name aside, you have much to fear
along this byway. South of the I-80 overpass lies an officially
unnamed lake, that most will tell you is called Ghost Lake. This lake
is frequently the home of specter-like vapors, and the sky is
supposed to be unusually bright, no matter what time of night you are
there. As per the name, ghosts of the highwaymens victims roam the
area, and they are most frequent in the abandoned cabin across the
lake. The dead-end road known as Lenape Lane is home to thick
fogs and apparitions, you may be chased off the road by a white light.
Ill let Wikipedia detail the most disturbing aspect of the road:
One day during the 1990s, some visitors found hundreds of Polaroid
photographs scattered in woods just off the road. They took some
and shared them with Weird NJ, which published a few as samples.
Most of the disturbing images showed a television changing
channels, others showed a woman or women, blurred and somewhat
difficult to identify, lying on some sort of metal object, conscious but
not smiling. Local police began an investigation after the magazine
ran an item with the photos, but the remainder disappeared shortly
afterwards.

2 Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

The History
Welcome to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, home of the Tuol
Sleng Genocide Museum. This former high school was
converted, in 1975, to Security Prison 21 by the Khmer
Rouge. The prison was used as a base to torture and
murder prisoners. Most of the prisoners were former
soldiers and government officials from the Lon Nol
regime. However, the Khmer Rouge leaders paranoia
soon caught up with them, and they began shipping
people from their own ranks to the prison. Many
prisoners were tortured and tricked into naming their
family and associates, who were them also arrested,
tortured and murdered.

The Terror
The ghosts of the estimated 17,000 victims of
Tuol Sleng continue to roam the halls, and odd
happenings around the place are often attributed
to them: and it isnt hard to see why. Most were
forced to confess to crimes they didnt actually
commit. Although most victims were
Cambodians, many foreigners fell victim to the
death machine, including Americans, French, a
New Zealander, a Briton, Australians, Arabs,
Indians, Pakistanis and Vietnamese. Only 12
people are thought to have survived. To close the
entry on this sad history, Ill leave you with the
actual security regulations, the ten rules all
prisoners had to abide by

1 The Mines of Paris

The History
The seemingly infinite tunnels that run below the
streets of Paris should not be confused with the
Catacombs of Paris, the famous underground
ossuary, although the mines are also mistakenly
referred to as the catacombs. Exploring the
mines is illegal, and penalties include heavy
fines. The mines were used to dig out minerals
from Paris varied sediment (the location where
Paris is was submerged for millions of years),
and the tunnels are what got left behind.

The Terror
The mines are now unkempt, unpatrolled and unsafe. As far as legends go,
ancient cults and creatures patrol the depths. Spirits dwell in the infinite
shadows, and if one wanders deep enough, and survives, they may even
enter Hades itself. As far as reality goes, those legends can take a back seat.
The tunnels stretch for close to 600 kilometers throughout the Parisian
underground, and most of them are unmapped. Saying it is easy to get lost is
an understatement. It is nearly impossible not to get lost. Many parts of the
catacombs are hundreds of feet below street level. Some hallways are
flooded, or are so narrow you have to crawl through them. There are holes
that drop hundreds of feet, and manholes that are unreachable, luring unwary
urban explorers in with false promises of freedom. The infinite underground
maze absorbs sound, mutes it, making it unlikely you will hear somebody
yelling for help, even if they are not far away. Or, worse yet, making it unlikely
somebody will hear you. Thousands of human bones litter the tunnels, due to
overcrowding in many of Paris cemeteries. Weird paintings adorn the walls.
Are they ancient? Are they new? Are they warnings? Or pleas for help? If you
have claustrophobia, you will want to avoid the mines at all costs. If you dont
have claustrophobia, you probably will after a trip through the mines. Bring
plenty of batteries, backup flashlights, clean water, a friend, and say a prayer
before entering the mines of Paris. You will need them all.

Thank you for

attention