5 Scary Places and the Legends Behind Them

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5 Scary Places and the Legends Behind Them
October 27, 2009
Mental Floss

There are more haunted places and scary stories around the world than you can shake a stick at. Here are a few you might not be familiar with already.
The Haunted Tunnel

Moonville, Ohio was once a thriving mining town with a population that peaked at about 100 people. Nearby is a railroad tunnel that is purported to be haunted by any of the four people who died there. The most famous is a railroad brakeman who had too much to drink and tried to stop a train, but was hit in March of 1859. The train wheels mangled his leg and he died of his injuries within days. The other deaths were a miner who was trapped in a collapsed mine, a woman who was crossing the railroad trestle when a train passed, and a fellow who crossed the tracks after a train, but didn’t see another portion of the train that had become detached and was still moving in the same direction. Several accounts exist of people who see the brakeman near the tunnel, swinging a light in an attempt to stop the train, or see the woman who died in 1905 walking beside the tracks. Railroad workers occasionally see a semi-transparent man being hit, and sometimes they hear screams, but no solid body is hit during those events.
Devil’s Town

Djavolja Varos translates to English as Devil’s Town, and is located between Devil’s Gully and Hell’s Gully in Serbia. This area has hundreds of stone towers made of volcanic stone that rise when the surrounding soil is washed away. They only last a few hundred years, so the landscape changes and this led to the legend of demons fighting each other. The story goes that the devil placed a curse on the local waters and those who drank it forgot their ancestry. This led to a wedding between brother and sister. A fairy tried to stop the marriage, but the couple refused. The fairy was left with no choice but to turn them into stone, along with all the wedding guests. The legend is fed by the presence of mineral springs in the area, one that is used for medicinal purposes and another that produces red water. Acoustics play a part in the haunting as well. When the wind whips around the stone towers, you can hear eerie whistles, howls, cries, and squeaks. Image by Geologicharka.
The Curse of English Cave

A cave runs under Benton Park in St. Louis, but no one can find a way in. The main entrance to English Cave, named after its first owner, was sealed up 100 years ago after it was found that water was draining in to it from Benton Park. In the early days of St. Louis, several businesses tried to use the cave and failed. Ezra English used it for storage for his brewery. He opened a beer garden attraction in 1849, which was also the year a cholera epidemic his St. Louis. The city even opened a new graveyard for cholera victims nearby. The cave attraction fizzled. In 1887, news owners tried a mushroom farm, which went out of business in two years. A winery used the cave in 1897, but that business didn’t last long, either. Was the cave cursed? Legend has it that English Cave was the hiding place of two Native American lovers who fled there to avoid the tribal war chief, to whom the woman was promised in marriage. The chief and his warriors kept vigil outside the cave, until the couple inside died of starvation. Many years later, white explorers found two skeletons in the cave. Some say the ghosts of the couple are the real reason no business can thrive in English Cave.
The Haunted Bridge

An old stone bridge called Packhorse Bridge in the northeastern Welsh village of Caergwrle is the scene of this ghostly photograph. Locals say this is the ghost of “Squire Yonge”. However, this term turns up in Chaucer as well as Arthurian literature, and means young squire, which could refer to any number of people. The bridge was built in the 17th century. Nearby Caergwrle Castle was mostly completed by 1282, the final castle built before Wales lost its independent to England. The retreating Welsh filled in the well and sabotaged the castle in order to reduce its value to the English. It is mostly in ruins now. See more spooky night pictures of the bridge.
Fisher’s Ghost

Every November, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia holds the Festival of Fisher’s Ghost. Frederick Fisher was a local businessman who had been in and out of prison. His neighbor George Worrall held power of attorney over Fisher’s property while he was incarcerated. On the night of June 17, 1826, Worrall announced that Fisher had fled to England to avoid more legal trouble. Worrall soon disposed of Fisher’s assets, and the suspicious citizenry had him arrested. Worrall blamed four other men, who were also arrested. But where was the evidence? The legend is that farmer John Farley saw the ghost of Fisher sitting on a bridge, pointing to an area where his body was subsequently found. The ghostly story was not used as evidence in the trial, but Fisher’s body was recovered on October 25th, and Worrall was convicted of the murder and hanged. The story was made into a movie in 1924.