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DANNY ROBINS' INDIE TRAVEL GUIDE TO...SPOOKY PLACES...
Post categories: Danny Robins
|13:56 UK time, Thursday, 28 October 2010
In honour of Halloween the guide has a terror-tastic edge this week. Here's my five suggestions for some scary places to visit. NB - these are pleasurably and safely scary as opposed to genuinely terrifying - eg Helmand Province, Basra or the Bigg Market in Newcastle.
Whitby Goth Weekend
If you're anywhere near Whitby in North Yorkshire this weekend, go and check out Whitby Goth Weekend. It's the world's biggest Goth event and has been taking place bi-annually (at Halloween and in April) since the late 90s. If you are a Goth then you'll know all about it and may even have a ticket for the event, if you're not it's hard not to be quite overawed by a town full of Goths - with everyone in black it does have a slightly macabre quality and people-spotting wise, some of the costumes being sported are genuinely jaw-dropping.
Whitby was chosen for its connection with Dracula (part of Bram Stoker's novel is set there and Stoker used to go on holiday there). Even when the Goths aren't there it's a pretty atmospheric and creepy place to visit. There's a very striking ruined abbey that looks over the town, savage waves that beat the coast and, of course, an ever-so-slightly naff visitor attraction called The Dracula Experience and guided Dracula walks.
If you do go there, make sure you get fish and chips from The Magpie Cafe - it's legendary. Here's a piece I did about Whitby Goth Weekend for The Culture Show.
Transylvania
Sticking with the Dracula theme, how about visiting the Count's homeland of Transylvania? It's in the central part of Romania and you can get there by flying to Bucharest (Easyjet go there) and then driving or taking a coach.
There are lots of organised tours, many specialising in Halloween trips, such as Dracula Tour, Dractours and Mysterious Jouneys.
If you don't fancy being on a coach with a load of tourists, and want to do your own thing, the main things to check out are:
Snagov Monastery, where Vlad the Impaler (Bram Stoker's inspiration for The Count) was rumoured to have been buried. Apparently he was decapitated and his head was sent to Constantinople smeared in honey (as you do). To get to the monastery you can take a rowing boat across a moat. Very Hammer Horror.
Bran Castle, the spectacular castle - pointy turrets, surrounded by dense forest - that is one of the places that lays claim to being 'Dracula's Castle'. Vlad used to hang out here apparently. There's a gypsy bazaar outside selling all your favourite Dracula merchandise.
Poenari Castle - I don't know if you've ever been to Cheddar in Somerset, but there's loads and loads of cheese shops on the main street all claiming to be the original cheddar maker and the castles are like that here - all claiming to be Dracula's official residence. Poenari was Vlad's main castle, not quite as picturesque as Bran but definitely spectacular. It's up a cliff and you have to climb 1500 steps to get there. Apparently, it's meant to be one of the most haunted places in the world.
Italiarggh!!!
Italian horror is a popular sub-genre amongst horror film buffs and Italy has a few good scary places to add to my list.
Firstly, one with a black magic connection - the Abbey of Thelema. 'Thelema' was the occult religion started by the notorious black magician Aleister Crowley. Crowley, for those of you who don't know, was a very colourful character and the abbey was a centre for 'free love' long before the term was invented.
The 'abbey' is actually a small house in Cefalù in Sicily. I know a holiday villa in sunny Sicily may not sound too creepy but the house is a bit of a magnet for black magic types hoping to soak up some of the dark power of the rituals that took place there and there are wall murals still surviving that were painted by Crowley and his devotees. Locals believe it is cursed and won't go anywhere near it. And if you wanted any more proof about its evil status, it's mentioned in a song by Marilyn Manson. It's actually up for sale at the moment, it's rather run down and overrun by plants but if you fancy a demonic holiday hideaway, it could be worth a look.
Also in Sicily are the The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, underground tombs full of the bodies of monks and various local noble-folk who had their bodies embalmed and preserved. Today it's a rather creepy tourist attraction. The last body to be embalmed there was in the 1920s and still looks frighteningly fresh. Expect to see mummies with horrible stretched dried out leathery faces, skulls and thousands of bones. All in the dark underground... Boo!
If that's not your bag, how about an Island of Terror so cursed nobody is even allowed to set foot on it? Poveglia is a small island just near Venice. It's had a dark history. It was used as a quarantine place for plague victims in both Roman and Medieval times. It's said that the island's very foundations are human bones and local fishermen won't fish around its coast for fear of dragging up body parts.
Later in its history it was home to a lunatic asylum run by a doctor who according to different accounts either: murdered his patients and then threw himself off the bell tower/was thrown off the bell tower by them/was strangled by a mysterious fog. Has shades of Shutter Island, eh?
Anyway, today it has such a bad reputation that nobody lives there and the government won't let locals or tourists on it - you have to ask for special permission or make friends with some of the guys who own vineyards on the island.
Of course the plus side of going to Italy to get scared is that you get a cracking 4 course meal whilst you do it. If I'm going to be sick with fear I'd like to have had some fine gnocchi in truffle sauce before I do it.
Go on a Horror Movie Road Trip Across the States
Ever fancied a road trip across the states? Need some ideas for an itinerary? Why not do a tour of spooky locations from some of the classic horror films?
You could take in the Dakota Building in New York, where Rosemary's Baby was shot (and coincidentally John Lennon was killed); Burkittsville in Maryland where The Blair Witch Project was filmed; the original Amityville Horror - 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville in New York state; then perhaps head to 3600 Prospect Ave, Washington, D.C where The Exorcist did his exorcising and Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in Blairstown, New Jersey where Jason did his slashing in Friday 13th, still a working activity camp today.
If you can make it all the way to California you can catch up with locations from Poltergeist and Halloween amongst others. This is a useful site to get you thinking on possible locations.
Ghostly Guided Tours
Can there be anything scarier than out of work actors in horror make up? If you can't make it as far as Romania, Italy or the USA, there are lots of creepy tours you can go on close to home.
Edinburgh has various different ghost tours that will take you to the 'underground city'. In 'Auld Reekie' as the city was once known (due to the terrible smells), streets were built on top of street so whole areas of the medieval city exist underground along with catacombs and vaults where the plague may still lurk... Mercat Tours are one of the main companies. www.mercattours.com . Sounds naff but can be fun.
Mary King's Close is also well worth going to. It's a museum experience that gives you access to incredibly well preserved underground streets. Definitely pretty creepy.
In London, what about taking the brilliantly named Ghost Bus Tours, a double decker bus staffed with actors who will give you an interactive tour round London's most haunted sights.
But if actors and make-believe aren't enough for you and you want the real thing, why not try a real life ghost hunting tour with fully qualified mediums (people who can really contact the dead and never make stuff up, honest).
One good place to go is Woodchester Mansion in the Cotswolds - meant to be one of the most haunted houses in Britain - apparently there's a ghostly coach and horses and a spectral dwarf. There is one company that does tours there. They've also got tours to other places.
On these sorts of tours you stay up all night with mediums off programmes like Most Haunted, waiting for 'contact'. I've done one there and it's quite fun, though I've just seen on their website that they say anyone who brings booze will be asked to leave. Boo! Where's the fun in that?
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