From Gothic castles and creaking mansions to centuries-old graveyards that terrify after dark, the world is filled with places that go bump in the night. Here we take a hair-raising tour of the world's eeriest spots, some of which trade on their haunting reputations and some of which lie abandoned and decrepit.

Click through this gallery to discover the most spine-chilling spots in the world...

When you learn about Crescent Hotel's sinister history, it's no wonder that it's hailed as one of the most haunted spots in America. It opened in 1886 as a ritzy bolthole for affluent travellers – but when visitor numbers plummeted, it fell into the hands of Norman Baker, a pseudo-cancer doctor whose inefficient 'treatments' left many to die of the disease here. The hotel milks its haunting reputation with events including paranormal tours and murder mystery weekends.

The famous Bermuda Triangle has been baffling scientists and wannabe sleuths for more than a century. This curious swathe of the North Atlantic, between the island of Bermuda and southern Florida, has been the site of mysterious disappearances over the years, and more than 50 ships and 20 planes have apparently disappeared without trace. Scientific theories to do with so-called 'rogue waves' – giant crests with the power to gobble up entire ships – abound, but many prefer to put the mystery down to the supernatural.

This 19th-century hotel has a lot going for it: views of South Africa's rugged Karoo region, old-world rooms and a history including a stint as the headquarters of the Cape Western Command during the Anglo-Boer War. One soul from this era apparently still lingers in the hotel. A nurse, Kate, who died mysteriously when she was just 19, is said to haunt a little turret room in the hotel, and visitors report feeling a strange presence and hearing peculiar noises.

A little desert city in Texas might seem an unlikely candidate for a list of the world's eeriest places, but this one boasts a particular, hair-raising phenomenon. The Marfa Lights – curious beads of clear or colourful light bouncing along the horizon – have become the stuff of local legend. They're a complete mystery but that doesn't stop people from coming to their own conclusions: some say it's alien activity, others are convinced that they're the ghosts of Spanish conquistadors.

Wales' Ruthin Castle – which has its roots right back in the 1200s – has passed through the hands of many kings over the centuries (including King Henry VIII). Today the plush hotel is still fit for royalty, with upscale restaurants and a spa that apparently welcomes guests both living and dead. That includes Lady Grey, a phantom who purportedly wanders the castle halls and battlements, having been executed for murdering her husband's mistress.

The Stanley Hotel is synonymous with spooks and spirits and is famous as the inspiration for creepy Stephen King novel The Shining (1977). Guests can get to grips with the hotel's ghostly goings-on on a night tour, which takes visitors into some of the place's creepiest corners.

Room 217 – dubbed The Stephen King Suite, since it's where the writer stayed – is the place most readily associated with paranormal activity. Another suite is said to house the ghost of Elizabeth Wilson, a chambermaid injured in an explosion, while spectral children have apparently been seen flitting around the halls of the fourth floor.

It's no surprise that a dark and echoey cavern might be on the creepy side, but this one has a spooky backstory to match. It's said to be the birthplace of its namesake, Mother Shipton, a witch and prophet known for predicting pivotal events like the Great Fire of London and the death of kings. Centuries on, her eerie abode and the dense woodland in which it's located fascinate visitors.

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It's not too much of a surprise that you might find a haunted hotel in the medieval town of Rye, with its centuries-old pubs and winding cobbled lanes. The creepiest in question is The Mermaid Inn, whose cellars date right back to 1156, and whose wood-clad, painting-strung rooms feel like just the sort of place a ghost might lurk. The most haunted spots are apparently Rooms 16 and 17, which have reports of moving furniture, a ghostly chill and even paranormal sightings.

A sprawling Rocky Mountains estate originally dating to the 1880s, Fairmont Banff Springs looks more like a castle than a hotel – and it's supposedly got all the spooks and spirits you might expect from a centuries-old fortress. The resort is renowned for its swish spa, sprawling golf course and elegant suites, but it's also known for its ghostly residents. Among them is said to be a bride whose dress tragically set on fire before her nuptials, while the ghost of friendly bellman Sam also apparently haunts the halls.

Even before you reach India's Bhangarh Fort you might get the heebie-jeebies: the road to the landmark is scattered with ruins and deserted villages. The castle itself, which dates to the 17th century, continues the chills. Legend has it the place is cursed by a wizard, who was dramatically crushed to death by a boulder as he tried to slip his object of affection, a beautiful princess, a love potion.

Think you've seen this gnarled alleyway of trees before? Northern Ireland's Dark Hedges were made famous by fantasy TV series Game of Thrones, and they remain a popular photo stop. They're purportedly also host to the spirit of the Grey Lady, whose ghostly image vanishes as she reaches the end of the tree tunnel.

Her identity is something of a mystery, but some say it's the spirit of a housemaid who died under suspicious circumstances many years ago.

Another brooding castle that's apparently ripe with spirits is Dunnottar, which perches on mist-hung cliffs above the North Sea in Scotland's northeast. The Scottish and English have battled fiercely for this stronghold over the centuries, and now it stands as an arresting ruin with eerie dungeons and passageways to boot.

Some fascinating ghost stories abound too: the ghost of a young girl in tartan is said to haunt the old brewery, while a spectral soldier has apparently been seen looking out to sea.

The empty rooms and echoing corridors of the long-abandoned Waverly Hills Sanatorium make a ghostly impression on visitors – so much so that this old Tudor-style hospital is tipped as one of the most haunted places in the States. It began as a hospital for people with tuberculosis in the early 1900s, before a stint as a care home for the elderly.

Now paranormal tours unpick the location's ghostly history and reputation; room 502 is said to be the most haunted of all, with reports of strange shapes and voices.

Peel back the history of this Jamaican pile and it's no wonder people consider it so creepy. The head-turning Georgian-style mansion was the home of a supposed white witch named Annie Palmer, who apparently murdered three of her husbands (including John Palmer, one-time owner of Rose Hall) and countless enslaved men.

It's said that her spirit now roams the house and grounds, after an ancient ritual supposed to seal her tomb when she died failed.

Even if you don't know the place's macabre history, a wander around this abandoned theme park is enough to give you goosebumps. And when you consider that the theme park was built on the site of a bloody 18th-century feud between a white family and Indigenous people, the place becomes all the more sombre and spooky.

The theme park, built in the 1920s, was abandoned after several tragic accidents and deaths involving visitors, and is now the preserve of ghost hunters.

The harrowing history of Belchite haunts its streets, which are today lined with the battered shells of buildings and mounds of rubble. The town was all but destroyed during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, and rather than try to repair it, local authorities decided to leave the town as a broken reminder of the horrors of the conflict.

Wandering the streets is an eerie experience, not least because it's often called Spain's most haunted town, and visitors have reported hearing the spectral cries of those caught in the conflict.

Fancy a night on the world's most haunted ship? That's exactly what the RMS Queen Mary is purported to be. She began life as a cruise ship, then entered service as a troopship, and is now a floating hotel.

But, in the 1940s, a passenger supposedly died in State Room B340 and it's been the site of paranormal activity ever since. Visitors report seeing ghostly forms in the dark and even having their bedclothes ripped from them while they slept. Tarot cards and a Ouija board are offered to those who brave a night here.

This remote Gothic castle set tongues wagging when it was built back in the 13th century. People were dumbfounded at the purpose of it: no-one lived here and its location meant it served no logical defensive purpose either. They decided, then, that it must have been built over the gates to hell as a way to stop evil spirits from the underworld in their tracks, and centuries on its creepy reputation endures.

The Winchester Mystery House is a rather striking sight, with its many gables, neat balconies and conical towers. Yet its history is what really intrigues visitors. The site belonged to Sarah Winchester, widow of arms company treasurer William Wirt Winchester, who bought a two-storey farmhouse in the 1880s and transformed it into the sprawling pile we see today.

Some think that her building frenzy was a bid to escape a horde of spirits that plagued her – possibly those who died by the rifles her husband helped to sell.

The 19th-century penal site of Port Arthur, once home to hundreds of convicts, was known for its excruciatingly tough conditions, which saw those incarcerated buckle under the weight of forced labour. The 30-plus ruined buildings left behind are a reminder of this sombre period of history and it's said that some of the many souls who lost their lives here still remain. A ghost tour by lantern light takes curious visitors in search of these spectral beings.

From immersive Halloween nights to hair-raising after-dark tours, the Eastern State Penitentiary – one of the most formidable prisons in American history – knows how to make the most of its creepy setting. The prison opened in 1829, putting prisoners through long periods of solitary confinement and other harrowing forms of psychological punishment. Now the prison's shell, with its empty cell blocks and crumbling corridors, is said to hold on to the spirits of convicts who spent their last days here.

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Here's another abandoned prison that'll send shivers down your spine: Ohio State Reformatory, which opened in the late 19th century, has a chequered history that's marred with tales of riots and even murder. Ghost walks, paranormal investigations and more are available, and visitors are convinced they've heard whispers floating about the empty corridors and cell blocks. The prison was also the location for 1990s prison film The Shawshank Redemption.

The Bell Witch is the stuff of supernatural legend. She's said to have plagued the Bell family from the year 1817, subjecting them to physical harassment until patriarch John Bell eventually died. Now, if you're brave enough, the darkened cave where the sorceress apparently resided is open for tours, and there's a replica of the Bell family home on the site too.

There's something inherently eerie about a once-bustling place that's been long abandoned, and Bannack, in southwestern Montana, is among America's most haunting ghost towns. The shell of a 19th-century church, a hotel and a Masonic lodge – once catering to hundreds of gold miners – are scattered about the dusty plains, and they're apparently host to a spirit or two.

Ghost tours are held during the spooky season, and visitors might spot the phantom of a young girl who's said to swirl around the old courthouse.

Ghost tours and paranormal investigations are regular occurrences at this former asylum, decommissioned in the 1990s (and also known as Mayday Hills). Before that, the facility treated the mentally ill for more than 120 years – although sadly reports of ill treatment and outmoded restraints like straitjackets were rife. It's said that the spirits of former patients still linger within the walls of the Italianate-style mansion.

The remnants of this historic pearling village are quite a sight. Al Jazirah Al Hamra was deserted in the mid-20th century, most likely as residents went in search of a more modern way of life elsewhere, and, unsurprisingly, the deserted, sand-whipped streets have bred myths about ghosts and ghouls. Even without the supernatural, a walk through this abandoned town hewn from coral stone – with its sand-coloured houses, fortress and weathered mosques – is haunting enough.

A cemetery holding some 170,000 people and around 53,000 graves – many of them long abandoned – is a recipe for spooks and spirits. And, in the 1970s, reports of the supernatural here at Highgate were rife.

Ghostly shapes had reportedly been seen wandering about the tree-shrouded tombstones, while animals were found dead with injuries to the neck. The macabre goings-on were attributed to the so-called Highgate Vampire and books were even written on the subject. Although decades have passed, a wander through the green-choked gravesite is just as haunting.

At first glance, there isn't anything scary about this green summit in Lancashire. But it's actually the site of the witch trials of 1612, and the spirits of those put to death are said to haunt the hill. Overnight ghost hunts are organised for brave visitors who are prepared for the "intense, physical activity" that festers here.

Take a crumbling 17th-century castle and fill it with centuries-worth of spirits and you've got one of Europe's eeriest places. The fortress, which was built for a Polish military commander, underwent a number of attacks over the years, including a devastating blow by the Ukrainian Cossacks in 1648. In the 20th century, it became a tuberculosis sanatorium and its turbulent history has earned it plenty of ghost stories – rumour has it that one of the spirits is the lover of one-time owner Wacław Rzewuski.

This might look like any other dreamy chateau in the wine-drenched Loire Valley – but Château de Brissac, which has been built and rebuilt since the 11th century, has a darker side. It's said to be haunted by 'La Dame Verte' (the Green Lady), the phantom of a woman who was apparently murdered here many years ago. Take a tour through the opulent castle – with its period artworks, gilded detailing and red velvet drapes – and you might even catch a glimpse of her.

The myths and mysteries surrounding Loch Ness need little introduction. The Loch Ness monster, or Nessie as she's affectionately known, has been associated with this water for millennia, and the first recorded sighting was way back in AD 565, logged in a diary by missionary St Columba.

Over the years, the legend of Nessie has spawned books, films and documentaries, plus thousands of claimed sightings, while her form is mostly agreed to include a snake-like head and humps along her back.

People come to Harz National Park for its sheer beauty – think mountains cloaked with beech and spruce trees, and trails hugging rocky streams. But the peak-filled park has an eerier side: legend says that, one night many years ago, a coven of witches met the devil on the soaring summit of Brocken Mountain. Since then it's been a hot bed for pagan rituals and other spiritual deeds.

Described as a 'city of the dead', this maze-like cemetery in Buenos Aires dates back to 1822. It's known for its elegant marble mausoleums and many religious statues, and locals are convinced that ghosts wander about its labyrinthine walkways too. It's said to be haunted by the spirit of David Alleno, a grave-digger who took his own life decades ago and apparently jangles a bunch of ghostly keys as he floats about the gravesite.

Lithuania's Hill of Crosses, just outside the city of Šiauliai, is considered a creepy sight, not least because its origins remain a mystery. Thousands of wooden crosses stud the hillside and, over the years, they've been damaged by fire and were even removed by authorities during the Soviet era. Still, though, locals have restored the site across the decades and, despite its eerie reputation, it doubles as a peaceful place of pilgrimage.

A stark backdrop of mist-clad water and snow-crowned mountains make this isolated house all the more eerie. It was finished in 1909 and has been the site of many important meetings over the years – the most famous being the one between US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986, which was a pivotal step towards ending the Cold War. But dignitaries have also reported hearing strange sounds and whisperings at the lonely abode over the years.

Tipped as New Zealand's only castle, Larnach was built on the Otago Peninsula in 1871 for politician William Larnach and his wife Eliza. Although it once fell into ruin, it's now been restored to its former glory, its rooms stuffed with antiques and its grounds carefully manicured. The castle's 150-year history is littered with tales of ghosts and ghouls: visitors report the feeling of being watched, doors creaking open of their own accord and even strange weather events plaguing the castle.

Monte Cristo claims to be 'Australia's most haunted homestead' – and it's no wonder given its heart-wrenching history. The house was built in the 1880s for farmer Christopher Crawley and his wife Elizabeth, but tragedy struck in 1910 when Christopher died and a heartbroken Elizabeth shut herself away from the world. She eventually died from appendicitis having only left the house a handful of times; it's said that her spirit remains and she's joined by a host of other phantoms.

This castle – built for coal baron Robert Dunsmuir in the 19th century – could be straight out of a horror film, with its gables, conical towers and dramatic arched windows. It served time as a military hospital and today the historic pile is bound up with ghostly tales. It's said that long-deceased members of the Dunsmuir family still roam the halls, and visitors tell of a piano that plays by itself, eerie childlike cries and a ghostly woman in white.

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The Tower of London – an 11th-century fortress brooding at the edge of the Thames – has a notoriously gruesome history peppered with high-profile prisoners and grisly executions. That blood-spattered history means ghost stories abound today. It's said that Henry VIII's fated second wife, Anne Boleyn, still floats about her execution site on Tower Green. In a strange twist, one 19th-century Yeoman Warder (the tower's guards) also swore he saw the ghost of a mighty bear while he was on duty one night.

One of the oldest beacons in the Great Lakes region, Gibraltar Point Lighthouse dates to 1808 and its eerie history is intrinsically bound up with one man's fate. Lighthouse keeper JP Radelmüller watched over Gibraltar Point during the War of 1812, but he disappeared without a trace in January 1815, a month before the conflict's end. It's thought that he was brutally murdered, and it's also thought that his spirit still remains at the site.

Now a fairytale-esque wedding venue and hotel, Craig y Nos Castle stands in the midst of Brecon Beacons National Park and was once the home of Adelina Patti, a famed Italian opera singer. One of the finest spots on the estate is the Patti Theatre, a Grade I-listed building with ornate Corinthian columns, and it's here that the ghost of a lady in black has purportedly been spotted.

Ghost tours and paranormal investigations are available at the haunting site.

This hilltop ruin in the Wicklow Mountains cuts a ghostly image and has a haunting history to match. It begins with apparently vengeful spirits who wreaked havoc on the 18th-century hunting lodge, since it was built over the site of an important cairn.

It was also apparently the HQ of The Hellfire Club, a group rumoured to engage in black magic, devil worship and other debaucherous behaviour. It's even said that Satan himself once appeared at the site. Unsurprisingly, then, the mouldering lodge is extra creepy, and visitors report a feeling of unease and smelling unexplained odours.

From an early medieval fortress to a striking Baroque castle, Dragsholm Slot has changed a lot in its 800-year history. And, like most European castles, it's got a turbulent past – one that involves a stint as a prison for high-ranking inmates and an attack that left it in ruins. Now the castle has taken on new life as a hotel, but it's still got a creepy edge to it, as ghost-hunters are convinced it's rife with spirits, including a once-imprisoned bishop and an earl with a horse-drawn carriage.

A prison with a 170-year history is a veritable breeding ground for ghosts. Built by convict labour, Fremantle Prison opened in the 1850s and saw some 10,000 prisoners pass through its gates. It was decommissioned in the 1990s after a string of dangerous riots and plummeting conditions, and today the Torchlight Tour casts the prison in an especially creepy light, while a dive down into the maze of prisoner-built tunnels is hair-raising too.

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This turreted castle might look more at home in Europe than Asia – but it's actually located in the city of Batu Gajah in Malaysia. Scottish planter William Kellie Smith came to Malaysia to make his fortune and built this lavish abode for himself and his wife, Agnes, but when he died suddenly his family abandoned the mansion and it fell into disrepair. Modern-day visitors say they've spotted spectral faces in the windows and even spied William himself pacing the halls.

Brooding on Castle Rock, Edinburgh's famous fortress has a history with roots right back to the Iron Age and, over the years, it's served as a royal home, a military site and a defensive stronghold. Now it's the Scottish capital's top attraction, drawing history buffs through its Great Hall and sprawling courtyards. It's a site favoured by ghost-hunters too: the dungeons, where many prisoners endured cruel treatment, are said to be filled with the ghosts of tortured souls.

One of China's most famous landmarks, the Forbidden City – a centuries-old imperial palace complex – might not strike you as particularly creepy. But this royal monument has a spooky side, and is said to be haunted by a whole roster of spirits who make themselves known after dark. Guards have told tales of spectral animals scurrying about and even a weeping woman dressed head-to-toe in white.

Visitors who want guaranteed goosebumps should head straight for the North Hall section of this creepy abandoned prison, which opened in 1876. North Hall was the penitentiary's maximum security area, and it's said that the spirits of the formidable prisoners incarcerated here have never left. You can get a taste for the prison and its ghostly happenings on a guided walk.

Ballygally Castle is another formidable fortress turned hotel – and it's tipped as one of the most haunted places in Northern Ireland. The site served as a wartime refuge and a coastguard station, before it became a hotel in the 1950s.

No wonder there are ghostly rumours. Visitors can peek inside the Ghost Room, which is apparently home to the spirit of Lady Isabella Shaw, wife of James Shaw, who built the property. The story goes that Isabella was locked up in the tower room by her husband as soon as she gave birth to an heir, and she plummeted to her death while trying to escape.

The Windy City has a whole roster of haunted spots, but the Congress Plaza Hotel is the most notorious of all. It wows modern visitors with its opulent lobby and leather-splashed lounge bar and, over the years, it's been host to presidents from Teddy Roosevelt to Woodrow Wilson. It's also apparently frequented by the spirit of infamous gangster Al Capone: visitors swear they've seen him sauntering about the halls.

It's still possible to wander between the creaking carousel, battered arcade games and deserted bumper cars at Yongma Land, a little theme park in Seoul that opened in the 1980s. The park couldn't compete with the mega rides of attractions elsewhere, so it ultimately shuttered in 2011. Legend has it the abandoned park is haunted by a spirit or two, one of them apparently the ghost of a girl who tragically died on one of the rides.

New York City has a generous helping of haunted locations, and among them is the 18th-century Morris-Jumel Mansion, the former summer retreat of English colonel Roger Morris. Beyond being a private residence, it also served as an American Revolutionary War HQ and a raucous tavern – and it's said that spirits still linger from across the decades. Paranormal investigations here go in search of the mansion's notorious spectral residents.

Wherever in the world they're left to ruin, there's something especially haunting about an abandoned theme park. The bones of Berlin's Spreepark – popular back in the 1960s and 1970s – are choked by greenery today, and a wander between these rusting rides is bound to give you goosebumps. They're apparently host to some lingering spirits, though the site is currently undergoing redevelopment.

The depths of a mist-hung, deathly silent forest is enough to put goosebumps on anyone's arms, and this mysterious area of woodland in northwest Romania is particularly creepy. Its knobbled trees seem to belong on another planet, and there's a whole clearing in the middle where greenery simply refuses to grow. There have been several unexplained disappearances too, while visitors tell of feelings of unease and even physical nausea as they push into the midst of the woods.

"Lizzie Borden took an axe, And gave her mother forty whacks; When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one." This creepy verse remembers one of the most gruesome true-crime stories in America's history, in which the family of young woman Lizzie Borden were brutally murdered with an axe.

Accused Borden (who died in 1927) was actually acquitted of the murders, although her reputation remained in tatters. Now the disturbing house where the murders took place is open to visit: you can stay overnight, take a guided tour or book onto a ghost hunt.

The Bourbon Orleans Hotel in NOLA's French Quarter has more than two centuries of history, and it's served as everything from a theatre and ballroom to a convent. No surprise, then, that the venue – today a glamorous hotel – is apparently filled with ghosts from across the ages. It's said that the spirit of a Confederate soldier floats about the third and sixth levels, while a phantom dancer is forever on the floor at the glitzy Orleans Ballroom.

This dramatic ruined hilltop castle – which has its roots back in the 14th century and was swallowed by fire in the 18th century – has become a magnet for filmmakers and TV crews. Most recently, it served as a backdrop in Netflix fantasy series The Witcher. Apparently, it's also a magnet for the undead: the hulking figure of a spectral black dog has been sighted roaming the grounds, while there have been reports of a creepy headless horseman too.

Flagstaff's 1920s Hotel Monte Vista is apparently home to some of the creepiest ghosts in America. Among them is the super-scary former inhabitant 'Meat Man', who apparently had a penchant for hanging raw meat about his room, and it's said that guests have felt his presence in his old abode. There are also rumours of a phantom bellboy, once witnessed by Western star John Wayne.

As if a rattling, abandoned prison wasn't sinister enough, this one is said to be filled with the spirits of inmates past. The Old Idaho Penitentiary has a history dating back to the 1870s and, in its time in operation, it incarcerated some of the most formidable criminals in the country. The ghost of one prisoner in particular – 'Idaho's Jack the Ripper', Raymond Allen Snowden, who died in 1957 – is particularly active, and you might catch a ghostly glimpse of him on a paranormal investigation or a behind the scenes tour.

The legend of Bram Stoker's famous vampire, Dracula, is what makes this castle oh-so-creepy. While there's no concrete evidence that Stoker ever even visited Romania, let alone set foot in this eerie fortress, much of the description matches up and the two remain intrinsically connected. Visitors can tour the haunting castle and see macabre sights like medieval torture devices, while there are special tickets for Halloween time too.

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