Tired of the usual vacations with the sun on your skin, hotel accommodations and feeling relaxed? Then get your adrenaline rushing and your heart beating fast when you visit these creepy sites on your next vacation.

The Dark Side of Europe

Europe has a dark history; with deaths from plague, fires and the Holocaust to name a few. The places where all these events happened and more have now become a shrine to the past, with museums and guided tours. If you like places with a creepy vibe, then these are a must visit for you.

Palermo Catacombs [Sicily, Italy]

When Palermo’s local cemetery became full, the monks excavated crypts below it. The Catacombs then served as the final resting place for many residents in Palermo, Italy.

Rosalia Lombardo was one of the last buried in the catacombs. She earned the nickname “Sleeping Beauty” for her well-preserved body.

Today, there are still bodies in the catacombs, always dressed in their Sunday best, and positioned along the walls. Visitors are allowed to go through the catacombs in groups with an experienced guide so they can see for themselves what it’s like to walk among the dead.

City of the Dead [Ossetia, Russia]

The City of the Dead is a place shrouded in mystery. The “city” is made up of tombs and crypts which are built close together with a few sparsely placed. These houses were built along the mountainside near the village of Dargavs. Legend has it that during the 18th century, a plague swept through Ossetia and claimed the lives of around 90 percent of the population. These “houses” are said to have been built as quarantine houses designed to isolate the sick from the village. Here, they patiently awaited their fate inside the huts.

Chernobyl [Pripyat, Ukraine]

When people say the words “nuclear disaster” the first thing that comes to mind is the tragedy that happened on April 1986 in Pripyat, Ukraine. People have died, and the city quickly became a ghost town. To this day, Chernobyl is still uninhabitable due to the high levels of radiation in the area.  However, there are guided tours that let visitors see parts of the town for only a short while so that you will not be exposed to radiation for too long.

Skull Chapel [Czermna, Poland]

Chapels often offer a sense of comfort for those who visit it. But what if the chapel is made from human bones? The eerie skull chapel was built in 17876 by Waclaw Tomaszek, a Czech-born local parish priest. The bones came from the mass grave of people who died in the Thirty Years War, three Silesian Wars, and of people who died because of diseases. The church is home to a total of 3000 skeletons, and another 21,000 in the basement of the building. When the priest died, his remains were also made part of the church.

Bran Castle [Transylvania, Romania]

If you’ve ever wondered what inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, this is the place to go. Stoker loosely based the novel on Vlad the Impaler and his sadistic ways. The castle has since been associated with vampires, and with good reason as Vlad’s family has been associated with wars and death of all kind. Imagine just being around the castle that housed the Draculs and their subtle insanity.

Europe is rich with history. And when a place has history, you can always expect it to come with a side of creepy. Plan your vacation with these sites in mind. Once you’ve made your flight arrangements, drive yourself to the airport and park with us here at Alpha to ensure that your vehicle will be well taken care of while you’re out exploring castles and ruins.