Ghost stories
Carnac Stones · Three Thousand Stones in a Row
The stones of Carnac consist of more than three thousand standing stones arranged in a dozen or so long rows, running for several kilometres, and predating the Egyptian pyramids by...
Carnac Stones · Three Thousand Stones in a Row
The stones of Carnac consist of more than three thousand standing stones arranged in a dozen or so long rows, running for several kilometres, and predating the Egyptian pyramids by...
Mont Saint-Michel · Those Chased by the Tide
Mont Saint-Michel is an island; at high tide the sea spreads over the flats and wipes out the path to the mainland. The tide moves astonishingly fast, and is said...
Mont Saint-Michel · Those Chased by the Tide
Mont Saint-Michel is an island; at high tide the sea spreads over the flats and wipes out the path to the mainland. The tide moves astonishingly fast, and is said...
Broceliande Forest · The Woods You Do Not Walk ...
The forest of Broceliande in Brittany is the forest of Merlin and Viviane in Arthurian legend, and the site of a spring said to make people forget the past. Merlin...
Broceliande Forest · The Woods You Do Not Walk ...
The forest of Broceliande in Brittany is the forest of Merlin and Viviane in Arthurian legend, and the site of a spring said to make people forget the past. Merlin...
Petit Trianon · The Second Queen at Versailles
The Petit Trianon was a “village” that Marie Antoinette built for herself in the gardens of Versailles, where she dressed as a shepherdess and kept clear of court rules. In...
Petit Trianon · The Second Queen at Versailles
The Petit Trianon was a “village” that Marie Antoinette built for herself in the gardens of Versailles, where she dressed as a shepherdess and kept clear of court rules. In...
Palais Garnier · Water Below, and a Box That Do...
When the Palais Garnier was being built, groundwater was struck; the architect channelled it into a reservoir instead, to steady the foundations. That reservoir later became the model for the...
Palais Garnier · Water Below, and a Box That Do...
When the Palais Garnier was being built, groundwater was struck; the architect channelled it into a reservoir instead, to steady the foundations. That reservoir later became the model for the...
Père Lachaise Cemetery · The List Buried Here
Père Lachaise Cemetery holds Wilde, Chopin, Bizet and countless members of the Paris Commune; the slopes pile one above another, and the gravestones are packed together like a small town....
Père Lachaise Cemetery · The List Buried Here
Père Lachaise Cemetery holds Wilde, Chopin, Bizet and countless members of the Paris Commune; the slopes pile one above another, and the gravestones are packed together like a small town....
Rennes-le-Château · The Priest Who Suddenly Had...
Rennes-le-Château is a small village in the Pyrenees. At the end of the 19th century the village priest, Saunière, was on a small income, yet he restored the church, repaired...
Rennes-le-Château · The Priest Who Suddenly Had...
Rennes-le-Château is a small village in the Pyrenees. At the end of the 19th century the village priest, Saunière, was on a small income, yet he restored the church, repaired...
Montségur · The Last People on the Mountain Top
Montségur Castle stands on a mountain top; in the 13th century it became the last stronghold of the Cathars. The Pope called a crusade against them, and after a ten-month...
Montségur · The Last People on the Mountain Top
Montségur Castle stands on a mountain top; in the 13th century it became the last stronghold of the Cathars. The Pope called a crusade against them, and after a ten-month...
Aldwych Ghost Station · A Platform Still Lit Af...
Aldwych is the best known of the London Underground's disused stations. It closed in 1994, but the platforms, tiles and old advertisements are still in place, and the lights are...
Aldwych Ghost Station · A Platform Still Lit Af...
Aldwych is the best known of the London Underground's disused stations. It closed in 1994, but the platforms, tiles and old advertisements are still in place, and the lights are...
Stonehenge · Stones That Came Two Hundred Kilom...
Geological analysis shows that the bluestones of Stonehenge came from the mountains of Wales, more than two hundred kilometres away; how these stones of many tonnes were moved to the...
Stonehenge · Stones That Came Two Hundred Kilom...
Geological analysis shows that the bluestones of Stonehenge came from the mountains of Wales, more than two hundred kilometres away; how these stones of many tonnes were moved to the...
Loch Ness · What Is Down There Under the Water
Loch Ness holds more fresh water than any other lake in Britain; peat turns the water black, and visibility for instruments is under a metre. In 1933 a local newspaper...
Loch Ness · What Is Down There Under the Water
Loch Ness holds more fresh water than any other lake in Britain; peat turns the water black, and visibility for instruments is under a metre. In 1933 a local newspaper...
Pendle · The Ten Who Were Hanged
In 1612, ten people from around Pendle in Lancashire were hanged for witchcraft; most were poor old women, and the evidence was often no more than a quarrel between neighbours...
Pendle · The Ten Who Were Hanged
In 1612, ten people from around Pendle in Lancashire were hanged for witchcraft; most were poor old women, and the evidence was often no more than a quarrel between neighbours...
Pluckley · A Dozen People Waiting to See One
Pluckley in Kent is called “the most haunted village in England”: the miller, the old schoolmaster, a nun on her way to church, a man hanging from a tree, and...
Pluckley · A Dozen People Waiting to See One
Pluckley in Kent is called “the most haunted village in England”: the miller, the old schoolmaster, a nun on her way to church, a man hanging from a tree, and...
Glamis Castle · The Room That Must Not Be Opened
Glamis Castle is one of Scotland’s best-known “haunted castles”: Shakespeare borrowed its legend for Macbeth, in which King Duncan is murdered here. Inside the castle there is talk of a...
Glamis Castle · The Room That Must Not Be Opened
Glamis Castle is one of Scotland’s best-known “haunted castles”: Shakespeare borrowed its legend for Macbeth, in which King Duncan is murdered here. Inside the castle there is talk of a...
Borley Rectory · England's Most Famous Haunted ...
Borley Rectory was a Victorian house in Essex that the press called the most haunted house in England. The best-documented episode began in 1937, when the researcher Harry Price advertised...
Borley Rectory · England's Most Famous Haunted ...
Borley Rectory was a Victorian house in Essex that the press called the most haunted house in England. The best-documented episode began in 1937, when the researcher Harry Price advertised...
Highgate Cemetery · A Graveyard You Queue For i...
Highgate Cemetery is built on a hillside, where Egyptian-style tombs, fallen crosses and ivy-covered angels crowd together; it is the best-known graveyard in London. Its most widely known story is...
Highgate Cemetery · A Graveyard You Queue For i...
Highgate Cemetery is built on a hillside, where Egyptian-style tombs, fallen crosses and ivy-covered angels crowd together; it is the best-known graveyard in London. Its most widely known story is...
The White Desert · As If Someone Made It and Th...
The White Desert is full of white rock pillars and mushroom-shaped stones, carved by wind and sand out of seabed deposits laid down tens of millions of years ago; at...
The White Desert · As If Someone Made It and Th...
The White Desert is full of white rock pillars and mushroom-shaped stones, carved by wind and sand out of seabed deposits laid down tens of millions of years ago; at...
Siwa Oasis · The Oracle in the Desert
Siwa Oasis lies deep in the Sahara, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest town. It holds the oracle of the god Amun; Alexander the Great crossed the desert himself to...
Siwa Oasis · The Oracle in the Desert
Siwa Oasis lies deep in the Sahara, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest town. It holds the oracle of the god Amun; Alexander the Great crossed the desert himself to...
Saint Catherine’s Monastery · Fifteen Hundred Y...
Saint Catherine’s Monastery stands below Mount Sinai. It was built by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian, and the walls and the monastery have stood for fifteen hundred years and...
Saint Catherine’s Monastery · Fifteen Hundred Y...
Saint Catherine’s Monastery stands below Mount Sinai. It was built by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian, and the walls and the monastery have stood for fifteen hundred years and...
The City of the Dead · The People Who Live in t...
Cairo’s “City of the Dead” is a burial ground that has grown over several centuries: the courtyards and houses left between the graves were meant for people visiting tombs to...
The City of the Dead · The People Who Live in t...
Cairo’s “City of the Dead” is a burial ground that has grown over several centuries: the courtyards and houses left between the graves were meant for people visiting tombs to...
The Catacombs of Alexandria · A Place No One We...
The catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa in Alexandria mix three styles, Roman, Greek and Egyptian: the columns at the entrance are Roman, the wall paintings show the Egyptian weighing of the...
The Catacombs of Alexandria · A Place No One We...
The catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa in Alexandria mix three styles, Roman, Greek and Egyptian: the columns at the entrance are Roman, the wall paintings show the Egyptian weighing of the...
Saqqara · The First Pyramid Built of Stone
The Step Pyramid at Saqqara was designed by the architect Imhotep for the pharaoh Djoser, and it is the first pyramid in the world to be built of stone: six...
Saqqara · The First Pyramid Built of Stone
The Step Pyramid at Saqqara was designed by the architect Imhotep for the pharaoh Djoser, and it is the first pyramid in the world to be built of stone: six...
Abu Simbel · A Sun That Comes In Twice a Year
Abu Simbel was cut into the sandstone cliff by order of Ramesses II, its facade carrying four seated statues twenty metres high. Deep inside, in the sanctuary, four gods sit;...
Abu Simbel · A Sun That Comes In Twice a Year
Abu Simbel was cut into the sandstone cliff by order of Ramesses II, its facade carrying four seated statues twenty metres high. Deep inside, in the sanctuary, four gods sit;...
Karnak Temple · How Many People It Takes to Rin...
Karnak is the largest temple complex of ancient Egypt. Halls and pylons were added by pharaoh after pharaoh, until it grew into a forest of stone. The hypostyle hall has...
Karnak Temple · How Many People It Takes to Rin...
Karnak is the largest temple complex of ancient Egypt. Halls and pylons were added by pharaoh after pharaoh, until it grew into a forest of stone. The hypostyle hall has...