Ghost stories
The Valley of the Kings · The Cursed Tomb Passage
The Valley of the Kings holds dozens of pharaohs of the New Kingdom; the tomb passages were cut into the rock, and the walls carry the Book of the Dead:...
The Valley of the Kings · The Cursed Tomb Passage
The Valley of the Kings holds dozens of pharaohs of the New Kingdom; the tomb passages were cut into the rock, and the walls carry the Book of the Dead:...
The Domovoi · The One Who Lives Behind the Stove
In Russian folk belief the domovoi, the house spirit, lives behind the stove or under the threshold and looks after a household’s luck: he likes order and livestock, warns people...
The Domovoi · The One Who Lives Behind the Stove
In Russian folk belief the domovoi, the house spirit, lives behind the stove or under the threshold and looks after a household’s luck: he likes order and livestock, warns people...
Lake Baikal · The Deepest Lake in the World
Lake Baikal is more than sixteen hundred metres deep, the deepest and oldest lake in the world, holding nearly a fifth of the planet’s fresh water. In winter the surface...
Lake Baikal · The Deepest Lake in the World
Lake Baikal is more than sixteen hundred metres deep, the deepest and oldest lake in the world, holding nearly a fifth of the planet’s fresh water. In winter the surface...
The Mistress of the Copper Mountain · The Woman...
In the legends of the Ural miners there is a “Mistress of the Copper Mountain”: she wears a malachite dress that flows and shifts, she can move through the ore...
The Mistress of the Copper Mountain · The Woman...
In the legends of the Ural miners there is a “Mistress of the Copper Mountain”: she wears a malachite dress that flows and shifts, she can move through the ore...
Kizhi Island · Built Without a Single Nail
On Kizhi Island in Lake Onega stand two wooden churches: the Church of the Transfiguration has twenty-two domes, all built of spruce, and the story is that the carpenter used...
Kizhi Island · Built Without a Single Nail
On Kizhi Island in Lake Onega stand two wooden churches: the Church of the Transfiguration has twenty-two domes, all built of spruce, and the story is that the carpenter used...
Tunguska · The Explosion That Left No Crater
In June 1908 there was a great explosion along the Tunguska River in Siberia: more than two thousand square kilometres of forest fell in a fan shape, and windows were...
Tunguska · The Explosion That Left No Crater
In June 1908 there was a great explosion along the Tunguska River in Siberia: more than two thousand square kilometres of forest fell in a fan shape, and windows were...
The Solovetsky Islands · A Monastery and a Camp...
The Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea were first a monastery six hundred years old; in 1923 they were turned into one of the Soviet Union’s first labour camps, where...
The Solovetsky Islands · A Monastery and a Camp...
The Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea were first a monastery six hundred years old; in 1923 they were turned into one of the Soviet Union’s first labour camps, where...
The Bad Apartment · Apartment No. 50
Apartment No. 50 in a Moscow block was where the writer Bulgakov lived while he wrote The Master and Margarita; in the novel the devil and his retinue take up...
The Bad Apartment · Apartment No. 50
Apartment No. 50 in a Moscow block was where the writer Bulgakov lived while he wrote The Master and Margarita; in the novel the devil and his retinue take up...
Ipatiev House · The Dynasty That Ended in a Cellar
In July 1918 the last tsar, Nicholas II, his family and their attendants were held in Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg and shot in the cellar; the bodies were taken to...
Ipatiev House · The Dynasty That Ended in a Cellar
In July 1918 the last tsar, Nicholas II, his family and their attendants were held in Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg and shot in the cellar; the bodies were taken to...
Dyatlov Pass · Whoever Cut the Tent Open from I...
In 1959 nine skiers spent the night on the northern slope of the Ural Mountains, and all of them died: the tent was cut open from the inside, the group...
Dyatlov Pass · Whoever Cut the Tent Open from I...
In 1959 nine skiers spent the night on the northern slope of the Ural Mountains, and all of them died: the tent was cut open from the inside, the group...
Moscow Metro Line Two · The Line That Is Not on...
The Moscow Metro is known as an “underground palace”, but what is better known is the “Line Two” that is not on any map: it is said to run deeper...
Moscow Metro Line Two · The Line That Is Not on...
The Moscow Metro is known as an “underground palace”, but what is better known is the “Line Two” that is not on any map: it is said to run deeper...
The Qumran Caves · Two Thousand Years in a Cave
In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd found scrolls sealed in clay jars in the cliff caves of Qumran. More than nine hundred were recovered afterwards, the oldest over two thousand years...
The Qumran Caves · Two Thousand Years in a Cave
In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd found scrolls sealed in clay jars in the cliff caves of Qumran. More than nine hundred were recovered afterwards, the oldest over two thousand years...
The Abandoned Village of Lifta · A Wedding in t...
Lifta is an Arab village in the valley west of Jerusalem. The villagers left after the war of 1948, and the houses have stood empty ever since. The stone archways...
The Abandoned Village of Lifta · A Wedding in t...
Lifta is an Arab village in the valley west of Jerusalem. The villagers left after the war of 1948, and the houses have stood empty ever since. The stone archways...
The Old Port of Jaffa · The Sailors Written on ...
Jaffa is one of the oldest ports in the world, said to be where Jonah boarded a ship to flee from the will of God. The stone lanes of the...
The Old Port of Jaffa · The Sailors Written on ...
Jaffa is one of the oldest ports in the world, said to be where Jonah boarded a ship to flee from the will of God. The stone lanes of the...
The Underground City of Akko · Living Undergrou...
In the time of the Crusades Akko was their last capital, and they built a vast underground city there: the knights’ hall, tunnels, water storage and drainage. When the Crusaders...
The Underground City of Akko · Living Undergrou...
In the time of the Crusades Akko was their last capital, and they built a vast underground city there: the knights’ hall, tunnels, water storage and drainage. When the Crusaders...
Safed · Kabbalah in the Hill Town
Safed is a hill town that became the centre of Jewish mysticism, the Kabbalah, in the sixteenth century; the rabbis here wrote works on creation, the soul and the letters....
Safed · Kabbalah in the Hill Town
Safed is a hill town that became the centre of Jewish mysticism, the Kabbalah, in the sixteenth century; the rabbis here wrote works on creation, the soul and the letters....
Masada · Not One of Them Surrendered
Masada is a fortress on a cliff top above the Dead Sea, which Herod built into a palace complex with cisterns, storehouses and baths all complete. In 73 AD, with...
Masada · Not One of Them Surrendered
Masada is a fortress on a cliff top above the Dead Sea, which Herod built into a palace complex with cisterns, storehouses and baths all complete. In 73 AD, with...
Megiddo · The Ground of the Last Battle
Megiddo guards a mountain pass, the crossing point of Egypt, Assyria and Israel in ancient times. It was fought over for a thousand years, each city pressed down on the...
Megiddo · The Ground of the Last Battle
Megiddo guards a mountain pass, the crossing point of Egypt, Assyria and Israel in ancient times. It was fought over for a thousand years, each city pressed down on the...
Church of the Holy Sepulchre · The Key Is in So...
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is held to be the place where Jesus was crucified, buried and rose again. The mother of the Roman emperor Constantine ordered a church...
Church of the Holy Sepulchre · The Key Is in So...
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is held to be the place where Jesus was crucified, buried and rose again. The mother of the Roman emperor Constantine ordered a church...
The Mount of Olives Cemetery · The First Place ...
The Mount of Olives is one of the longest continuously used cemeteries in the world. White headstones cover the slope in tiers, said to number a hundred and fifty thousand....
The Mount of Olives Cemetery · The First Place ...
The Mount of Olives is one of the longest continuously used cemeteries in the world. White headstones cover the slope in tiers, said to number a hundred and fifty thousand....
The Old City of Jerusalem · Notes in the Cracks...
The Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem is the one retaining wall left from the Second Temple. Jews pray here and fold written wishes into the cracks between...
The Old City of Jerusalem · Notes in the Cracks...
The Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem is the one retaining wall left from the Second Temple. Jews pray here and fold written wishes into the cracks between...
The Empty Quarter · Dunes That Move on Their Own
The Empty Quarter is the desert of the southern Arabian Peninsula, larger than many countries; at its deepest it runs hundreds of kilometres without water. Caravans here carried a set...
The Empty Quarter · Dunes That Move on Their Own
The Empty Quarter is the desert of the southern Arabian Peninsula, larger than many countries; at its deepest it runs hundreds of kilometres without water. Caravans here carried a set...
Sir Bani Yas · A Monastery Dug Out of the Desert
Sir Bani Yas was first a place of exile for prisoners, then became a wildlife reserve; gazelle, cheetah and giraffe move across it, and visitors come for the animals. In...
Sir Bani Yas · A Monastery Dug Out of the Desert
Sir Bani Yas was first a place of exile for prisoners, then became a wildlife reserve; gazelle, cheetah and giraffe move across it, and visitors come for the animals. In...
Bidyah Mosque · Four Centuries Without a Lamp
The Bidyah Mosque in Fujairah is the oldest surviving mosque in the United Arab Emirates, piled from mud brick and stone, with four uneven domes carried over a single prayer...
Bidyah Mosque · Four Centuries Without a Lamp
The Bidyah Mosque in Fujairah is the oldest surviving mosque in the United Arab Emirates, piled from mud brick and stone, with four uneven domes carried over a single prayer...