Ghost stories
Qasr Al Hosn · Abu Dhabi’s First Brick
Qasr Al Hosn is the earliest building in Abu Dhabi. It began as a watchtower keeping an eye on the pearling boats and the freshwater wells, and was later walled...
Qasr Al Hosn · Abu Dhabi’s First Brick
Qasr Al Hosn is the earliest building in Abu Dhabi. It began as a watchtower keeping an eye on the pearling boats and the freshwater wells, and was later walled...
Al Fahidi Fort · The One Looking Down from the ...
Al Fahidi Fort is the oldest building in Dubai, raised in coral stone and lime. It once guarded the entrance to the creek; later it served as a prison and...
Al Fahidi Fort · The One Looking Down from the ...
Al Fahidi Fort is the oldest building in Dubai, raised in coral stone and lime. It once guarded the entrance to the creek; later it served as a prison and...
Qutrub · Two Shadows Following You at Night
Old Arabic texts mention a creature called the qutrub. At night it follows people who are walking, going wherever they go, keeping pace but never coming close. It is said...
Qutrub · Two Shadows Following You at Night
Old Arabic texts mention a creature called the qutrub. At night it follows people who are walking, going wherever they go, keeping pace but never coming close. It is said...
The Ghoul of Liwa · Footprints at the Edge of t...
Beyond the Liwa Oasis lie sand dunes without end. The old people say the desert holds a ghoul that lives near graveyards and turns into a woman or a gazelle...
The Ghoul of Liwa · Footprints at the Edge of t...
Beyond the Liwa Oasis lie sand dunes without end. The old people say the desert holds a ghoul that lives near graveyards and turns into a woman or a gazelle...
Bu Darya · The Figure in the Sea
Old pearl divers say the Gulf is home to Bu Darya, a thing half human and half fish that climbs over the gunwale and sits at the bow watching the...
Bu Darya · The Figure in the Sea
Old pearl divers say the Gulf is home to Bu Darya, a thing half human and half fish that climbs over the gunwale and sits at the bow watching the...
Umm Al Duwais · The Woman Dressed in Gold
The best-known female spirit along the Gulf coast is Umm Al Duwais: her hair hangs loose, she is covered in gold jewellery and heavy with perfume. She appears at night...
Umm Al Duwais · The Woman Dressed in Gold
The best-known female spirit along the Gulf coast is Umm Al Duwais: her hair hangs loose, she is covered in gold jewellery and heavy with perfume. She appears at night...
Red Island Ghost Town · The Fishing Village Tha...
Al Hamra, the red island off Ras Al Khaimah, was once a village that lived by pearling. Its houses were built of coral stone and gypsum, and it had a...
Red Island Ghost Town · The Fishing Village Tha...
Al Hamra, the red island off Ras Al Khaimah, was once a village that lived by pearling. Its houses were built of coral stone and gypsum, and it had a...
Mount Nemrut · Placing Himself Beside the Gods
The summit of Mount Nemrut is an artificial mound of crushed stone. King Antiochus I built his own tomb here and placed his own image on the east and west...
Mount Nemrut · Placing Himself Beside the Gods
The summit of Mount Nemrut is an artificial mound of crushed stone. King Antiochus I built his own tomb here and placed his own image on the east and west...
Ephesus · Curses Carved on the Wall
The streets of Ephesus are paved with marble, and along them remain the signs of shops, public latrines, a library and a brothel; the marks cut into the ground are...
Ephesus · Curses Carved on the Wall
The streets of Ephesus are paved with marble, and along them remain the signs of shops, public latrines, a library and a brothel; the marks cut into the ground are...
Galata Tower · The Man Thrown from the Top
The Galata Tower was built by the Genoese as a watchtower, and over the centuries it has served as a prison, an observatory and a fire lookout. The best-known story...
Galata Tower · The Man Thrown from the Top
The Galata Tower was built by the Genoese as a watchtower, and over the centuries it has served as a prison, an observatory and a fire lookout. The best-known story...
Sumela Monastery · The Bell on the Cliff Face
Sumela Monastery is built into a cliff face at more than a thousand metres. The monks cut rooms and a church out of the rock, and frescoes run from the...
Sumela Monastery · The Bell on the Cliff Face
Sumela Monastery is built into a cliff face at more than a thousand metres. The monks cut rooms and a church out of the rock, and frescoes run from the...
Ani · A Thousand and One Churches
Ani was once the capital of an Armenian kingdom and at its height was said to hold “a thousand and one churches”. Today it is an empty city: broken walls,...
Ani · A Thousand and One Churches
Ani was once the capital of an Armenian kingdom and at its height was said to hold “a thousand and one churches”. Today it is an empty city: broken walls,...
Derinkuyu Underground City · Eight Levels Down
Derinkuyu in Cappadocia goes more than eighty metres into the ground, in eight levels, and could hold several thousand people and their livestock for long periods; stone wheels sealed the...
Derinkuyu Underground City · Eight Levels Down
Derinkuyu in Cappadocia goes more than eighty metres into the ground, in eight levels, and could hold several thousand people and their livestock for long periods; stone wheels sealed the...
Topkapi Palace · The Sound of Water in the Harem
Topkapi Palace was the residence of the Ottoman sultans for nearly four hundred years. The corridors of the harem are narrow and winding, the rooms are faced with blue tiles,...
Topkapi Palace · The Sound of Water in the Harem
Topkapi Palace was the residence of the Ottoman sultans for nearly four hundred years. The corridors of the harem are narrow and winding, the rooms are faced with blue tiles,...
Hagia Sophia · The Face That Was Covered
When Hagia Sophia was completed it was the most imposing building in the world, its dome suspended more than fifty metres above the floor. Later it was made a mosque,...
Hagia Sophia · The Face That Was Covered
When Hagia Sophia was completed it was the most imposing building in the world, its dome suspended more than fifty metres above the floor. Later it was made a mosque,...
Maiden’s Tower · Shut Away, and Still Not Saved
The small tower in the middle of the Bosphorus is called the Maiden’s Tower. An emperor was told by a prophecy that his daughter would die of a snake bite....
Maiden’s Tower · Shut Away, and Still Not Saved
The small tower in the middle of the Bosphorus is called the Maiden’s Tower. An emperor was told by a prophecy that his daughter would die of a snake bite....
Basilica Cistern · The Upside-Down Medusa
The Basilica Cistern is an underground reservoir built in the Byzantine period. More than three hundred stone columns stand in shallow water, and at the far end two heads of...
Basilica Cistern · The Upside-Down Medusa
The Basilica Cistern is an underground reservoir built in the Byzantine period. More than three hundred stone columns stand in shallow water, and at the far end two heads of...
Nale Ba · Four Words on the Door
In Bangalore in the nineties a rule went around: at night, write “Nale Ba” on your door in charcoal. It means “come back tomorrow”. The story was that a female...
Nale Ba · Four Words on the Door
In Bangalore in the nineties a rule went around: at night, write “Nale Ba” on your door in charcoal. It means “come back tomorrow”. The story was that a female...
Dow Hill · The Forest After School
Kurseong in Darjeeling was once called the Queen of the East. Around Dow Hill there are colonial-era schools and abandoned buildings, and in the forest the old bed of a...
Dow Hill · The Forest After School
Kurseong in Darjeeling was once called the Queen of the East. Around Dow Hill there are colonial-era schools and abandoned buildings, and in the forest the old bed of a...
The Ghats of Varanasi · The Fire That Never Stops
Along the Ganges at Varanasi there are dozens of ghats, and the cremation ground at one of them has been burning for centuries; the fire is said never to have...
The Ghats of Varanasi · The Fire That Never Stops
Along the Ganges at Varanasi there are dozens of ghats, and the cremation ground at one of them has been burning for centuries; the fire is said never to have...
The Village Without Doors · No Doors on the Houses
In Shani Shingnapur the houses have no doors. The bank, the shops and the gold traders stand open. The village says this is the protection of Shani, the god of...
The Village Without Doors · No Doors on the Houses
In Shani Shingnapur the houses have no doors. The bank, the shops and the gold traders stand open. The village says this is the protection of Shani, the god of...
The Birds of Jatinga · Birds That Take Their Ow...
In the village of Jatinga in Assam there is a phenomenon that has never been explained: after the monsoon, on foggy, moonless nights, large numbers of birds fly into the...
The Birds of Jatinga · Birds That Take Their Ow...
In the village of Jatinga in Assam there is a phenomenon that has never been explained: after the monsoon, on foggy, moonless nights, large numbers of birds fly into the...
Skeleton Lake · Hundreds Lying Under the Ice
Roopkund lies at five thousand metres. Each year, as the ice melts, several hundred sets of human bones can be seen scattered on the lake bed, and the bones fall...
Skeleton Lake · Hundreds Lying Under the Ice
Roopkund lies at five thousand metres. Each year, as the ice melts, several hundred sets of human bones can be seen scattered on the lake bed, and the bones fall...
Mukesh Mills · The Second Person in the Frame
Mumbai’s Mukesh Mills stopped working after a fire in 1982, and the factory halls and warehouses, hundreds of metres long, have stood empty since — which made them a favourite...
Mukesh Mills · The Second Person in the Frame
Mumbai’s Mukesh Mills stopped working after a fire in 1982, and the factory halls and warehouses, hundreds of metres long, have stood empty since — which made them a favourite...