Written By Bianca Ceruti
Halloween is just around the corner, and this is the best time for fans of this occasion to enjoy a travel experience of a different kind. There are a lot of places across the globe that have unique and interesting Halloween traditions.
So, whether Halloween is one of your favorite holidays or you’re just a fan of gothic architecture and dark tourism destinations, in this post, you’ll find some of the best Halloween destinations in Europe.
Don't think of Venice as an ideal destination to celebrate only carnival. In fact, I find the city and its dark, grey atmosphere more related to the late October period, the perfect backdrop for nights exploring the city of the Doges.
When I went to celebrate Halloween a couple of years ago, in addition to visiting the city we had the idea of participating to an Escape Room. It was one of the most fun things I have ever done. We chose a theme related to the mystery of the Templars and the special feature was that the challenge did not take place in a closed room, but around the city late at night! Equipped with a torch and a map, we wandered through the dark calli, bridges and squares of Venice in search of clues to solve the mystery. But there were some particularly spooky spots, such as in Campiello del Remer, where there is a corner overlooking the Grand Canal. It is said that here, one in a while, a man can be seen in the water holding his wife's head in his hands. We continued our itinerary through calli and campi, where dragons and mascaroni (sculptures of faces with grotesque expressions) are often encountered. In Campo della Bragora there is an eerie calle: it is Calle della Morte, so called because people who were unofficially condemned by the fearsome magistracy of the Council of X were executed there.
In the Dorsoduro sestiere, at number 353, stands the Ca' Dario palace, also known to be a cursed palace. The building overlooks the Grand Canal and is known to cause its inhabitants to die as a result of financial ruin. This is because of a curse: the palace is supposedly built on the ruins of an ancient Templar cemetery.
And it is precisely of the Templars that traces have been lost since as far back as Friday 13 October 1307, when Philip the Fair issued an arrest order against all Knights of the Templar order, accused of heresy. In great secrecy, a small group of Initiates returned to Venice and hid the precious Templar treasure, which was never found again. Could this be the chance to unearth a secret thousands of years old? The Venice of the Templars awaits you on the spookiest night of the year.
Edinburgh is the bleakest, most gothic and sinister city I have ever visited. It has an incredible and at the same time very melancholic history.
What immediately strikes you when you arrive in the capital of Scotland is above all its extraordinary architecture: it is certainly among the most fascinating cities in the United Kingdom. But what makes this a perfect Halloween destination are the countless legends and stories, which continue to be passed on centuries later.
Stories of witches, ghosts, atrocious murders and ghostly apparitions form the backdrop to what many consider to be one of the most haunted places in the world. Indeed, one of the best ways to get to know the city is through the terrifying stories and legends that have been passed down from generation to generation. So famous is Edinburgh for its tradition as a 'haunted place' that at the University of Edinburgh it is possible to obtain a PhD in Parapsychology, the study of monsters and demons, psychic powers, the interaction between mind and matter, and survival after death.
Edinburgh Castle is famous for being the cradle of several ghost stories (one of which is the ghost of the lone bagpipe player, known as Lone Piper). The gloomy Greyfriars Cemetery has also always played a key role in Edinburgh's history and legends. Indeed, it is here that one of the city's most haunted spots, the Black Mausoleum, is located, where the malevolent entity of Sir Mackenzie, a lawyer responsible for the bloody sentences of many covenanters (members of a religious movement), seems to manifest itself with incredible frequency. So much so that, after many serious incidents of unexplained occurrences, the City of Edinburgh Council decided to close that part of the cemetery to the public.
While wandering around one of the cemeteries, I noticed that some of the graves were protected by bars. A most curious fact, only later did I learn that this peculiarity was related to the crimes of the body snatchers who acted in Edinburgh around 1830. William Burke and William Hare were procuring corpses for a famous anatomist doctor of the time, Dr Robert Knox. However, after an initial period in which the source of supply of corpses was to dig up recently dead people, they began to procure them more quickly by personally killing some of the desperate people who populated the city's slums.
But the macabre stories don't stop there: in 1645, there was a severe epidemic of bubonic plague in Edinburgh, and Mary King's Close (one of the city's characteristic alleys) was one of the neighbourhoods most affected by the disease. Legend has it that the entrances to the alley were closed, and the inhabitants were simply left to their fate or even walled up alive inside the houses. Even today, it seems that the ghosts of those unfortunates still inhabit these buildings, as stated by many testimonies.
But even the bridges seem to be haunted in this city: The Edinburgh North Bridge is the bridge that runs over Waverley Station and was originally the main access route between the Old Town and the New Town. It is known as the Devil's Bridge or also the Bridge of the Dead because it spanned the Nor Loch, the bog into which women accused of witchcraft during the Inquisition were thrown in order to establish whether or not they were connected to the devil.
But the story that struck me most was that of the portrait painter David Allan, who went into a coma following an epilepsy attack in 1796. His wife, who believed him to be dead by then, had him buried in a grave at the Old Calton Burial Ground. After the burial, some people began to notice that his gravestone, unlike all the others in the cemetery, was beginning to wear down, causing a strange stain to appear on its back. It was then decided to dig up the body to check it better: the coffin had a multitude of scratches inside, and the skeleton was in a different position from the one in which they had placed the body. There was no doubt about it, David Allan had been buried alive and that stain would be nothing more than the image of his screaming face looking for help.
These are just some of the paranormal stories surrounding this mysterious city. Unsurprisingly, the city offers a multitude of 'spooky' activities to try out, especially during the month of October: from the Ghost Tour on the bus to ghost stories told in one of the quaint kirkyards, from touring the underground vaults to visiting the Harry Potter franchise locations.
In my opinion, there is no better place to soak up the Halloween atmosphere than in this unique and gloomy city.
Bologna is a simply wonderful city, full of history, mystery and beauty. The privilege of its remoteness from the mountains and the marshes of the lowlands, as well as the presence of the two rivers, the Reno and the Savena, have allowed for the early settlement of human groups since prehistoric times. With the Renaissance period, the city opened up to art and culture, moving from wooden architecture to red brick architecture. In fact, from the colour of the bricks used, it derives its nickname: la Rossa.
Another peculiar aspect of medieval Bolognese town planning are the porticos. These are private spaces under public law, which were made compulsory for new buildings at the time and of which almost 38 kilometres remain today in the historic centre.
With its medieval atmosphere and Baroque overtones, Bologna is a suitable destination for spending Halloween. Strolling through the streets and under the vaults of the historical centre will feel like you are reliving the past, and the dark, atmospheric atmosphere of the city late at night will not fail to give you a dark spookiness.
Indeed, there is no shortage of ghostly places in Bologna with high levels of paranormal activity. One of these is undoubtedly Villa Clara. Clara was a young girl, stepdaughter of the landlord, who was caught flirting with a subordinate of her father, who, feeling dishonoured, walled her up alive inside the villa itself. To this day there are many testimonies from people who have visited the house who claim to have seen the figure of the little girl in the garden or heard her crying, as well as to have seen the windows lit up, which is impossible since there is no electric light inside the building.
Another macabre villa in Bologna is an old house called Villa Samantha. The house was inhabited by the parish priest and his staff. Later, for no apparent reason, both the parish priest and the workers were evicted from the house. It is thought that the real reason for the eviction was a scandal that had occurred between the priest and a girl who provided for him. Thus, numerous legends began to revolve around the priest's affair. The most famous one tells us that the priest killed the girl he was having an affair with (Samantha) and subsequently hanged himself. Since then, Samantha's ghost has inhabited the house. Another version says that the ghost is unable to leave the mansion because of the abuse he suffered during his lifetime at the hands of the priest. Next to the ruin is, in fact, an old cemetery and several times bones have been found around the villa or in the surrounding courtyard, probably because the graves were desecrated to perform satanic rites.
In Bologna, Halloween is such a popular festivity that practically all venues, from bars to theatres to social centres, offer something themed. There are so many events and exhibitions around the city that you will be spoilt for choice. But there are also plenty of venues offering themed evenings. One example is the FLOR BAR, which on the night of terror is decorated with cobwebs and you are plunged into a spooky, colourful fog. The co*cktails are excellent and also thematically created for the occasion.
Another place that will not fail to surprise you is LE STANZE, a charming bistro and co*cktail bar known for being the former chapel of the Bentivoglio family, still frescoed, intact and magical. Paintings on the ceiling, spacious rooms, an almost Gothic atmosphere, all the perfect atmosphere for a Halloween evening!
Prague conveys an aura of mystery and disquiet that, unusually, does not make it sad, but fascinating. A kind of 'beautiful and cursed' that captures the attentive gaze of its observer, lost in admiration. The Castle watches over the city from the heights of Hradcany and frames the sharp profile of Gothic Prague with its twin spires and the bell tower of St Vitus Cathedral. The Karluv Most bridge, once a stage for the sentencing of traitors, is today the most romantic promenade in the city. A true open-air art gallery and medieval masterpiece steeped in mysteries, myths and legends, it was built by Emperor Charles IV, who superstitiously laid the first symbolic stone on 9 July 1357 at 5.31 a.m., i.e. during the conjunction of the Sun with the planet Saturn, considered the most favourable time of the year for the start of any activity.
In the Old Town, the astronomical clock strikes the hour and its figures come to life in a bizarre dance with skeletons, allegorical figures and religious figures.
The Mala Strana district is a precious collection of houses and palaces and the Gothic-Renaissance urban layout has not been worn away by the passage of time. It is an area where the echoes of Templars and Jesuits resonate in a poignant alchemy of Baroque atmospheres, dominated by the Church of St Nicholas, soaring between the roofs of the houses with its verdant dome.
Almost every corner of the city, every street and every building has its own ghost, but the people of Prague seem not to condemn this feature, but rather, appreciate it so much that they dedicate a monument to it.
In Tyn Cathedral, on full moon nights, the shadow of a Turk is said to roam about, dragging his wife's head behind him. On nights of heavy snowfall, however, one can catch a glimpse of the Lady of the Snow, once the wife of the sacristan of the Cathedral.
In the Jewish quarter, around midnight, a hooded figure wanders near the cemetery, a ghost who in life had questioned his Jewish faith and now wanders every night in the direction of St. Vitus Cathedral. A Jewish girl, a dancer, was abused and ordered to dance until Judgement Day. Now her ghost tries to catch every soul she comes across and make her dance to death.
Another Jewish girl was in love with a monk from the monastery of St Nicholas. First reciprocated and then rejected, she went mad and strangled her lover. Apparently, she tends to reappear on the same day as the tragedy.
So many corners of the city hide stories like these, tormented, cursed stories of redemption. It is the dark and damned side of the city, worth exploring, especially in the month dedicated to the dead.
I visited Ferrara in 2021. Ours was a short but unforgettable stay. We happened to be in the city by chance in October, in the last few days, and we immediately realised how the city exuded an ancient and spooky air. Indeed, the beautiful Emilian city does not fail to offer perfect Halloween suggestions, including ghosts and extra-sensory experiences.
Silent and on a human scale, rich in art and culture, its historic centre, capital of the Renaissance, offers at every step the magical atmospheres of a glorious past, still meticulously protected today. The Este dynasty, over the course of three centuries, transformed a rural centre into a masterpiece.
And it is precisely the magnificent Estense Castle that is the first of the places in the city where love and ghost stories intertwine. Parisina Malatesta and Ugo, stepson of her husband Niccolò III d'Este, were in fact the protagonists of a troubled love story and their inconsolable ghosts still seem to roam the rooms of the castle and the Torre dei Leoni, where they were locked up.
But ghost stories are also linked to the Palazzina di Marfisa d'Este, a historic building erected in 1559 at the behest of Marquis Francesco and Lucrezia Borgia. Inhabited by her daughter Marfisa, it is equipped with numerous beautiful halls. Tradition has it that the beautiful noblewoman had numerous lovers whom she murdered in the most diverse ways. Within the palace walls and around the city her ghost still roams, following her many lovers.
But this beautiful Renaissance city has many other dark stories to share. And what better occasion to discover them on Halloween night?
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Bianca Ceruti
