31 Days of Halloween

by Veronique Greenwood October 31, 2011

View 31 Days of Halloween in a larger map

31 Days of Halloween:

On Atlas Obscura this October, every day has been Halloween. Below are the true tales of the unquiet dead: Come for the severed heads, stay for the book bound in human skin. Every story is true, and each one is a real place you can visit. We dare you.

	31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN: HALLSTATT OSSUARY Hallstatt, Austria Ah October: shorter days, longer nights, and an endless parade of “spooky” ghost stories accompanied by photos of the local cemetery with the fog machine turned up. We call bullshit.
	DAY 1: THE DEVIL WALKED HERE Munich, Germany Break a deal with the devil; live with the consequences… In this case, surprisingly reasonable consequences.
	DAY 2: LOVECRAFTIAN HORRORS New England, US Today we turn to the master of madness, the impresario of eerie, the creator of Cthulhu himself: Howard. Phillips. Lovecraft.
	DAY 3: VAMPIRES, MAGIC DUELS & HEADLESS BODIES London, England Dueling magicians, a roving vampire, and mobs of stake-carrying “vampire hunters.” Welcome to Highgate Cemetery in the 1970s.
	DAY 4: LOTTO SECRETS OF THE DEAD Naples, Italy All over Europe, ossuaries hold the skeletal remains of the long dead, but only in Naples are they expected to produce winning lottery numbers.
	DAY 5: A KILLER CATACOMB Odessa, Ukraine Today we find ourselves wandering the largest catacomb system in the world. Try not to get lost.
	DAY 6: THE CORPSE BRIDE OF PORTUGAL Alcobaca, Portugal It may be awkward, but when the kings tells you to kiss the hand of his dead mistress, you damn well kiss that cold, dead hand.
	DAY 7: SEX, DEATH & SURREALISTS Los Angeles, CA There are lots of tales of sex and death in the Hollywood Hills, but few lie buried in such stunning and eerie monuments. The Sowden House has long been a favorite of architecture buffs, but it also hides a surreal and salacious past.
	DAY 8: AOKIGAHARA FOREST & OTHER SUICIDE SPOTS Tokyo, Japan Places where people choose to end it all, popular enough to require signs asking people not to do it.
	DAY 9: THE VAMPIRE PLAGUE OF VENICE Venice, Italy It’s bad enough when the plague rolls into town, but the citizens of Venice apparently also did battle with vampires.
	DAY 10: THE MANY TOMBS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS Spain & Dominican Republic In 1542, the body of Christopher Columbus was transported and laid to rest in the Cathedral of Santa Maria, in the Dominican Republic. In 1795, they dug him up, and the international corpse shell game began.
	DAY 11: SAINTS WITH WHITE HOT HAMMERS Conques, France In life, St. Foy was one of many young Christians who was martyred for her faith by the Roman Empire, but it was several hundred years after her execution that her life got really interesting.
	DAY 12: PICKLED ZOMBIE SNACKS New Haven, CT When the undead masses rise and the zombie apocalypse is upon us, our first priority will be finding a good zombie-proof stronghold, but a pantry full of delicious, zombie-ready brains may be worth a detour.
	DAY 13: CASTLE FRANKENSTEIN Darmstadt, Germany Dr. Frankenstein, I presume? Today we explore the Castle Frankenstein, the real life alchemist who lived in the castle, and the brilliant young lady who wrote the first true science fiction novel.
	DAY 14: DIVING WITH THE DEAD Chuuk Lagoon, Palau Chuuk lagoon entices divers with its gorgeous sheltered reef, its clear, tropical waters filled with exotic fish - and with the hulking, haunting wrecks of more than 50 ships, tanks, and hundreds of Japanese aircraft.
	DAY 15: TOYLAND GONE HORRIBLY, HORRIBLY WRONG Isla de las Munecas, Mexico When faced with terrifying visions of a long-dead child, should one a) get the hell out of Dodge, b) seek the source of the specter’s discontent, or c) decorate your little island home with hundreds of dismembered heads, legs, and arms of baby dolls?
	DAY 16: BURIED ALIVE From Buenos Aires to Houston, TX Vivi·sepulture; the action of burying, or the fact of being buried alive. Don’t worry, it probably won’t happen to you. That kind of thing could never happen nowadays…right?
	DAY 17: A BURNING LOVE Mehrangarh Fort, India Before the fifteen wives of the Maharaja left home for the last time, they left impressions of their hands that would endure after they gave their lives on the funeral pyre.
	DAY 18: SPENDING TIME WITH FAMILY Pomache, Mexico In Pomuch, Mexico a visit to the grandparents involves more skull cleaning then you might think.
	DAY 19: THE FLAYED MAN Paris, France His cousin painted nubile beauties in flirtatious poses. He skinned, preserved, and posed dead bodies.
	DAY 20: SEVERED HEAD, WALKING CORPSE Hamburg, Germany There are many stories of severed heads surviving for minutes after an execution, but only one headless body that stood up and took a stroll - on this very day 610 years ago.
	DAY 21: THE FIERY TOUCH OF TRAPPED SOULS Rome, Italy Many churches in Rome use artful images of hellfire and damnation to keep the faithful in line, but they may not have the same impact as this collection of objects scorched by the hands of of trapped Purgatorial souls.
	DAY 22: SANTO VS. LOS MOMIAS Guanajuato, Mexico What is even better than an incredible museum filled with mummies? Why, when they come to life to fight a gang of Mexican wrestlers, duh.
	DAY 23: TEENY TINY MURDER VICTIMS Edinburgh, Scotland In 1836, two boys discovered a dozen tiny carved figures hidden in a niche in Edinburgh’s massive park. Could they be effigies of victims planted by the city’s most notorious murderer?
	DAY 24: SLEEPING BEAUTY & THE WELL DRESSED DEAD Palermo, Italy The most stylish mummies since the ancient Egyptians sport stylish ensembles in Palermo’s Catacombs.
	DAY 25: NUTSHELL STUDIES OF UNEXPLAINED DEATH Baltimore, MD This is what happens when you leave Barbie and Ken alone in the doll house for too long.
	DAY 26: PICK YOUR POISON France, Italy & England Deadly Nightshade was once used as a beauty aid. An innocent looking flower left citizens of Jamestown in a drugged stupor for eleven days, and Mozart went to his death believing he was poisoned by a draught typically concealed as a saintly cure-all.
	DAY 27: CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN THE BASEMENT: BAD IDEA Kronshtadt, Russia Like a bad dream, the dank, dark corridors and warped walls of Fort Zverev are a terrifying and stark reminder about the dangers of chemical weapons.
	DAY 28: THE MURDERER & THE MAESTRO Vienna, Austria The screams of a murderer helped shaped music history and still ring in our ears today…
	DAY 29: A COLLECTION OF ODDITIES LIKE NO OTHER Courtlandt Manor, NY As if they were pulled from the props room of A Clockwork Orange, this unparalleled collection of head-encasing, torture chamber-esque objects is like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
	DAY 30: ZOMBIE, VAMPIRE OR SAINT? France, Italy & India A grave disturbed, the coffin opened, and the body of a young girl, years dead, freakishly un-decomposed: Undead monster or miracle of faith? It depends on who’s asking.