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Samantha Brown: 11 of the scariest places you can travel, according to pros

When you travel for a living, you’re bound to meet a ghost or two

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October 26, 2022 at 10:26 a.m. EDT
 

For the TV hosts, authors and social media influencers who travel for a living, it’s only natural to wax poetic about the world’s best places: the most charming villages in Europe, the most exciting safari in Africa, the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean. It’s less often we get to hear about the places on the other end of the spectrum — specifically, the places that freaked them out.

In the spirit of Halloween, we interviewed these experienced travelers to find out which corners of the globe creeped them out the most. For some, it was unsettling cemeteries abroad that sent tingles up their spines; for others, it was dilapidated guesthouses with supernatural vibes.

Here are the 11 spookiest destinations they shared.

[12 chilling travel tales, as told by readers]

 
3 An eerie old jail in Charleston, S.C.
A front view of the Old City Jail in Charleston, S.C., in 2012. (Shutterstock)
Travel expert Samantha Brown, host of “Samantha Brown’s Places to Love” on PBS, toured Charleston’s Old City Jail twice, more than 10 years apart. Both visits left her shaken.
The jail operated from the early 1800s until 1939 in “horrid conditions,” Brown said. Her first visit was a nighttime tour that scared her so much that she had to stop: “I started to see handprints on the walls when I didn’t see handprints before,” she said.
She returned a couple of years ago — but said she would only do the tour during the day. During the visit, the group heard footsteps behind them.
“There was no one else in that jail other than us,” she said. “I was like, ‘Okay, let’s go.’ ”