Zombie Girl Guide: Destination Horror
Home is where the horror is, and these 13 spooky destinations will make your horror heart feel at home even while far away on vacation.
In the debut of the Zombie Girl Guide, I shared 13 horror films that could make you rethink your Summer vacation plans. But assuming you still have a healthy dose of wanderlust and are looking for something a little different for your next vacation, this list has you covered. I found 13 horrifically unusual places across the globe to entice your black horror hearts into traveling! From haunted houses to crypts, themed hotels, ghost towns, horror film locations and mental hospitals. There is something for every fan of the macabre.
I love to travel, and I adore the macabre. In years past, I didn’t have a lot of choices of cool locations. They were out there, of course, but it was hard to find them. Now with the internet and Airbnb, there is an abundance of horror vacations just waiting for weirdos like me (and you) to visit and play. I originally thought to make this a summer vacation story, but many of these locations are better with a dark and stormy ambiance. Visit them whatever time of the year works for you. I have been to a few of these, but most are still on my bucket list. This will not be my last; I hope to write many of these lists and start checking the places off, one by bloody one.
Please enjoy The Zombie Girl’s Guide to 13 Horror Vacations to Die For!
1. The Black Monarch Hotel - Victor, Colorado
This is one place where I really need to go! The Black Monarch Hotel is a historical property, modernized into a boutique hotel. Once a brothel and saloon during the Gold Rush, there is no surprise that a ghostly miner wanders the halls. The rooms themselves are the best part. Inspired by famous serial killers, each room is unique and creepy as hell. Killers such as Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian noble woman who killed 600 of her young servant girls and HH Holmes, who confessed to killing 27, but is said to have killed as many as 200, are immortalized here.
Some guests have reported being woken in the middle of the night by the sounds of women laughing or men screaming at each other. In addition to trying to sleep here, the new owner is planning to do burlesque shows, feature circus performers and host unconventional weddings. If anyone gets married here, I need an invitation!
2. The Capuchin Catacombs - Palermo, Italy
I’ve been to Italy, and it’s one of my favorite places in the world. But here is a place I have not seen yet. In Sicily, the city of Palermo boasts one of the world’s most bizarre and morbid tourist attractions. Inside the Capuchin Monastery, you will find nearly 8,000 corpses, dressed in their Sunday best. Pinned to the walls, sitting on benches and shelves, and tucked away in open coffins, the residents wait for you. The oldest corpse is Silvestro da Gubbio, a friar who passed away in 1599! Nothing stands between you and the dead except a rope and sign asking you to be respectful.
If bodies are your thing, this might be a great side trip if you are also visiting the city of Pompei or Herculaneum, which were preserved by ashes after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79AD.
3. Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast Museum - Fall River, Massachusetts
Remember the poem: “Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother forty whacks; When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one”? To many people, the name Lizzie Borden calls forth little more than a folk rhyme and a vague sense of sensationalism, but the 1892 axe murders were very real. Abby Durfee Gray Borden and Andrew Jackson Borden were brutally murdered in their home. Due largely to botched investigative work, Lizzie was acquitted of the crime and no one else ever charged.
But the site of the massacre is still there today, where you can tour the museum, participate in ghost hunting nights or even stay overnight at the bed and breakfast. This is another location I am dying to go to; I have always been fascinated by this story. In the sitting room there is a couch almost identical to the one Andrew was napping on when he was murdered. If that’s your thing, you can get your photo taken right where the attack occurred.
4. Colonial Theatre / Blobfest - Phonexville, Pennsylvania
The Blob was one of my favorite childhood films. I watched it so many times, I could almost quote it. I was always so worried the little dog would get eaten. So, the Colonial Theatre, where they filmed the famous gelatinous creature, is a must-see destination. They go all out every year with “Blobfest”, a super cool film festival where one of the highlights is a reenactment of the famous scene of moviegoers fleeing the theater.
I need a photo doing this so badly! It literally just happened this year, so I know what I want to do for my birthday in 2020! Who wants to go?
https://thecolonialtheatre.com/programs-categories/blobfest/
5. Poveglia Island - Veneto, Italy
Rumor has it that Poveglia Island is haunted by the “hundreds of thousands” of people who died on the island throughout its centuries of use. This was a place of quarantine, a place to burn plague victims, an insane asylum run by a murderous doctor, and a nursing home/hospital. Ghost Adventures did an episode here, so it must be haunted right?
I would use any excuse to go back to Italy, and this crazy island near Venice sounds amazing to me. I honestly don’t know which tour to pick — but there are many that take you to the island. Don’t go if you are sick, they might leave you there!
https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/ghost-adventures/articles/poveglia-islands-haunted-history
6. Jack the Ripper Tours - London, England
No trip to London is complete for a horror lover unless you take a Jack the Ripper tour! I had such an amazing time on ours, simply because the guide was so perfect. Having written books on the subject, and full of English humor, he was the best guide we could have hoped for.
There are many tours of the infamous Whitechapel sites. But do your homework, and of course, go at night. It was foggy the evening we went, and that made it even more memorable.
https://thejacktherippertour.com/
https://jack-the-ripper-tours.com
7. Island of the Dolls - Xochimilco Canals, Mexico
Isla De Las Munecas is a creepy place. The legend is that a little girl died off the coast of this island, near Mexico City more than 50 years ago. After her death, several dolls began washing ashore. The island's only permanent resident at the time was a recluse and began hanging the dolls from trees. Then he started collecting all the dolls he could find and hung them from trees. Now there are hundreds. And they are all looking to suck out your soul.
This would be a perfect side trip if you are going to Mexico City for the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration. But it could be very crowded, so book ahead!
http://www.isladelasmunecas.com/Visit-Island-of-the-Dolls-Mexico.html
8. Bran Castle – Transylvania, Romania
This castle is one of Romania’s top tourist attractions, with more than 630,000 visitors a year. And I want to be one of them! Situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, this beautiful fortress claims to be home of the inspiration for Bram Stoker to write Dracula. Also of interest, is one of the castle’s most notorious residents: Vlad Tepes, known as Vlad the Impaler. His claim to fame is being one of the most violent rulers in history.
I think this is one of the most beautiful, fascinating and gorgeous places I could ever imagine staying. You can take a tour or book the whole place for the night if you dare. This is a history and horror buff's dream!
9. Bodie Ghost Town – Bodie, California
Deep in the desert of California, off State Highway 395, is a small ghost town abandoned long ago. The town stands as a sort of time capsule, being built during the California gold rush. Bodie today is not only said to be cursed but also haunted, with distraught ghosts of gold miners who died treasure hunting, and spirits of town residents.
Bodie was once a busy frontier town and was finally abandoned around 1945. It remains in the desert, frozen in time, in a state of “arrested decay.” I love the rustic look, so perfect for photography and paranormal investigating.
10. The Stanley Hotel – Estes Park, Colorado and The Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood, Oregon
I love the Stanley Hotel. This is the place the terrified and inspired Stephen King to write The Shining. For fans of the Stanley Kubrick version, this is not where it was filmed. The TV miniseries called Stephen King’s The Shining, however was done there in 1997 because Stephen King hated Kubrick’s ending to the film and wanted it redone. I am a fan of the Kubrick version and was fascinated by the Stanley ghost tour which explained all the things that happened to Mr. King during his stay — eventually translated into the novel. His actual bartender that night was really Grady.
The Kubrick interiors were shot on a movie set at EMI Elstree Studios in the UK, the aerial shots of the drive up to the hotel is Glacier National Park in Montana, and the beautiful Timberline Lodge in Mt Hood, Oregon, provided the exterior of the hotel. Both hotels embrace the story, have their own ghost stories and are wonderful places to stay.
https://www.stanleyhotel.com/
http://www.timberlinelodge.com/
11. The Torture Museum – Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Until a few centuries ago, most towns had a scaffold in the town square and a gallows field at the front gate. Europe has a plethora of places full of macabre history, but here is one that looks especially gruesome. A small museum practically hidden in the heart of Amsterdam, The Torture Museum is exactly what it sounds like: a historical museum dedicated to the horrible devices themselves.
What makes it memorable, though, are the small, dark, cavernous rooms that give you the impression of being in an underground maze. Not to mention that many of the instruments are out in the open for you to walk up to and touch, most including images from books depicting their use. Some of the items have a bit of ironic humor to them and some are just plain disgusting. But all who were subjected to them eventually came to the same painful end.
12. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum – Weston, West Virginia
The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, later called Weston State Hospital, is an inactive hospital and sanctuary for the mentally ill that was in operation between 1864 and 1994. The hospital soon suffered from overcrowding and poor sanitation. Patients that could not be controlled were often locked in cages. Due to the real suffering experienced by people who lived and were treated at the facility — and due to reports of strange sights, voices, and events — many believe the building to be haunted.
The facility offers a variety of historic and paranormal tours during their open season.
13. The Villisca Ax Murder House - Villisca, Iowa
Want to stay in a real life “murder house”? On the morning of June 10, 1912, the Moore family — two parents and their four children — as well as two houseguests, were found bludgeoned to death, presumably the night before. Over the years, residents of the home reported visions of a man with an ax, children crying and unexplained paranormal activity. Though several suspects were named and tried for the crimes, the case is considered unsolved.
In 1994, the home was restored to its original condition with no indoor plumbing or electricity. These touches add to the chilling ambience during lamplight ghost tours from April through November or an overnight experience available by reservation for groups.
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Have you booked a trip yet? I would love to hear from you guys and ghouls for suggestions for my next list, or your experience at any of them — photos, too! Please email me at [email protected] or find me on Facebook as Los Angeles Zombie Girl.
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Clarissa Jaye Jacobson wrote:
What a fantastic list of creepy places to go!