The Halloween Nights and Where Ghosts Dwell - Part II -

ORIGINAL POST: LE NOTTI DI HALLOWEEN E I LUOGHI DOVE DIMORANO I FANTASMI - PARTE II -

Don't know where to spend your Halloween night and love to get a thrill? Why not adventuring into an abandoned place fueled by tales of dark presences and tragic, mysterious events? Places where few dare to go, where you need to arm yourself with courage, and maybe a camera to capture some creepy images...
There are many places that owe their fame mostly to stories concerning the paranormal, unexplainable events or to fatal events. Whether you believe them or not, these places surely have a creepy shroud of mystery. 

ALKIMOS. PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA 

The Alkimos was a Greek-owned merchant ship which was wrecked on the coast north of Perth, Western Australia in 1963. A nearby locality was later named after the vessel. The wreck is a popular diving venue, and is also reputed to be haunted, making it of interest to ghost hunters as it is thought also to be a jinxed ship as it has brought a lot of bad luck to peo

ple who have gone on the ship itself.
More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkimos_(ship) 

BHANGARH. RAJASTHAN, INDIA. 

Bhangarh is a ruined town in India that is famous for its historical ruins. It is in the Rajgarh municipality of the Alwar district in the state of Rajasthan. Bhangarh is at the edge of the Sariska Tiger Reserve. I’s also a popular tourist attraction. According to legend, the city of Bhangarh was cursed by the Guru Balu Nath. Legends says that there are ghosts in Bhang

arh and that is why entry is prohibited for tourists in the fort after sunset and before sunrise. The locals believe that the princess Ratnavati has taken birth somewhere else and that the fort and the empire of Bhangarh is waiting for her return to put an end to the curse…

Bhangarth is one of most haunted places in the world.

More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhangarh

DUCKETTS GROVE. CARLOW, IRELAND. 

The mansion was owned by the Duckett family for 300 years. It is said to be haunted by a Banshee Ghost. On March 17, 2011, the SyFy show Destination Truth featured a four hour live investigation for the episode to find out the mystery of the ruins. 

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ducketts_Grove

 

MORE PICTURES HERE

 

Balestrino: the ancient charm of a ghost village.

WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT BALESTRINO!

ORIGINAL POST: BALESTRINO, IL FASCINO ANTICO DI UN BORGO FANTASMA.

Balestrino has its own particular appeal, that of a medieval village being slowly taken back by nature after being abandoned by man… 

Where today stands the imposing Del Carretto castle, in Byzantine age was probably built a fortified position, around which then rose the Burgus Plebis of Balestrino, from which the “Borgo” district, now abandoned, developed. The other districts of Bergalla, Cuneo and Poggio formed in early Middle Ages as the first real residential settlement, improving their agricultural activities and moving their olive, legume and cereal farming up on the mountainsides thanks to the use of terrace cultivation, typical of the Liguria region. In feudal times the Bava, a noble family from Piemonte, became the first lords of the Balestrino feud, and built the first castle. The feud then was passed to the Del Carretto marquises who, around mid-XVI century, built their castle on the rock overlooking the village. Between 1515 and 1559 king Pirro II issued a number of edicts that burdened families with heavy taxes and work provisions; but the village notables, used to having an almost complete freedom, didn’t accept these edicts and prepared a conspiracy…

In 1561 Pirro II was killed and his castle burned down. The feud remained in the hands of the Del Carretto, who in order to prevent more riots established a court with torture chambers. Despite this, Balestrino knew an age of great expansion, becoming a sort of economic capital for the entire valley. After Napoleon Bonaparte’s occupation, in XVIII century, however, it became the scene of dramatic events: the people defended strenuously their territory, through battles and retaliations, but with poor results and the deaths of many villagers. After becoming part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Balestrino was annexed to Piemonte, and then, when the Kingdom of Italy was formed in 1860, definitively to Liguria.

The Del Carretto castle still dominates the beautiful sea-facing valley, in memory of the time when it was surrounded by a lively village with a solid mill, furnace and soap-based economy. Today Balestrino is a lifeless town, where the signs of time can be read in the cracks in the walls and in the weeds slowly eating its foundations. A time no longer told by the sundial and the church’s clock is faceless. 

The episode that forced the townspeople to abandon their homes and move to the surroundings, in what is today Balestrino’s population centre, took place in 1953, when the town had been declared impracticable: a serious geological instability posed a threat to the village and its inhabitants…

The abandoned part of Balestrino is about 1,5 hectares wide, with over 44000 square metres of recoverable structures. A good part of the buildings suffers from a solidity-compromising decay, but is today at the centre of a study and recovery project aiming at the complete reconstruction of the medieval urban space. This project could restore Balestrino to its former medieval charm, but would surely deprive it of the peculiarity that sets it apart from other ancient towns: its crumbling and mysterious condition of abandon, as if immortalized in a snapshot taken decades ago.

The various legends, mysteries and popular beliefs passed down during the centuries and told around the fireplace have always influenced the town’s story, and now duel its ghostly charm at night and echo among sinister noises and shadows…

Balestrino’s charm spread well beyond national borders, ranking among the twenty most famous and eerie ghost towns in the world. For this reason it was chosen as location for the movie “Inkheart”, a fantasy story set in the real world in which the village is brought back to live after years of abandon. In fact, it was turned into Capricorn Village and partially rebuilt through special effects letting us witness the village how it probably once was, with people walking the streets, merchants, guards, everyday life’s activities…

Walking through the narrow alleys sends shivers to the mind, which wanders back in time with imagination, trying to visualise people standing behind the black, empty windows, without finding anything but the lonely remains of that life. Balestrino is a ghost town which preserves not only the memory of its people’s presence, but also a trace of man’s passage…

Link to ORIGINAL POST.

(Translation by Marco Salvadori)