Forbidden City, China

The beautiful, sprawling Forbidden City in Beijing—made up of 980 buildings on 180 acres—is one of China's best-known landmarks. Many true ghost stories have also come from within its walls. From the 15th century through the early 20th century, the Chinese emperor lived there, but now it's rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of concubines. In 1421, Emperor Yongle ordered nearly 3,000 ladies-in-waiting associated with his harem, all of whom lived in the Forbidden City, to be slaughtered, because he thought that a beloved concubine had been poisoned. He spared some of his favorites in the harem, but on the day of his funeral, 16 courtesans were hung with nooses of white silk. Today, in the Forbidden City, a lady with black hair has been seen running from a ghostly soldier; sounds of screaming, weeping, and sword-fighting have been heard; and specters of dead bodies, pools of blood, and pieces of white silk have been glimpsed. The Forbidden City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it is open to the public, although it closes before nightfall. 

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Kisiljevo, Serbia

This remote village is home to less than 800 inhabitants—and one spooky vampire story. In 1725, a resident named Petar Plogojowitz passed away, and in the next eight days, nine deaths occurred. The nine who died had said on their deathbeds that they had been throttled—by Plogojowitz's corpse. Priests and officials flocked to Kisiljevo to investigate, and roughly 40 days after Plogojowitz had expired, they exhumed his grave. Strangely, his beard and nails still seemed to be growing, and there were signs of new skin. When a stake was plunged into his body, it was reported that fresh blood spurted from his ears and mouth, a horrible scream arose, and his skin turned black. At that point, the murders ceased. Some call Plogojowitz "the first vampire," which may be more chilling than any other true ghost stories.

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Ghost Town Ghosts in Bannack, Montana

Grasshopper Creek, near Bannack, Montana

Bannack, Montana was born in 1862 when gold was found along Grasshopper Creek. Like other gold rushes, miners rushed to the settlement in search of their fortunes and before long the hills around Bannack were filled with as many as 10,000 miners. With that many men during the era of the rough and tumble days of the Old West, there was bound to be violence.


Henry Plummer

Not long after the settlement was formed, in walked a man named Henry Plummer. Handsome, well dressed and charismatic, he gained the trust of the area miners and was soon elected sheriff of the burgeoning community. However, little did the unsuspecting citizens of Bannack know, but their new sheriff led a secret band of road agents called the “Innocents”, who began to terrorize the travelers between Bannack and Virginia City, robbing and killing more than 100 men over the next several months.

In December 1863 the miners formed the Montana Vigilantes and during the next forty-two days, the Vigilantes hanged 24 of the gang members, including Henry Plummer. Later, historians questioned the authenticity of the outlaw tale, suggesting that the whole story was only a cover for the ruthless vigilantes themselves. Today, many say that the ghost of Henry Plummer haunts this old settlement, which has long since become a ghost town. Perhaps he wants to avenge his name.


After Bannack lost the county seat, the courthouse became the Hotel Meade

At the Hotel Meade, which was originally built as a courthouse in 1875, there are numerous stories of ghostly activity. When Bannack lost its county seat status to nearby Dillon in 1881, the building sat vacant until 1890 when it was remodeled into a plush hotel. The hotel opened and closed sporadically through the years with the ebb and flow of mining activity. At one time the building acted in the capacity of a hospital.

Cold spots, the apparition of a teenage girl, and sounds of crying children are often reported by those who visit this old building. The first sighting of a young girl was well over a hundred years ago. The teen is said to be that of a girl named Dorothy Dunn who drowned in a dredge pond along the creek long ago. Shortly after her death, she made her first appearance to her best friend, who was with her at the time of her death.

Since then there have been multiple sightings of the teenage girl wearing a long blue dress on the second story of the old hotel. These reports often come from children, one of which reportedly stated that the ghost of Dorothy Dunn tried to talk to her. The seven-year-old could see Dorothy’s mouth moving but no sound came out. Dorothy has also been sighted standing in an upstairs window by passersby on the street below.

Yet more sightings have been reported throughout the town of ghostly women dressed in their best finery.

When mining played out, Bannack became a ghost town in the 1940s. However, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks saved the town from the elements and vandalism by making it a state park on August 15, 1954.

Today, over sixty structures remain standing, most of which can be explored. The staff preserve, rather than restore the buildings of this old town allowing visitors an opportunity to relive the American West.

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The Legend of Blackbird Hill, Nebraska

Blackbird Hill, Nebraska

Eight miles north of Decatur, Nebraska, on the Omaha Indian Reservation, is a hill overlooking the Missouri River. At its summit is a mound of dirt nearly 45 feet high marking the burial place of the great Omaha Indian Chief Blackbird. The honored Indian Chief was buried here sitting upright on his favorite horse. Back in 1804, Lewis and Clark visited this gravesite, leaving behind decorations to commemorate him.

Blackbird Hill is said to be haunted and every year dozens of people gather at the site, on October 17th. However, it is not the ghost of Chief Blackbird who lingers here, but rather, that of a young woman who was murdered upon this hill more than a century and a half ago.

The story begins with a young couple back east who had fallen in love in the early 1840s. When the boy finished his schooling, his plans were to travel abroad for a time and then return to marry the young girl.

However, the boy never returned from his trip abroad. The devastated young girl waited for several years, but she finally gave him up for dead and married another man. Soon, the newlyweds headed west, eventually settling in northeast Nebraska, atop Blackbird Hill.

On October 17, 1849, the young girl was astounded when she saw her old fiancé walking up the winding path from the Missouri River to her small cabin. He too was surprised, having no idea that she lived there.

Overjoyed to see him, she confessed that she had never stopped loving him and only married the other man because she thought he was dead. He then began to convey the tale of his previous years. When traveling abroad, he was shipwrecked but managed to survive. However, it took him almost five years to get back to America. When he arrived home he was saddened to find that his mother had died and his fiancée had married another man and moved west. Setting out to find her, he joined a wagon train and headed for California, searching everywhere along the way for his long lost love.

By the time he reached the west coast he had failed to find her and heartbroken, he began the long journey home traveling along the Missouri River. Landing one day at the foot of Blackbird Hill, he saw the winding path up the slope and decided to follow it. That’s when fate intervened and brought the long-lost pair back together.

The girl told him that when her husband returned home, she would tell him that she wished to be released from her marriage vows so they could leave together the next morning. Giving the couple time to discuss the situation the young man hid in the nearby woods. When the woman’s husband returned home, she explained the situation but he did not want her to leave and at first, begged her to stay. When she refused, he began to get angry and soon ended up attacking her with his hunting knife. Screaming, she fell to the floor. The husband then dropped the knife and gathered up his bleeding wife. With her in his arms, he ran to the cliff at the top of the hill and jumped with her into the river far below.

Giving chase, the young man arrived at the hill just in time to see the man leap from the summit and to hear the woman’s final scream of agony. Collapsing with grief, the young man began to wander the hills aimlessly until he was finally found ragged and half-starved by a group of Omaha Indians. Delirious and unable to speak, the Indians carried the man back to their village, where he stayed until he could recover enough to travel.

Today, the path from the cabin to the cliff edge is barren. Even more than 150 years later, no plant life will grow on the path that led to the woman’s death. And, according to the legend, each year on October 17th, the woman’s chilling screams can be heard at the top of the hill. Over the years, dozens of people have reportedly heard her cries of terror.

The Omaha Indian Reservation is located in northeastern Nebraska, just west of Highway 75. Blackbird Hill is eight miles north of Decatur along the Missouri River. The hill itself is inside the Omaha reservation and not open to the public, but you can climb a nearby scenic overlook to view the river below.

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