The World’s Most Famous Ghosts And Their Spine-Tingling Stories

The general tale around the ghost ship is that Dutch captain, van der Decken refused to go into harbor in South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope whilst a bad storm was brewing, ignoring protests from his crew and the passengers. Instead, the captain foolishly challenged God to do his worst. This He did, cursing the ship and damning it to never reach a port again. But worse still, the ship is said to now bring wretched luck or doom to other ships it comes across on its travels around the world's oceans. There have been numerous reported sightings down the centuries, including in 1881 by royalty: the British Prince of Wales, later King George V, claimed he saw her off the coast of Australia.

The Jersey Devil is said to have been born the 13th child of Mother Leeds, way back in 1735. But momma didn’t see how she could afford or care for this unwanted baby, so threw her hands up to the heavens and shouted “Let this one be a Devil!” Erm, big mistake: as legend has it, the human baby suddenly grew beastly, with horns, wings, and claws immediately forming. It then killed its bearer before going on to haunt New Jersey ever since. There have been reported sightings of The Jersey Devil for centuries — even as recently as 2015 — and the story continues to exert a hold over people today.

Since her death, legend has it that Kuchisake-onna has become a vengeful spirit, who suddenly appears hiding her mutilated features behind a fan or surgical mask, and asking whomever it comes across if she is beautiful. Any answer has pretty nasty consequences. Saying yes leading to her lowering her mask and asking again, and if yes is given again, Kuchisake-onna slices the face of the witness to match hers. Say no, though, and the frightening ghost will follow you home and kill you. The scary tale hit the headlines in 1979 when there were reported sightings of the vengeful spirit in Japan.

In 2016 celebrity ghost hunters “Spooky Steph” Lechniak and Mitch Markowitz went to the FirstOntario Concert Hall in search of the legend, and their “Ghost Meter Pro” picked up an electromagnetic reading in the empty theater. Lechniak told Spec.com, “The Lady in Red appears with blood-red tears running down her cheeks. She's always crying and in a red dress. I think it's a 1980s-style dress she appears in.” So, this Canadian ghost story is a relatively new one, then.

Yet when Mak arrived home, the story goes, his wife and child were there: he only realized sometime later that they were in ghostly form. Frightened, he bolted from his home and took refuge in a locked temple. Nak decided to scare the life out of the locals, before an exorcist lured her into a jar and threw her in the sea. But Nak was released by a fisherman who discovered the jar. The story is so powerful and of such cultural prominence in Thailand that there is a shrine to Mak in the capital Bangkok, which was built with the hope of appeasing the vengeful ghost and enabling her to move on.

There are several versions of the tale, one in which La Llorona not only drowns the child but herself, and another where she actually finds the child drowned and her ghost constantly wails in despair. Finally, there’s one tale that La Llorona goes around stealing living children to adopt as her own in the place of her deceased child. Anyway, the legend and bad omen has gripped Mexico for centuries, and countless sightings have been made — including in New Mexico, USA, in the 1930s — of a woman wailing by the river.

The farmer informed authorities of eerie knocking on or shaking of the walls both day and night, rocks raining down on his home, as well as burnt crops and dead farm animals. He reached out to Carolingian monks to perform an exorcism and expel the sinister activity. Was a demon haunting him? One version of the tale suggested that the farmer was a molester of the children in the village, and thus may have had an evil eye put on him. Another stated that he was simply unlucky, but ultimately shunned because of his bad luck.

The most common reported sightings of Boleyn have traditionally occurred in the Tower of London, the location of the doomed Queen’s incarceration and subsequent execution. There, Boleyn’s ghost has been allegedly seen in a white Tudor dress, haunting the place. But Henry VIII’s executed wife’s ghost has also been reported across Britain, from Hampton Court Palace to Windsor Castle, and the places she grew up; namely Blickling Hall and Hever Castle. Seeing Boleyn’s ghost is not thought to bring you good luck, let’s put it that way.

The ghost was reported to be an elderly woman who wore white and appeared on the highway’s shoulder trying to hitchhike a ride from motorists. When drivers did, the woman would suddenly disappear as they made their way through the Belchen Tunnel. The ghost thus became known as the White Woman of Belchen Tunnel; it has led to the tunnel and road there being dubbed one of the most haunted on the planet. In 1983 two female jurists claimed to have picked up the woman, and when they asked if she was well, she’d reportedly told them, “No, unfortunately not. I am not well at all. Something really awful is going to happen, something very dreadful,” before disappearing. 

The grudge the vengeful spirit of Sawara felt against Kanmu is said to have led him to cause a series of natural disasters that occurred in Japan, ranging from earthquakes to typhoons and droughts. The carnage led to Kanmu relenting and sharing with his brother the title of Emperor of Japan, to bring an end to the madness. Still, Kanmu moved Japan’s capital to the more-sheltered Kyoto from Nagaoka in case the uneasy truce with Sawara went sour again. The story remains culturally important in Japan to this day.

It is believed that The Brown Lady is Dorothy Walpole, who lived there with her husband Charles Townshend. They wed in 1713; 12 years later Townshend is said to have locked Dorothy away after allegations of an extramarital affair. She patrolled the corridors before dying of smallpox a year later. After the 1835 sighting, a guest shot at the female ghost a year later. Then, some 91 years later she was identified as Walpole by descendants of Townshend’s. But most eerily, a now-infamous photograph was taken of the alleged ghost in September 1936 on the stairs of Raynham Hall, and published in Country Life. Freaky!

Since Lady Shaw’s death, Northern Ireland has been gripped by tales of her presence at Ballygally. Both guests at the hotel plus residents have reported sightings of the ghost. One such incident reportedly saw a baby cry manically when entering the tower, perhaps sensing the ghost? The hotel has embraced Lady Isobel’s “friendly presence” and has a room dedicated to her. Erm, yeah, we don’t think we’ll be staying there any time soon, to be honest!

Anyway, after her death La Planchada was reportedly seen floating around the hospital’s hallways, dressed in her neatly ironed uniform, which gave her the name “La Planchada,” or “The Ironed Lady.” Those sightings continue, and La Planchada is said to enter hospital rooms and heal sick people. There have been reports that she glows as she travels around hospitals. Spooky!

An exorcism was attempted, but “Fred” — as the Pritchards called him — allegedly disrupted it and slapped the praying people! Research on the property indicated that it had been the site of a monk being hanged in the 16th century, perhaps explaining the poltergeist activity. This cleric was labeled “The Black Monk of Pontefract.” The frightening story continues to resonate today, and was covered in the movie When The Lights Went out. And a 2016 photo by a ghost-hunter appears to show a black hooded ghost in a mirror facing the staircase where Diane had been dragged half a century ago.

Yet after Lan’s death, strange happenings were reported. Staff brought food to Lan’s room and later noticed that it had been eaten. A person who walked by the mansion claimed to have seen her disfigured features looking out the window. The sad and spooky story was retold in 1973 through the horror flick The Ghost of the Hua Family.

Like many ghost stories, the legend of Resurrection Mary has several different narratives and origins, depending on who’s relaying it. Still, it is widely believed that Mary met an untimely end sometime in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Most likely Mary died in a fatal car smash, when she was walking home, or alternatively on the way to a nightclub — hence the white ballgown. Resurrection Mary’s story has captured the imagination of locals and those beyond Chicago, with ballads written about her, horror movies named after her and a Bloody Mary served in a local bar for her every Sunday.

But when they processed these snaps, they were stunned to see a floating, shadowy figure gripping the side of the staircase, and possibly one or two more ghosts too. Kodak experts analyzed the negatives and found no sign of tampering. The story captured the imagination of the British public; a year later a Ghost Club team went to Queen’s House to probe it for paranormal activity, but didn’t find any. But in 2002 a female staff member claimed to have seen a woman dressed in gray floating over a balcony in the house. 

The great-grand-daughter of Henry VII was shockingly executed in 1554 for high treason. She was reported to have murdered her husband’s mistress with an ax in a blind rage. But her ghost reportedly lives on in Ruthin Castle, presumably having made it back from London, where she had been slain. Lady Jane Grey has been reportedly spotted wandering around the castle battlements and banquet hall with ax in hand; it’s a story which continues to resonate today.

Confiscating Drury’s drum seemingly led to terrifying paranormal activity occurring outside and inside the Mompesson home. The family would hear drumming inside and outside, while the kids reportedly began to levitate above their beds. Tables, chairs, and everything that could move in the house began to walk about it, or tumble down the stairs. The poltergeist activity led to Mompesson consulting a priest to carry out some kind of exorcism, but the strange happenings continued. Eventually, Drury was deported to the American colonies and made some kind of admission of guilt for the tumult. But how could he have made children levitate? The earliest paranormal investigator Joseph Glanville also claimed to have witnessed the strange goings-on, and the ghostly legend persists.

Lennon moved into the Dakota with Yoko Ono in 1973. And it was the former Beatle who reported the poltergeist activity there. He reported seeing a “crying lady ghost” that roamed the halls, which must have been terrifying for him. Of course, Lennon’s one life would end outside the building’s entrance, when he was gunned down in December 1980 by crazed fan Mark Chapman. Ono later reported seeing her late husband’s ghost sat down at his piano inside the building. Weird.

This spooky legend has been well-known in Thai folklore for a long time, although scholars have noted the modern name. In recent years, Thai media have reported on a series of odd occurrences that have been blamed on a krahang. In 2017, a krahang was allegedly spotted and reported in northern Thailand several times. A local elder was called up to hold exorcism rights, but reports of this krahang have not gone away.

But the most infamous supernatural stalker of the Theater Royal is without doubt The Man in Gray. Patrons of the theater have regularly reported glimpsing this ghost on the balcony, donning a powdered wig and a long cloak. Some of the most famous sightings were reported in 1939 although many have rubbished them. Still, lots of actors treading the boards there have long considered it a sign of a good upcoming performance if they think they glimpse the Man in Gray watching them rehearse or perform.

Next, Casilda charged to her mother's house to confront her, but was stabbed in the stomach by her machete-wielding mom, who denied the relationship and cursed her. Casilda died in the attack, but not before she angrily vowed to kill the unfaithful husbands of all women. Casilda thus became the fearsome La Sayona, and serves as a warning to any man in Venezuela thinking of infidelity. The name refers to the long, white undergarment she wears, at least according to those who have reported seeing her.

Yes, the Hollywood Roosevelt is home to the most famous ghosts you’ll find. Chief among them is reportedly the ghost of Marilyn Monroe, the iconic blonde bombshell who died in suspicious circumstances. A patron reported having seen Monroe’s ghost hanging out of a mirror in a room in which they were staying. And other visitors have claimed to hear Montgomery Clift’s voice echoing throughout the suite where he once lived. But Monroe’s ghost is apparently not just confined to the Roosevelt: in 2022 actress Ana de Armas claimed Monroe’s ghost had haunted her on the set of the biopic Blonde. Nice to know Marilyn still gets out and about, then!

Orpheus was said to have descended into the Underworld in search of his recently deceased wife. When he arrived, he discovered that the dead had been diminished to vague shadows, or literal shades, of what they had been when they arrived. This spooky tale is believed by scholars to be the origin of the common perception, in the Western world at least, that ghosts are the semi-transparent and ethereal versions of once-living people.

One particular tale begins in a forest near the city of Dresden, where a woman who was picking up acorns suddenly heard a bang and a horn. It was a gray-cloaked rider. She took little notice and went back to picking acorns. But a few days later, he returned, this time holding his head up. The ghostly horseman said he was Hans Jagenteufel and inquired why the woman was collecting acorns without permission. She said she was doing nothing wrong, and the horseman didn’t kill her, but gave a warning that she shouldn’t earn herself his sorry fate for stealing. Enough to put any petty criminal off in Germany, surely?

According to the Lutz family, as soon as they moved into the property, poltergeist activity began in earnest. This included frightening unexplainable events, such as slime seeping out the walls, doors flying off their hinges and visits from ghosts. Spookily, George Lutz began to wake up in his bed at 3:15 a.m., the exact minute that DeFeo shot his whole family. Purported paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren later came to investigate. No wonder the Lutzes bolted after just 28 days there!

Are you still following? Okay, then. Next, the prince fooled the unfaithful servant into leaving his own corpse, before his wife destroyed his body. The bodiless servant’s spirit then made a run for it, becoming a cannibalistic beast who needs to eat intestines to survive. Ew! To cut a long story short, it eventually found a host in the shape of the witch Phi Pop, but it still leaves each night to feed on intestines. The horrific tale still resonates today. In 2007 two women in Thailand’s north were exorcized at the request of about 1,000 people, who believed the duo had been hosting Phi Pop. Ten of the fearful mob died in mysterious circumstances five years later, in an apparent ghostly retribution.

Peggy thought the girls were imagining things for a few seconds… until that is, she claimed she saw the same thing happen in her presence. The terrified mom took her and her daughters out of the home and called the cops, who arrived at the house and supposedly witnessed the moving furniture and heard the unexplained voices and noises too. The story reached the press, and paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren visited, supporting the claims of poltergeist activity. Later, the spirit apparently began talking through Janet, claiming it was a man named Bill Wilkerson who had died in the house. Some of those conversations were recorded. The Conjuring 2 was based on this terrifying tale, although Janet later admitted she had made some of it up.

The Bell family—after whom the witch was named—moved to Tennessee somewhere in that time period; upon settling into their new home, they started hearing eerie noises. These sounds ranged from chains rattling and dogs barking to what appeared to be a whispering woman. That murmuring female would come to be known as the Bell Witch: legend suggests that this woman was the ghost of Kate Batts, who had lived next door. Did she play a role in the early death of John Bell, who was somehow poisoned? All of that is up for debate, but the frightening presence of the Bell Witch, whether real or imagined, persists today.