From skeleton furniture to gigantic spiders… the world is full of scary, creepy things. Since it’s almost Halloween, I thought I’d share with you some spooky things we’ve done and creepy places we’ve visited around the world.
This could include being offered deep fried tarantulas in Cambodia… But the spider we encountered in Australia’s Outback was even worse… I wake up one morning, opened one eye and looked at the ceiling above our bed in our camper van. ‘Strange,’ my sleepy brain thought, ‘I never noticed before that all the frayed wires are hanging out of the speaker…' Then I opened a second eye, said “@#%$!” and jumped out of bed. Thank goodness Kees was brave enough to attack the gigantic spider, which was draped over the speaker. It unnerved us for the rest of the day. I kept glancing uneasily at the speaker but all seemed clear now. I just wondered if his extended family had hitched a ride, too and remained hidden somewhere in our camper. These huntsman spiders are about the size of a breakfast plate…
My ghost BOO-k
When we lived in Oregon, we restored a Queen Anne’s mansion which became one of Oregon’s Historic State Parks. When we moved in, the house had broken windows, a hollow wall full of dead mice and blackberry vines growing inside. The house was next to Thompson’s Mills - one of the first industries in the state. The local paranormal society came, tested the mill and declared it haunted. I wrote a fictional chapter book about the mill, but everything in the story really happened to us.
Bram’s Castle in Transylvania
When we traveled to Romenia, what more intriguing place to visit than Bran Castle? Even though this castle stood model for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the author was never there but the castle is now famous as Dracula’s castle and you can buy blood soaked vampire teeth in the gift shop. During my visit I wore my new shirt the school gave. Their sport’s team is… The Vampires!
In the nearby town, the local funeral home offered a 30% discount and free transportation…
But perhaps the creepiest of all places is the Museum and Crypt of the Capuchin Friers in Rome. This fascinating chapel is located underneath the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Capucchini. For 8.50 euros you can take a tour. Here, for several hundred years, the Franciscan friars in their infinite wisdom, decided that the bones of their dead colleagues would make a great reminder of our mortality. And so, with nothing better to do, they started to use their bones to decorate. Yes, decorate. Over the years, they used some 4,000 dead bodies. That’s a lot of bones: shin bones, finger bones, everything…
They even gave names to the different rooms they decorated and in which they displayed their morbid exhibits: the crypt of skulls, the crypt of leg bones, and (my favourite) the crypt of pelvises. The displays in each room are… well, bare bones. The dimly lit rooms have chandeliers made from human bones. Mummified arms hold the Coat of Arms (no pun intended). Apparently by the early 1900’s they were told to stop their morbid practise. The crypt’s website warns ‘don’t go if you’re queasy about such things as furniture made of human bones’. What better place to visit on Halloween?!
Thompson’s Mills State Park, Oregon: https://stateparks.oregon.gov/index.cfm?do=park.profile&parkId=186
Capuchin Crypt, Rome: https://archaeology-travel.com/italy/capuchin-crypt-rome/
Bran Castle, Romenia: http://www.bran-castle.com
