With the rustle of autumn leaves and a chill in the air, the veil between worlds thins. As Halloween (or Samhain) approaches, a ghostly ambience settles, inviting us to explore the spookier side of the season.
Which might seem, for the sceptics out there, overly ridiculous; however, according to GO Outdoors, certain areas in the UK have been the sites and sights of some unexplained, paranormal activity from beyond the spirit realm. Tales of feeling brushes against the skin while walking through forested areas, or unexplained bumps and grazes after visiting the graveyard and cemeteries in the capital.
GO Outdoors managed to collate a top ten, but for the sceptics, how did they create the list?
To determine their top 10 spookiest walks, GO Outdoors created a starting list of "spooky walking locations" found on the website Tripadvisor. This served as their initial pool of candidates for analysis. For each location on the list, they analysed the Tripadvisor reviews to find the percentage of reviews that mentioned specific "spooky" keywords.
The keywords included terms like spooky, eerie, scary, Halloween, haunted, misty, ghost, paranormal, dark, ancient, legend, shadow, buried, sinister, killer, grave, fog, and witch.
They cross-referenced their list with data from the website Paranormal Database. For each walk, they took the total number of paranormal sightings recorded in the wider county where the walk is located. Finally, they created a normalised score out of 10 for each walk.
This final score was based on the two factors they analysed. the percentage of reviews mentioning "spooky" keywords and the number of paranormal sightings in the surrounding county, with the information collected on September 16.
So, where did they unearth in the UK the spookiest places to venture into, or avoid completely, this Halloween?
9. Avebury Stone Circle (Wiltshire)
This ancient site is believed to be full of mystical energy and has one of the highest rates of reported paranormal activity in the top 10, with 390 recorded sightings. Visitors describe their experience as “mysterious,” and many have noted an otherworldly atmosphere among the stones. Just a short stroll away, the Red Lion pub is widely believed to be haunted, with a number of ghostly tales. 👻 8.84/10 | Simon Barker
10. Wistman’s Wood (Devon)
Wistman's Wood claims the top spot with one in four reviews mentioning spooky experiences. The eerie atmosphere of this twisted oak woodland is enhanced by local legends of ghostly hounds and ancient druids that are said to haunt the woods. One visitor described the experience as “haunted and eerie.” 👻 9.61/10 | Carl Court/Getty Images