Exploring America’s fear of abandoned mental hospitals

13 local ghost stories, the ghosts of Doodletown, and Corvin Castle. Email not displaying correctly? View in your browser. November 04, 2019 Exploring Why Old Mental Hospitals Are So Scary Americans have always been deeply invested in what goes on within the walls of institutions such as the former Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. The term “asylum” itself, which has negative connotations today, was originally used to evoke confidence, safety, and security. How and why this changed is part of a longer story of stigma, fear, and horror. Read More → 13 Local Ghost Stories From haunted roads to benevolent theater ghosts and unquiet spirits on the golf course, our readers shared their favorite ghostly tales that haunt their hometowns. Read more → Atlas Obscura Trips Art of Joshua Tree and the Mojave Join us next year for a four-day trip through Joshua Tree and the Mojave Desert, landscapes that have both supported generations of creative endeavors. Along the way, we'll visit colorful man-made mountains, glimpse mysteriously marked rocks, and experience soothing sound baths. Learn more → The Ghosts of Doodletown When Doodletown, New York, was shuttered by the state in 1965, it didn’t stop Doodletowners from burying their dead there. Still owned and used by its former residents, the mountain ghost town’s three graveyards have become a way to keep its memory alive. Read more → HUNEDOARA, ROMANIA Corvin Castle In the heart of Transylvania, this castle sits atop a rocky bluff with nothing but a thin bridge allowing access. And, though this is likely untrue, tourists are told that Vlad the Impaler spent some seven years in its dungeons, a stay which resulted in his eventual madness. Read more → PRAMARZO, ITALY Temple of Damanhur Beneath a suburban house in Northern Italy lies a massive underground temple built entirely in secret by a group of non-architects who worked around the clock for 15 years to complete it. Read more → SAN ANDRÉS CHOLULA, MEXICO The Great Pyramid of Cholula This Aztec temple, the largest man-made pyramid in the world, sits buried within the Earth with a Spanish church set on top. Read more → Visit AtlasObscura.com · View in Browser · Unsubscribe · See All Newsletters 61 Greenpoint Ave #622, Brooklyn, NY 11222