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Dark Destinations is an online travel guide to macabre locations around the world. We cover Halloween events and attractions, paranormal hotspots, horror movie locations, gruesome museums, cryptozoology, sites of dark moments in history and more!
Recent Posts Tagged With 'cemeteries graveyards'
Crazy Bet
As of today, it has been 109 years since the death of American Civil War Spy Elizabeth “Crazy Bet” Van Lew. During the war, Elizabeth was a young lady living in what had become the capitol city of the Confederate States of America (also known as ...
The Original Hollywood Celebrity Death
In a year where celebrity deaths have garnered their fair share of the headlines – most notably with Michael Jackson but also including Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, Walter Cronkite, David Carradine, Karl Malden, Dom DeLuise, Patrick McGoohan, John H...
The Bell Witch in Mississippi
The stories of the Bell Witch haunting and tormenting the Bell family in Adams, Tennessee are well known and documented (see The Bell Witch Historical Marker). However, there is another part of the story that is seldom told. Following the death of ...
The Death of a Los Angeles Icon
90 years ago today, Colonel Griffith J. Griffith passed away at the age of 69. Griffith's name will forever be connected to the city of Los Angeles, California for the famous Griffith Park or Griffith Observatory, which were donated to the city by t...
The Desecration of a General's Grave
Today marks nine years since it was discovered that someone had desecrated the remains of Civil War General Elisha G. Marshall at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester, NY. The dead man's bones were discovered scattered around his place of interment. His sk...
30 Years Since Darla Left Us
On today's date in 1979, actress/singer Darla Hood unexpectedly passed away at the age of 47 years. Hood, who was primarily known for work she had done as a child actor in the Our Gang (Little Rascals) series of film shorts, had been attempting to or...
No Justice in the Death of George Wythe
On this date in 1806, the so-called "Father of American Jurisprudence" passed away from arsenic poisoning. Wythe earned that moniker as the first professor of law at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, but he has other histori...
The Legacy of Peter Lorre
45 years ago on this date, actor Peter Lorre died of a stroke in his apartment in West Hollywood, California. Lorre was often typecast into the role of the villain, a role that he appeared to be built for with his distinctively creepy, yet often sof...
The Jack Bauer of the American Revolution
March 15 is known as Peter Francisco Day in the states of Virginia, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Who is Peter Francisco, you ask? Have you ever heard that joke that emerged following the popularity 24, that goes something like - "Superman wears...
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Today is the third anniversary of the death of actor Darren McGavin. Many know him from his role as Ralphie's dad in the holiday classic A Christmas Story. He appeared in a number of horror shows and movies as well, including his role as Carl Kolchak...
The Haunted Tombstones of Mount Holly Cemetery
Tucked away in the heart of Little Rock, Arkansas is a 20-acre cemetery that has often been called the "Westminster Abbey of Arkansas." The cemetery was established on this day in 1843 and is now the home to countless historical individuals that pla...
The Donner Party Legacy
On this date in 1922, 78-year-old Eliza Poor Houghton succumbed to heart disease. Although she led a distinguished life as a published author and wife of California Congressman, Sherman Otis Houghton, she is probably best remembered for the tragic w...
The Death of Idaho's Lady Bluebeard
On this date in 1958, a woman in Salt Lake City, Utah suffered a heart attack and died. Her body was brought back to her home state of Idaho and buried in the Sunset Memorial Park in Twin Falls under the name of "Anna E. Shaw." On the surface, this...
"But where, O where is her head?"
Today marks the 112th anniversary of the discovery of the body of Pearl Bryan. The murder victim's headless corpse was discovered in a farmer's field by one of the farm's hired hands on February 1, 1896 (see our article on the murder of Pearl Bryan)....
The Shooting of Alfalfa
Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of actor Carl Switzer. Switzer is primarily known for playing the role of Alfalfa in the Our Gang series of films (AKA: The Little Rascals). The former child actor continued in the profession as an adult, bu...
A Virtual Drive through Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery
As many of you know, Dark Destinations incorporates Google Maps as part of the site to help pinpoint our destinations geographically and assist in planning trips. The technology is made available through a Web developer API, which is not necessarily...
The Demise of Chang and Eng
It was on this date in 1874, that Chang and Eng Bunker passed away. The conjoined twins originally came from Thailand (then known as Siam). Their fame in show business led to conjoined twins in general to be mistakenly referred to as "Siamese twins."...
A Visit to the Catacombs of Palermo
Today's blog entry takes us to the Italian city of Palermo on the island of Sicily and a rather unique tourist attraction. The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo (sometimes called King Capuchin Catacombs) are quite literally a city of the dead. Around 8...
Remembering Leo Gordon
On December 26, 2000, Leo Gordon passed away in Los Angeles, California from heart failure following a brief illness. Gordon was a prolific actor, screenwriter, and novelist who was often cast in the role of a antagonist due to his impressive size a...
The Bell Witch and the Death of John Bell
188 years ago on this day, the family of John Bell awoke to find the family patriarch had passed away in the night. The previous evening, on December 19, Bell had reportedly drunk from a vial that supposedly contained medication that had been prescr...
Restless Remains
On today's date in 1891, young pianist Emma Crawford passed away from tuberculosis. As per her request, she was buried near the top of Red Mountain in Manitou Springs, Colorado. More than 20 years later a railroad transplanted her remains to another ...
