Dark tourism and haunted attractions have been a growing trend in the United Kingdom, with over 30,000 searches in the past year alone.
The UK is home to some of the most haunted places in the world, and Holidu, a search engine for holiday rentals, has rounded up a list of Britain’s most popular tourist attractions that double as some of the most haunted sites in the whole country.
Using the database from Higgy Pop's Paranormal Hub, which has over 350 entries of scary sites all over the UK, the number of searches on Google in the past year was used to find out just which of these paranormal places are most popular with tourists.
1. British Museum, London - 135k+ searches
The most popular haunted tourist attraction for 2021 is the British Museum in London. This is a gigantic museum that displays two million years of human history and culture, and it is said that some of the ancient artefacts and human remains are regularly spooking both visitors and staff. Museum guards have reported many instances of hearing things go bump in the night, from unexplained noises and sudden drops in temperature to doors swinging open and ghost sightings. Image credit PublicCo via Pixabay. Photo: Submitted
2. The Tower of London, London - 110k+ searches
Founded in 1066, the Tower of London, located on the north bank of the River Thames has a gruesome past which has resulted in it being riddled with terror and fear. It is said that most of the ghosts that haunt this castle are unfortunate souls who met an untimely and unjust death. These ghastly sightings so far beyond just flickering lights, with reportings so intense they feature repugnant smells, ice-cold rooms, suffocating sensations and even grizzly bears. Millions of visitors line up to pay this castle a visit and hear the sinister tales of imprisonment, torture, and execution. Image credit waldiwkl via Pixabay. Photo: Submitted
3. Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Blackpool - 110k+ searches
Pleasure Beach began its scary story back in 1930 when the now-infamous ghost train first opened its doors, the first ride to ever use the name ‘Ghost Train’. One of the original ride operators, nicknamed ‘Cloggy’, was so dedicated to his job that following his death over twenty years ago, he decided to come back. Mysterious footsteps, groaning sounds, scratching noises, and the sound of clog-laden footsteps are not unusual within the ride, noises which staff members insist are not part of the experience. There have also been sightings of a phantom hanging man and a blood-stained woman at other rides in the park. Image credit SnapHappyUK via Pixabay. Photo: Submitted
4. Heathrow Airport, London - 110k+ searches
The main paranormal story of Heathrow Airport is one of a tragic plane crash which happened in 1948 and a man who arrived at the scene asking if anyone had seen his briefcase. Firefighters later reported seeing the body of that same man in the wreckage. Since that day, the briefcase-carrying ghost has been spotted on the airport runways several times. Then, In 1970, the Heathrow Airport radar office picked up a signal which looked like a person on the runway, only to find no one there when emergency services rushed to the scene. Image credit Tomek Baginski via Unsplash. Photo: Submitted