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Pluckley, Kent
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Revealed: the creepiest villages in Europe to visit this Halloween

From the home of Count Dracula’s victims to the ’Salem of Italy’, Europe is home to some seriously spooky settlements

Liv Kelly
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Liv Kelly
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Europe is home to some of the world's most popular tourist destinations, scenic beaches and vibrant cities, but it has also experienced a long and bloody history. And you know what all those battles and gory events mean? Loads and loads of haunted locations. 

Just in time for spooky season, StressFreeCarRental.com has researched which European villages are the creepiest of the creepy. For the scare-seekers among us, these might be places to pay a visit to this Halloween.

So where, exactly, is Europe’s creepiest village? That would be Bran in Romania, a Transylvanian commune famously home to Count Dracula, who resided in Bran castle in the fifteenth century. The fortress was recently ranked as one of the most spectacular haunted castles in Europe, which should come as no surprise with all the secret passages and ghosts of Dracula’s victims looming in the shadows. 

Triora in Italy ranks as the second creepiest village in Europe. During its dark past, it was the site of the torture and murder of 50 women accused of witchcraft. Nicknamed the ‘Salem of Italy’, the mediaeval hamlet has only 300 inhabitants, and would make for a chilling Halloween exploration. 

In third place, it’s the Guinness Book of Records’ claimant of the title of the most haunted village in Britain, Pluckley. This haunted patch of Kent is rumoured to be home to at least 12 ghoulish residents, including the horrifying hanging body of a schoolmaster. 

Here are the seven creepiest villages in Europe:

  1. Bran, Romania
  2. Triora, Italy
  3. Pluckley, England
  4. Ochate, Spain
  5. Roslin, Scotland
  6. Skirnjari, Croatia
  7. Tintern, Wales

Did you see that this is officially the coolest neighbourhood in the world right now?

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