Ghost tourism has been booming over recent years as more and more people are interested in trying to meet, see, and experience the supernatural. Luckily, Bucharest has plenty of stories of run-ins with ghosts, so we will tell you about the top haunted spots below!
1. The Suicide-Inducing Casino
The House of Vernescu is one of Bucharest’s oldest and most famous casinos. Opened in the 1800s, it has long been a place where the wealthy gather for high-stakes gambling. In fact, some rich men have walked into the Casino only to end their night losing their wealth and their reputation.
A good handful have actually done so poorly that they killed themselves on the premises. Nowadays, people still gamble here, but many more are on the lookout for ghosts. People believe that the men who have committed suicide at this site are still there, haunting the casino.
Furniture shifts without being touched, there are random cold chills moving through the building, and the courtyard oddly smells of gunpowder. Some people believe that the ghosts are there to warn the current gamblers, others say the ghosts are there to seek vengeance.
2. The Central Boarding School for Fine Young Ladies
The Central School has always been a place of high recognition and prestige. However, it is also a place of mystery. The school first opened back in the 1800s, and throughout history school girls have claimed to witness chilling occurrences.
They have seen items levitate, doors slam when no one was near, window creak open, random cold bursts of wind, and loud screams from the supposedly empty basement. To add to the mystery, there are many doors and hallways that have been walled-up and closed off. If you are able to get a tour, don’t say you haven’t been warned!
3. Vlad the Impaler’s Old Princely Court
This is the site of one of Vlad’s dungeons, as well as his court. It is located in Old Town Bucharest and was built in the 15th century. Today, all that remains of the original building are some of the walls, arches, tombstones and a Corinthian column.
The remains are available to visit as a museum, the Old Court Museum. It was opened in 1972 when an archeological dig yielded this historical structure. When the dungeon was dug out, Dacian poetry and old Romanian coins were found as well.
The Dacians were the original inhabitants of Romania and their bloodline still exists in Romania today. Also in these ruins was a document from 1459 signed by Vlad himself. Aside from being a creepy old dungeon, this is considered to be haunted because those who have visited say that they have seen odd shadows and sounds, particularly on nights with full moons. Some believe that it is Vlad’s ghost who is haunting the premises!
4. The Secret Organ Trade at this Romanian Hospital
Alright, this is just a rumor, but sometimes rumors have some truth to them, right? The former Hospital of the Posts, located next to the Stavropoleos Church, was once used for people with life-threatening diseases. Obviously, because people were already on the brink of death, many deaths occurred in this building. However, the rumor is that the doctors would sometimes purposely kill their patients to harvest their organs and sell them to the black market.
They would do it by cutting the desired organs out of the patients and placing them in a portable freezer the size of a suitcase. To keep the organs cold, they would plug the suitcase into the batteries of their cars. Some locals believe that the patients that were unjustly killed are haunting the site of the hospital today. Luckily, it is no longer a hospital that stands there, but a recovery institute.
5. The Cismigiu Hotel
Be careful when you are choosing hotels in Bucharest, because this hotel is not marketed as a haunted one, but indeed it is! The Cismigiu hotel was built in the early 1900s but was left in ruins by 1970. 20 years later, the Theatre Academy bought the property and used it for student housing.
One weekend before a holiday, almost all the students had gone home, but a girl was still there. She was walking into what she thought was a dorm room, but it was night time and it was very dark and she could not see that she was actually stepping into an elevator shaft. She fell down the shaft, badly injuring herself.
She called for help, but no one was there to hear her cries. She died shortly after. Ever since then, people claim they can hear screams down the hotel halls. However, the hotel has recently been renovated and that elevator shaft has been moved, perhaps in attempt to make this hotel more appealing to tourists – those who don’t want run-ins with ghosts.
6. The Screaming Orphans
This abandoned building, number 13 on French Street, is said to be haunted with the spirits of 203 kids. The owner, Stavrache Hagi-Orman, brought in homeless kids, which seems like a noble deed, but he would just torture them. Many died of starvation, and Stavrache would make them watch him eat lavish meals while their bellies roared.
After many kids died from deprivation of food and water, the orphanage was finally forced to close. Today, people walk by the abandoned building and swear they hear children crying for water.
7. The House of the Black Blood
This might be the most intriguing of all the haunted stories we have for you today! This house has been nicknamed “Black Blood” because of the deaths that have happened here and because of the spirits that haunt it. There are three stories with this one: the first is that a prostitute was murdered here in the 1800s and now her ghost haunts the house. Her ghost is nicknamed the Tramper for the tramping noises she makes around the house.
The second story is that the famous Romanian writer, Mircea Eliade, currently haunts the house. Eliade actually wrote supernatural novels, so a third story goes that Eliade was inspired by the Tramper. While these stories may not seem that spooky, neighbors say that they hear strange gurgling noises coming from the house and that occasionally dark stains appear on the house’s gates – black blood, some might say!