The Dark Atlas

A documentary series and written archive exploring haunted places, folklore and forgotten history—what happened, what was claimed, and what the stories reveal about the living.

Start here

Begin with The Pendle Witches: What a Nine-Year-Old Girl Said in Court—a story about fear, family and the testimony that helped send ten people to the gallows.

Season One

Tap a number to open the story
  1. The Pendle Witches · England — the child witness at the heart of England’s most notorious witch trial.
  2. Borley Rectory · England — separating the haunting from the legend of “England’s most haunted house”.
  3. Pluckley · England — how one Kent village became famous for its ghosts.
  4. The Salem Witch Trials · United States — when visions and spectral evidence entered the courtroom.
  5. The Stanley Hotel · United States — the place, the haunting and the birth of The Shining.
  6. Aokigahara · Japan — history and folklore beneath the sea of trees.
  7. The Tower of London · England — ghosts, history and the machinery of a national myth.
  8. The Myrtles Plantation · United States — the legend of Chloe, the documented history and what the ghost story obscures.
  9. The Mackenzie Poltergeist · Scotland — reported attacks, a controlled haunting study and the true footprint of the Covenanters’ Prison.
  10. Castle of Good Hope · South Africa — named colonial ghosts, an unnamed scream and what the archive leaves in darkness.
  11. Lawang Sewu · Indonesia — a haunted basement, a colonial railway headquarters and the history buried beneath the legend.
  12. The Highgate Vampire · England — the 1970 cemetery panic, two rival occultists and an unquiet London legend.
  13. Hoia Baciu Forest · Romania— twisted trees, UFO photographs and the human-shaped woodland beneath Romania’s most haunted forest.
  14. Bhangarh Fort · India— haunted ruins, a living village and the history behind India’s famous warning sign.
  15. Corvin Castle · Romania — Vlad the Impaler’s disputed imprisonment, a prisoner’s inscription and the restorations behind a Gothic legend.
  16. Eastern State Penitentiary · United States — the prison built on enforced silence, and the ghost stories that grew in the quiet.
  17. Čachtice Castle · Slovakia — the Blood Countess, the 1611 testimony and what the record does and doesn’t show.
  18. Island of the Dolls · Mexico — the drowned-girl legend of Xochimilco, and the history that no record can confirm.
  19. Château de Brissac · France — the Green Lady, Charlotte’s killing and the royal pardon behind the ghost story.
  20. Port Arthur · Tasmania, Australia — the haunted Parsonage, the Blue Lady and the ghost stories of Tasmania’s convict settlement.

The Atlas on your wall

Haunted Britain printable set of 6 gothic wall art posters

Haunted Britain, a set of six printables. Six haunted British locations as gothic posters to print at home. £9.59 for the set.

Get the Haunted Britain set

Explore individual prints · £2.99 each

Or take them one at a time (£2.99 each): Pendle Witches, Borley Rectory, Tower of London, Pluckley, Greyfriars Kirkyard and Highgate Vampire.

From further afield: Eastern State Penitentiary, Corvin Castle, Hoia Baciu Forest, Island of the Dolls and Château de Brissac. Browse the whole shop.

Browse the Atlas

Explore more by theme: haunted places, folklore, or browse all writing.

Fiction from the same dark ground

If you prefer your haunted landscapes in fiction, explore The Land Demands Blood.

Enter Shin Stories

Get new investigations, atmospheric fiction and journeys into haunted landscapes by email.

Subscribe