MORNING BIRD TRAIL

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In my last blog post, I’ve listed some ideas of what to do on Halloween in the western half of Europe. In this blog post, I’ll do the same but for the rest of the countries.

Halloween is not a holiday widely celebrated in eastern European countries since it has originated in Ireland. However, it doesn’t mean that there is nothing exciting to do there in this spooky season. These countries have plenty of History and some of the most well-kept secrets and scary places to explore, even if there is not that many western-like events.

Overview

• Czech Republic
• Poland
• Slovenia
• Slovakia
• Croatia
• Bosnia
• Albania
• North Macedonia
• Serbia
• Kosovo
• Hungary
• Estonia
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Belarus
• Ukraine
• Moldova
• Romania
• Bulgaria
• Russia
• Cyprus

Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, there are some fun activities to do this Halloween. One of these includes a Halloween quiz about villains and monsters or a very scary visit to the old cemetery of Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital. This cemetery has been called one of the scariest cemeteries in Europe so visit it at your own risk. You can also join a guided tour of the place.

Another idea is to celebrate Halloween in the Czech All Saint’s Day. In this Celebration, in Hvezda Chateau you can explore haunted trails, performances, fireworks and even pumpkin carving.

If you want to experience American culture and celebrate a somewhat American traditional Halloween, you can do that in the Czech Republic too. In the pedestrian zone of Andel, Prague, you can find foods from the USA, Mexico and even Brazil. Besides that, Prague has plenty of Halloween parties for you to enjoy.

Poland

Even though there are not many Halloween costume parades or pumpkins carved, the country has so much to explore. From the chilling crooked forest, with its strange crooked trees that no one can explain, to the St. Batholomew’s Church with skulls and bones all around the walls. To add to the spookiness, the human remains were collected by Vaclav Tomasek and J. Langer, gravediggers, for over 18 years.

In Warsaw, you can visit the Powazki Cemetery, one of the best places to spend Halloween, but also just a great stop, especially for those that love art and history, since the cemetery has several incredible Art Noveau sculptures.

There are some haunted buildings in Poland too. One of these is the Kopice Palace, an aristocratic estate located in Kopice that used to be very grand but that now barely anything is left. Another place is the Nawiedzony dom in Krakow. This building has a massive tree growing through its roof and its surroundings are covered in weeds.

Slovenia

In Slovenia, the day of October 31st is not Halloween but Reformation Day, a celebration in remembrance of the Protestant Reformation. However, you can still enjoy your Halloween Holiday in the country.

One of the best places to explore this Halloween is the Bled Castle. The party at the castle consists of two parts, one directed to children and another to adults. At this party, the Halloween spirit will be connected to the history of the castle to provide you with the most enjoyable experience.

Another thing to do in Slovenia is to explore Hell Cave. This is a must-see in Slovenia and is the perfect place to find out more about the underworld theories of the country. The cave is said to be home to the devil and it even contains an underground waterfall.

Slovakia

In Slovakia, you can find many ghost stories in several places around Bratislava but also other places. One of the most visited places with a spooky story is the St. Michael’s Tower, where people say to spot the Black Lady at night. She haunts the tower because she accused a friend of being a witch and killed herself in the tower from guilt. Another place in Bratislava, in the Main Square, is the Green House. This used to be the most famous pub in town. The story says that at midnight the white lady Lucia appeared there and a tapster gave her a barrel of Malvasia (to the ghost) and she helped him to become rich.

In a remote area of Slovakia lays the Cachtice Castle. The castle has several spooky stories associated with it and was home to one of the most frightening serial killers of that time, Elizabeth Bathory.

Croatia

In the town of Vodnjan, you can find the church of St Blaise. This church contains several mummies of saints in religious clothes. What is special about these mummies is that the bodies were not embalmed or hermetically sealed, and yet they still remain surprisingly intact. There has even been made a CT scan in 2009 that proved that the bodies of St Ivan John and St Nikoloza have all their inner organs. This is quite remarkable and a unique example in the World. In the church, you can also find some other parts of several other saints such as the torso of St Sebastian, the feet of St Barbara and the tongue of St Mary of Egypt.

In Zadar, Croatia, by the sea, you can find the famous sea organ, that emits a sound created by the waves. This sound is then transformed by a network of pipes, tubes and whistles that create a perfect Halloween symphony, especially if you go at night.

Bosnia Herzegovina

If you want a landscape that somehow resembles the United States, you can head to Bosnia Herzegovina and explore the pyramids of Foča. These may be natural occurring rock formations, but you may just want to explore them because of their beauty and perhaps resemblance to Arizona’s landscape?

A creepier place to visit in Bosnia Herzegovina, this Halloween, is the Igman Ski Jumps, made for the Winter Olympics of 1984, and now completely abandoned. Another abandoned place, an even creepier one, is the old nursing Home Nedžarići, a nursing home constructed just before the war and that wasn’t even used.

Albania

In Albania, one of the most mysterious places to visit is the Prokletije mountains or the Albanian Alps. Another name for this place is the Accursed Mountains, and the story goes like three brothers went hunting and encountered a fairy, and they began to fight for her until they were all dead. Their bodies were found by their mom to whom the fairy told what has happened. Do you want to risk finding a fairy like that one this Halloween?

North Macedonia

In North Macedonia, there is a similar festivity to Halloween. The Vasijil’s Day in the village of Vevcani. In this festival, the participants dress in elaborate, strange and terrifying costumes. However, if you want to experience the Halloween-like festival in North Macedonia, you need to wait until January to visit the village of Vevcani.

In the meantime, in October, you can try to explore the Saint Nicholas Church in Mavrovo Lake. This church was built in 1850 and has been abandoned since the man-made Mavrovo Lake filled the surrounding area with water. You can visit the ruins when there are droughts, so you may be lucky to do that in October.

Serbia

In Servia, you can explore the Skull Tower or Ćele kula in Niš. The tower was constructed in 1809 by the Turkish General Hurshid Pasha. The skulls in the tower once belonged to brave Serbian rebels that fought against this general in the First Serbian Uprising. The tower was built as a way to deter further rebellion, quite macabre.

Another spooky place to visit in Serbia is the Ghost Castle in Beočin. This castle is one of the most beautiful and eery places and was built to be a beautiful fairytale castle. However, nowadays, the castle is reduced to ruins.

If you are looking for even spookier places to celebrate this spooky season, you can visit the New Cemetery in Belgrade. There are stories of people seeing ghosts, at night wandering the cemetery and also the streets close to it.

Hungary

One of the most amazing things to do in Hungary this Halloween is to visit the Labyrinth in Buda Castle Hill. This labyrinth is known as the Dracula in the Labyrinth because legends say that Dracula, Vlad Tepes, was kept prisoner in the labyrinth in the 15th century. Besides that, some caverns were connected by the labyrinth and served as a bunker. There are also other Dracula tours, such as the one offered at Vajdahunyad Castle where you can listen to more vampire stories in the halls of the Magnifique castle.

For thrill-seekers, there is a scary attraction offered in Budapest. A haunted house that also features a labyrinth full of monsters and spooky creatures with sounds and light effects. You can also experience a Halloween Pumpkin festival at Heroes’ Square in Budapest.

Estonia

In Estonia, there are two holidays that have some similar traditions to Halloween. These holidays are Mardipäev and Kadripäev. Both these holidays occur in November and on the first one, children dress in black and make a lot of noise. The idea is to bring harvest luck and after the children visit the houses, there is a village party. On the second holiday, the children wore light colours and traditional home-made food is served.

A creepier thing that you may do in Estonia this Halloween is to visit the Patarei Prison that today is abandoned and remains exactly how it was when it closed. You can see the operating room and also what the prisoners left in the cells, such as books.

Latvia

In Latvia, there is a pagan equivalent to Halloween. The Kakatas stretches from the end of autumn to the beginning of spring, when the days are darker. During this period, people get dressed in costumes such as gipsies, animals and even death, while travel from door to door singing and dancing. The idea is if that if you treat well the people that knock on your door and sing and dance with them so you can be rewarded with good luck. A fun characteristic of this celebration is the fact that each of the characters has its own role to play.

A way creepier activity to do this Halloween in Latvia is to visit the Karaosta prison in Liepaja. This prison was used as a military prison and has seen many tortures and executions. This prison was claimed to be one of the most haunted places in the world.

Another spooky place in Latvia is the Pokaini Forest. In this forest, there are ancient rocks mixed with the trees. These rocks with strange draws and ornaments. In the forest, compasses and mobile phones start to work weirdly, and some people say that can identify some light orbs on photos but not in person.

Lithuania

In Lithuania, an amazing place to spend your Halloween night is the Hill of Crosses. This spooky place is adorned with more than 200000 crosses. When you visit the hill you can even add another cross to the collection. You can visit this in daylight but if you want the spookiest atmosphere you definitely should visit it at night.

On November 1st, like in many other European countries, Lithuania celebrates All Saints’ Day. You can visit one of the cemeteries in Lithuania and see the candles that illuminate it. If you don’t want to get into a cemetery, especially at night, you can always see the River of Souls in Kaunas.

In Palanga there is a legend that has to do with the hobby of Sofjia Tiskeviciene. She used to summon ghosts in a speciphic room surrounded by mirrors so that the ghosts couldn’t escape. This was done in the villa Anapilis whiich is as a result said to be haunted.

Belarus

In Belarus, you can visit the Botanical Garden of Minsk where there is a Samhain inspired festival since Samhain is the original Celtic festival that originated Halloween this is your best chance to celebrate a western Haloween inspired party in the country. In this activity, you will be able to see Irish dances, fire competitions and live music.

Mir castle is one of the most famous touristic attractions in Belarus. However, many people argue that the castle is haunted and that they can see skeleton soldiers with armours and weapons.

Ukraine

In Kyiv, you can enjoy a beautiful mixture of western and eastern traditions. In the Klevan Rus Park, there will be a Halloween festival featuring traditional monsters and spirits instead of the typical western zombies and witches.

Also in Kyiv, you can visit the Lysa Hora, a place where pagans and magicians performed their rituals. The place is avoided by people, for multiple reasons. One of them is that it negatively affects the human psyche. This conclusion is based on the fact that there is a higher number of suicides that take place here than in any other part of the country.

Near the small village of Berezhnitsa, you can find the mystical mountain range Sinitsa. Many people believe that in this mountain range, there is a portal to another world. Maybe you’ll want to explore the mountain to find the portal this Halloween in Ukraine?

Moldova

There are many mysteries to explore in Moldova this Halloween. One of the most beautiful places in the country is on this list. In the remote Tipova Monastery, there are many mysteries and people like to go ghost hunting in the caves and waterfalls. These locations are also featured in many local creepy stories.

In to town of Chisinau, in Moldova, you can find a Soviet-Era Circus that is now abandoned, and you can explore the spooky place this Halloween.

Another mysterious place in Moldova to visit this Halloween is the magnetic hill. This is one of the most creepy places in the country because the hill has a strange energy that pulls cars in different directions. Also in this region, there as been many unexplained incidents. Do you want to explore this spooky place in Moldova this Halloween?

Romania

Romania is probably one of the best eastern European countries to explore this Halloween because of all the stories that made the country famous, in particular the Transylvania region. As expected, one of the most interesting places to celebrate Halloween is the Bran Castle in Transylvania. This castle has a Halloween party every year with costumes and Dracula inspired stories. The main festivities, however, usually take place on November 30th, St Andrew’s Night.

Another thing to do in Romania this Halloween is exploring the World’s Most Haunted Forest, the Hoia-Baciu Forest in Cluj-Napoca. Many paranormal phenomena have been reported in the region, from odd voices to unexpected orbs of lights. The most unusual region of the forest is a dead vegetation zone, a circle of land where nothing ever grows. Some people also mention that the forest is a portal to a parallel universe. Another creepy forest is the Boldu-Creteasca Forest where is said that magical rituals keep the Witches’ Pond alive. In June witches perform their rituals in the forest in the Saznienele celebration. It is also thought that Vlad the Impaler, the possible inspiration for Dracula, was decapitated here.

Bulgaria

There are some abandoned places that you can visit this Halloween in Bulgaria. One of these places is the Buzludzha Monument that once eas the House of the Bulgarian Communist Party and that is abandoned since 1989. This is something that you can explore on your Halloween travel to Bulgaria.

However, if you are interested in something more cultural, to learn more about the country, there is a sort of similar festival in Bulgaria that sort of resembles Halloween. The Surva festival lasts two days and occurs in the small town of Pernik. Usually, it is celebrated in the second half of January. This festival even is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site list since 2015 and usually men, wear terrifying masks with twisted horns and protruding teeth. These characters dance in the streets accompanied by the chaotic sounds of bells.

Russia

In Russia, this Halloween, you can visit the village of Dargavs in North Ossetia and its mystical necropolis. It consists of almost 100 crypts and today is still full of mysteries. In these crypts, you can also see mummies and skeletons.

In the Vasilievsky island in St. Petersburg, there is a beautiful abandoned mansion with a mystery story. It is said that the Dracula mirror is hidden in one of the rooms, between the walls. This story also says that after the mirror was bought, the daughter of the landlord suddenly died. Then the mirror was taken to a local museum, and when it returned to the mansion more people suddenly died. That’s why the mirror was hidden in a secret place so that no one would find it.

One of the spookiest places in this list to explore this Halloween in Russia is not even a true abandoned place. The town was constructed for the film Stalingrad, and the decoration is full of details, some of them quite spooky. This movie set is located in the Saperny village and is free to enter.

Cyprus

If you are spending your Halloween in Cyprus, you can visit the abandoned Hotels in Varosha. This town was supposed to be an incredible beachside wonderland with many resorts but it ended up abandoned because of the war.

You can visit the Halloween Party at Masterland in Cyprus to compete in a costume competition (for parents and kids), watch a monster parade or even practice magic. Another place to celebrate Halloween in Cyprus is in the Cyherbia botanical bark. Here you can also participate in a costume competition for both kids and adults, and have a lot of fun in your Halloween holiday.

Do these spooky places inspire your curiosity for the traditions and mysteries of Eastern European countries? Are you thinking about exploring this part of the world in your next Halloween holiday? Do you know more spooky places or interesting traditions in any of these countries or other parts of the world? Share your experiences in the comments, I would love to read them.

In case you are wondering, all these pictures were taking with the following equipment:

• Canon EOS 90d
• Samsung SD card
• Canon EF 50mm F1.8 STM
• Canon EF-S 55-250mm F/4-5.6 is STM
• Canon  EF-S 10-18mm F/4.5-5.6 IS STM
• K&F Concept K-Serie 67mm ND Filter
• Samsung Galaxy A52 5G

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