Who doesn’t love a scary story when traveling, the kind that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, your heart rate quicken and your palms sweaty. A few of the classics include Tale of the Lost Luggage, The Thing On My Bed: an Airbnb Rental From Hell, Passport…Has Been Stolen, and our personal favourite bathroom malfunction. In celebration of all things scary, we’ve selected the best travel horror stories that will have you sleeping with one eye open!
#Dark Windy Road
Hadley and her friends took a road trip from New York City to Rhode Island. None of them had been to Rhode Island before, so they were excited about the drive, especially because they had rented a Mustang convertible for it. They left a little later than expected—it was about 10:30 p.m., and since it was a busy Friday night, they decided to punch their destination into Waze to beat the traffic.
Eventually, they started losing steam, so her friend in the back seat fell asleep and Jane kept driving, when her friend in the passenger seat told her to exit the freeway to take a side road. At first, driving on the unlit, winding back roads was relaxing, but then the wind picked up and it got increasingly foggy and misty.
Hadley thought about pulling over to put the top up but decided against it since there were no cars in sight. Heavy rain was projected for the entire weekend, so she wanted to get the most out of the convertible. Her friend up front told Jane to look at the street sign in the distance. It read, "Purgatory."
Seconds later, they went around a bend where a large red cross was installed on the side of the road with nothing else in sight. They shrugged it off as a creepy coincidence.
By then, they were kind of joking about and indulging in the spookiness, but around the next bend, a big truck came hurtling down the one-lane road— aimed straight at them. Luckily Jane’s impulse was to swerve a little to the side, otherwise, it probably would have resulted in a head-on collision. Her friend tried to get his license plate number but he sped off.
While writing her story, Hadley decided to look it up. She retraced their route and found the little road—it was indeed named Purgatory, and though they didn't notice it at the time, Google Maps revealed that Purgatory Road was situated next to an old graveyard. *Gulp*
She researched it further and discovered that two teen girls had died there in August of 2011 in an accident on their way to visit the grave of Rhode Island's infamous "vampire," Mercy Brown, who died in 1892. Apparently, they decided to go for a drive down this "dark, windy road" because they thought it looked "haunted."
#Robbed At Gunpoint
A young Australian couple have been kidnapped, robbed and assaulted in the middle of the night while backpacking through the Central American jungle. They were on a shuttle bus in Guatemala when armed bandits took control of their vehicle. They commandeered their shuttle and jumped into the back. When the shuttle bus finally stopped, three men dragged all the tourists out, tied them up with their own shoelaces and robbed them at gunpoint.
Having your items stolen only worsens the problem as on top of losing your possessions, you also lose trust in your surroundings. Being robbed at gunpoint, on the other hand, is a whole different beast and it’s something!
# Honeymoon Horror
Wisconsin couple Heidi and Corey Sorrem went to a Mexican resort to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. On Megyn Kelly TODAY, they describe how what was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip turned into a harrowing brush with death.
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Despite all these mishaps travelling the world, it’s best to remember that the odds of these horrible experiences happening to you are fairly slim. You shouldn’t let them put you off future adventures, instead learn from them. Having contingencies in place will go a long way in giving you peace of mind as you experience the amazing things the world has to offer! Curious about how to travel the world? Click the link below!