{
  "id": 17045159,
  "title": "Spooky Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Halloween 2026",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/spooky-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder-halloween-2026",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-29T08:18:06.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "HackerNoon",
    "slug": "hackernoon",
    "url": "https://hackernoon.com/spooky-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder-halloween-2026?source=rss"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "What defines a place as spooky? Is it the structure itself, the tales people share about it, or merely how our minds fill in the missing pieces? Imagine walking through an abandoned hotel where children used to play during the summer – would you feel uneasy? Our colleagues were asked to share the places they find eerie, strange, or unforgettable. Their responses spanned from haunted Welsh castles to abandoned resorts in Turkey, Czech churches, and a cemetery in Vietnam. Six colleagues shared nine distinct places, each with its unique understanding of what makes a location frightening. Some had actually visited these locations, while others were still too scared to approach them. Often, the scariest aspect isn't what is seen, but what one imagines they're seeing.\n\nThe reputation of a location can set the tone for fear before even arriving. Craig y Nos Castle in Wales, once home to opera singer Adelina Patti, is one such place. The castle transformed into a tuberculosis sanatorium over the years, and ghost stories have emerged from its former nurses who claimed to see things moving up and down staircases without anyone being there. The former children's ward reportedly echoed with footsteps, laughter, and bouncing balls. Patti's legend is also tied to the castle, as she is known as the \"White Lady\" who haunts the halls. For many, like Social Discovery Group's Deputy Head of Customer Success Team Leah Thomas, the most terrifying part is imagining ordinary noises that can't be explained. Leah's fear was further fueled after watching a horror film, causing her to become convinced that a moth in her bedroom might be connected to an alien abduction. Thomas isn't alone in her haunted experiences. Anastasia Bocharova, HR Business Partner at Social Discovery Group, has to choose her top three haunted places in the Czech Republic, none of which she has visited yet. The Baroque Kuks Hospice in eastern Bohemia, decorated with statues of Virtues and Vices, is one such location with a long history of ghost legends. Another is the Svojanov Castle, known for creaking doors and ghost hunters who spend the night there. The abandoned Velichovský Hospice, where patients with mental illnesses were cared for once, also holds a deep sense of unease for Bocharova.",
  "summary": "What makes a place spooky? Our colleagues share haunted castles, abandoned resorts and bone chapels from Wales to Vietnam. Would you dare to visit them?",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}