Headless Phantoms of the Diplomat Hotel - Baguio City, Philippines

In May of 1915, Dominican priests began construction began on a seminary that sat on top of Dominican Hill in Baguio City in the Philippine Islands.  A couple of years after the seminary, Collegio del Santissimo Rosario opened, it was shutdown and became a retreat that doubled as a sanitarium.  However, a drastic turn of events during World War II would make this building one of the most haunted places in the Philippines.

The Diplomat Hotel on Dominican Hill in Baguio City in The Philippines is thought to be haunted by victims massacred during World War II

When the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1941 during the second world war, many residents used the sanctum of the retreat as a place to shelter.  However, the Japanese showed no mercy and attacked the former seminary full force, causing major damage to the structure.  The priests and staff who ran he retreat as well as many residents were killed by the invading soldiers, many of them who did not die in the initial attack were beheaded.

Groover's Ghost of Richmond Bridge - Tasmania, Australia

In the village of Richmond in Tasmania, Australia, a bridge traverses the Coal River along the B31 or what was formerly known as 'convict trail' which served as a main transport route of work gangs from the penal colony of Port Arthur to the growing Hobart Town.  The bridge is said to be haunted by a former convict overseer and and a dog.

Richmond Bridge in Tasmania, Australia is said to be haunted by the ghost of George 'Simeon' Groover and a spectral dog

George 'Simeon' Groover started out his life in Tasmania as one of it's convict residents.  He was sent there for stealing and served out his term, then managed to get a job as a convict overseer around 1829.  He was also given the dubious job of flogging the prisoners when they got out of line. It was said that he became very brutally good at it, torturing many prisoners in his time as overseer.

Built in 1925 by convict labor, what was then known as Bigge's Bridge served as an easy way to traverse the river at Richmond.  One day in 1832, this bridge was the scene of a tragic end for George Groover.  The gang of convicts he was overseeing, took advantage of Groover's drunken state and took out their vengeance on him right there at the bridge and then threw him over the side into the river.

Haunted Richmond Bridge still stands today as one of the oldest bridges of its kind still in use in Australia

Over the years many passing over the bridge have witnessed the specter of a man pacing back and forth across the bridge.  It is believed that this is the ghost of George Groover.  Strangely enough, a phantom black dog has also appeared on the bridge.  Many claim that it appears and then just as suddenly, disappears without a trace. Groover's Dog as it has come to be known, usually manifests itself in the evenings and presents itself only to women and children.  There has also been sightings of a man in a straw hat appearing to be wearing convict attire, strolling across the bridge on occasion.  This is believed to be a prisoner that grew weary of the brutal conditions and threw himself over the side of the bridge while crossing one day.

Richmond Bridge still stands today as one of the oldest bridges of its kind still in use in Australia.  So if you are ever traveling on the B31, keep an eye out for phantoms of the past as you are passing over the haunted bridge at Richmond.

Island of the Dolls (La Isla De Las Muñecas) near Mexico City, Mexico

South of Mexico City, Mexico there lies a series of waterways called the Xochimilco canals that tourists navigate by boat or what the locals call the trajinera.  However, the trajinera pilots will avoid going near a particular island in the canals, the Island of the Dolls which is said to be very haunted.

Island of the Dolls (La Isla De Las Muñecas) near Mexico City, Mexico

La Isla De Las Muñecas or Island of the Dolls, gets it's name from an event that happened back in the 1950s or 60s.  A little girl accidentally drowned in these canals.  A hermit type man named Don Julián Santana Barrera lived on an island which was close to where the little girl died.  It is said that the next day Don Julián was fishing and pulled a small doll out of the water near the spot where the girl perished.  Then he found another, then another, and another.  He kept finding dolls in the canal after the tragic death of the little girl, so he believed that this was the spirit of the girl manifesting itself in the form of dolls.  He would take each doll and hang it on a tree and formed sort of a shrine to act as guardians of the island.

Entrance to the hut of Don Julián Santana Barrera on  Island of the Dolls (La Isla De Las Muñecas) near Mexico City, Mexico

Some years later, either driven mad by the haunting of the dead girl, or as some say he was actually killed by the doll spirits in some strange way.  Regardless of how he met his end, his body was found in the same spot in the canal as the little girl was.  However, they say that the spirit of Don Julián Santana Barrera now roams the island as well.

Xochimilco canals near Mexico City, Mexico

Trajinera on the Xochimilco canals near Mexico City, Mexico

Even today as visitors glide by the island by trajinera or those brave enough to hire a willing boat to take them there, have witnessed the dolls still eerily hanging in the trees of the island which has become known as Island of the Dolls, a sort of bizarre macabre art exhibit.  The dolls and the spirits within them are the only inhabitants of the island today except for a curator of sorts who is a family member of Don Julián.  Many visitors believe that they have seen them move after the sun goes down.