Favorite Haunts

The U.S. Department of Commerce in the 1960s  designated The Whaley House in San Diego as an official Haunted House due to frequently heard heavy footsteps of the ghost of "Yankee Jim" Robinson, who was hung on the property in 1852 before the house was built. Other ghostly sightings include owners Thomas and Anna Whaley (Anna was reportedly seen by Regis Philbin), and even the family dog. Across the pond, Russia has it's own share of hauntings, the Kremlin for instance, the ghost of Ivan the Terrible with a burning face.

From Life Magazine Special - Strange But True: 100 of the World's Weirdest Wonders
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You might wonder whether the United States Department of Commerce doesn't have better things to do than authenticate haunted houses, but be that as it may: This agency of the U.S. government has indeed declared the Whaley House of San Diego to be officially haunted. This surprises few ghost hunters who know of the house's fearsome reputation; the Travel Channel has anointed this as one of the most terrifying places in America.

The site's creepiness predates the stately Greek Revival house itself, which was built where the city's public gallows once stood. One who met his end there was "Yankee" Jim Robinson. After the house was finished in 1857, its owner, Thomas Whaley, claimed to hear Robinson loudly walking through its rooms. Whaley and his wife, Anna, had three children, though (spoiler alert!) Thomas Jr. died in his upstairs bedroom at 18 months. 

 Some people today claim to spot Thomas Whaley, in his black frock coat, lurking on the second-floor landing. When others stand between the parlor and music room, they say they feel a choking sensation—an eerie mirror of those who perished on the gallows; from little Thomas's bedroom, cries issue; in the kitchen, a little blonde girl lives on, and pots and pans move of their own volition. So credits the Department of Commerce, an agency of these United States. 

If the most haunted house in the U.S. is a once-private residence on the West Coast, its counter-part in Russia is a very famous public building in the middle of Moscow. Lots of ghosts walk the halls of the Kremlin, most awful among them being that of the czar Ivan the Terrible, his face usually covered in flames. 

Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Russian Communist Party and the first head of the Soviet state also has made several appearances at the Kremlin. In fact, he was spotted there before he was even dead: In October of 1923, Lenin was critically ill in Gorky, but his ghost was seen digging through papers in his Kremlin office. In 1961, Lenin's ghost contacted the medium Darya Lazurkina to tell the Politburo he detested lying in state in the mausoleum right next to another former Soviet leader, the dictator Joseph Stalin. The next day, Stalin was gone—interred elsewhere on the grounds.

From Life Magazine Special - Strange But True: 100 of the World's Weirdest Wonders
Purchase here!