Bucharest tops the world’s haunted cities in dark tourism
Timed with the approach of Halloween, BC.Game published an October 2026 study that evaluated 25 destinations famous for haunted histories and paranormal reputations. Researchers tallied ghost tours, haunted houses, and cemeteries open to visitors before assigning each city a Dark Tourism score on a scale of 1 to 100. Bucharest, Romania, secured first place with a perfect score of 100. The Romanian capital offers 84 ghost tours across the city, eight houses carrying haunted reputations, and 69 cemeteries, establishing it as the premier choice for a spooky autumn vacation.
Bucharest's cemeteries provide opportunities to visit the graves of prominent poets and playwrights such as Ion Luca Caragiale. One notable feature is the Poema Temple, an occult mausoleum that draws attention from those interested in mysterious sites. The city also contains eight houses known for hauntings together with an extended record of unsettling occurrences and reported ghost sightings that reinforce its standing among dark tourism locations.
Rome placed second in the BC.Game ranking. The Italian capital is renowned for ancient catacombs and maintains 266 cemeteries in total, both historic and contemporary. Tourists can locate the tombs of poets including John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Six haunted houses operate locally while 41 ghost tours are available throughout the millennia-old city.
New Orleans ranked third worldwide according to the study. The Louisiana city contains 82 cemeteries famous for their marble tombs arranged in configurations often described as cities of the dead. More than 50 ghost tours operate in the area, exceeding the number available in Rome. Thirteen haunted houses stand alongside voodoo grounds that attract visitors seeking intense paranormal encounters.
Venice earned fourth position in the BC.Game assessment. The Italian city holds over 50 cemeteries, with Isola di San Michele serving as the most prominent example. Nearly 30 ghost tours guide visitors along streets and canals. Twenty-four haunted houses, many constructed during the Renaissance, provide additional attractions for guided exploration.
Bran, Romania, finished fifth in the ranking. The Transylvanian location offers 103 haunted tours, a total exceeding the combined offerings of Rome and New Orleans. Bran Castle is central to local vampire folklore and is widely regarded as the historic home of Dracula. Three cemeteries in the area contain rich histories and associated ghost stories that complement the tours.
The study presented the following comparison of the top 10 dark tourism capitals using the listed metrics: City, State, Haunted & Ghost Tours, Number Of Haunted Houses, Number Of Cemeteries. Bucharest, Romania: 84, 8, 69. Rome, Italy: 41, 6, 266. New Orleans, Louisiana: 55, 13, 82. Venice, Italy: 29, 24, 55. Bran, Romania: 103, 1, 3. Charleston, South Carolina: 55, 4, 118. Savannah, Georgia: 70, 2, 63. Nashville, Tennessee: 16, 6, 218. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 10, 4, 262. Houston, Texas: 35, 4, 129.
The CEO of BC.Games addressed the findings with these remarks: “New Orleans invented the modern ghost tour industry. The city began formalising spooky walking tour routes in the 1990s, when Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles had made the city's Gothic reputation global. And now, the industry earns an estimated $20 million annually from supernatural tourism alone. The model guided evening walking tours, cemetery access, and voodoo-adjacent attractions became the template for many cities, from Bucharest to Edinburgh.”
The BC.Game methodology involved comparing 25 destinations according to the number of ghost tours, haunted houses, and cemeteries accessible for public viewing. Final Dark Tourism scores ranged from 1 to 100 and reflected the extent to which each location has developed a reputation as a capital of spooky events.
