Food, Folklore, and Fog: 5 Eerie Villages with Haunted Histories and Unusual Traditions

While busy cities and famous landmarks fill most travel itineraries, it’s often in the quiet, tucked-away villages that the strangest stories and richest traditions are found. From spooky sounds on misty roads to festivals that honor spirits, certain villages bridge the world of the living and the dead. These are places where legends are very much alive, where the cuisine can be as spiritual as it is satisfying, and where the fog seems to hold ancient secrets.

Join us on a tour of five spooky villages filled with haunted pasts, quirky customs, and soul-stirring cuisine.

Key Takeaways

• Pluckley, England is known as Britain’s most haunted village, with over a dozen ghost sightings and a pub serving haunted tales alongside classic English dishes.

• Hoia Baciu Forest Village, Romania borders the world’s most haunted forest and celebrates spirit festivals with cabbage rolls and fear-fighting plum brandy.

• Villages near Aokigahara, Japan honor restless spirits with Obon lantern festivals and sacred food offerings like grilled fish and mochi.

• Trunyan Village, Bali practices open-air burials beneath a mystical tree, with spiritual feasts to nourish departed souls.

• Borgvattnet, Sweden houses a haunted vicarage where brave visitors can stay overnight and dine on reindeer stew and berry pie.

• Each village preserves unique death rituals, folklore, and culinary traditions, offering eerie yet meaningful cultural experiences.

1. Pluckley, England – Britain’s Most Haunted Village

• Where: Kent, United Kingdom

• Famous For: More than 12 recorded ghosts, foggy moors, and chilling tales.

The sleepy village of Pluckley is steeped in folklore and eerie tales. Often called Britain’s most haunted village, it’s home to spirits such as the Red Lady, who wanders the graveyard, and the Screaming Man, heard in the old brickworks. With fog often rolling across the fields and dim streetlamps throwing long shadows, the ambiance is enough to put anyone's imagination on high alert.

Traditions & Food: Locals hold an annual ghost walk, and visitors can dine at The Black Horse Inn, an old pub believed to have several resident spirits (both liquid and ghostly). Here, you can enjoy classic English fare like steak and ale pie while soaking up chilling stories from the bartender.

2. Hoia Baciu Forest Village, Romania — Transylvania’s Bermuda Triangle

• Where: Near Cluj-Napoca, Romania

• Known For: Paranormal activity, otherworldly woodlands, and chilling folk tales.

Located near the Hoia Baciu Forest, this small Romanian settlement is the gateway to what is widely called the world’s most haunted forest. Reports of UFOs, floating spheres, and unexplained vanishings have drawn paranormal fans here for decades. The village itself is quiet, but it holds its own ancient legends of witchcraft, curses, and sacred rites.

Traditions & Food: Villages on the outskirts of the forest celebrate Sânziene, a Midsummer festival with floral crowns and songs meant to call on spirits. They serve traditional dishes such as sarmale (cabbage rolls) and mămăligă (cornmeal porridge), often accompanied by homemade plum brandy called țuică—a local remedy for fear, they say.

3. Villages on the Fringe of Aokigahara, Japan – Shadows Beneath Mount Fuji

• Where: Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan

• Famous For: Aokigahara Forest (the “Suicide Forest”) and ancient spirit traditions.

On the edge of the notorious Aokigahara Forest, you’ll find quiet, misty villages that are as beautiful as they are disconcerting. Known for centuries as a place of yūrei (restless spirits), the forest and its nearby regions have long been associated with death and the supernatural.

Traditions & Food: These villages celebrate Obon, a festival for the dead where lanterns are used to guide spirits back home. Locals place offerings of grilled fish, pickled vegetables, and mochi at family altars. These meals are believed to appease the yūrei and safeguard the living.

4. Trunyan Village, Bali – The Island of the Dead

• Where: East Bali, Indonesia

• Famous For: Open-air burial customs and ancient Balinese funeral practices.

Trunyan, which sits near Lake Batur, is unlike any other village on Bali. Instead of cremating their dead, Trunyan villagers place corpses in bamboo cages under a sacred tree that is said to absorb the smell of decay. This eerie, centuries-old tradition is believed to keep the peace between the physical and spiritual worlds.

Traditions & Food: The village practices a soul-releasing ritual known as Ngaben. Food served at these ceremonies includes babi guling (roast pig), rice cakes, and an array of spiced vegetables—meals the living believe will nourish the spirits of the deceased on their journey.

5. Borgvattnet, Sweden — The Haunted Vicarage

• Where: Jämtland County, Sweden

• Known For: The haunted Old Vicarage, Sweden’s most famous ghost house.

This remote Swedish village, cloaked in mist for much of the year, is home to an especially eerie attraction. Built in 1876, the Old Vicarage is renowned for its ghostly activity. Former residents have described rocking chairs moving on their own, disembodied footsteps, and sudden drops in temperature.

Traditions & Food: The truly brave can spend the night in the vicarage (a certificate is awarded to those who last till morning). Local food provides a comforting counterpoint to the haunting ambiance, with dishes like reindeer stew, smoked salmon, and lingonberry pie. On All Saints’ Day, villagers place candles on graves and gather to share stories of both the living and the dead.

What Makes These Villages So Enchanting—and Unnerving

These villages share more than just haunted tales; they protect profound cultural traditions that view death, spirits, and the unseen realm not with fear, but with reverence. Their food reflects their history, their fog conceals their secrets, and their festivals connect the living with the dead. In these places, folklore is not just remembered—it is lived.

Conclusion: Into the Fog, Into the Unknown

These eerie villages hold a fascination unlike any other. They are cultural time capsules that demonstrate how myth and reality can twist together. Whether it’s a haunted pub in England, an open-air burial site in Bali, or a fog-draped forest in Romania, each place invites you to step beyond the everyday and see the world through a lens of myth, ritual, and hushed wonder.

For the curious traveler, these villages deliver more than just chills—they deliver a connection to ancient customs, local communities, and perhaps even to something beyond this world. So next time the travel bug bites, consider avoiding the busy cities and following the fog. You might just find stories that never die.