Set in the country’s north-eastern region of Warmia-Masuria, 14th century Reszel Castle could have been purposefully constructed with Halloween in mind. Looming over the small town below, this Teutonic redbrick fortress looks particularly chilling when seen through the soupy mists of autumn.

In 1807, a fire tore through much of the picturesque Old Town at the foot of the castle, and it didn’t take authorities long to pin the blame on a luckless maid called Barbara Zdunk.

Arrested for no better reason than being ‘strange,’ Zdunk spent the next four years imprisoned in the castle’s dungeon before becoming the last European to be torched for witchcraft. Now home to a spooky billiard room, the dungeon in which she was held is said to be visited by her spirit.

The castle’s bar is also home to creepy goings-on. Occupying a shadowy, vaulted chamber, the bar area is haunted by a local artist named Pan Franciszek. Those sitting on Franciszek’s favorite barstool speak of feeling cold spots form around them and being struck by sudden bursts of panic.

The Wolf’s Lair

Although little remains of Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair complex far in Poland’s north, walking amid the colossal wreckage of the shattered, tomb-like bunkers can feel sinister and foreboding. Of the few buildings that did survive Nazi attempts to obliterate the site of the Fuhrer’s HQ is a former guard barracks that now houses a hotel.

Some that have stayed have reported mysterious footsteps, shuffling papers, distant German voices and disturbing feelings of being watched. Subject to an investigation by the Ghosthunters International team, Room No. 7 is reportedly haunted by a ghostly female spy.

Książ Castle

For the ultimate Scooby Doo experience a visit to Książ in south-western Poland is not to be missed – specifically, their nocturnal, lantern-lit tours.

Known as ‘the Pearl of Silesia,’ the castle covers a striking range of styles such as Gothic, Baroque, and Rococo, and these look all the better when framed against a background of deep, dark woodland.

Once night falls, the scares set in. Eight hundred years of history have endowed the castle with a wealth of stories, and after-dark explorations can yield encounters with demonic jesters, wailing aristocrats, and headless thieves. Most famously, its corridors come stalked by Princess Daisy, an Englishwoman who spent much of the early 20th century living in the castle.

Recognized by the tattle magazines of the era as one of the most beautiful women in Europe, Daisy still wanders the castle searching for her six-meter pearl necklace.

Honeycombing the slab of rock on which the castle sits are several mysterious Nazi tunnels (the castle was once earmarked to serve as Hitler’s retreat), and these add to its ominous air.

Otwock ‘Zofiówka’ Sanatorium

The abandoned shell of the former ‘Zofiówka’ Jewish Psychiatric Hospital sits in the dense forests that ring Otwock, an attractive spa town on the south-eastern edge of Warsaw.

Founded in 1908 under the patronage of Zofia Endelman, a Jewish benefactor hailing from nearby Warsaw, the hospital specialized in alarming technologies such as electroshock therapy. It would earn notoriety, however, during the Holocaust.

Becoming the only Jewish mental health facility in Nazi-occupied Poland, it was liquidated in 1942 and its patients murdered on the grounds. Thereafter, it became a birthing center for Aryan children, as well as a ‘re-education camp’ for Polish infants deemed suitable for ‘Germanization.’

In peacetime, it had stints as a tuberculosis hospital, an asylum and a rehab center before falling into ruin. Unsurprisingly, its dripping corridors and dank chambers swirl with dark, residual energy. As a real place of genuine trauma, you don’t have to believe the stories of ghostly hanging nuns to feel ill at ease.

Ogrodzieniec Castle

History does not remember the 17th century aristocrat Stanisław Warszycki kindly. While stories abound of his gregarious hospitality and bravery in the face of the so-called Swedish Deluge, most tales revolve around his insatiable greed and general cruelty.

Said to have sold his soul to the devil to enable the construction of his castles, Warszycki is purported to have particularly enjoyed terrorizing local peasants as well as his numerous wives.

According to legend, Warszycki took great pleasure from publicly flogging these women before having them bricked up behind walls, and today this vile character is said to prowl the ruins of his pride and joy: Ogrodzieniec Castle.

This, though, is not an ordinary ghost. Taking the beastly form of a slavering black hound, Warszycki returns at night to keep an eye on his hoarded, hidden treasure.

Owińska Asylum

Owińska looks like it was pulled straight from a Christopher Lee horror film – opened in 1838 as a psychiatric asylum, today its neo-Gothic brick buildings brood over windswept fields filled with tangled vegetation.

Emptied of its patients as part of the Nazi T4 action to rid the world of ‘unworthy life.’ from 1952 until 1994 it served as a center for blind children.

Abandoned for the last couple of decades, Owińska’s grim history seems to hang heavy in the air. Attracting a steady stream of urban explorers and ghosthunters, many have reported unsettling noises, lights shining from inaccessible levels, menacing shrieks and sensations of deep sadness.

Found close to Poznań in central Poland, many of those that have visited Owińska rank it as Poland’s biggest scare.

Czocha Castle

Located a stone’s throw from the Czech border, 14th century Czocha is famed for its Harry Potter-style wizardry workshops. But something more menacing awaits those that choose to linger.

Guests of Czocha’s onsite hotel have reported strange phenomena such as televisions turning on by themselves and doors mysteriously locking. Yet others speak of coming face-to-face with hooded apparitions, hanging corpses, wandering soldiers and lost princesses.

These sightings are hardly a surprise given the presence of an ancient torture chamber and a ‘well of unfaithful wives.’ Source of the castle’s ghastliest and ghostliest stories, it was into this well that women were once thrown. Peering into its depths, one feels a chill down the spine.