for National Geographic News
Halloween is the perfect time for hair-raising adventures away from home. Here, Traveler Editor in Chief Keith Bellows offers his take on five of the world's scariest experiences.
What do you mean by "scary experiences," and what, in your opinion, are the worst ones?
We're talking about places or experiences that are scary for the sake of fun. So they're not meant to be dangerous or life threatening. Here are my picks:
Touring Haunted New Orleans—New Orleans is a spooky town, with a lot of atmosphere, so now is the time to go. There's a Cemetery/Voodoo Tour, which takes you to the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 to see the grave of Marie Laveau, a famous priestess and folk hero. You also visit a monastery that's supposedly haunted, and tour the French Quarter.
This area was the crossroads for pirates, criminals, and cutthroats, and all of New Orleans' ghosts supposedly inhabit it. Haunted New Orleans has something for everyone. You can still explore the world of voodoo here. If you want to fall in love, for example, you can go and speak with a priestess, and buy all the relics and potions. Last July, we explored a modern-day voodoo shop in an old section of the city that had chalked voodoo symbols on the floor, ready for the next ceremony.
Bungee Jumping off the Victoria River Bridge in Zambia—The Victoria River Bridge is a wonderful little railway bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe. You can plunge more than 300 feet [91 meters] over the river, and Victoria Falls, which is twice as deep and wide as Niagara Falls, is right behind you. Some 50,000 people have made the jump, and so far no one has been killed. You must be at least 14 to make the jump.
On the banks of the river, you'll see baboons. The Zambezi River, which runs underneath the bridge, offers some of the scariest white-water rafting on Earth, with hippos hurling from the riverbanks toward your boat. If you want to relax, check out the nearby Victoria Falls Hotel, if just for tea overlooking the distant falls. My parents, who lived in the Congo, stayed there in the 1950s and, in style, it hasn't changed much since then.
Riding Hair-Raising Roller Coasters—My first pick is the Superman the Escape roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Los Angeles. At 415 feet [126 meters] high, it's the world's tallest roller coaster and travels at speeds up to 100 miles [160 kilometers] an hour. My other pick is the 8,000-feet-long [2,438-meters-long] Steel Dragon in Nagashima Spaland, Japan. It's the world's longest roller coaster and it goes about 95 miles [153 kilometers] an hour.
Rafting through Hell's Gate on the Fraser River in British Columbia—Hell's Gate extends about 900 miles [1,448 kilometers] through a very wild area of British Columbia. The gorge is only 135 feet [41 meters] wide. In some places, the water is as deep as 165 feet [50 meters] and the current is so powerful that salmon can't swim against it. So this is a hair-raising trip. It's called Hell's Gate because many members of explorer Simon Fraser's crew died on the river back in the early 1800s. I've done the trip, and you don't need to be an advanced rafter. But you definitely need a good guide. This isn't your garden variety, warm-up river trip.
Biking the Haleakala Volcano in Hawaii—At sunrise, you're dropped off at about 6,500 feet [1,981 meters] up the volcano. Then you ride your bike straight down for 38 miles [61 kilometers]. You really only have to pedal for about two minutes. It's not dangerous, just breathtaking. And it's a gentle scary experience as opposed to a hardcore scary experience like rafting Hell's Gate.
Are there any special cultural and historical discoveries you think people might enjoy when traveling at this time of the year?
Yes. Every culture celebrates Halloween differently, and if you're curious you should make the trip. If you look at the pagan, druid rituals in England, for example, they have evolved to become tidy and safe, but they're still very British. America has a safe and commercial way of celebrating Halloween. Trying alternative experiences provides an opportunity to learn about new cultures.
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