Colombia harbors a mesmerizing array of haunted haciendas, spectral hotels, and even high-altitude corridors renowned for UFO sightings. These locations, seemingly frozen in time yet steeped in legend, offer an enchanting blend of history, mystery, and the paranormal for those drawn to the weird and unexplained.
“Bandidos” in La Candelaria
In Bogotá’s historic La Candelaria neighborhood, the infamous Casa del Bandido Russi endures. Dating back to 1851, this house recalls the days when defense attorney-turned-criminal José Raimundo Russi roamed its streets. Arrested and hanged for his alleged involvement in a violent crime, Russi’s spirit is said to linger still. Locals report sightings of his spectral figure haunting the empty halls of his former home on Carrera 2 and Calle 11 – a relic locked away since the 1950s, resisting the district’s transformation into cafés and shops.
Nearby stands the house of José María Cordóvez, the 19th-century author of Reminiscences of Bogotá. Cordóvez chronicled a city brimming with spirits, writing of bodies entombed within colonial walls. His family, it is said, shared their home with spectral presences: pots clanged in the kitchen, and a ghostly man would appear each night, seated in the living room, smoking a cigar after filling the house with a bone-chilling scream. With its rich paranormal past, Casa Cordóvez remains one of Bogotá’s most mysterious sites.
Cementerio Central
Bogotá’s Cementerio Central, established in 1836, has long been a realm of ghostly presences. Among its apparitions, the most infamous is a figure cloaked in white, appearing near the main gates around 1:30 in the morning. But then again, do not under any circumstances, hang around the cementery after nightfall even if the caretakers report strange sounds from a metal stairwell leading to a crypt of unmarked graves. Steeped in haunted history, Cementerio Central offers an authentically eerie experience for those with a taste for the macabre.
Colombia’s “Roswell Triangle”
The town of Nobsa in Boyacá attracts curiosity-seekers with its extraterrestrial allure. The nearby Cruz de Aranda mountain is reputed for regular UFO activity, drawing both believers and skeptics hoping for an encounter. Nobsa promotes hiking trips to Cerro Cruz de Aranda, adding to the town’s growing tourism portfolio. The expansive Tatacoa Desert in Huila, celebrated for its unearthly landscapes, is another premier site for UFO observation and a research haven for paleontologists exploring its arid terrain. Alongside Tocaima in Cundinamarca – where residents report bright lights at night – these three destinations form Colombia’s “Roswell Triangle.”
Haunted Haciendas and Homes
Nestled among the tall grass and weeping willows of the Tibasosa valley, the Hacienda Suescún captivates visitors with its Republican-era heritage, famously hosting Simón Bolívar himself before his independence forces clashed at the Battle of Vargas Swamp. A highly coveted destination for honeymooners and well-heeled guests, some of its blue-chip visitors have recounted nights shattered by the crash of wooden shutters, the scrape of a sword along the walls, and the angry clink of chains echoing down the main corridor. Encircled by the stillness of Boyacá’s self-effacing hospitality, Hacienda Suescún remains a haunting vestige of Colombia’s colonial past.
Bogotá’s Hotel Dorantes is a grand mansion-turned-hotel reminiscent of New York’s fabled Chelsea Hotel. Transformed in the 1960s to rival the city’s upscale Continental, it now serves as a modest boarding house. Yet, amid its faded grandeur, tales persist of a spectral woman drifting along its creaky wooden staircase, rapping at guests’ doors, and keeping Hotel Dorantes ever present in the capital’s folklore and shadow of an opulent era gone by.
The Castillo La Alboraya in Barranquilla bears a particularly sinister legend. Built in 1626, this crumbling fortress is said to have housed a mestizo named Rendón, rumored to have made a pact with the devil. Rendón, mounted on a blood-smeared black stallion, reportedly threatened anyone daring to approach his land. Later, the castle was purchased by a Spaniard named Miguel Borrás, who, according to lore, imprisoned young men in its subterranean tunnels. Today, residents still claim to hear a phantom horse galloping in the dead of night, adding to the site’s chilling allure.
Hospital San Juan de Dios
Bogotá’s San Juan de Dios Hospital, founded in 1564, stands as a haunting reminder of Colombia’s medical history, marked by both its grandeur and decay. Once a beacon of care for the underprivileged, this institution has become a shadow of its former self, its crumbling structures echoing the stories of countless patients who once sought solace within its walls.
The hospital’s architectural style, a captivating blend of colonial and neoclassical designs, now suffers under layers of neglect. The once-vibrant corridors are cloaked in silence, and remnants of its illustrious past are interspersed with crumbling plaster and overgrown vegetation. Wandering the grounds evokes an unsettling sense of eeriness; whispers of the past seem to linger in the air, as if the spirits of former patients and staff still traverse the dilapidated hallways. On one of the walls inside the abandoned mental health facility, reads a message next to a cross: “No Vuelvan” – “Don’t come back”.
Colombia’s many haunted locations offer a glimpse into a labyrinthine past, where the living and spectral coexist, inviting travelers to explore the spine-chilling undercurrents of a land where history and the otherworldly will remain forever entwined.
