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    National Paranormal Archive

    Haunted Places in Turkmenistan

    Cataloging 10 documented supernatural hotspots across Turkmenistan. Examine verified accounts, historical eras, and intensity scores.

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    10 spectral locations cataloged

    Fortress / Castle
    4/5

    Abiward Ancient Fortress City

    KakaTurkmenistanSasanian Empire / 10th Century CE

    Abiward (Abiwerd or Abiverd, known locally as Pestak Mound) was a major ancient and medieval Silk Road fortress city situated in the fertile foothill plain of the Kopet Dag mountains near modern Kaka. Established during the Sasanian Persian Empire as a vital frontier fortress guarding northern Khorasan against nomadic invasions, Abiward evolved under Islamic rule into a prosperous trade and manufacturing hub famous for its ceramic kilns, copper mints, and grand bazaar. The city suffered severe damage during the 13th-century Mongol invasions, recovered briefly under the Timurids, but was finally abandoned in the 18th century following devastating plague outbreaks and tribal wars. Today, the isolated 12-meter-high earthen citadel and surrounding mud-brick ruins are renowned for disembodied footsteps, phantom merchant calls, and spectral shadows wandering through ruined archways.

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    Historic Site
    5/5

    Ancient Merv Archaeological Reserve

    MaryTurkmenistan3rd Millennium BCE / 12th Century CE

    Ancient Merv was once one of the greatest metropolises of the ancient world and a premier hub along the Silk Road, serving as the jewel of Persia, the Parthian Empire, and the Seljuk Empire. At its peak in the 12th century, Merv was the world's largest city with over 500,000 residents, renowned for its immense libraries, soaring palaces, and turquoise-tiled mausoleums. However, in 1221 CE, disaster struck when the armies of Genghis Khan, led by his son Tolui, besieged the city. Following Merv's surrender, the Mongols carried out one of the most devastating massacres in human history, slaughtering an estimated 700,000 to 1,000,000 inhabitants over thirteen days. Today, the vast 1,200-hectare park of abandoned mud-brick citadels (Erk Kala, Gyaur Kala, Sultan Kala, and Kyz Kala) is known as one of Central Asia's most haunted landscapes, where visitors encounter phantom armies marching through desert dust, disembodied weeping of ancient victims, and cold ghostly winds sweeping through ruined palaces.

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    Natural Feature
    5/5

    Darvaza Gas Crater (Door to Hell)

    DerwezeTurkmenistan1971 CE

    The Darvaza Gas Crater, famously known across the globe as the 'Door to Hell' or 'Gates of Hell' (officially named 'Shining of Karakum'), is a fiery 70-meter-wide crater roaring continuously in the middle of Turkmenistan's Karakum Desert. Created in 1971 when a Soviet oil drilling rig collapsed into an enormous subterranean natural gas cavern, engineers set the escaping methane ablaze expecting it to burn off within weeks. Instead, the inferno has burned continuously for over five decades, illuminating the vast desert sky with a blazing orange underworld light. Local Turkmen nomads and desert travelers consider the abyss cursed, reporting sulfurous winds, disembodied screeches echoing from the fiery depths, ghostly silhouettes drifting along the fiery perimeter, and an overpowering feeling of unnatural dread.

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    Historic Site
    4/5

    Dehistan (Mishrian) Ancient Ruins

    Etrek / MadauTurkmenistan3rd Century BCE / 12th Century CE

    Dehistan (also known as Mishrian or Mashhad-i Misrian) is the most isolated and atmospheric ancient ghost city in western Turkmenistan, located in the arid Misrian Plain near the Caspian Sea border. Founded in the 3rd century BCE by the ancient Dahae tribes and flourishing as a major Islamic Silk Road metropolis under the Khwarazmshah dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries, Dehistan was renowned for its sophisticated brick architecture, monumental city gates, and advanced subterranean irrigation canals ('qanats') that turned the desert plain into a fertile green oasis. The city was abandoned suddenly in the 14th century when environmental degradation, shifting rivers, and Mongol raids destroyed its water systems, leaving towering brick minarets standing alone in a vast desert wasteland. Local nomads revere Dehistan as a haunted ghost city where phantom caravan bells chime across the dunes, spectral lanterns flicker in ruined mausoleums, and shadow guardians patrol the ancient city gates.

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    Fortress / Castle
    4/5

    Devkesen Fortress (Citadel of Demons)

    Köneürgenç DistrictTurkmenistan4th Century BCE / 14th Century CE

    Perched dramatically on the precipitous edge of a 30-meter-high cliff along the Ustyurt Plateau, Devkesen Fortress ('Döwkesen', meaning 'Carved by Demons' or 'Built by Giants' in Turkmen) is one of the most visually striking and isolated ancient ruins in Central Asia. Settled around the 4th century BCE as an antique Khwarazmian border stronghold and later evolving into the medieval city of Vazir, Devkesen features high stone and baked-brick fortification walls, corner towers, three grand mausoleums, and a ruined inner citadel. Abandoned in the late 16th century when the Amu Darya river shifted its course away from the Ustyurt escarpment, the desolate, wind-swept fortress is feared by desert travelers and local nomads who believe it was constructed by mythical demonic giants ('Devs') and remains haunted by giant shadow guardians, phantom nocturnal fires, and disembodied voices.

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    Fortress / Castle
    5/5

    Geok Tepe Fortress

    GökdepeTurkmenistan1881 CE

    Geok Tepe Fortress (Gökdepe, meaning 'Blue Hill') was a formidable mud-brick walled stronghold in southern Turkmenistan that became the tragic setting for one of the most violent military engagements in Central Asian history: the Siege and Battle of Geok Tepe (1880–1881). In December 1880, Russian imperial forces under General Mikhail Skobelev besieged 25,000 Teke Turkmen defenders, families, and horses enclosed within massive earthwork ramparts. On January 24, 1881, Russian sappers detonated a massive subterranean gunpowder mine that breached the fortress wall, unleashing a brutal storm of artillery and bayonet charges. Over 15,000 Turkmen soldiers and civilians perished during the breach and subsequent cavalry pursuit across the desert plain. Today, the battlefield reserve—dominated by the grand Saparmurat Hajji Mosque—is widely regarded as Turkmenistan's most haunted battlefield, plagued by phantom gunfire, soldier apparitions, weeping women shadows, and disembodied war cries.

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