Fright of fancy: Chilling airport ghost sightings around the world

Is there anything scarier than missing a flight, losing your checked-in baggage, or an uncomfortable overnight stay at the airport? To a traveler, these may sound like horror stories, but we can guarantee that there are far more terrifying experiences to be had. 

When you think about it, airports are portals, gateways for people, and different energies are constantly coming and going. So, it’s hardly surprising that airports are often a likely venue for supernatural experiences.

And with Halloween just around the corner, we’re rounding up a list of airports all over the world that are famed for spooky, trip-or-treat experiences.  

Airport:  Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport (SAV) 

Background:

Savannah Hilton Head International Airport is a commercial and military-use airport in Savannah, Georgia, United States. During World War II, the United States military saw the need to expand its facilities. The US government leased 1,100 acres of land, and this is now SAV. 

Shortly after the lease, the government began to obtain additional acreage to further increase its size. One of the pieces of land that was acquired had been used as a private family cemetery, which contained more than 100 graves.

After the Dotson’s great-grand children negotiated with the government, they were able to relocate most of the graves to a different cemetery. Only four graves are left at the airport. The original owners of the land, Richard and Catherine Dotson, along with two beloved relatives, Daniel Hueston and John Dotson.

To this day, the four graves remain next to the airport’s most active runway. You can read the official history behind this (and even see a photo of the actual graves) from the Savannah Hilton Head Airport website. 

Sightings:

Pilots and airport staff who work at Savannah Hilton Head Airport often talk about a common sighting. Word has it that if you land shortly after sunset, two figures will sometimes appear along the northside of the runway. 

image source: Komarova Julia / Shutterstock.com

Many believe they are the ghosts of Richard and Catherine Dotson. However, they seem to be good-natured ghosts as, apart from the two figures occasionally appearing, nothing untoward has really happened. 

We’d like to think that Richard and Catherine Dotson are just giving the planes a warm welcome and that they might have even become aviation geeks. .  

Airport: Suvarnabhumi Airport / Bangkok International Airport (BKK)

Background:

Thailand is not just known as the land of smiles. To many, it is also the land of ghosts. Belief in ghosts and the supernatural are a big part of Thai culture. 

Generally, Thais believe that ghosts inhabit certain trees, cemeteries, shrines and abandoned spaces. 

If you happen to be in Thailand, you don’t need to search far and wide for spirits as it seems that the Thai capital’s airport, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK) is one of the most haunted places in Bangkok.

BKK is actually not that old. It opened in 2006 when it replaced the old capital airport, Don Muang Airport (DMK). However, BKK was built on marshland that was drained in order to make way for construction. 

As it happens, part of the area that BKK was built upon was an ancient cemetery. As soon as construction began, workers started to report things that were out of the ordinary. Some even said that, out of nowhere, they suddenly heard screams, chanting and wailing. Others reported hearing Thai classical music played randomly. 

This caused great distress among the workers, with some of them reportedly quitting on the spot. 

Many Thai religious officials believed that the construction of the airport angered the spirits whose bodies were buried in the ancient cemetery beneath the airport. 

Nevertheless, the airport was completed and, in 2006, it was officially opened. But not before a nine-week ‘exorcism rite’ took place, which involved 99 Buddhist monks.

Sightings:

There are way too many reported ghost sightings in BKK to enumerate one by one. However, the most popular ghost to haunt the terminals of BKK is ‘Poo Ming’, who made an appearance during the exorcism rite. He managed to ‘enter’ a baggage porter’s body and introduced himself as the caretaker of the ancient cemetery. 

Poo Ming is so well-known in BKK that he is referred to as the ‘Blue Man’ because those who have claimed to see him have all described him as walking with a cane and having a blue complexion. 

And then there’s the so-called ‘Haunted Honda’. A deserted Honda has been left in the parking space of BKK airport for years. Now covered in dust, the car remains unmoved, and people offer flowers and other sacred items to the ghost driver. Rumor has it that the man who rented the car died in a crash, and will not leave the Honda alone. 

BKK airport is so infamously rife with ghost sightings, ghost enthusiasts have already created forums dedicated to their respective experiences at the airport. Just be discerning of other tales, like this supposed ‘ghost passengers’ sighting, which later turned out to be just a glass reflection illusion.

Airport: Daniel K Inouye International Airport (HNL) – Honolulu, Hawaii

Background:

Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport opened in 1927. Because it has lived through World War II, we assumed that there would be tales of wartime pilot ghosts. But the spooks of HNL airport turned out to be the haunting pain of a broken heart.

Legend dictates that a woman once fell deeply in love with a man who promised to marry her. The man boarded an international flight and never returned. The lady was so heartbroken that she took her own life.

Sightings:

The ghost of the heartbroken lady is now such a common sight in HNL, she has been dubbed as the ‘lady-in-waiting’.

Ray Duropan, a police officer who served 17 years at the Honolulu Police Department was assigned to HNL for two years in the 1990s. Duropan reported to local media that he would receive numerous calls about a blonde lady at a gate, looking out the window on the runway, as though waiting for an arrival.