33 Places Famous for Scandals

Death, money, sex—it's all here.

by Molly McBride Jacobson

33 Places

Some places are famous for their unusual architecture or special landscape features. Other places become well known not because the place itself is necessarily special, but because of what happened there. The events that brand a place for life are usually not good. Murder, corruption, sex, and espionage leave a reputation that’s hard to shake.

These places have decided to lean into their scandalous history rather than covering it up. In these houses, parks, and restaurants, you can bask in the weighty history of the illicit activity that occurred there.

Fall River, Massachusetts

Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast and Museum

You can spend a night in the house where Lizzie Borden murdered her parents with an axe.

bboas

Arlington, Virginia

Deep Throat Parking Garage

Parking garage where Bob Woodward met Watergate source "Deep Throat."

Wamego LSD Missile Silo

All of the 1990s' LSD is believed to have been produced in this former missile silo.

Added by DoctorMoog42

Villisca Axe Murder House

A series of murders transformed this simple home into a morbid tourist trap.

Taco Time Salsa Bar

An unassuming Tex-Mex restaurant was the site of the United States' largest act of bioterrorism.

Dylan

Vienna, Virginia

Foxstone Park Bridge

A double agent hid information for the Soviet Union beneath this bridge for more than 20 years.

WhiskeyBristles

Added by WhiskeyBristles

Guanajuato, Mexico

House of Laments

Kitschy horror displays now fill the house where some very real serial killing took place.

kaila

London, England

The Ten Bells Pub

Mary Kelly was last seen here before she was murdered by Jack the Ripper.

Added by allisonmarach

Los Angeles, California

Los Feliz Murder Mansion

Left untouched since a double murder-suicide in the 1960s, the mansion remains a neighborhood mystery.

anhie

Aleister Crowley's Abbey of Thelema

The famous occultist taught magick in this "Chamber of Nightmares" until one of his students died.

Dylan

Waidhofen, Germany

Hinterkaifeck Memorial

A marker on the site of Germany's famous cold case involving incest, murder, and psychics.

EricGrundhauser

Added by EricGrundhauser

Stockholm, Sweden

Olof Palme Memorial Plaque

The very site where the Swedish prime minister was murdered by a still-unknown assassin.

Kelly Harrison

Added by Kelly Harrison

London, England

The London Dungeon

This dungeon leans into its history of torture in a series of gruesome dioramas.

Michelle Colburn

Added by Michelle Colburn

Berlin, Germany

Bridge of Spies

The Glienicke Bridge has a shady history of espionage, clandestine meetings, and spycraft.

steedjb

Added by steedjb

Port Orange, Florida

The Last Resort Bar

Serial killer Aileen Wuornos was drinking a beer here when she was arrested.

hobgoblin

Added by hobgoblin

Niterói, Brazil

Niterói Contemporary Art Museum

This eclectic museum was the result of local government corruption and deception.

Added by KimberlySmith

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Rasputin Museum at Yusupov Palace

The place where the nearly un-killable mystic Rasputin was murdered.

Annetta Black

Added by Annetta Black

Beverly Hills, California

Greystone Mansion

One of the most filmed Hollywood homes built by dirty oil money was the site of a mysterious murder-suicide.

Rachel

Added by Rachel

São Paulo, Brazil

Castelinho da Rua Apa

The striking ruins of a mansion at the center of Brazil's most puzzling murder mystery.

Dylan

Cedar, Michigan

Holy Rosary Catholic Church

The secret skeleton of a murdered nun was discovered in this church basement, but the scandal doesn't end there.

AaronNetsky

Added by AaronNetsky

Jules Lavirotte’s 29 Avenue Rapp

A scandalous Art Nouveau collaboration that set Paris all atwitter at the turn of the 20th century.

Laetitia Barbier

Added by Laetitia Barbier

Stewartstown, Pennsylvania

Rehmeyer's Hollow

The "Hex House" where one witch was murdered by another in 1928.

Added by OctopusRex

Zillah, Washington

Teapot Dome Service Station

Perhaps the only gas station inspired by a presidential scandal.

littlebrumble

Added by littlebrumble

Los Angeles, California

King George Hotel

The hotel where a popular female revivalist preacher faked her own death.

Rachel

Added by Rachel

New York, New York

The Wertheim Study

This study room in a New York Public Library was where an FBI agent shared secrets with the KGB.

Luke J Spencer

Added by Luke J Spencer

Hagley, England

Wychbury Obelisk

The obelisk regularly tagged by a mysterious graffito referencing an eerie 1940s murder.

Allison

Added by Allison

New York, New York

Long Lines Building

This Manhattan tower turned out to be as ominous as it looked—it is an NSA spyscraper.

littlebrumble

Added by littlebrumble

Alland, Austria

Mayerling Lodge

The royal house where crown prince Rudolph killed his lover and then himself.

Annetta Black

Added by Annetta Black

Victoria, British Columbia

The Empress Hotel

A Victorian hotel with a history of scandals and murder.

Luke J Spencer

Added by Luke J Spencer

Benton Harbor, Michigan

House of David

The commune of a utopian cult that met its end when its leader was embroiled in a sex scandal.

Added by OaktownMini

St. Louis, Missouri

Lemp Mansion

This historic house where a successful brewing family killed themselves one by one.

Added by salongmore

The Site of Stanford White's Sex Crimes

Now a mere parking lot, this bygone address was where the affair that led to New York's most sensational murder began.

Luke J Spencer

Added by Luke J Spencer

Danbury, Connecticut

Demon Murder Trial Sites

The place where the only murder trial to use demonic possession as a criminal defense took place.

JWOcker

Added by JWOcker

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