The Mist, the latest thriller from Stephen King, is a film about a group of townsfolk stuck in a grocery store, trying to escape an unnatural mist that's descended on the town, concealing otherworldly horrors. The movie hits stores this week on DVD, and in honor of that we thought we'd explore a few of the scariest places to get stuck in that don't involve Mr. King's imagination.

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The Paris Catacombs

         

Towards the end of the 18th century, as the population of Paris rapidly grew, it became clear that the space occupied by numerous elaborate cemeteries throughout the area could better be used by the living. In one of the largest engineering feats in history, millions of Parisian dead were dug out of their graves and relocated to an underground passageway beneath the City of Light. Please, no jokes about the general aroma of the French. These people are dead, and there's no way to know if they smelled like that before they died.

The dank and darkened corridors beneath the city, brimming with stacks and walls of bones, lead into many narrow, empty passageways that can confuse the inexperienced wanderer. Although the site reportedly receives over a million visitors a year, there have been more than a few stories of overly curious people heading into the depths of dark side passageways, never to be seen again. Visitors have also reported seeing a group of moving shadows in one area of the catacombs. The experience had proven completely overwhelming to some tourists, and tours have even been cut short as a result of people simply getting too freaked out. Visitor photos have revealed unexplained orbs and ghostly apparitions, and EVPs have been recorded throughout the catacomb vaults. That's scientist talk for crazy Ghostbusters shit. Call Venkman.

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Palmyra Island

 

Lying in the very center of the Pacific Ocean, more than 1,000 miles southwest of Hawaii is Palmyra Island, a strip of lush jungle along the rim of a massive volcano. In addition to being one of the most remote places on earth, the island is crawling with massive insect and reptile populations, and surrounded by shark and poisonous fish-infested waters full of jagged coral. The island is said to have sprung up out of the ocean virtually overnight, possessing an air of evil from the start. Visitors have described the island as a haunted, downright spooky place with a "malevolent aura" where you certainly wouldn't want to find yourself shipwrecked, but it would make a fine new home for your ex-girlfriend.

In addition to being being blamed for the disappearance of many WWII fighters who long ago vanished near the region, Palmyra was the also scene of a 1970's double murder, which was detailed by author Vincent Bugliosi in his novel "And the Sea Will Tell." It has been said that the mysteries of Palmyra rival that of the more famous Bermuda Triangle, where many planes and sea vessels have vanished over the years.

(The Bermuda Triangle didn't make this piece because, well, you'd have to be stupid to get yourself stuck there. Besides, people don't get stuck in the Triangle - they vanish.)

Florida Everglades

 

Imagine surviving a horrific, fiery plane crash, only to find yourself stranded in the middle of hundreds of square miles of uninhabitable swampland that happens to be swarming with alligators and snakes. That's what may have happened to the 105 people aboard the 1996 ValuJet flight that crashed into the Florida Everglades. There were no survivors, although evidence suggests that not all were killed by the crash. The last thing you want is to be stranded with a bunch of hungry ten-foot alligators - on their own turf.
 

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Dark highway in the wilderness

 

This scenario is a more common one: your car breaks down in the middle of the night and you find yourself in a remote, wooded area out of cellphone range. There shouldn't be any real danger, that is, unless you're prone to idiocy or decided to wear your bear pheromone cologne, but it's a damn scary place to find yourself stuck late at night. What if a bear or pack of wolves are lurking off in the darkness? As you sit alone in complete darkness, just try not to think about that recent news story you saw about the psychotic killer clown that hacked up a family in the woods.