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The Haunted Face in the Rocks Under Santa Barbara Castle

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On a white beach in Alicante, Santa Barbara Castle sits atop a rocky hill as it has done for centuries. There are legends of princesses and her forbidden love as well as ghosts haunting its ancient halls. 

Spain is a country rich in history and culture. Its stunning castles are a testament to its rich heritage and architectural brilliance. However, it’s not just the beauty of these castles that fascinates people, but also the stories behind them. 

Spain’s haunted castles are shrouded in mystery and intrigue, with tales of ghosts, spirits, and unexplained phenomena that continue to captivate visitors. In this blog post, we’ll take you on a journey through some of Spain’s most haunted castles and explore the eerie tales of the ghosts that inhabit them. 

Postiguet Beach: Today, beachgoers can see the supposed haunted castle from the sea, and the face that are etched into the stone according to the legend.

With its rich history dating back over a millennium, this imposing structure has stood the test of time, serving as a silent witness to countless tales of triumph, tragedy, and intrigue. 

Historical background of Santa Barbara Castle

Santa Barbara Castle has a rich and storied past that dates back to the 9th century when it was built by the Moors. Over the centuries, it has witnessed numerous battles, conquests, and changes of ownership. In the 13th century, the castle fell into Christian hands during the Reconquista, marking the end of Moorish rule in the region.

Throughout its history, the castle has served as a strategic stronghold for various rulers, including the Kingdom of Aragon and the Crown of Castile. Its commanding position atop Mount Benacantil offered unparalleled views of the surrounding landscape, making it an ideal defensive fortress.

Read more: Check out all of our ghost stories from Spain

During the 18th century, the castle underwent significant renovations, transforming it into a military barracks and fortification. The castle’s defensive walls were reinforced, and additional structures, such as the Governor’s House and the Chapel of Santa Barbara, were added.

Situated just a stone’s throw away from Santa Barbara Castle lies the stunning Postiguet Beach. This picturesque stretch of golden sand is a popular destination for locals and tourists alike, offering a tranquil escape from the bustling city.

With its crystal-clear waters and breathtaking views of the castle perched on the hilltop, Postiguet Beach provides the perfect backdrop for relaxation and unwinding. The image of the mountain from the beach resembles a face, which is why it is called “the face of the Moor” and is an icon of the city of Alicante.

Read more: Check out all of our ghost stories set in Haunted Castles and Fortresses

Santa Barbara Castle boasts a unique architectural blend of Moorish, Roman, and Gothic influences. Its strategic location on a hilltop allowed for excellent visibility and defense against potential invaders. The castle’s design takes full advantage of the natural landscape, with its walls seamlessly integrated into the rocky outcrop.

The Princess with her Two Suitors

Santa Barbara Castle’s history is shrouded in legends and folklore. One such story revolves around an Arab princess who resided within the castle during the times of Moorish rule. The princess, beautiful and sought after by many suitors, found herself torn between two men from rival families. The castle became the arena for a fierce competition as the suitors battled for her affection and the right to win her hand in marriage.

The princess Cantara had two men fighting for her hand in marriage. One of them was Ali, a simple man that was favored by the princess, but didn’t really have anything to offer but his heart. The other was Almanzor who was a famous warrior from a wealthy family in Cordoba that she didn’t really know. 

Cantaras father, the caliph , disagreed with the princess’ choice and wouldn’t let her marry Ali before he proved himself. 
He decided that she would marry the one who emerged victorious in a daring challenge that tested their bravery and loyalty. He sent Almanzor to India with the mission to return with spices and treasures for the kingdom. To Ali, the caliph gave the order to build a ditch that could bring fresh water from the mountains to the city of Alicante. The one that completed the task first would be the winner and get to marry the caliphs daughter. 

Almanzor set sail to India to complete his mission and was away for a long time. Ali started digging, but would spend the nights with the princess, slowly winning her over by reciting poems and singing her love songs. They fell in love and for the princess, there was only one winner. 

Months went by and Almanzor returned with his ships loaded with spices, gold, ivory and silk, just as he had been ordered to. And he was also the first one to have completed his mission and the caliph saw him as the winner. 

He ordered his daughter to marry Almanzor, but her heart was already given away. Ali didn’t want to make her choice any harder and chose to jump from the top of the castle. It is said that the face you can see in the mountain is from the impact from his fall, his turban and all. Princess Cantara couldn’t go on without her lover and wouldn’t marry the suitor. She chose to jump after her lover to join him at the feet of the mountain. 

The king was sorry and his grief for his daughter turned him into a just ruler to never make the same mistake again. The story about the two lovers spread and to honor their love, they joined their name together and named the city for Alcantara. Time went by and soon the name turned into Alicante and is still the name of the city. 

Visitors have reported hearing disembodied voices arguing in the dead of night, and some claim to have seen a ghostly figure lurking in the shadows that they connect to this legend of the two lovers. But it is not the only ghosts said to roam the halls of the castle.

More Haunted Ghost stories

Another ghost story told about this ancient castle is about Nicolas Peris who was the governor of Santa Barbara and protector of the castle when he was alive. In 1256 there was a huge battle about the fortress, and Peris was fighting for his life to not let the castle fall into the hands of Jaime II. 

Although he gave his all, he was soon defeated and died in the battle, legend says he fell with the keys to the castle clenched tightly in his hands. The only way they could get the keys out from his cold hands was to cut it off. 

It is said that on some nights you can still hear the former governor wailing throughout the halls as he is still grieving losing the battle and his beloved castle. 

The Legends of Santa Barbara Castle

As you walk through the ancient halls of Santa Barbara Castle, surrounded by centuries of history and legends, you can’t help but feel a sense of awe and intrigue. The castle’s ghostly secrets are an integral part of its allure, drawing visitors from far and wide who seek a glimpse into the supernatural.

From the Arab princess and her two suitors to the restless spirits that haunt the castle’s corridors, Santa Barbara Castle is a place where the past and present collide. It invites us to explore the mysteries that lie within its walls and contemplate the enduring legacy of those who came before us.

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References:

Santa Barbara Castle: 1000 years of History – ALICANTE City & Beach

The Castle of Santa Bárbara: history and legend of Alicante

Castillo de Santa Bárbara – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

The 10 haunted castles in Spain you must visit – Tourtravel & More

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The Haunted Preventorio de Aigües in Alicante

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The former wellness hotel and sanatorium called Preventorio de Aigües is said to have healing thermal water as well as the ruins of the buildings are said to have attracted ghosts. This abandoned building close to Alicante is popular with paranormal seekers and ghosts alike. 

Among the many haunted places around the world, Haunted Hospital in Spain is known for its eerie atmosphere. The ghost that is said to linger in the hospital has been a topic of discussion for horror enthusiasts for a long time. 

Read more: Check out all of our ghost stories from Spain

The hospital has a dark history, and it’s not hard to imagine the spirits of those who perished there still wandering through its corridors.

The Time as a Wellbeing Hotel

This 19th century building high up in the mountains 25 kilometers from the city of Alicante in Spain was originally built as a luxury hotel in Aguas de Busot by Count de Casa de Rojas and Marquis de Bosh for the rich and wealthy. 

The hotel was known as Hotel Miramar Winter Station and was built out with many buildings, chapels, a casino, a playground and sport facilities. It was a state of luxury, and the guests were all from high society where even the King and Queen of Spain visited.

Haunted Building: the Preventorio de Aigües now abandoned is thought to be haunted by the children that used to live there when it was used as a sanatorium//Source: Jesús Alenda/wikimedia

Today the only building still standing from it is the building from 1816 designed by the architect Pedro Garcia Faria and the once glorious place is now only an abandoned shell of what it once was. And throughout the years, it truly was a lot.   

The Civil War Closed the Door of the Hotel

But the story took a sharp turn in the later years. In 1930 the luxury hotel closed its doors as a hotel and spa. According to the stories, it is said that the owner, Marquis de Bosch lost the hotel in a poker game.

At the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Preventorio de Aguas de Busot was turned into a sanatorium for children. The idea was to take uninfected children and keep them away to prevent them from being infected as well as to accommodate orphans. 

When the disease started to die out the hospital was abandoned in the late 1960s and remains so to this day. 

The Building as a Sanatorium

A sanatorium is an old name for specialized hospitals that were made for specific ailments. They were often built in the countryside with plenty of fresh air in a healthy climate isolated from the outside world. Sanatoriums across Europe and America were very popular to treat tuberculosis until the discovery of antibiotics. 

Read more: Check out all of our ghost stories from old hospitals like Hauntingly Beelitz-Heilstätten Hospital, Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital or Hauntings at the Weston State Hospital or the Trans-Allegheny Asylum

It could however also be a place for people to heal from things like alcoholism, nervous diseases like hysteria or emotional exhaustions. After medical advances the use of sanatoriums declined and many were abandoned in the mid 1900s often and has since gained a haunted reputation. 

The Healing Thermal Water

The water in the area was thought to contain healing properties all the way back to Roman times and it is also chronicled by Arabs that resided in Spain in medieval times. 

They have talked about the good water in the hot springs found in the area, making it a perfect spot for a wellbeing hotel. It is also a place perfect for where mysterious things happen.

The Haunting in the Abandoned building

Now the building is abandoned and the only visitors are those seeking out the paranormal rumors and trying to investigate if they are true or not. In 2005 they tried to install some fences around the place, but no fences have ever held the most intense people out. 

People that have visited the place say that you can find many secret tunnels from the war leading as far to the neighboring town called Campello. There is even paperwork from both the time it served as a hotel as well as a hospital where even old patient files lie scattered around in the ruins. They have also come back claiming to have seen a ghost or two. 

Inside the old hospital it is said you can hear whistles while a translucent figure is climbing the ruined stairs.

It is said the place is haunted by the children that ended their life here, even though there are not really any recordings of deaths related to tuberculosis in the building. The legend persists and there are many who claim to have seen the ghosts of children around the ruins. 

Although no one really died of tuberculosis, there were recorded deaths of fires, sunstrokes and falls. 

The Woman in White

It is also said that a woman in white is seen crying when calamities approach. According to the legend, she could be seen in the reflection in a mirror that hung by the stairs to the first floor.  If you saw her laughing and crying at the same time, it was all good. But if you saw her only sobbing it meant something bad was going to happen. 

She is most often seen walking around the building at night and some claim that was  the wife of the Count of Casas Rojas, the former owner of the hotel and spas. Some of the variations of the legends says that she used to reside inside of a mirror, but when the mirror broke, she escaped and is now walking freely around.

According to the locals, the staff that used to work there used black magic in the church in the building and there are rumors that the place was also the place for a sect with ill intentions. 

The Future of the Sanatorium

Through the knocked down fences, the dark building stands looming on the hill. 

What will happen with the building is unclear, as it has been the topic of debate and in court for decades now. Some want to construct a hotel again, perhaps turn it into a museum. Some even want to tear the entire building to the ground. 

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References:


El preventorio de Aigües de Bussot – Mitos y Leyendas en la provincia de Alicante
Leyendas urbanas: fantasmas en Alicante – Hoja del Lunes
Blog escrito desde Alicante: PREVENTORIO AGUAS DE BUSOT (2ª PARTE)
El preventorio de Aigües, lugar maldito donde habita lo paranormal
El abandonado preventorio de Aigües de Busot: sanatorio de tuberculosos
El Preventorio de Aguas de Busot en Alicante | Excursiones
Preventorio de Aguas de Busot: Siniestro Levante | Traveler
Preventorio de Aguas de Busot – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
Road trip through the gloomiest haunted houses in Spain
Visiting Spain’s Most Haunted Locations | Right Casa Estates

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The Haunted Orphanage Complejo de la Misericordia

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A school and orphanage housing children in need called Complejo de la Misericordia is deemed to be haunted. This school in Spain is said to be haunted by the ghost of the children that lived there and had their life ending too soon inside of the school building. 

There are some buildings that are said to be more haunted than others. Especially a big building that gathered a lot of people with a miserable backstory has a potential to be more haunted than most. 

This is the case with The Complejo de la Misericordia in Valencia on the Spanish east coast that is said to be haunted by the children that ended their life tragically in the building. 

The Complejo de la Misericordia Orphanage and School for Children in Need

It was once an orphanage called Casa de los Pobres de Nuestra Señora de Misericordia in postwar Spain that housed thousands of children in need. The Complejo de la Misericordia was dubbed El Paradis in the 1960s, but only as an ironic name as the place was far from a paradise for those living there. 

Read more: Check out all of our ghost stories from Spain

According to those that grew up in the Casa de los Pobres de Nuestra Señora de Misericordia, or simply the center, in those years, both children that lived there permanently because they had nowhere else to go or temporarily because the parents lacked the means to take care of them at the time.

Although the place was meant to take care of the children most in need, the orphanage was a place with harsh punishments and a string of strange deaths. And even though the children were better off than at home, is it really ok to treat children badly just because they don’t have any other choice?

The Harsh Days at El Paradis

It is said that the food at the Complejo de la Misericordia was scarce, the flu epidemics went around the children that were put into cramped spaces and worst of all, some of the priests at the center were said to have abused the children. 

The Complejo de la Misericordia Orphanage: The old building that used to be an orphanage is thought to be haunted.

There were also cases where a child died under tragic and sometimes even strange circumstances. Some children drowned in the pool and another died after falling down from the third floor window.

“I saw him fall, hitting his head on the iron railing. In the place where there should have been a bronze ball, there was now a four-inch threaded stud that shattered his brain instantly, as it bounced I turned and tried to catch him, but only managed to brush his arm before he slammed into the floor. Cement on the ground in front of the football field, like a limp puppet”

This was written in a blog by a former child that lived there named Ismael Sanchez and it is not really known if this is what really happened, but the child did die. 

It is said that the child’s name was Campos, and it is said that he is still haunting the Complejo de la Misericordia. 

The Complejo de la Misericordia Today

Today the Complejo de la Misericordia, or the House of Mercy as the meaning suggests in Valencia is used by the local university, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. The building is from the 1600s and was used as a hospice for years.

Today the old orphanage is an educational center and school and has around 4000 students and 200 teachers plus staff attending it on a daily basis and mostly the days just go by as days do. People are minding their own business and there is perhaps not much time and quiet to notice the strange things the people working the early morning or night shifts do? 

The Hauntings at the School

The cleaning staff refuse to work alone at the The Complejo de la Misericordia building because of the haunted rumors that go around the place and more than one of the staff has some unexplainable story about the place. 

In the night they kept hearing strange sounds and voices like children crying and it is said that the light inside turned on and off by itself. 

Read More: Check out the haunted legends from schools all over the world like Madam Koi Koi and The School Hauntings in Nigeria and The Kong Kong Ghost

Paintings on the walls suddenly fall down and the after hours staff are said to be the ones experiencing it all the most and some downright refuse to work the night shifts because of all the paranormal experiences they have had on their job making the rounds. 

The Ghost of the Orphanage: In the old orphanage it is said that it is haunted by the unfortunate souls that died in there.

One time a security guard named Nicolas lost his car keys and asked his wife to pick him up and bring the spare keys after the building was turned into an educational building. This was around 2009 when a lot of the people came forward to tell about their experiences and there was a lot of buzz going around. 

When the wife arrived at the scene to give him his keys she saw a child waving at her from the window. Right by the third story window the child fell from all those years ago. She told her husband about the child, and he told her that there was no way that a child was inside. At least not a living child.

The Haunted Orphanage

The hauntings at the Complejo de la Misericordia continue to intrigue and mystify those who work and study within its historic walls. Despite the passage of time and the transformation of the building into an educational center, the echoes of its tragic past still resonate.

The stories of strange sounds, flickering lights, and unexplained sightings persist, captivating the imaginations of both students and staff. The cleaning staff may refuse to work alone, and some after-hours employees avoid the night shifts altogether, fearing encounters with the paranormal. The painting’s sudden falls and the ghostly cries of children only add to the chilling atmosphere that envelops the school.

Despite the haunted reputation, the school carries on its mission of education and growth. Thousands of students and hundreds of teachers pass through its doors daily, unaware or unconcerned with the paranormal happenings. The bustle of everyday life masks the eerie occurrences that occur during the early hours or late evenings.

As time moves forward, the Complejo de la Misericordia remains a historic landmark, embracing its somber past while striving towards a brighter future. The stories of the children who suffered within its walls serve as a haunting reminder of the importance of compassion and care for those in need.

While the haunted tales of the Complejo de la Misericordia may continue to intrigue and send shivers down the spines of those who hear them, the school remains a place of education and growth, a testament to the power of resilience and human spirit. As the days turn into nights, and the years pass by, the echoes of the past continue to haunt the halls, forever reminding us of the importance of empathy and kindness towards those in need.

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References:

El fantasma de la Misericordia | Las Provincias

El oscuro pasado del orfanato de la Misericordia de València se convierte en una escape room

Las historias paranormales que esconden las paredes de la Casa de la Misericordia de València

Mysterious and Haunted Places in Spain