Horror and Dark Fantasy Reference From Places With Real History

Real places, treated with respect

Every location on this page is real, and many hold the remains of real people or record real suffering. That history is why they carry so much weight in art. Use them for their architecture, light and atmosphere, and leave the dead their dignity. We don't place memorial sites, cremation grounds, psychiatric hospitals or places where people live today on this page.

Underground: catacombs, tunnels and caves

Darkness, low ceilings and one way out: underground spaces do half the work of a horror scene.

• Skull Paved Catacombs of Paris: 139 photos of the ossuaries beneath Paris, which hold the remains of more than six million people. They fill a small part of a tunnel network built to stabilize the city's old stone mines. The bones and skulls are stacked along the corridors and arranged into crosses and other patterns.
• Sewers Tunnels: 76 photos from years of urban exploration in Russia. Some tunnels are 19th-century brick, others modern concrete. Shot in low light, often on a tripod.
• Cave Tree Roots: 200 photos of a cave on Rangitoto where tree roots grow through the ceiling in a wet, shining web. A natural base for a root-covered crypt or a monster's lair.

Tombs and graveyards: stone, moss and time

Graveyards show how stone ages: how it leans, cracks and turns green. They also show a huge range of carving and design.

• Neo-Gothic Cemetery: 223 photos from cemeteries in Edinburgh, mostly 19th-century tombstones in different stages of decay, covered in moss. Shot at 7360 × 4912.
• Antique Tombs, Mausoleums and Burial Grounds: 647 photos of a large cemetery in Paris, from plain headstones to small chapels. Some tombs are in ruins with trees growing through them. Others are well preserved, with stained glass and detailed carving.
• Ancient Rock Tombs Town Architecture: 124 photos of the Lycian rock tombs cut into the cliffs at the ancient city of Myra in Turkey. A strong model for a necropolis in a dark fantasy world.

Cells and walls: historic prisons

Prisons were designed to control and isolate. Their long corridors, repeated cells and heavy doors create tension without any added effects.

• Abandoned Penitentiary: 287 photos of cells and hallways in a historic prison in Pennsylvania, once one of the most famous prisons in the world.
• Alcatraz Prison Island: 445 photos, split into exterior (195), interior (201), island (31) and a scale model (18).
• 19th Century Prison Barrack: 122 photos of one of Sydney's early brick buildings, built to house convicts in the early 19th century.

For more, see our prison reference photos.

Atmosphere: fog and dead trees

Sometimes the landscape is enough. Foggy Trees has 44 photos of dead trees in fog, at 7360 × 4912. Layer it behind a graveyard or a ruined chapel to push the background back into the mist. For rusting machines and vehicle graveyards, see our junkyard and scrapyard reference.

Frequently asked questions

Is it respectful to use a real cemetery or the catacombs in horror art?

It can be, if you treat the place as a setting and not as a joke. Change names and details, avoid showing identifiable graves or inscriptions, and keep real people's remains out of gore or mockery. Many artists use these places as a starting point and redesign them into something new.

Do you have asylum or hospital photos for horror projects?

We keep psychiatric hospitals and similar sites off this page, out of respect for the patients who lived there. If you need historic institutional architecture, our prison packs show the same long corridors, cells and heavy doors.

Do the catacomb photos show human remains?

Yes. The Paris catacombs are an ossuary, so the bones and skulls of millions of people line the walls. Keep this in mind if you work with clients or audiences who may be sensitive to it.

Can I use these photos in a horror game I sell?

Yes. Every license is royalty-free, covers unlimited projects and never expires. If a pack is Editorial or has an Editorial folder, you can use those photos as reference and inside your art, but not reproduce them directly in advertising or on products such as posters.