About Scariest Places on Earth

About the Show

Scariest Places on Earth looks into some of the most haunted places in the world from castles to dormitories and some houses. Hosted by Linda Blair with Zelda Rubenstein providing narration, the show aired as a marathon on Fox Family (now ABC Family) each year as part of the channel's 13 Nights of Halloween event before being taken off the air years later. Combined with the creepy narration, music and opening sequence, the show had a very chilling atmosphere and typically only aired at night. Syfy Channel (Sci-Fi Channel back then) later picked up the show to air reruns but later removed it from their schedule too.

Format

Most of the episodes were an hour long and typically featured around 4 haunted sites, sometimes featuring paranormal investigators and interviews of other people that knew about the site, including radio presenter Alan Robson, whom provided info about the sites during these episodes. Linda Blair also closed the show with a summary of the events that took place and/or a cliffhanger of sorts, leaving the viewers something to think about. There were also occasional episodes featuring the family that took part in a dare returning to answer questions and relive the episode they were on previously.

Family Dares

Apart from the regular 1 hour episodes, there were 2 hour family dare specials where a family was given the chance to spend the night at a haunted location with Alan often commenting on the family's reactions of what they're getting into before they arrive, then later greeting the family and warning them of the impending danger before the family headed inside. The event typically lasted until around dawn the next day, though if the family agreed to end the event, they were allowed to do so at any time. However, most families either made it through the entire event or lasted until at least after midnight.

Once inside, a new (typically female) host greeted the family and guided them through an opening ceremony to invoke the spirits inhabiting the site, though this was generally regarded as minimal protection against the spirits. Alan would then tell the family what was going to happen next (or explain tools provided during the 2nd part of the event) via a nearby TV. Then, each family member was "hooded" (their faces were covered by a bag of sorts) and taken to a different location on site.

During the dare, family members were allowed to move around the site and often were seen trying to reunite one another and help each other get through the event and/or explore the site. Similar to at the beginning of the dare, the family would end the dare by performing a 2nd ceremony to help ensure the spirts didn't follow them back home.