In the tiny town of Czech called Lukova, there was a church that has stood for hundred years. It has been abandoned since 1968 after a roof fell during a funeral. And people now believe that it was haunted.
Lukova is small town that is two and a half hours away from the capital city, Prague. The population in this town is only 708.
And this St. George Church, which was built in the 14th century, sits at the top of the hill in the village of Lukova.
Inside the church, the eerie white figures sit solemnly in the pews, congregate at the altar, and even stand in the doorways. The church was left to rot and even if the community would want to save it, they have enough money to restore their church.
The life in this small town has changed in 2012 when a local artist in the name of Jakub Hadrava created 32 life-sized “ghosts” to live inside the church. Hadrava used his fellow classmates as models, covering them in sheets and creating plaster casts for the eerie effect.
At first glance, it’s like it’s there’s real people. It gets creepy and creepier the closer you get.
The ghost statues represent the Sudeten Germans, or German Bohemians, an ethnic group that used to live in the area. The Sudeten Germans were ethnic Germans expelled from the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) after World War II. There were believed to be as many as 3 million Sudeten Germans in the Czech Republic and, once expelled, they moved to Germany and Austria.
The church’s popularity saw a boost in 2013, when a stylized video was uploaded to YouTube. Tourists have donated thousands of dollars to help repair the church’s roof.
The tourists raised a total of 600,000 koruna or almost $26,000 for renovations.
While most visitors are excited to see the ghosts, they had two or three visitors that refused to enter according to the church caretaker Petr Koukl. And we can see why. It is totally scary and just by the look, it serves goosebumps to all visitors.
Up until now, the church is open every Sunday though you can always have a peek through the window to see the “ghosts”.
