Madrid is a city rich in history, and among its streets are hidden legends and mysteries that have endured through the centuries. From elegant palaces to modern museums, these seven “haunted” places connect us to a darker but fascinating side of the city.

In this minimap, you will find some of the places where strange things happen that have made more than one person rethink whether or not they believe in the paranormal.

Edited and illustrated by Ana Laya.

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[Para la versión en español de este minimap, pincha aquí]

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1. El Palacio de Linares Palace / Casa de América

Located in the Plaza de Cibeles and home to the Casa de America, this majestic building hides a tragic and disturbing history. One version of the legend is that the Marquises of Linares, after discovering that they were not only husband and wife but also brothers, hid the birth of their daughter Raimundita and eventually murdered her. Some visitors have claimed to hear screams and children’s voices coming from the walls, adding an air of mystery to this sinister tale.

📍Pl. del Rey, 1, Centro, 28004 · 🚇: Banco de España (L2) · El Retiro (L2)

2. La casa de las siete chimeneas

This building, one of the few remaining examples of 16th-century civil architecture in Madrid, is located in the Plaza del Rey and is also marked by tragedy. Legend has it that a woman, the mistress of King Felipe II, was the victim of a mysterious death here. Her ghost is said to have been seen walking between the chimneys, dressed in white and holding a torch. From the 1980s to the present day, it has been one of the headquarters of the Ministry of Education and Culture, and in 1995 it was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest.

📍Pl. del Rey, 1, Centro, 28004 · 🚇: Chueca (L5) · Banco de España (L2)

3. Sala Joy Eslava (ahora Teatro Eslava)

With more than a century of history, this famous concert and party hall, which people insist on calling Joy Eslava, was once a theatre where things happened, including a murder on stage. The playwright Alfredo Vidal y Planas arrived one day at the rehearsals of his rival, fellow playwright Luis Antón del Olmen, to start a fight. “Olmen, surprised by the attack, tried to defend himself with his hands, but before he could do so, he was shot at close range and died in a few seconds. Those who remember the scene say that the playwright bled to death in the salon of the theatre in the arms of the woman who had rejected Vidal y Planas,” reports ABC. It is said that at night, when the theatre is empty, you can hear footsteps, whispers and even applause.

📍 C. del Arenal, 11, Centro, 28013 · 🚇: Opera (L5, L2) · Sol (L1, L2, L3)

 
4. Estación Tirso de Molina

Built over a former 17th century convent, the Tirso de Molina station houses more than just travelers. During its construction, skeletal remains such as skulls, jewelry and gems were found in an adjoining gallery, as the convent had its own cemetery. This fragment of its history has given rise to rumors of apparitions and strange noises. Workers at the station claim to have witnessed lights going out on their own and ethereal, fleeting figures.

📍 C. del Arenal, 11, Centro, 28013 · 🚇: Tirso de Molina (L1)

5. Calle de la Cabeza

In this street it is said that in the sixteenth century a priest was beheaded by his servant, who then fled to Portugal and returned many years later, made a gentleman and convinced that he had got away with it. The man bought a lamb’s head at a flea market and, on his way home, left a trail of blood that alerted a policeman. When questioned, the man tried to show the lamb’s head, but what he was holding was the head of his former master. “The impression was such that he confessed his crime on the spot. Tried and sentenced, he died on the gallows erected in the main square of the town”. The full legend, in Wikipedia.

📍 C. de la Cabeza, Centro, 28012 · 🚇: Tirso de Molina (L1)

6. Museo Reina Sofía

Before it became one of the most important museums of modern art in the world, the Reina Sofia Museum was an abandoned building that had been a huge hospital, a hostel and even a cemetery for many years, giving rise to tales of lost souls and mysterious noises in empty rooms. When the building was converted into a museum, the remains of medical instruments from the time of Philip II and the mummies of three nuns were found. And in the 1990s, shortly after the arrival of Guernica, workers began to report paranormal phenomena and, after a Ouija session in the basement, gave the museum’s famous ghost its name: Ataúlfo.

📍 C. de Sta. Isabel, 52, Centro, 28012 · 🚇: Estación de las Artes (L1)

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7. Fuente del Ángel Caído

In the heart of the Retiro Park, at the official topographic altitude of 666 meters, stands one of the very few statues in the world dedicated to the Fallen Angel (aka the Devil). This sculpture by Ricardo Bellver has long been a meeting point for dark legends. Some believe that the place is charged with negative energies, and it is said that during electrical storms, the statue attracts strange atmospheric phenomena.

📍 C. del Arenal, 11, Centro, 28013 · 🚇: El Retiro (L2)

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