Most Haunted Soccer Stadiums: Estudio Nacional

 Most Haunted Soccer Stadiums: Estudio Nacional 

Santiago, Chile

by Graham Swanson

Estudio Nacional Julio Martinez Predonos is not just a soccer stadium. It is a former concentration camp that detained "undesirables" was used for infamous propaganda showcases. Showers, lockers, tunnels became torture chambers  during the reign of Military Dictator, Augosto Pinochet. Members of  the Chile National soccer team were asked to seek family members  trapped inside. During his reign, the Chile National Soccer Team played FIFA's infamous "Ghost Match" against a USSR  team that refused to show up. When one player refused to shake Pinochet's hand on camera, his mother was kidnapped by the miltary government and tortured. 

Dark History

Built in 1938. Hosted the FIFA world cup in 1962. It was rebuilt in 1964 after an earthquake. In 1985, it was the site of a protest. One year later, the election that removed Pinochet from power was held there. 

 Chile National Soccer Team plays here to this day.

The stadium/detention center held up to 40,000 prisoners. Im memorial, a section of bleachers are left the same as they were in 1973, and are left fenced off and unoccupired. 

It is said The tunnels where prisoners were kept are haunted by the voices of the incarcerated as well as guards. There’s a musician who’s fingers were cut off and forced to perform, it is said that his voice can still be heard.

The government has done a lot to clean up the image of the stadium. The rumors are probably just echos and imagination from a dark time ringing into the present. 

Or there’s a living reminder underneath the statdium who remembers the terror.