The Ten Most Haunted Places in Great Britain

By Karen V. Wasylowski



author of
"Darcy and Fitzwilliam"

All right, boys and girls.  You've locked up your black cat named Edna, gorged yourself on the children's Trick or Treat candy, bolted the doors and turned out the lights.  Now...gather around the fireplace...if you dare...hear the moans and squeals. 
It's Halloween night - time for the ghosties, ghoulies, and one or two crazed axe murderers to end your peaceful existence and disturb your sleep. 

Bwahahaha!

The Top Ten Scariest Places in Great Britain!!!

Pluckley - Most Haunted Village in England

The shear number of hauntings in this town makes it famous, no less than twelve.  It's amazing they
all don't bump into one another. 

First, there is The Screaming Man.  The terrible screams that are heard in the area of the Brickworks belong to a man working there who was smothered to death when a wall of clay collapsed on him.

The Fright Corner Ghosts. 
At Pinnock Crossings there are two famous sightings.  One is The Highway Man who, although very scary, was not very bright.  He  would hide in the same hollowed out tree over and over again to ambush passers by. The villagers grew weary of it, ended that nonsense pretty permanently by hanging him from that very tree. 

The second Pinnock Crossing wanderer is The Watercress Woman,
a gypsy who burned to death smoking in bed. 
Some things never change, do they?


The Haunted Coach and Horses.  This spectral conveyance has been seen by several people over the years.  By the Pinnock Crossroads, the spooky four horse vehicle was last seen wandering the village in the mid-1990's.

Pluckley's Haunted Church of St. Nicholas. Banging coming from the basement and flickering lights within the church - is it the spirit of Lady Dering?
 This darling was buried within seven coffins in the hope that her mortal remains would not decay.
Could be she's unhappy with the results, after all, you can't keep a good woman down,
or away from her mirror. 

Or, could she be the Red Lady or the White Lady who have been seen, wandering the churchyard?
 
And then yet another female ghost, this one seen dressed in mid 20th century clothes, can't stay put in one place.

Pluckley's Haunted Pub - The Black Horse, built in the 1400's, is very popular with ghost hunters, as one can imagine! The spectre here is very mischievous, delights in moving things, hiding things.  It has even locked the landlady out a few times, and then there is a room upstairs (always in a spooky house there is a spooky room upstairs!) where dogs refuse to enter and where a young girl saw
'a nice lady in a red dress' wander about.

The Phantom Schoolteacher.   In 'Dick Buss Lane', in the 1800's, the body of a schoolmaster was found, the man hanged himself from a tree, then began haunting the area. 
He was last seen by an author (suspicious, if you ask me) in the 1960's
wearing an old coat and pants with stripes.  The ghost was, not the author.





Most Evil - Chillingham Castle

Built over 800 years ago to stop the Scots from invading England, anyone
unfortunate enough to be captured was placed within the
Chillingham Castle dungeon, to be tortured to death.  Today, scratch marks on the walls can be seen
as the poor souls imprisoned there counted off their days,
awaiting that blessed release.

John Sage was the Castle torturer; he loved his job a bit too much.  He died around the year 1200 after performing over 7,500 torturings (is there even such a word?)  At the end of the war with the Scots, wanting to rid the castle of prisoners, Sage rounded up the adults and older children, led them into the courtyard and set fire to them, then he took an axe and hacked to death the younger children in the Edward room.  The chandelier there still swings for no reason and the air is foul.   His own fatal mistake was choking to death his mistress as they made love on The Rack.  What a guy.  Her father gathered an enthusiastic lynch mob who hanged John from the courtyard tree, then proceeded to hack pieces from him as he died.
Somehow I feel no pity.

The Blue Boy is the most famous castle ghost.  Also known as The Radiant Boy, he could be heard screaming in terror at the stroke of midnight in the vicinity of the pink bedroom.  He would eventually make his way through the wall and approach the big four poster bed then disappear.  In the 1920's a passageway cut into ten foot thick walls was discovered leading to the bedroom and the bones of a child dressed in blue were found and buried in the nearby churchyard. 
The Blue Boy was seen no more.

A Chillingham Ghost still seen today haunting the pantry is frail and dressed in white ; she is believed to have been poisoned.  A guard who slept near the pantry to guard the silver was awakened by a woman he assumed was a guest.  She requested water.  When he turned to get her a glass she disappeared.

Lady Mary Berkeley is another Chillingham Castle ghost.  She is only heard, not seen, with the rustle of her gowns announcing her arrival.  It is said that her husband ran off with her sister, leaving Lady Mary alone with only their child.




Most Notorious Address - 50 Berkeley Square

Home of the British Prime Minister, George Canning, 50 Berkeley Square it is not famous for the ghosts, but famous for the deaths caused by the ghost haunting

There were two separate deaths supposedly caused from sheer terror, both related to a particular upper room of the house.  One death was that of Sir Robert Warboys who accepted a challenge to sleep alone in the famously haunted room.  At midnight, his friends and the owner of the Inn heard him ringing a bell they had purposefully left him to summon help.  At first there was a gentle ringing; it soon grew frantic.  Then they heard a gun shot.  Sir Robert was found cowering and screaming in a corner, shivering with fright.  He could not speak, he had lost his mind, and died shortly thereafter. 

The second death was of a sailor, one of two who, unknowing of the danger, stayed in the same room at 50 Berkeley Square.  They chose the upstairs room (never a good idea in a spooky place) at random.  At midnight they heard heavy footsteps, ominous that, then they smelled a terribly foul odor.  The door suddenly crashed open.  In the doorway stood a huge quivering black mass.  Pure evil.  One of the sailors escaped but his friend did not. 
He was found in the morning, impaled on the fence below.

Today, the house is relative quiet and quivering mass free. 
It's a bookstore.



Most Royal Ghosts -
Windsor Castle

Everyone who was anyone in British royalty haunts Windsor Castle, starting with the big man himself, Henry VIII.  Henry can be heard in the Cloisters, moaning and dragging the ulcerated leg
 behind him, the cause of his eventual death.  Buried at Windsor Castle in a vault within St. James Chapel, he lies forever with third wife, Jane Seymour, his great love. 

Also in the vault, close by, is Charles I, who is often seen haunting the Canon's House.  It is said he looks exactly like his portrait.

Elizabeth I, Henry's equally famous daughter, haunts the royal library.  Her high heels can been heard passing through and into the inner room.  She's also been seen in the Dean's Cloisters, although she isn't buried at Windsor, but at Westminster Abbey.  Always wearing black, with a black shawl, it's this spirit that a member of the present royal family has admitted to seeing.

Poor old George III is buried at Windsor where he haunts the room below the library, a room where he was imprisoned during his "madness."  Guardsmen have occasionally been shocked to see him staring from the window.

Hern the Hunter, the most famous Windsor Castle ghost, haunts Windsor Great Park.  He was a huntsman favored by King Richard II.  One day the king injured a stag who, enraged (and rightly so) turned on the king and on Hern.  The huntsman threw himself before the stag and saved the king's life.   The other huntsmen were jealous of the king's favor so Richard dismissed the man.  Depressed, Hern went into the forest and hanged himself, and there is where his spirit remains.  In 1962 a group of youths found a hunting horn, blew it, and were surprised by the ghost of Hern himself, riding a black horse.  The children, not surprisingly, ran for their lives.

Raynham Hall Ghost
The Brown Lady

The first reported sighting of the ghost was in 1835.   Colonel Loftus, a guest for Christmas celebrations, saw the figure twice.  He said she was aristocratic looking and wearing a brown dress.  He saw her so clearly that he was able to make a drawing of her.  But not her eyes.  He said her eyes were missing.

The next sighting of the Raynham Hall ghost of which we have a record was by author and respected naval officer, Captain Marryat while he was also a guest at the house. He said her smile was demonic.  The colonel was a very well known figure, very level headed, yet he took out a pistol and shot at the ghost.  He hit the door instead.

In 1926 there is a report that the son of Lady Townsend, the woman who owned the Hall at the time, saw this ghost.  He reported she looked like Lady Dorothy Walpole, sister of Britain's first Prime Minister, and whose portrait hangs in the Hall.  She was indeed a tragic figure who supposedly died at 40 years in 1726 of smallpox.  Legend has it though that she was pushed down the staircase. 

This snapshot above was taken in 1936 by two photographers who were taking pictures of the Hall for a magazine article.

Most Ancient Ghosts
The York Romans

A procession of Roman soldiers, ghosts dating from the 4th century, were clearly seen in February 1953 by an apprentice plumber called Harry Martingale as he worked in the cellars of the Treasurer's House.   This is how Harry tells the story.  Standing on his ladder and working, Harry at first heard a tinny trumpet, the sound of which kept getting louder and louder.  Then suddenly a smallish Roman soldier, carrying a trumpet and wearing a kilt, came marching through the wall, followed by a soldier on a very arge horse.  They then proceeded to exit through the opposite wall. 

Harry, very understandably, fell off his ladder.

However, the procession was not over.  About twenty soldiers followed, marching through one wall and exiting the other, all short, dark complected, dirty looking and despondent.  They were not vaporous.  They were solid.  Poor Harry ran screaming from the cellar - he told his tale to anyone who would listen.  Some believed, but many people discounted it.  His description of round shields,  sandals tied up to the men's knees, was incorrect according to common belief. 

Later it was found that Auxiliary Troops had round shields and tied sandals to their knees. 

Those soldiers had been stationed in York.

Also - there was a reason they all looked so short.  When the cellar was dug up years later another floor, a few feet below - the original road - was discovered.

Strangest Haunting

The Highgate Chicken Ghost

In early April, 1626 Sir Francis Bacon was riding with his friend, Dr. Witherbone, and Sir Francis was discussing alternative methods for preserving food, other than salting.  It was a cold day and he wondered about freezing as a preservative.  

Bacon suggested chicken (cheap joke, sorry). 

Sir Francis decided to kill a chicken and pack it in snow to freeze the thing and see if that would preserve the meat.  Well, six days later, Sir Francis died from running around in the cold.  A sad tale and true, but, he's not the spirit the people see.  It's the chicken!  Yes!  She has been seen by many people, a semi plucked bird running in circles around the Pond (the chicken, not the people).  She is also seen in low branches of trees.

During the First World War it was even reported that many air raid wardens saw her and would try to capture the bird.  She would invariably disappear into a solid wall.

I wonder if Frank Purdue is around there somewhere also.

Most Popular Ghost

The Man in Grey

and several others

Actors - don't you just love them?  They are everywhere these days and The Man in Grey, at the Royal Drury Lane Theater in London, is a daytime ghost who loves to watch rehearsals.  His appearance is always welcomed with great enthusiasm since sightings of him during rehearsals traditionally means the show will be a success.  Think Oklahoma, South Pacific, Carousel and The King and I.  Now that's success.  He is reported to be a very well dressed gentleman in 18th century garb, including a three cornered hat, a dress jacket, powdered wig, and a grey cloak thrown over his shoulder. 

Very dapper.

In 1848, as work was being carried out on the theatre, a skeleton was found with a knife between the ribs, in a walled up and forgotten passage. So perhaps the spectre has a connection with the skeleton.

There is also the 'tall, thin and ugly' ghost who is thought to be actor Charles Macklin.  Perhaps he feels remorse for, what the court decided, was 'accidentally' killing fellow actor Thomas Hallam in 1735, at the theatre during an argument over a wig. How the court determined that it was an accident, one can only speculate. The words Macklin is said to have shouted as he plunged his cane into Hallam's left eye and into his brain was, 'Goddamn you for a blackguard, scrub, rascal!'

Another ghost is that of Dano Leno, a great Victorian Music Hall favorite has been heard and seen many times.  He was famous for playing the "Dame" in pantomime and did a great clog dance which can be heard in empty dressing rooms.  Actors say they can feel his presence on stage and small the scent of lavender to which he was partial.

And finally, Charles Kean the 19th century actor has been seen sitting in the front row and wearing clothes of that period. He vanishes when the lights go up.

Edgehill Ghosts

England's only official haunting

23 October, 1662, the first battle of the English Civil War, the Battle of Edgehill, was fought between Royalist troops loyal to the King and the Parliamentary Troops.  The brutal battle went on for three horrific hours resulting in heavy losses on both sides. 

No one won in the end, everyone retreated. 

But, oddly enough, a form of the battle continued on during the nights that followed.  Sounds of ghostly armies clashing, men screaming, were witnessed by so many people for so many nights that King Charles I sent a Royal Commission to investigate.  The Commission recognized many of the fallen among the combatants.  Eventually with time the battle began to fade; however, because of what the Royal Commission witnessed with their own eyes, the Edgehill Ghosts have been recorded and have been officially recognized.

The Most Haunted House

Borley Rectory

In 1927 Reverend Smith's wife discovered a cupboard in the house and within it, wrapped in brown a paper package, the skull of a woman.  The troubles began immediately.  The servant bells began ringing, although their cords had been cut, lights were seen everywhere, footsteps heard, words were written on the walls.  Mrs. Smith even saw a horse drawn carriage pass through.  The Reverend Smith was so alarmed that he contacted the newspaper and asked to be connected with the Society for Psychical Research.  The newspapers, in turn, contacted Harry Price, a psychic researcher.  Mr. Price and the SPR converged and began to investigate. 

Objects began to be thrown, messages were tapped on a mirror frame.  The Smiths moved out and the Foysters moved in; the attacks continued.  Harry Price eventually wrote a book about Borley Rectory and became quite well known.  The Rectory burned to the ground, the fire predicted during a seance the previous year.

The insurance company determined the fire was deliberate.

The best and scariest for last -
See if you can spot the ghost in this commerical -
it goes past pretty quickly...

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!!

Visit my other blogs:

The League of British Artists

 (the best of British artists - from Colin Firth and Dame Judi Dench

to Luke Evans and Henry Cavill)

Karen V. Wasylowski, But I Digress...

My Website:

Karen V. Wasylowski

Read excerpts from my first novel

"Darcy and Fitzwilliam"

chosen by the Orange County, California "Register" newspaper

as a great summer read.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/library-304070-program-information.html?pic=1