Chillingham--England's Most Haunted Castle

by Wanda Luce

The poet Longfellow refers to Chillingham in the following verse:
 ”All houses in which men have lived and died
Are haunted houses:  Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
With feet that make no sounds upon the floors.”

Aptly named before its dark history began, Chillingham Castle in the village of Chillingham in Northumberland now boasts a plethora of ghosts made believable by a vast brew of visitors’ accounts.  “Chillinghamed” to the bone are ya?  Who cannot descend into a view of its dark history without feeling the cold chill of its dank stone walls trying to permeate his bones?  I could almost feel the hairs rising along the back of my neck as I studied the castle’s history.

Before stepping into its darker roll in war and defense, the castle served as a monastery, but in medieval times it became a staging post for English armies on their way to Scotland.  In spite of the fortification offered by a moat and twelve foot thick walls, the castle soon found itself attacked and besieged by Scottish armies and raiding parties.

In 1344 King Edward III issued a license to crenellate so that battlements might be built, thus upgrading the monastery to a fully fortified castle.  Nestled in a sparsely populated region of England near the Scottish border,  Chillinham’s isolated location enhances its eerie mystique.  Who cannot conjure up mental images of other-worldly forces and beings in such a lone setting?

The Grey family and their relations have called the castle home for more than five hundred years, and the ghost of Lady Grey is said wander the halls mourning an unfaithful husband who seduced and ran away with her younger sister in the late 1600s.  Visitors have reported encounters with her for years.  Although accounts place her hauntings throughout the castle, her keenest presence is reportedly felt in the room where her portrait hangs.

The “Blue Boy” ghost is said to appear as a blue light or glow accompanied by bizarre screams and cries.  In the early 1900s amid renovations on a wall where many of Blue Boy’s appearances were witnessed, workers found a boy’s skeleton and remnants of blue cloth sealed inside.   Did a chilly breeze just settle around you?

Few areas of the castle send as violent a shudder through its guests as does the famed torture chamber.  During the years of warfare, its cold walls saw brutalities one fears to imagine. That room was accoutered with ancient instruments of agony, including the rack, an iron maiden, hanging cages, a bed of nails, a spiked chair, thumb screws, chains, leg irons, impaling poles, and branding irons, remnants of a violent age.  Just reading about the methods employed to punish the guilty or extract confessions from enemies nearly made me lose my breakfast.  I won’t favour you with a detailed account here.  If you think you can handle the gruesome details, you might wish to click on the link below.

http://www.phenomenalplace.com/2011/03/chillingham-castle-bone-chilling.html

The castle offers tours throughout the year and has fully furnished rooms where the brave may spend the night.  One of the most popular tours is on Halloween.  I believe you would have a truly chilling experience.

I learned about the castle as I wrote my first Regency, Lydia, wherein I briefly make a mention of Chillingham.

www.wandaluce.blogspot.com