Every country has its ghost stories, its mythical monsters and its ghoulish urban legends. But the United Kingdom – the home of the Gothic novel and the birthplace of paranormal investigation – may stake a claim to being the most haunted country on Earth.
With one of the world’s highest concentrations of castles and no shortage of centuries-old pubs and coaching inns, there are plenty of reputedly haunted places to enjoy a drink or a meal, or even lay your head for the night – if you’re feeling brave.
In addition, the country’s relatively small size means it’s possible to combine several of these places into one ghost-heavy itinerary. Here’s where travellers with a penchant for the paranormal should head to get spooked this Halloween.
1. Skirrid Inn, Abergavenny, Wales
With a history going back 900 years, the Skirrid Inn in the eastern fringes of Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park is the oldest pub in Wales. If you believe the locals, it’s also the most haunted. The building’s ghostly associations go back to its former life as a courthouse and jail, which saw hundreds of prisoners executed by hanging from a wooden beam that still sits behind the bar.
Reports over the centuries tell of glasses flying across the bar, creepy laughter echoing from the upstairs rooms and sudden drops in temperature. Ghost hunt evenings are held here several times a month, and you can also stay in one of the guestrooms, which are as cosy and traditional as the pub downstairs, with its stone hearths, log fires and hearty home-cooked food. It’s also a lovely base for walks in nearby Coed y Cerrig, a wooded glacial valley tucked away in the Black Mountains.
2. Chillingham Castle, Northumberland
In the remote reaches of rural Northumberland – one of England’s most beautiful yet under-appreciated corners – lies Chillingham, reputedly the country’s most haunted historic castle. Beginning life as a monastery in the 12th Century, Chillingham frequently came under attack by raiders from Scotland, whose border is barely 15 miles from here. The monastery was fortified into a castle in 1344 as it was strategically important for the English armies heading north – King Edward I, for example, stayed here in 1298 while en route to fight Sir William “Braveheart” Wallace.
Throughout the medieval period, Chillingham harboured many prisoners, the most unfortunate of whom came under the dubious care of John Sage, a torturer with the well-earned sobriquet “Butcher of the Scots”. Today, replicas of Sage’s fearsome torture devices – spiked chairs, twisting racks, iron maidens and the like – are on display in the castle’s dungeon. Evening ghost tours of the castle, meanwhile, tell of some of the wandering spirits said to roam its corridors, including the “Blue Boy”, a glowing apparition of a child said to haunt one of the corridors; another often reported is a ghostly lady said to stalk one of the courtyards at night, begging passersby for water.
For the full Chillingham experience, though, stay overnight in one of the castle’s historic guestrooms: modern self-catering apartments housed in the former dairy, guard quarters and lookout tower, among other sections of the building. Be sure to explore the grounds, too: a snow-white herd of rare, primeval cattle, unchanged since medieval times, complement the ghostly aesthetic.
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