The 15 most haunted places in the UK

Blue Bell Hill – also known, less romantically, as the A229 – is supposedly the most haunted road in England. A bride in white is said to stalk its hard shoulder, thought to be the unquenched spirit of Suzanne Browne, a 22-year-old tragically killed with two friends in a crash on the night before her wedding in 1965. Drivers have reported a ‘woman in white’ standing – waiting? – by the treeline, sometimes stepping into the road only to vanish at the moment of impact. In 1972, Bob Vandepeer claimed he gave a lift to a young hitchhiker there, only to find her vanished from the back seat when he turned around.  I have even met a man who said he saw a young woman in white standing by the side of the A277 as he drove home one night. ‘I’m not a ghost guy at all,’ he told me, ‘But I know what I saw. She was there, and then she wasn’t.’ Still today, sightings of the ghostly hitchhiker crop up from time to time.

Common Road, Rochester, ME5 9RG

So much to say about Wistman’s Wood – not only one of Britain’s last remaining temperate rainforests but said to have once been a hunting ground of the Devil himself. The twisted ‘dwarf’ oaks hang low here, and the mist lies heavy. 

It is said to be home to spectral hounds – the Wisht Hounds of the Wild Hunt – who chase lost souls across the moor at night. Not far from the wood’s north edge is a so-called ‘lych way’, or corpse path, where dead bodies were carried to Lydford church. There have been reported sightings of processions of monks in white robes silently passing through. Walkers often report feeling watched, hearing growls from the undergrowth, or being overwhelmed by an inexplicable dread beneath the gnarled, beautiful branches of this magical forest.

Two Bridges, Princetown, PL20

This 12th Century pub is so haunted that they even shut it down in the 1960s because nobody would go. ‘It was because of all the rumours about witchcraft and child sacrifice,’ current deputy manager Tom Dodd explains over the phone.

Now a haunted attraction, guests have reported being dragged from their beds, pinned down by invisible hands, or awaking to dark figures watching from the corner. ‘There’s meant to be an incubus and a succubus on site,’ adds Dodd (translation: a male and female sex ghost). ‘John (the late owner) himself was attacked by a succubus. He never slept in the same bedroom again.’

In 1997, an excavation of the kitchen revealed bones of a woman and a child alongside a sacrificial dagger, and later a mummified cat in the wall. ‘A few weeks ago a couple came in and sang to a rocking horse – and it moved on command, Dodd adds. ‘Last week, a woman was attacked in the barn. It’s all on video.’

8 Potters Pond, Wotton-under-Edge, GL12 7HF

In a tough field, this ruined Norman stronghold has the (un)enviable distinction of being the most haunted castle in Britain. Its star ghost is The Grey Lady, a sorrowful spectre spotted numerous times gliding silently across the grounds. It is said to be the spirit of Dorothy Beaumont, a noblewoman who died, with her baby, in childbirth at the castle in the 1600s.Before she died, she is said to have made two final requests; that she be buried beside her baby, and that a feast be held in her memory. 

Neither happened, so now she walks, heartbroken and betrayed, tethered to this earthly realm by unfinished business. I’ll never forget visiting the place on a school trip in the 1990s when a classmate, Amy, screamed in one of the rooms. Shaking, she swore she had seen a tall woman in grey, standing utterly still in the shadows, staring at her. When teachers rushed in, the room was empty. Poor Amy cried the whole way back to London.

Spend long enough in any graveyard and you can’t help but be touched by the tranquillity of it all, the memento mori. But here, you may also be touched by the ghost of George ‘Bluidy’ Mackenzie, the infamous 17th century lawyer. His mausoleum has stood here since he died in 1691. But it wasn’t until 2004 that two youths broke in, decapitated the corpse inside with a penknife, and reportedly used the head like a hand puppet. Now George is pissed. Since then, hundreds of visitors have claimed scratches, cuts, and shoves from something they cannot see. Some say they’ve encountered ‘cold spots’, odd smells and random bangs.  Greyfriars was also a hotspot for 19th century grave robbers, and it is now said by many to be the most haunted graveyard on Earth.

Greyfriars Place, Edinburgh, EH1 2QQ

Looming over hamlets and farmland in rural Lancashire, Pendle Hill is a properly stunning spot. But it’s got a dark past. In 1612, ten local people known as the Pendle witches were executed nearby after a trial at Lancaster Castle. Some say the hill is haunted by the spirits of those who lost their lives, and there have been a number of alleged sightings over the years. Whatever you believe it’s an undeniably atmospheric place.

Nr. Barley Lane, Nelson, BB9 6LG

Margam Country Park in South Wales is a triple threat. It’s home to the ruined Capel Mair ar y Bryn, where the presence of unwelcoming ancient monks has been felt, a big gothic castle stalked by the spirit of a rageful and unjustly murdered gamekeeper, the ghosts of Victorian children with a penchant for moving objects and disembodied laughter, and a blacksmith who walks the castle grounds, plus the ruins of the twelfth-century Margam Abbey, which are enough on their own to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Nr Port Talbot, SA13 2TJ

Modern witches might want to steer clear of the Essex town of Manningtree. It’s where the self-professed Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins lived in the 1600s. His, erm, efforts resulted in the deaths of hundreds of women in East Anglia’s witch trials. If you don’t feel the ancient anger of the persecuted there, you could spot the ghost of Hopkins himself. Sightings of him have happened during full moons in the neighbouring village of Mistley, by the pond where he infamously drowned so many innocent people. So maybe check when the next full moon is before you go a-wandering!

Manningtree, Essex, CO11

Plenty of pubs have grisly tales to tell, but this ancient boozer in the Brecon Beacons has more than most. Punters have reported hearing slamming doors, loud footsteps and whispered voices. Legend has it that’s because the building was once used as a court of law, and hundreds of defendants were put to death in the inn itself. A noose now hangs in the historic bar of the Skirrid Mountain Inn. You know, in case you need a reminder of its creepy history with your pint.

Llanvihangel Crucorney, Abergavenny, NP7 8DH

A fifteenth-century ruin in a wood? Classic ghost-spotting territory. This grand castle, which was abandoned centuries ago, has a number of creepy tales attached to it. People have reported hearing screams and feeling chills there and bearing scratches or bruises after leaving the castle. The ghosts of Lady Margaret Pomeroy, who supposedly starved to death in the castle’s dungeons, and two Pomeroy brothers who leapt from the castle’s ramparts rather than be caught by their enemies, are said to haunt the site.

Totnes, Devon, TQ9 6LJ

Whitby is the perfect setting for a ghost story. As if the gothic vibe and ‘Dracula’ connection isn’t spinetingling enough, atmospheric Whitby Abbey is said to be home to the ghost of a young nun who was bricked up alive in the walls after breaking her vows. And a phantom hearse with four headless horses and a headless driver has been spotted in front of St Mary’s Church, in the shadow of the Abbey. Woooooooh!

Abbey Lane, Whitby, YO22 4JT

A picturesque village in Kent, Pluckley is known for being the place the TV series ‘The Darling Buds of May’ was filmed – and also for being entirely overrun with ghosts. In fact, villagers proudly boast of their spot in the ‘Guinness Book of Records’ as Britain’s ‘most haunted village’, thanks to the 12 official apparitions that roam the place. Swing by to see if you get a visitation from a phantom coach and horses, a tree-dwelling highwayman, a schoolmaster, a small white dog and others – there’s quite a list.

Pluckley, Kent, TN27

There’s something ethereal and other about the Isle of Skye, with its mind-boggling landscapes and mystical places with names like the Fairy Pools and Fairy Glen. The ruins of Duntulm Castle, which cling to the northern tip of the island, are no exception. It was built in the late fourteenth century before being abandoned around 1730. Now it’s so unstable the clifftop fortress is best viewed from a safe distance. Keep your eyes peeled, though, for the ghost of a nursemaid, murdered after she accidentally dropped a clan chief’s baby out of the window and into the sea below.

Nr Duntulm, Isle of Skye, IV51 9UF

This red-brick manor house has racked up quite a few ghosts since it was completed in the 1630s. The very first tenant, Sir Thomas Holte, allegedly murdered his cook, and the ghost of his daughter, who he locked away for 16 years until her death, is also said to wander the halls alongside Holte’s houseboy and a ‘green lady’, thought to be his housekeeper. Keep your eyes peeled for ghostly Royalist soldiers too. There’s a hole in Aston Hall’s staircase made by a cannonball when the house was under siege during the English Civil War.

Trinity Road, Birmingham, B6 6JD

This is the place for spotting a real celebrity phantom. According to legend, the headless ghost of Anne Boleyn returns to the hall, which was built on the site of her childhood home, every May on the anniversary of her execution. Her anguished dad has also been spotted roaming the nearby countryside, while you might hear or come across the spirits of two other former homeowners inside Blickling Hall, too. 

Blickling, Norwich, NR11 6NF