The Most Haunted Castles in Britain and Beyond, and the One You Can Sleep In
Britain has more haunted castles than anywhere on earth, which is what happens when you stack a thousand years of sieges, murders and executions inside stone walls and then tell stories about it for…
Britain has more haunted castles than anywhere on earth, which is what happens when you stack a thousand years of sieges, murders and executions inside stone walls and then tell stories about it for centuries. These are ten of the most famously haunted, from a Northumberland castle you can book a night in to a Czech fortress built over the supposed gateway to hell. The ghosts are folklore, of course. The history underneath them is real, and often grimmer than the legends.
A haunted castle is really a castle with a good story attached, and the best of them have several. This list leans on Britain, where the tradition runs deepest, then crosses to Ireland and into Europe for two that earn their place. For each one we give the haunting people come for, the documented history behind it, and whether you can actually visit, or in one case, stay the night.
1. Chillingham Castle, Northumberland
Northumberland The Blue Boy and the Grey Lady Ghost tours and overnight stays Map
Widely billed as Britain's most haunted castle, Chillingham earns the title partly on a genuinely unsettling discovery. Its most famous ghost is the Blue Boy, a child said to wail near the Pink Room followed by a blue flash; during 20th-century renovations, workers found the bones of a child and scraps of blue cloth bricked inside a wall. The Grey Lady is thought to be Dorothy Beaumont, who died at the castle shortly after childbirth.[1]
Chillingham is also the rare castle on this list you can sleep in. It rents eight apartments and runs ghost tours (around £25 a head) and overnight ghost hunts (from about £50), so you can stay among the ghosts on purpose, the most committed entry in our guide to castles you can stay in.
2. Glamis Castle, Angus
Angus, Scotland The Monster of Glamis Open to visitors Map
The childhood home of the late Queen Mother, Glamis is the most legend-haunted castle in Scotland. Its stories include a secret chamber said to hide the "Monster of Glamis," the Ogilvie clansmen reputedly walled up to die in 1486, Earl Beardie who supposedly lost his soul to the Devil over a game of cards, and a Grey Lady in the chapel. Few castles carry as many overlapping ghost stories under one roof.
3. Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Phantom piper and prisoners Open to visitors Map
Sitting on its volcanic rock above the city, Edinburgh Castle is often called the most haunted spot in the UK simply for the number of spirits reported there: a phantom piper lost in the tunnels beneath the castle, a headless drummer, French and colonial prisoners of war from the dungeons, and even a ghost dog said to wander the soldiers' pet cemetery. Centuries as a prison and garrison left plenty of misery to draw on.
4. The Tower of London
London Anne Boleyn and the executed Open to visitors Map
England's most famous fortress is also its most famously haunted. The Tower is said to be walked by Anne Boleyn, beheaded here in 1536 and reported near the chapel where she is buried, along with Lady Jane Grey and the spirits of others executed within the walls. Dogs are said to refuse to enter the Salt Tower. Here the documented history, real beheadings of real queens, is darker than any ghost story built on it.
5. Stirling Castle
Stirling The Pink Lady and the Green Lady Open to visitors Map
Stirling has two resident ladies and a Highlander. The Pink Lady is said to be a noblewoman who died of a broken heart after her knight starved in the castle during the Wars of Independence; the Green Lady is read as an omen of misfortune; and a Highland ghost in full dress is reported so often that visitors sometimes mistake him for a costumed guide.
6. Warwick Castle
Warwickshire The Ghost Tower Open to visitors, ghost tours Map
Warwick leans hard into its hauntings as a visitor attraction, centred on the Watergate Tower, known as the Ghost Tower. Its signature spirit is Sir Fulke Greville, stabbed to death by his manservant in 1628 and said to wander the tower where he once lived. It is the most theatrical entry here, and the easiest to visit with children in tow.
7. Dover Castle, Kent
Kent The headless drummer boy Open to visitors, after-dark tours Map
Dover guards the closest crossing to France and has the layered history to match. Visitors report the lower half of a man passing through a doorway, a crying woman in a red dress on the keep's stairway, and drumming from the battlements, attributed to a young drummer boy said to have been beheaded for the money he carried. English Heritage runs after-dark tours for the brave.
8. Leap Castle, County Offaly
Offaly, Ireland The Bloody Chapel and the Elemental Private, occasional tours Map
Ireland's most haunted castle has the grimmest origin story of all. Leap's "Bloody Chapel" is named for a priest said to have been murdered at the altar by his own brother during Mass. Worse, in local lore, is the Elemental, a foul-smelling entity with a half-human face described by a former owner, Mildred Darby, who dabbled in the occult in the early 1900s. Leap is privately owned, with occasional tours.
9. Houska Castle, Czech Republic
Bohemia The gateway to hell Apr–Oct Map
Some castles are haunted; Houska was, according to the legend, built to keep the haunting in. The early-Gothic Czech castle is said to sit over a bottomless pit and a doorway to hell, with a chapel raised directly on top to seal it. We tell its full story, fact carefully separated from folklore, in our Houska Castle deep-dive.
10. Bran Castle, Romania
Transylvania "Dracula's castle" Open to visitors Map
No haunted list is complete without the castle the world knows as Dracula's. Bran earned its reputation less through its own ghosts than through Bram Stoker's novel and the Transylvanian setting, but its silhouette above the forest does the rest. The real story of Bran and the other Transylvanian castles is in our Transylvania castles guide.
At a glance
| Castle | Region | When to go | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chillingham Castle, Northumberland | Northumberland | Ghost tours and overnight stays |
| Glamis Castle, Angus | Angus, Scotland | Open to visitors |
| Edinburgh Castle | Edinburgh | Open to visitors |
| The Tower of London | London | Open to visitors |
| Stirling Castle | Stirling | Open to visitors |
| Warwick Castle | Warwickshire | Open to visitors, ghost tours |
| Dover Castle, Kent | Kent | Open to visitors, after-dark tours |
| Leap Castle, County Offaly | Offaly, Ireland | Private, occasional tours |
| Houska Castle, Czech Republic | Bohemia | Apr–Oct |
| Bran Castle, Romania | Transylvania | Open to visitors |
Are they really haunted?
No, and that is not really the point. Every haunting here is folklore, the accumulated storytelling of centuries, and the "evidence" is reported sightings rather than anything documented. What is documented is usually worse than the ghost: a child's bones in a wall at Chillingham, a queen beheaded at the Tower, clansmen left to die at Glamis. The ghost stories are how places remember their own histories, dressed up to be told after dark.
That is also why these castles make such good visits. The legend gets you through the door; the real history is what stays with you. For more of the buildings behind the stories, see our roundups of the most famous castles and the world's most beautiful fairytale castles.
Sources
1. Chillingham Castle, official site, ghost lore (the Blue Boy and the bricked-up remains, the Grey Lady) and visitor, tour and accommodation information. https://chillingham-castle.com/ghosts/
2. Sky HISTORY, "7 famous haunted British castles," on the ghost stories of Glamis, Edinburgh, the Tower of London, Stirling, Warwick and Dover. https://www.history.co.uk/articles/7-famous-haunted-british-castles
3. Discovering Ireland, haunted castles of Ireland, on Leap Castle, the Bloody Chapel and the Elemental. https://www.discoveringireland.com/haunted-castles-in-ireland/