Do you dare visit one of these haunted locations?

Halloween is almost upon us so as it is the season to be spooky, here are some of the creepiest places across the UK for you to visit – if you dare… From grizzly stories of murder and execution to witches and all manner of terrifying tales, the UK is a haven for horror lovers, so if trick or treating is your passion, delve into these locations.

Pluckley, Kent, England TN27 0QT.  

How does visiting Britain’s most haunted village sound? This village in Kent might be small but it is full of spirits and spooky goings on. In fact, it is so haunted that it features in the Guinness Book of World Records! It is said to have up to fourteen ghosts that are regularly seen by residents and visitors. The most commonly seen spooks include:
A phantom coach and horses
The ghost of a highway man
The ghost of a woman who drowned in a stream
Three suicide victims
The ghost of the local miller
And a White and a Red Lady who both haunt St Nicholas Church.
There is also a small white dog ghost.

Aside from the lure of ghosts, Pluckley is a lovely place to visit, it has been inhabited since the Roman times and was the setting for the Darling Buds of May as the author lived nearby.

Pendle Hill, Lancashire, England BB12 9JX

As you will have read in our previous post, Pendle Hill in Lancashire saw one of the worst witch hunts in Britain with 12 people being executed on the grounds of witchcraft in 1612. As they were guilty of being witches, they couldn’t be buried on consecrated ground, so the 12 bodies were taken from Lancaster Castle to Pendle Hill where they were buried overlooking the village of Newchurch.

Today Pendle Hill is a lovely place to go for walks or hikes though there are several ghost tours that take place too and of course, depending on the weather, it can be very atmospheric and spooky at the hill’s peak.

Chillingham Castle, Northumberland, England NE66 5NJ

Known as being Britain’s most haunted castle, Chillingham Castle is a great place to go if you want to experience some bumps in the night. You can even stay over, that’s if you think you can handle it. According to those who live and work at the castle, it has some of the highest levels of paranormal activity in the country with at least four regularly reported spirits.

Those you’re most likely to see include:
The White Pantry Ghost
The Chamber Ghost
The Chapel Ghosts
The Courtyard Ghosts

You can find out more about Chillingham Castle here.

Glasgow Necropolis, Glasgow, Scotland G4 0UZ

This cemetery in Glasgow is said to be the final resting place of more than 50,000 people and some of the graves are so old that only a handful of them still have names. Allegedly as well as the general feeling of spookiness that surrounds a graveyard, you may run into the Gorbals Vampire, a 7ft vampire that likes to eat young children and is said to roam around the site at night.

The Necropolis is, as you might expect, known to be one of the most haunted places in Glasgow, the most sighted spirit is the Woman in White who is said to float through the grave stones in the early morning hours.

Today the cemetery is managed by a volunteer group who offer tours where you can learn more about the people buried there and the history of the area.

The Tower of London, London, England EC3N 4AB

As the site of several executions, including queens Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, as well as anyone else who upset a monarch over the years, it’s hardly surprising that the Tower of London has a couple of spirits roaming around. It is rumoured that there are 13 ghosts you can spot and you might recognise a couple of their names:
Anne Boleyn, who can be seen at Tower Green, St Peter ad Vincula and the corridors of the tower, minus her head of course.
Henry VI – King Henry was imprisoned in the Tower during the War of the Roses and met his end in Wakefield Tower when he was stabbed while praying, it’s said he like to make an appearance in the tower at midnight.
Lady Jane Grey, she was queen for a whole nine days before her cousin, Mary Tudor marched in and her executed. She is often seen wandering the battlements.
Lord Guildford Dudley, Lady Jane’s husband and related to a certain Robert Dudley, frequents Beauchamp Tower and can be heard weeping into the night. Apparently, he scratched his wife’s name into the wall, so look out for it next time you’re there.
Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury had a truly horrible execution – she refused to lower her head to the block and was instead ran around the scaffold being chased by the executioner who hacked at her until she died. Her ghost is said to re-enact the chase and her screams can be heard on Tower Green.
The White Lady – an as of yet unidentified woman who wears very strong perfume and likes to creep up on visitors to poke them.
The Princes – yes the boys who were imprisoned in the Tower by Richard III are said to be seen wandering around the White Tower in their night clothes and sometimes you can hear the sounds of children giggling on the battlements.
Sir Walter Raleigh – he was imprisoned in the Tower twice and ended up being executed for Treason, he can be seen in the Bloody Tower and along Raleigh’s Walk.
The Grey Lady – she haunts the Queen’s House and has also yet to be identified.
Arabella Stuart – she also haunts the Queen’s House, though it isn’t known whether she was murdered or died by her own hand while imprisoned.
Guy Fawkes – though he escaped execution by jumping to his death, Guy Fawkes is known to hang around the White Tower.
The animals – yes, the remaining famous spirits are all animals left over from when the Tower was home to the royal menagerie. The ghosts of a grizzly bear, lions, monkeys and horses have all been seen wondering around the Tower’s grounds.

Llancaich Fawr Manor, Treharris, Wales CF46 6ER

Llancaich Fawr Manor is described as being one of the most haunted houses in Wales and once featured on Most Haunted. The house dates back to 1550, so has had several residents and stories over the years.

Among the ghosts said to make an appearance is Mattie, a former housekeeper who died in a fire, a small boy who fell from an upper floor window and likes to hold the hands of visitors and soldiers in full Civil War uniforms.

You can find out more about the manor and book ghost tours here.

Do you dare to visit any of these locations?