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Stories of England: Stories to make you shiver

As restless spirits start to stir this Halloween, we asked our fearless Ghost Tales guides to share a few of their spookiest stories from our haunted houses, abbeys and castles.

This article first appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2023 Members' magazine.

Words: Stephen Yeo, Mark Vance, Kate Vigurs and Tim Eagling

Illustrations: Sue Gent

Ghost riders and the hooded monk

Image: Ghost tales hosts at Battle Abbey

Battle Abbey, East Sussex

Built to commemorate William the Conqueror’s victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, Battle Abbey fell victim to Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, leaving atmospheric ruins that still stir with the chilling echoes of its past. Over the years there have been numerous sightings of a lone rider, silently galloping his steed across the battlefield. These reports always seem to coincide with the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, as if some fallen warrior is trapped in an endless cycle, reliving their fatal final moments.

As with many other historic sites, the spectre of an unknown lady has been seen stalking the ruins of the abbey. Her long red dress, believed to be from the Tudor period, flows around her solemn silhouette. Tragedy may have ended her life or perhaps it’s love that keeps her here. The area beneath the abbey’s dormitory, where shadows cut across the vaulted ceilings and the air is always cold, is its most haunted. Here, the hooded figure of a monk has been spotted reading, walking and even raising a finger, as if to demand silence. Could this be the last monk to leave the abbey, after it was snatched from the hands of the church?

In 1538, the abbey’s new owner, Sir Anthony Browne, was allegedly feasting within the Abbot’s House, to celebrate his new home, when an aged monk denounced him and his offspring for their usurpation of church property, predicting that the Browne line would be destroyed by fire and water. This curse came to pass in 1793 when the last but one of the Browne line drowned on the Rhine. In the same week, the family’s ancestral seat at Cowdray perished by fire. By 1815, the last descendants of the Brownes were also dead, having drowned in an accident at sea in Bognor Regis.

The blue lady and the viper child

Image: Framlingham Castle

Framlingham Castle, Suffolk

Hidden behind its beautiful high flint walls, Framlingham Castle has a long history filled with menacing tales of cruelty and distress. At times, some of the tormented souls who lived or died within its chambers may still like to make their presence felt.

Poltergeist activity is allegedly rife, with random items dropping from shelves and doors opening and slamming by themselves. Visitors claim to have seen children peering down into the courtyard from the poorhouse windows, only to discover there is no one there. Perhaps these are the spectres of the orphans who once lived here, fearing they will be returned to the ‘naughty cupboard’. This cramped and airless space beneath a staircase now serves as a storeroom but is believed to be where the workhouse children were locked in as punishment for hours on end.

Many have heard the crunch of footsteps on the gravel path leading from the prison gate and some even report hearing the chant of the monks – martyrs to their faith – who were incarcerated there.

And then there is the ghostly apparition of ‘the blue lady’. Many believe her to be Margaret Brotherton, once the owner of Framlingham Castle and the richest and most powerful woman in England. Others claim to have seen the agitated spirit of one of the many Protestants burnt at the stake on the order of Mary I, the Tudor queen who was offered the crown on this very site and who, legend has it, gave birth here to a viper, fathered by the Devil himself.

Restless royals and the ‘licking stone’

Image: Carlisle Castle lit up at night

Carlisle Castle, Cumbria

Ghost sightings are unsurprisingly commonplace at Carlisle Castle, which has something of a gruesome history. Among the spooks is King Stephen, who lost the castle to David I, King of Scotland, in 1135, while fighting a civil war with Empress Matilda, his rival for the English throne. His restless ghost was supposedly seen walking the halls by a soldier serving at the garrison during the 1840s and was blamed for military kit going missing and causing an air of dread and paranoia among the troops.

In winter, when a chill wind blows down from the north, it’s also said that the spectre of Mary Queen of Scots returns to haunt the place where she was imprisoned. While some staff members claim to have heard the swish of velvet skirts across the snow, others swear they have seen a ghostly figure kneeling on the lawn of the ‘ladies walk’ as if deep in prayer.

When the Jacobites were defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, many men were brought to Carlisle and locked up in the dungeon. Carrying dreadful injuries, they were kept in the dark as their own filth piled up around them. With no access to food or water, the men resorted to licking the damp stone walls of their cell. Today, it’s possible to see where the stone has been worn into a pillar by the desperate tongues of these starving, thirst-driven prisoners, whose voices and cries for help have been heard by visitors and staff alike.

Plague pits and the ‘hell chamber’

Image: Bolsover Castle at night

Bolsover Castle, Derbyshire

Only the most intrepid ghost hunters should take the Ghost Tales tour of England’s most haunted castle. Once William Cavendish’s ‘pleasure palace’ in the 17th century, the castle is now home to a cast of spooks and spectres, from ghostly horses in the riding school to a whole army of equine ghouls making their way home from the English Civil Wars.

Visiting mothers have claimed to feel a child holding their hand, only to discover there is no one there. The culprit is said to be a young boy who lost his own mother many centuries ago after tumbling to his death from a tree in the courtyard.

Inside the Little Castle, a baby can sometimes be heard crying – an illegitimate child taken to its untimely death in the castle kitchens, perhaps? And within the castle, William Cavendish himself has been said to touch the legs and faces of female visitors, while exotic smells waft through the air in his former chambers. At night, stay well away from the Elysium Closet, once known as the hell room, where it’s said that if the words ‘sleep no more’ are uttered, death will be swift to follow.

The jilted lover and the executed rebels

Image: Scarborough Castle at night

Scarborough Castle, North Yorkshire

The 12th-century castle at Scarborough has seen many troubled times. Slighted in the English Civil Wars and damaged during the naval bombardment of 1914, the castle walls could tell a thousand stories.

Perhaps the most well-known spectre at Scarborough is that of Piers Gaveston – friend, confidante and maybe even lover to Edward II. When he carried the crown at Edward’s coronation, many nobles were furious at his growing influence. A barons’ rebellion saw Gaveston seeking refuge at Scarborough. But the rebels laid siege to the castle, taking Gaveston prisoner. He was beheaded in June 1312 on Blacklow Hill. It is said his headless corpse continues to haunt the castle.

The castle was witness to many other horrors. In 1557, it was besieged again – this time by Thomas Stafford, who proclaimed himself ‘protector of the realm’ and incited rebellion against Queen Mary. Stafford was executed at Tyburn and several of his followers were executed at Scarborough, where their bodies were boiled and tanned before being put on public display to warn off other would-be rebels. Their tortured spirits are said to walk the grounds to this day.

The ghost cot and the deathly bride

Image: Kenilworth Castle at night

Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire

Kenilworth Castle has more than nine hundred years of history, so it’s hardly surprising to discover that many people believe its skeletal ruins are haunted.

Staff members claim to have seen a ghostly child running across the stable roof before disappearing, while others swear to have seen the silhouette of a cot in the Elizabethan bedroom rocking all by itself.

It seems that almost every historical site has a mysterious mist-like female form that haunts its grounds, staircases or hallways – and Kenilworth is no exception. Here, there is more than one theory as to the identity of the ‘white lady’. Perhaps it is the ghost of Lady Amy Dudley, the first wife of Sir Robert Dudley (although she died in Oxfordshire). Or maybe the ghoul was the daughter of the Royalist commander of the castle from the early days of the English Civil Wars. Another theory is that it’s the lost soul of one Constance Haslett, an unfortunate young woman who died in the grounds of the castle in the mid-1800s, while searching for her lost love on her wedding day.

With so many accounts of sightings from visitors and staff, it’s hard to believe that this could be a figment of so many people’s overactive imaginations…

Image: evening tour at Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden

Halloween

From family events to ghost tales, there is something for everyone to enjoy at our sites this Halloween. Older visitors can join our historic storytellers on a journey through the past, with tales of ghosts, supernatural sightings and horrors from history. Meanwhile, younger adventurers can discover the shadows of our sites on family trails, or see Whitby Abbey in a whole new light in our Illumunated Abbey event. 

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Image: Illustration of Kenilworth Castle