Château de Brissac

Rising seven storeys above the little river Aubance south of Angers, the Château de Brissac is often called the tallest château in France. A fortress stood here from the time of the Counts of Anjou; in the 15th century it was rebuilt by Pierre de Brézé, a minister of King Charles VII, whose two round medieval towers still frame the east front. In 1502 the estate was bought by René de Cossé, and his descendants – later Dukes of Brissac – have owned it ever since. After damage in the Wars of Religion, the first duke began the towering Baroque wing in the early 17th century, leaving the building famously half-medieval, half-grand siècle.

The ghost belongs to the Brézé era. Pierre’s son Jacques de Brézé married Charlotte de Valois, the illegitimate daughter of Charles VII and his celebrated mistress Agnès Sorel. On the night of 31 May 1477 Jacques found Charlotte with Pierre de Lavergne, one of his household, and killed them both with his sword. He was condemned to death but pardoned in exchange for a crushing fine, and the scandal helped ruin the family’s fortunes; their grandson sold Brissac to the Cossé family a generation later.

Legend places the murder inside Brissac and says Charlotte never left. She is the Dame Verte, the Green Lady, named for the green gown in which she appears – and, in the more lurid tellings, for a ruined face with empty holes where her eyes and nose should be. Contemporary records, however, put the killing not at Brissac but at the Brézé property at Rouvres, in today’s Eure-et-Loir, far to the northeast. The Brissac story seems to have grown from the family association with the château rather than from the crime scene itself.

The Cossé-Brissac family treats its ghost with affection. The château’s own published history, written in the voice of a duke, mentions the Brézés’ departure and wonders aloud whether Charlotte’s restless spirit still drifts through the house on feverish nights. Today the château is lived in by the 14th Duke and his family, who open it for tours, concerts in the gilded 19th-century theatre, receptions and bed-and-breakfast stays.

Guests and staff describe a woman in a green dress glimpsed in corridors and on the stairs, footsteps, moaning in the early hours and occasional laughter. The most dramatic accounts claim that those who see her close up glimpse a face disfigured by her wounds.

The tower room near the chapel is the classic spot, along with the chapel itself, upper corridors and some of the bedrooms; sightings are usually said to happen late at night.

The Green Lady is a fixture of “most haunted châteaux” lists and haunted-winery features, since Brissac also produces Anjou wine. The château has hosted the Val de Loire festival in its theatre and served as the venue for two French battles on the original Japanese Iron Chef in 1996.