Kind of place · 27 hauntings
Haunted Castles & Palaces
Castles, towers, palaces and stately homes with centuries of ghost stories.
- 27 places
- 1 in the USA
- 26 you can visit
Castles and palaces have the longest ghost records of all, with centuries of executions, sieges and dynastic intrigue to draw on. The Tower of London is said to host Anne Boleyn, executed there in 1536; Hampton Court Palace has its Haunted Gallery, where Catherine Howard is said to run screaming; Scotland’s Glamis Castle is wrapped in legends of a secret room; Ireland’s Leap Castle is called one of the most haunted in Europe; and Romania’s Bran Castle trades on a Dracula connection that historians consider tenuous.
Castles are also where ghost stories have been tested. In studies published in 2002 and 2003, psychologist Richard Wiseman and colleagues asked hundreds of visitors to walk through Hampton Court’s haunted areas and the Edinburgh vaults and record anything unusual. People reported more experiences in the places with a haunted reputation, even when they didn’t know which those were – and the reports tracked mundane features such as lighting levels and variations in the local magnetic field, as well as visitors’ beliefs and the suggestions they had been given.
Many castles are now museums and heritage sites, and several – from the Tower to Edinburgh Castle – run ghost events. Our files sort the documented history from the tour-guide embroidery, and tell you how to visit.
Haunted Castles & Palaces in the USA
Around the world
Tower of London
Nine centuries of royal prisoners, executions and murders have left the Tower of London with England’s most famous crowd of ghosts, Anne Boleyn first. Widely reported
Hampton Court Palace
Henry VIII’s Thameside palace, where Catherine Howard is said to scream down the Haunted Gallery and a cloaked figure was caught on CCTV in 2003. Widely reported
Bhangarh Fort
A ruined Rajput fort town in Rajasthan’s Aravalli hills, billed as India’s most haunted place – and closed by law between sunset and sunrise. Widely reported
Glamis Castle
The Queen Mother’s childhood home, a turreted Scottish castle of secret rooms, a card-playing earl who gambled with the Devil, and the “Monster of Glamis.” Widely reported
Leap Castle
An Irish midlands stronghold with a “Bloody Chapel,” an oubliette and a foul-smelling “elemental,” often billed as the world’s most haunted castle. Widely reported
The White Lady of the Hohenzollerns
For four centuries a pale woman was said to appear in the palaces of Prussia’s ruling Hohenzollerns to announce a coming death in the family. Folklore
Larnach Castle
A banker’s Gothic Revival mansion high on Dunedin’s Otago Peninsula, where visitors report being pushed and staff log sightings of the Larnach family. Widely reported
Castle Frankenstein
A medieval ruin above Darmstadt sold as the ‘real’ Frankenstein castle – a claim historians reject, though ghost hunters and Halloween crowds still come. Regional legend
Castle of Good Hope
South Africa’s oldest building, a Dutch star fort where legend says a cursed governor died at his desk and Lady Anne Barnard still attends parties. Widely reported
Castillo de Chapultepec
The hilltop castle of Mexico City, where Empress Carlota lived before her tragic exile – staff and visitors say her piano still plays at night. Regional legend
Bran Castle
Sold to the world as Dracula’s Castle, Bran was really a Saxon customs fortress and a queen’s home – its vampire link is mostly tourism marketing. Hoax / debunked
Čachtice Castle
The hilltop ruin where Countess Elizabeth Báthory was confined until her death in 1614 – and where legend says the ‘Blood Countess’ still walks. Regional legend
Mikhailovsky Castle
The moated palace where Emperor Paul I was killed 40 days after moving in – and where generations of cadets swore his ghost still walked. Regional legend
Petit Trianon, Versailles
In 1901 two Oxford academics said they saw Marie Antoinette in the gardens of the Petit Trianon – the most famous ‘time slip’ ghost story ever told. Widely reported
Castello di Montebello (Azzurrina)
A hilltop castle near Rimini where an albino girl called Azzurrina is said to have vanished in 1375 – a legend first recorded only in 1989. Regional legend
Czocha Castle
A fairy-tale castle on a Silesian lake with a White Lady, a ‘Well of Unfaithful Wives’ and a crying child in the walls – Poland’s favourite ghost castle. Regional legend
Kellie’s Castle
The unfinished jungle mansion of a Scottish rubber planter in Perak, abandoned after his death in 1926 – and said to be patrolled by his ghost. Regional legend
Houska Castle
A Gothic castle in the Bohemian woods said to have been built to seal a pit leading to hell – a legend that goes back to a 16th-century chronicle. Regional legend
The Moddey Dhoo of Peel Castle
A shaggy phantom hound said to have lain by the guardroom fire of Peel Castle each night — the Isle of Man’s best-known ghost, made famous by Walter Scott. Folklore
Hachiōji Castle Ruins
A Hōjō mountain castle west of Tokyo that fell in a single day in 1590 – now a quiet historic site and one of the capital’s best-known ghost spots. Regional legend
The White Lady of Rožmberk (Český Krumlov Castle)
Bohemia’s best-known ghost walks the Rosenberg castles in white – identified with Perchta, a 15th-century noblewoman whose desperate letters survive. Folklore
Château de Brissac
The Loire’s tallest château, home of the Dukes of Brissac, is said to be haunted by the Green Lady – a king’s daughter killed by her husband in 1477. Widely reported
Shaniwar Wada
The fortified palace of Pune’s Peshwas, where the boy ruler Narayanrao was murdered in 1773 – and where his cry “Uncle, save me!” is said to echo. Regional legend
