Country file · Europe

Haunted places in England

What are the most haunted places in England? The best-known are Tower of London, The Enfield Poltergeist, Borley Rectory and The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, among 20 on file.

Few countries have told ghost stories as long, or written them down as carefully, as England. Its haunted places are layered with a thousand years of recorded history: royal fortresses where queens were beheaded, Tudor palaces, Civil War manors, coaching inns on lonely moors, Victorian townhouses and council estates. The English also invented much of the modern apparatus of ghost hunting — the Society for Psychical Research was founded in London in 1882, and figures like Harry Price turned investigations into newspaper serials — so England’s most famous cases tend to come with a paper trail, and with a skeptical literature to match.

20 hauntings
12 recorded sightings
8 news stories

Haunted places in England

Apparition · 1810s

The ghost lore of England

The classics are the Tower of London, with Anne Boleyn and the strange “cylinder” seen in the Jewel House in 1817; Hampton Court Palace and its Haunted Gallery; the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, subject of the world’s best-known ghost photograph; and the cases that defined 20th-century psychical research — Borley Rectory, “the most haunted house in England,” and the Enfield poltergeist of 1977–79, where the SPR’s own investigators found evidence of trickery. Folklore runs alongside: the Pendle witch trials of 1612 still shape Lancashire’s landscape, and nearly every old pub claims a resident spirit.

Ghost hunters head for York, which bills itself as one of Europe’s most haunted cities; London’s Tower, theaters and cemeteries; Cornwall’s Jamaica Inn; and stately homes and castles from Norfolk to Northumberland, where Chillingham sells regular ghost tours. Many of these places are run by heritage charities and welcome visitors; several famous “haunted houses” are private homes and should be admired from the street.

Ghost-hunting hotspots

York
A walled medieval city whose Roman soldiers, haunted pubs and nightly ghost walks led one ghost society to declare it the world’s most haunted city in 2002.
London’s West End and the City
From the Tower to Drury Lane and Highgate, the capital packs royal, theatrical and Victorian ghosts into a few square miles, with ghost walks every night.
The Pendle villages, Lancashire
Barley, Newchurch-in-Pendle and Roughlee keep the memory of the 1612 witch trials alive, and Pendle Hill draws crowds every Halloween.
Bodmin Moor, Cornwall
Bleak moorland of smuggling legends, stone circles and Jamaica Inn, where du Maurier’s gothic imagination and local folklore meet.

Timeline

October 2003
The cloaked figure on CCTV Hampton Court Palace
Fire doors repeatedly burst open on camera; one clip shows a robed figure stepping forward to pull them shut. Released in December 2003, the footage made international news; no explanation has been confirmed.
2004
Most Haunted visits Jamaica Inn
Yvette Fielding and Derek Acorah filmed an investigation for the show’s third series; chains Acorah said were linked to an “unscrupulous death” are displayed in reception.
Halloween 2004
Most Haunted live on Pendle Pendle Hill and the Pendle Witches
The Living channel’s live Halloween investigation made the hill a ghost-hunting destination; presenter Yvette Fielding called it the scariest episode the team had made.
2008
Most Haunted investigates The Ancient Ram Inn
The British paranormal TV series filmed an investigation at the inn, helping spread its reputation far beyond Gloucestershire.
October 2011
Police plea to Halloween crowds Pendle Hill and the Pendle Witches
Lancashire police and the Ribble Valley safety group closed the hill to parked cars, fairground rides and catering vans on Halloween night after years of heavy traffic, alcohol-related disorder and fireworks.
December 2011
The “witch’s cottage” Pendle Hill and the Pendle Witches
United Utilities engineers uncovered a well-preserved 17th-century building with a mummified cat bricked into a wall, probably a charm against evil. Speculation that it was Malkin Tower was disputed by local historians.
2012
The 400th anniversary Pendle Hill and the Pendle Witches
Commemorations included a giant “1612” laid out in fleece on the hillside and new books, among them Jeanette Winterson’s The Daylight Gate, recasting the accused as victims rather than villains.
2014
Death of Harry Martindale Treasurer’s House, York
Martindale died having told the same story for decades; asked whether he believed in ghosts, he reportedly said he only believed in what he saw.
2014
Tabloid front pages Black-Eyed Children
The Daily Star runs a string of front-page stories about black-eyed children, including claimed sightings around Cannock Chase.
June 2016
The Conjuring 2 The Enfield Poltergeist
Warner Bros. released a horror film based on Ed and Lorraine Warren’s involvement, though the Warrens’ visit to Enfield had been brief. Skeptics used the release to restate the evidence of trickery.
December 2017
Death of John Humphries The Ancient Ram Inn
The inn’s longtime owner and chief storyteller died aged 89. His daughter Caroline continues to run the building as a paranormal events venue.
2021
Reopening and ghost tours Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
After a restoration costing about £60 million, the theater reopened and launched its first Halloween late-night tours introducing the Man in Grey, Macklin, Grimaldi and Leno.