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Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Castle Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

White Lady

Location: Longforgan (Perth and Kinross) - HMP Castle Huntly, open prison
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Her white robes flowing as she walks, the white lady is said to leapt from the battlements to escape punishment after being caught with a manservant. A young boy that also haunts the site is thought to be Richard Paterson who drowned in the Tay in 1939.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2007-10-13 | Last updated: 2007-10-13 | ID #8028

Money Coffin

Location: Longtown (Herefordshire) - Longtown Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown - still present
Further Comments: A local myth says that one thousand guineas are buried on this site, concealed within a coffin.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2007-10-01 | Last updated: 2007-10-01 | ID #7984

Edmond Roe O'Kennedy

Location: Lough Derg (County Tipperary) - Annagh Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1975
Further Comments: Edmond was murdered in the sixteenth century before telling anyone where he had concealed his hidden treasure. Since his death, Edmond's shade has appeared to visitors at the ruined site, blood leaking from a large slit in his throat.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-04-02 | Last updated: 2005-04-02 | ID #6034

Fire Breathing Hound

Location: Lough Derg (County Tipperary) - Castle Biggs
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This abomination with cloven hooves protects a hidden hoard of treasure somewhere near this house.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2005-04-14 | Last updated: 2005-04-14 | ID #6187

Suicide

Location: Loughmoe (County Tipperary) - Loughmoe Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ruins of this castle are reputedly haunted by a man who killed himself within.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2017-12-08 | Last updated: 2017-12-08 | ID #12659

Partying

Location: Loughrea (County Galway) - Castle Daly
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The echo of a party, complete with music and laughter, can be heard from the building, though some reports say the celebrations end with screams and cries for help.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-04-02 | Last updated: 2005-04-02 | ID #6046


An old postcard of Lowther Castle in Cumbria.

Sir James Lowther's Coach

Location: Lowther (Cumbria) - Lowther Castle
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown - Middle Ages?
Further Comments: Sir James was blamed when poltergeist activity sprung up around the castle a few days after his death. The entity caused a little disruption at the funeral (in the form of knocking emerging from the casket). The carriage Sir James travelled in during life was seen and heard moving along the roads near the castle at dangerous speeds, glowing in the dark. This ghost has not been reported since an exorcism was performed.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-06-24 | Last updated: 2002-06-24 | ID #1421


An old postcard showing Ludlow Castle.

Marion

Location: Ludlow (Shropshire) - Ludlow Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Marion, her castle besieged by rivals, lowered a rope for her secret love to enter the building, which he dutifully did. Unfortunately, he also brought with him the castle's enemies. Realising too late she had been betrayed, Marion stabbed her lover and jumped from the window of the tower, dying upon impact with the ground. Her shade now re-enacts this tragedy, while the sound of her lover dying has also been reported.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-06-23 | Last updated: 2002-06-23 | ID #1381

Glowing Room

Location: Lulworth Cove (Dorset) - Lulworth Castle (was ruined, now restored)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1500s-1800s
Further Comments: A room in the castle would be illuminated by an eerie radiance at night - it was said that it glowed so brightly that the room was once knocked down and rebuilt, only to start radiating the mysterious light again.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2002-07-11 | Last updated: 2002-07-11 | ID #1681

Gordon in the Bedroom

Location: Lumphanan (Aberdeenshire) - Craigievar Castle, Blue Room
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: This unnamed member of the Gordon family is believed to have fallen to his death from a bedroom window, and now haunts that room. A much more selective shade is a fiddler who drowned on the site - he only appears to people named Forbes.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2002-09-09 | Last updated: 2002-09-09 | ID #2403


An old woodcut of a pig.

Black Pig

Location: Lydford (Devon) - Lydford Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom pig is said to be the ghost of Judge Jeffreys. Another ghost seen in the vicinity is that of Lady Howard.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2002-07-16 | Last updated: 2002-07-16 | ID #1766

Six Saxons

Location: Lympne (Kent) - Lympne Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Brutally murdered by Normans, six Saxon warriors now haunt the castle. Another version of the story says the deceased were priests, and just a single phantom remains. An eagle haunted one bedroom; one resident placed stuffed birds in the room, so the ghost had fellow avian company. It is also said that a ghostly Roman soldier has been heard ascending the battlements and has been seen falling from the building (a Roman watchtower once stood on the site).

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-06-16 | Last updated: 2026-04-06 | ID #1259

Black Monk

Location: Lynton (Devon) - Lynton Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: After the lady of the castle refused entry to a black monk, the holy man placed a curse on the Lynton estates. Her husband, the Baron, died a little while later (it was said the black monk again appeared just prior to his death), and it was not until the Baron's son asked the monk for forgiveness that the curse was lifted - the castle collapsed, and the son and the rest of the family taken by a 'radiant cloud'.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2008-02-26 | Last updated: 2008-02-26 | ID #8240

Giant's Home

Location: Lythe (North Yorkshire) - Mulgrave Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Castle still stands
Further Comments: This castle was said to be the home of Wade, the giant. He is also held accountable for a road and two large 'graves', marked by standing stones.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-10-17 | Last updated: 2002-10-17 | ID #2681

Cormac Tadhg McCarthy

Location: Macroom (County Cork) - Carrigaphoca (aka Carrigaphouka, aka Carrigaphooca) Castle
Type: Vampire
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Charged with tracking down Irish rebels, Cormac once ate the flesh of one man he caught. This may have damned him, and as such a few believe he still lurks in the ruins of the castle. The site is also home to a Pooca, a ghastly grim entity which reputedly attacks visitors if the opportunity arises.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-04-13 | Last updated: 2005-04-13 | ID #6114

David Beaton

Location: Mains of Melgund (Angus) - Melgund Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Built by Cardinal Beaton in the mid-sixteenth century, his ghost took a liking to the property after the death of the flesh.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2003-05-31 | Last updated: 2003-05-31 | ID #4294

Puck

Location: Malahide (County Dublin) - Malahide Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976 (Puck), June 2010 (other)
Further Comments: A small man, Puck only stands 120 centimetres tall and possesses a long matted beard. He is said to have been a watchman who fell asleep and failed to see approaching enemy soldiers, so took his own life out of shame. A group of friends who visited the site in June 2010 reported seeing a mannequin's eyes move and a lid of a laundry basket lift itself up.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2005-04-02 | Last updated: 2005-04-02 | ID #6018

Echo

Location: Mallaig (Highland) - Castle close to Mallaig, possibly Castle Tioram
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: If one called out 'Are you in, maiden?' close to the castle ruins, a voice would then be heard emerging from the building, repeating any phrase shouted by visitors.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2022-12-26 | Last updated: 2022-12-26 | ID #14716


The Ruins of Mallow Castle.

Coach

Location: Mallow (County Cork) - Mallow Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Pulled by a team of headless horses, a phantom coach travels around the castle grounds. Another ghost story says the site is haunted by two former residents who walk around at dusk. A more demonic story claims that Sir John Norreys, Lord President of Munster, sold his soul to the Devil and died in the castle when the debt required settling.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2024-06-15 | Last updated: 2024-06-15 | ID #15449

Robert Scott

Location: Margam (West Glamorgan) - Margam Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Former gamekeeper Scott is thought to have been murdered by a poacher and has been observed on the staircase in the hall. Disembodied laughter has also been reported, as have the fleeting glimpses of Victorian children. The nearby ruins of Margam abbey are haunted by a monk.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-02-20 | Last updated: 2005-02-20 | ID #5877

Shadowy Figure

Location: Marldon (Devon) - Compton Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in clothing named as seventeenth century, this figure has been reported near the tower.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2003-12-27 | Last updated: 2003-12-27 | ID #4913

Many Spirits

Location: Marshwood (Dorset) - Lambert's Castle (hillfort)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Seventeenth century
Further Comments: A seventeenth century historian said that this hillfort was particularly haunted but neglected to say by what.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2009-06-28 | Last updated: 2009-06-28 | ID #9570


Catherine Parr, painted by Master John.

Catherine Parr

Location: Masham (North Yorkshire) - Snape Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost dressed in blue is believed to be the wife of Henry VIII. The former queen is said to radiate a sense of calm and peace.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2002-10-18 | Last updated: 2002-10-18 | ID #2725


An old postcard showing Culzean Castle.

Piper

Location: Maybole (Ayrshire) - Culzean Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Heard above the rising gale on windy nights, the musical notes of this long dead piper still haunt the castle. The cries of someone being tortured have also been recorded, while another witness reported talking to a raven haired lass who vanished as he moved too close.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2002-06-25 | Last updated: 2002-06-25 | ID #1449

Top of a Woman

Location: Meggernie (Perth and Kinross) - Meggernie Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1862, and late 1920s
Further Comments: The 1862 witness, along with others previously, said he woke up during the night to feel a burning kiss on his cheek - standing over him was a woman, who quickly moved away towards an adjoining room. As she drifted though the doorway, the witness noticed she had no legs. The figure has also been seen inverted - just a pair of legs with no torso. One explanation offered is that the figure was murdered, and the body cut in two... A visiting doctor who stayed the night in the 1920s also reported seeing a floating head and shoulders.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2002-06-21 | Last updated: 2002-06-21 | ID #1368

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