Ghost Map

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Haunted places

Haunted castles

Thick walls, dungeons, secret passages and centuries of bloody history – a castle is the perfect home for a ghost. In Poland almost every stronghold has its legend: a princess thrown from a tower, a knight walled up alive or a black dog guarding treasure. In Scotland and England haunted castles are a tourist attraction with night tours. Many of these stories were born in the 19th century, when Romantic writers eagerly gave ruins a mysterious past.

cases
29
years
1270–2026

Legend: 29

  1. 13th century

    1. c. 1270–present Haunted castles · Legend Houska Castle – the Gate to Hell Houska Castle, Blatce, Liberec Region, Czechia A Gothic castle north of Prague was supposedly built not to keep enemies out, but to seal a bottomless chasm leading straight down to Hell.

  2. 14th century

    1. c. 1350–present Haunted castles · Legend Brothers Bobol and Mir – the Legend of Bobolice Castle Bobolice Castle, Niegowa commune, Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland Two lookalike brothers, a treasure in an underground tunnel and a walled-up captive – her lament is still said to echo in the ruins of Bobolice and Mirów.
    2. 1375–present Haunted castles · Legend Azzurrina – the Vanished Girl of Montebello Castle Montebello Castle, Poggio Torriana near Rimini, Italy On the summer solstice of 1375 the albino daughter of Montebello's lord supposedly vanished in the castle's ice-house – and her voice is said to return every five years.
    3. c. 1390–present Haunted castles · Legend The Black Phantom of Bąkowiec Castle in Morsko Bąkowiec Castle ruins, Morsko, Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland A cruel lord starved his daughter for loving a poor youth, then died in a storm – ever since, a black phantom has haunted the ruins.

  3. 15th century

    1. c. 1431–present Haunted castles · Legend The Well of Unfaithful Wives and the White Lady of Czocha Czocha Castle, Sucha near Leśna, Lower Silesia, Poland The castle on the Kwisa has a well into which, legend says, unfaithful wives were thrown, while Gertrude, beheaded for treason, roams its corridors.
    2. c. 1450–present Haunted castles · Legend The Black Châtelaine of Grodno Castle Grodno Castle, Zagórze Śląskie, Lower Silesia, Poland The castellan's daughter Margaret pushed her unwanted husband off the walls, and her father had her walled up – a skeleton chained to a wall is shown in the castle.
    3. 1477–present Haunted castles · Legend The Green Lady of Château de Brissac Château de Brissac, Brissac-Quincé, Maine-et-Loire, France The tallest château in the Loire Valley is said to be roamed by the ghost of Charlotte de Brézé, a king's daughter killed by her husband after he caught her with a lover.
    4. 1484–present Haunted castles · Legend Dorotka and the Beheaded Szafraniec – Ghosts of Pieskowa Skała Pieskowa Skała Castle, Prądnik Valley, Ojców National Park, Poland Above the Prądnik Valley walk Dorotka, starved to death in a tower, and Krzysztof Szafraniec, a robber knight beheaded in Kraków in 1484.

  4. 16th century

    1. c. 1510–present Haunted castles · Legend Okiku's Well at Himeji Castle Okiku's Well (Okiku-ido), Himeji Castle, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan From the bottom of a well in Himeji Castle, the ghost of the servant Okiku is said to count plates every night – up to nine – and then let out a terrible scream.
    2. c. 1532–present Haunted castles · Legend Leap Castle and the “Bloody Chapel” Leap Castle near Roscrea, County Offaly, Ireland The O'Carroll stronghold, where one brother is said to have killed his priest brother at the altar, bills itself as “the world's most haunted castle.”
    3. 1537–present Haunted castles · Legend Glamis Castle – the Grey Lady, Earl Beardie and the Monster Glamis Castle, Angus, Scotland, United Kingdom The Lyon family's Scottish seat is said to be one of Britain's most haunted castles, home to a lady burned at the stake and an earl who played cards with the Devil.
    4. c. 1540–present Haunted castles · Legend Puck the jester of Malahide Castle Malahide Castle, Malahide, County Dublin, Ireland The Talbots’ court jester fell in love with a noblewoman held at the castle, was found stabbed beneath the walls and swore he would haunt it.
    5. 1556–present Haunted castles · Legend The White Lady of Chęciny – the Ghost of Queen Bona Royal Castle in Chęciny, Świętokrzyskie, Poland A misty figure in a white dress is said to roam the walls of Chęciny Castle – Queen Bona, searching for treasures that sank in the Nida river.
    6. c. 1573–present Haunted castles · Legend The Cursed Fort of Bhangarh Bhangarh Fort, Alwar district, Rajasthan, India The ruins of a 16th-century fort town in Rajasthan are considered India's most haunted place – blamed on the curse of an ascetic or a sorcerer.
    7. 1590–present Haunted castles · Legend The Ruins of Hachiōji Castle Hachiōji Castle ruins, Mount Shiroyama, Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan A castle taken in a single day in 1590 by Hideyoshi's armies is said to be one of the most haunted places around Tokyo.

  5. 17th century

    1. 1610–present Haunted castles · Legend The Devil of Łańcut and the Ladies of Łańcut Castle Łańcut Castle, Subcarpathia, Poland After dark a black rider is said to arrive at the castle – Stanisław Stadnicki, the “Devil of Łańcut” – while the Blue and White Ladies appear in its salons.
    2. 1625–present Haunted castles · Legend The Ghost of Anna Vasa at Golub Castle Golub Castle, Golub-Dobrzyń, Chełmno Land, Poland The sister of King Sigismund III, who turned a Teutonic castle into a Renaissance residence, is said by legend to keep watch over her rooms still.
    3. 1649–present Haunted castles · Legend The Hussar and the White Lady in the Ruins of Krzyżtopór Krzyżtopór Castle ruins, Ujazd near Iwaniska, Świętokrzyskie, Poland In the vast ruins of the Ossoliński palace people have seen a knight on a black horse and a white female figure – and tourists photographed a ghost in a black habit.
    4. 1655 Haunted castles · Legend The Treasure and Devil Dogs of Tenczyn Castle Tenczyn Castle ruins, Rudno near Krzeszowice, Lesser Poland, Poland The Swedes searched the Tęczyński family castle for the crown treasures, unaware that three devils in the shape of black dogs were guarding them.
    5. 1681–present Haunted castles · Legend The Black Dog of Ogrodzieniec Castle Ogrodzieniec Castle ruins, Podzamcze, Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland A huge black dog dragging a chain is said to prowl the ruined courtyard at night – according to legend, the damned soul of castellan Stanisław Warszycki.
    6. c. 1700–present Haunted castles · Legend Berry Pomeroy and its White and Blue Ladies Berry Pomeroy Castle near Totnes, Devon, United Kingdom The ruins of the Pomeroy and Seymour castle are said to be haunted by Margaret, starved in a dungeon, and the Blue Lady, whose appearance foretells death.

  6. 18th century

    1. 1729–present Haunted castles · Legend Governor van Noodt's Curse at the Castle of Good Hope Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, South Africa South Africa's oldest building is said to be haunted by a governor cursed by a soldier on the gallows – who was found dead at his desk that same day.
    2. c. 1797–present Haunted castles · Legend Umina and the Inca Treasure of Niedzica Castle Dunajec Castle in Niedzica, Pieniny Mountains, Poland Legend says the Inca princess Umina was stabbed to death in the castle courtyard, and a knotted-cord testament to the Inca treasure was hidden under the gate's threshold.

  7. 19th century

    1. 1835–present Haunted castles · Legend Kunegunde and the Phantom Rider of Chojnik Castle Chojnik Castle ruins, Sobieszów (Jelenia Góra), Karkonosze Mountains, Poland Cruel Kunegunde made her suitors ride around the castle walls above a chasm; on moonlit nights the ghost of a horseman is said to appear on the walls.
    2. 1838–present Haunted castles · Legend Fort Henry, Kingston – the Ghosts of the Lakeside Fortress Fort Henry, Kingston, Ontario, Canada The British fortress where Nils von Schoultz was hanged in 1838 is said to have haunted tunnels, a ghostly schoolroom and a phantom bombardier on the ramparts.
    3. 1871–present Haunted castles · Legend Larnach Castle, Dunedin Larnach Castle, Otago Peninsula, Dunedin, New Zealand New Zealand's only castle is famous for the ghosts of the Larnach family – though, as its guides point out, no member of the family died within its walls.

  8. 1910–1919

    1. 1915–present Haunted castles · Legend Kellie's Castle, Batu Gajah Kellie's Castle near Batu Gajah, Perak, Malaysia A Scottish planter's unfinished castle in the Malaysian jungle is said to be haunted by its owner, who died far away in Lisbon, and by a child in his daughter's room.

  9. 1920–1929

    1. c. 1920–present Haunted castles · Legend The Blue Boy of Chillingham Castle Chillingham Castle, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom A boy wrapped in blue light was said to appear in the Pink Room of this border castle – until, the story goes, a child's bones were found inside a wall.

  10. 1940–1949

    1. 1943–present Haunted castles · Legend The Ghosts of Książ Castle and Princess Daisy Książ Castle, Wałbrzych, Lower Silesia, Poland Silesia's largest castle has a whole gallery of ghosts – from Janek, a servant who vanished, to Princess Daisy, who legend says still returns to her rooms.