The spookiest day of the year is almost upon us. It is said that, on Halloween, the veil that separates the realms of the living and the dead is at its thinnest, allowing some ghosts to slip past… and who doesn’t love a good ghost?
Keep reading for our pick of some of the most haunted National Trust houses to visit this Halloween, from the pages of A National Trust Miscellany. Who knows? Maybe you will stumble upon one of these famous spirits!
Aberconwy House, Conwy
This is Wales’s oldest townhouse, built around 1420. If you visit, keep your nostrils peeled for the scent of pipe tobacco and flowers. This often precedes the appearance of a Victorian gentleman who ran it as a temperance (alcohol-free) hotel in the 19th century.
Image credit: National Trust
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
The hall stands upon the site of a former medieval manor, thought to be the birthplace of Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded on 19 May 1536. It’s said that each year she returns to Blickling on the anniversary of her death with her head placed upon her lap, driven up to the house in a coach drawn by a similarly headless horseman.
Image credit: National Trust
Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland
Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, was beheaded as a traitor in 1322. His executioner appears to have been having an off day – it took several strikes before the job was complete. It’s said that a horror-struck Earl still walks the grounds of the castle he built, bearing his decapitated head.
Image credit: National Trust
Ham House, Surrey
This 17th-century mansion is reputed to be the most haunted place cared for by the National Trust. Among the 15 ghosts is Leone Sextus Tollemache, who supposedly appeared in his beloved cherry garden the very morning he was killed in France in the First World War.
Image credit: National Trust
Treasurer’s House, York
The site of the oldest ghosts in Britain: a spectral Roman legion that an unsuspecting heating engineer reportedly witnessed trooping through the basement. Strangely, only their top halves were visible as they were marching lower than the floor. Later excavations revealed that a Roman road once ran through the site of the house, about 45cm (18in) below the cellar’s floor level.
Image credit: National Trust
A National Trust Miscellany is packed with staggering statistics, strange facts and all kinds of surprising stuff from the National Trust. Explore haunted houses, discover baffling objects and meet some distinctly curious characters.