Chillingham Castle

"England's most haunted castle? In the remote reaches of rural Northumberland – one of England's most beautiful yet under-appreciated corners – lies Chillingham, reputedly the country's most haunted historic castle. Beginning life as a monastery in the 12th Century, Chillingham frequently came under attack by raiders from Scotland, whose border is barely 15 miles from here. The monastery was fortified into a castle in 1344 as it was strategically important for the English armies heading north – King Edward I, for example, stayed here in 1298 while en route to fight Sir William "Braveheart" Wallace. Throughout the medieval period, Chillingham harboured many prisoners, the most unfortunate of whom came under the dubious care of John Sage, a torturer with the well-earned sobriquet "Butcher of the Scots". Today, replicas of Sage's fearsome torture devices – spiked chairs, twisting racks, iron maidens and the like – are on display in the castle's dungeon. Evening ghost tours of the castle, meanwhile, tell of some of the wandering spirits said to roam its corridors, including the "Blue Boy", a glowing apparition of a child said to haunt one of the corridors; another often reported is a ghostly lady said to stalk one of the courtyards"