Ghostly Haunts - Horror October

I have always wanted to go to every haunted hotel, city, restaurant, etc... and I am constantly finding new places to add to my future road trip of ghostly haunts! For this post, I have decided to take some of the locations from some of my favorite books and use those to find haunted places! Here is what I have found to add to my list!

England (featured in The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and Meant To Be)

1. Once called the Jack the Ripper, this Spitalfields pub can't get away from its gory former namesake. In 1996, the landlord claimed The Ten Bells had been taken over by the ghost of Annie Chapman, murdered and mutilated by the Ripper in 1888. Poltergeist activity and inexplicable gusts of wind have been recorded by the staff.

2. This small square of Bleeding Heart Yard in Farringdon has a horrific history. Legend has it that on January 27, 1626, the mutilated body of society beauty Lady Elizabeth Hatton was found in the cobbled courtyard. She had been murdered and her limbs strewn across the ground, but her heart still pumped blood.

3. Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children on Hackney Road: (picture on the left) It was opened in 1866 after a cholera outbreak and was originally known as the North-Eastern Hospital and Dispensary. Its services were relocated to the Royal London in Whitechapel in 1998 and the building has since fallen into disrepair, serving only to spook the children - and adults - visiting Hackney City Farm across the road.

4. The Tower of London: (picture on the left) Its history as a place of torture and imprisonment ensures no shortage of, often headless, souls hanging around. The Princes in the Tower, allegedly murdered by their uncle Richard III, are the best-known spectres. Also on duty are Lady Jane Grey, Anne Boleyn and the White Lady. Anne is a frequent visitor to the Tower and she is sometimes seen carrying her own head. Other ghosts include Henry VI, Thomas Beckett, Sir Walter Raleigh and the Countess of Salisbury, whose gruesome execution is sometimes seen being re-enacted by ghosts.

5. The Borley Rectory claims to be the most haunted place in England. After its construction it became the site of intense poltergeist activity such as spontaneous displacement of objects, strange odors, cold spots, the sound of galloping horses and ghostly apparitions. The rectory was destroyed by fire in 1939 but photos of the ruins still contained odd images and unexplained elements.

6. Raynham Hall (picture on the left) is one of the most famous haunted places in the world due largely in part to its most famous ghost, the Brown Lady, who was captured on film in 1936 in what is said to be one of the most authentic ghost photos every taken. The photo has been examined multiple times by experts who all confirm it is authentic and untouched. The Brown Lady is said to have been confined in a room by her husband, unable to see her children. She soon perished in the room and has continued to haunt Raynham Hall clad in her brown dress.

Scotland (featured in 13 Little Blue Envelopes)

1. Glamis Castle, Angus, Scotland: The imposing home of the current Earl and Countess of Strathmore is supposedly riddled with secret rooms. Residents include the so-called Monster of Glamis Castle (an unkind moniker for a deformed child held here in the 19th century), a tongueless woman running around the garden, and a wicked aristocrat who loudly bemoans a lost card game. There's also the mysterious Grey Lady. This isn't the late Queen Mother, born at Glamis in 1900, but rather Janet Douglas, executed on a trumped-up charge of witchcraft in 1537.

2. Edinburgh Castle, suspected to be one the most haunted spots in Scotland, is appropriately judged considering Edinburgh has been said to be the most haunted city in all of Europe, and possibly the world. A battleground of countless deaths, Edinburgh Castle can easily be thought of as an eternal spot of unrest for fallen soldiers. Other ghosts said to haunt the castle are a phantom piper, a headless drummer, the spirits of French prisoners from the Seven Years War and colonial prisoners from the American Revolutionary War and even a dog that wanders the castle’s cemetery. (Other areas of Edinburgh also have ghostly reputations: the subterranean vaults of South Bridge and a disused street called Mary Kings Close where victims of the Black Death plague were sealed up to die.)

Vermont (featured in Suite Dreams)


1. The Gold Brook Bridge: (picture on the left) This covered bridge in the state of Vermont is known to the locals as Emily's Bridge. This bridge is not to be crossed after dark. A ghost by the name of Emily shakes cars, slashes out with her nails, and has been known to show herself just for a moment before vanishing. Some believe her to have been a jilted lover who threw herself off the bridge. Some believe her to have owned the bridge and committed suicide on it. Others even believe that the story was created by a mother who wanted to scare her children away from going near the bridge. 

2. The University of Vermont, Burlington: (picture on the left) This university has been known to have 14 places in which hauntings have been reported. Here are a few: In Bittersweet House there is a young woman in 1800s clothing that often appears. In the Allen House a ghost is residing on the top floor. In Converse Hall a former student who electrocuted himself in 1992 has been felt. He messes with electrical equipment including lights and music players. Coolidge Hall is a place that carries a few ghosts. One likes to wake the residences up by staring at them. Grasse Mount House has a history of voices and doors slamming. Redstone Wall houses a male ghost who runs through walls. In Simpson Hall there is also a spirit of a male who was a stalker in his living life. This definitely has to be one of the most haunted universities in the United States.

North Carolina (featured in A Walk to Remember and The Last Song)

1. The Biltmore, America's largest home, is the site of numerous hauntings. The 250-room estate, which opened in 1895, has 34 bedrooms and 43 bathrooms. In 1914, George Vanderbilt, the owner, died of appendicitis, and his wife reportedly can still be heard speaking quietly to him in the library. A headless cat roams the grounds while voices echo in the swimming pool room.

Categories: Horror October, Literary Excursion