2. Hampton Court Palace - Richmond On Thames
Most of Britains castles are haunted; the ghost of Catherine Parr, Sixth and final wife of Henry VIII, is said to haunt Sudely Castle in Gloucestershire, while the unquiet phantasms that inhabit the lonely ruins of Duntulm Castle on the Isle of Skye act as a reminder of its particularly grisly history. Duntulm is haunted by the ghost of a MacDonald clan member who was imprisoned there by his cousin and fed only heavily salted food, but given no water to drink the prisoner was driven insane before his death and his desperate mutterings can still be heard emanating from the bowels of the ruined castle. There is a phantom party that can be regularly heard, but always goes unseen, within the walls of Bodiam Castle in Sussex and it has been reported that a civil war-era ghost still guards the gatehouse to Donnington Castle in Berkshire. In Northern Ireland, Dunluce Castle in County Antrim is home to a peculiar spirit that removes books from the shelves in the gift shop and then neatly arranges them in piles on the floor, as well as the tormented shade of a young girl who supposedly died of a broken heart... However, the number two spot on our list goes not to a castle, but a Palace. Not only does the palace have a long and tragic history, but also, in the icy winter of 2003, an apparent ghost was actually captured on CCTV!
Nicknamed Skeletor by the press, the robed figure appears to have a skull for a head and no discernible legs! The doors to the Exhibition Area had been filmed opening and closing by themselves, with no one able to adequately explain why, until the creepy culprit was finally captured on CCTV. This alarming footage is just the latest in a long line of spooky happenings and ethereal encounters within the walls of Hampton Court Palace... Completed in 1514, Hampton Court was originally owned by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. After Wolsey fell out of favour with Henry VIII (he was unable to secure Henry an annulment for his first marriage), he was stripped of all his property, including the Palace, which Henry then made his official residence... Perhaps the most distressing spirit of the Palace belongs to that of Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII. Accused of committing adultery by her husband (and even if she did, who could really blame her?) before being imprisoned in the palace, Catherine is said to have run down the gallery and pounded on Henrys door, begging forgiveness for her alleged misdeeds. Henry, charming as ever, simply sat down, nonchalant and expressionless as he callously waited for the screaming to stop. Catherine was eventually executed at the Tower of London, but today, the gallery in Hampton Court plays host to her desperate spirit, apparently still seeking a reprieve. Her bone chilling screams and anguished pleas for clemency can occasionally be heard by visitors to the Gallery and female visitors have been known to faint at a certain spot on the floor. In the so-called Haunted gallery, even electrical equipment has been said to switch itself off!
In addition, the ghost of Sybil Penn, a servant to four Tudor monarchs, is known in the Palace as The Grey Lady. When her tomb was disturbed in 1829, Sybil apparently decided to return to the corridors of the palace she loved. Strange noises, described by some as belonging to a spinning wheel, were heard in the weeks following Greys tomb being disturbed, a search later revealed an unknown chamber containing...You guessed it, a spinning wheel.