Alnwick Castle is home to the Percy Family and is inhabited by the current 12th Duke off Northumberland. It played a crucial role in shaping the history of England, including border wars with Scotland and the Wars of the Roses.

Alnwick Castle also hides a dark side. There is the tale of the Alnwick Vampire and the legend begins with a man who served the lord of the castle suspecting his wife of committing adultery. As he tried to uncover the truth one day by climbing onto a rooftop he fell to his death. In spite of a Christian burial he could not rest in peace and his presence was felt all around Alnwick. The deceased man would rise from his tomb during the hours of darkness to prowl the town's streets. His body left such a stench of death that pestilence broke out. Finally local villagers blamed the vampire for the plague outbreak, dug out the body in the cemetery which was bloated and putrid and burned it to ashes, after which the pestilene ended.

There is also the ghost of the Grey Lady that people have spotted when walking in the corridors deep below the castle. She is supposed to be a young girl who worked as a maid at the castle. One day she stumbled and fell down a chute to the tunnels below and was crushed by a dumb waiter. Her spirit now roams the passages below the castle.

Berry Pomeroy Castle is a most picturesque and romantic ruin and also supposed to be the most haunted in England. Located in Devon near the town of Totnes, it stands on a high point of land above the Gatcombe valley.

Since 1069 there have only been two families of owners, the Pomeroys and the Seymours. The castle lands were granted by William the Conqueror to Ralf de Pomaria, a Norman knight. Instead of a fortress Ralf built an unfortified manor house, which would become his family's home for the next 400 years. It wasn't until the late 15th century that the Pomeroy's began to build a castle fortress.

Sir Edward Seymour then acquired the castle in the 1540s. He was the brother of Jane Seymore, the third wife of Henry VIII. Berry Pomeroy Castle remained in the hands of the Seymours untl 1688 when it was finally abandoned. In 1977 English Heritage took over the caste to save it from complete ruin.

Visitors to the castle have reported a number of ghostly sightings and several ghosts are said to wander inside its crumbling walls, of which the Blue Lady and the White Lady are the most talked about apparitions. The White Lady is the restless soul of Margaret Pomeroy. Her sister, Eleanor, held her captive in the castle dungeons because she was jealous of her beauty and Margaret starved to death. She haunts the dungeons of St. Margaret's Tower and has been seen waving to visitors.

The Blue Lady is believed to be the daughter of a Norman lord. She was raped by her father and became pregnant with his baby. She murdered the infant and is said to wander the ruins at night in eternal remorse and luring unsuspecting men to their deaths.

Other sightings at the castle include unexplained lights and a baby crying, as well as a lady in a grey dress.

Muncaster Castle dates largely from the 1860s, when the architect Anthony Salvin more or less rebuilt what had been the home of the Pennington family since 1208. The original castle was built in the 13th century and enlarged in the 14th century when a pele tower was constructed on Roman foundations. The castle has a famous lucky object called the 'Luck of Muncaster. It is a green tinted glass bowl given to the Pennington family by Henry VI in 1464 in appreciation of the hospitality he received when he was a fugitive after being deposed in the Wars of the Roses. As long as the bowl was intact the Penningtons would always be at Muncaster.

Not surprisingly the castle also has a reputation of being one of the most haunted fortresses in Britain. Visitors have reported bizarre occurrences of strange noises, disappearing figures and an overwhelming feeling of a strange presence. One such presence is Tom Fool, aka Thomas Skelton, whose portrait is one of the castle treasures. He was a 16th century jester to the Penningtons and a rather sinister and spiteful character. He was responsible for the beheading of a local carpenter who fell in love with Sir Ferdinand Penningtons daughter, Helwise, on the orders of her father.

The White Lady, aka the Muncaster Boggle, is another well known ghost. She is thought to be the spirit of Mary Bragg, a young girl murdered in the 1800s on the road near the Main Gate. She now haunts the gardens and roadways around Muncaster.

Today Muncaster Castle is one of the biggest attractions in the Western Lake District of Cumbria. Standing in an elevated position just outside the coastal village of Ravenglass, the castle commands amazing views over the River Esk and the mountains. It's interesting history, wonderful gardens and regular events draws in visitors from all over the world. Dare you spend a night in the Tapestry Room and meet the ghostly residents ?