Welcome to Haunted Castles. I’m Denise, and this is where I write about old castles with a ghost story or two attached. Each castle gets its own guide in three parts: the history of the place and the people who built and lived in it, the legends that have grown up around it, and the practical side of going to see it for yourself.
So far the guides cover four castles: Culzean on the Ayrshire clifftops in Scotland, Ballygally on the Antrim coast, which is now a hotel with its own Ghost Room, the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town, and Château de Puymartin near Sarlat, home of the White Lady of the Dordogne. I tell the legends the way they’re told locally and keep them apart from the recorded history, so you can make up your own mind. If you’re planning a trip, each guide ends with tips for your visit. Pick a castle below and start reading.
Featured castles
Culzean Castle, Scotland
Robert Adam’s clifftop masterpiece in South Ayrshire, the Eisenhower link and the ghostly piper legend.
Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town
South Africa’s oldest surviving colonial building and the ghost legends told about it.
Ballygally Castle, Co. Antrim
Built in 1625 on the Antrim coast and now a hotel, with the Lady Isabella legend and its Ghost Room.
Château de Puymartin, France
A family-owned castle near Sarlat in the Périgord Noir, and the legend of its White Lady.
Plan a haunted Halloween
Can’t get to a castle this October? Bring the legends home with my haunted castle Halloween party ideas. (Some links in that post go to products we sell in the NicheStuff store.)