Chillingham Castle

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Mon, 26/05/2025 - 00:00

I called at Chillingham Castle in Northumberland this spring. Unlike the sanitised properties managed by the national heritage organisations, Chillingham is privately owned by a lesser aristocrat (Sir Humphry Wakefield, Baronet) and it is stuffed with antiques, curios, documents and knick-knacks. All of it was interesting, lending it a more authentic feel.

Yet its piles of old furnishings and authenticity is not its unique selling point, no sir. Its current proprietor markets it as Britain’s most haunted castle. ‘Ghost Tours’ run throughout the year, and can be booked with just a few clicks and a credit or debit card. ‘Extracts from recent visitors in Chillingham’s Haunted rooms’ are quoted on the website:

“I felt this hand on my arm. It was a most friendly feeling and I believe someone was trying to guide me to see something”.

“My camera just would not take a picture of the orbs and lighting I actually saw. Yet, when I developed my film, there were just those same orbs, but in different places and rooms. Literally, all over the place!”

“The guide told me not to be frightened, and funnily I was quite happy, even with the distinct whispering I heard in the King Edward Room”.

The ghosts themselves are described or located in a section called ‘MEET THE GHOSTS’:

The White Pantry Ghost

The Ghost in the Chamber

Voices in the Chapel

Ghosts in the Courtyard

It was only after our visit that a relative of mine informed me of these ghostly associations, and the castle’s famous featuring on TV’s Most Haunted.

Readers of this blog may recall that I have had a few meetings with 'ghosts', as well as offering a general consideration of what ‘ghosts’ might be. Nevertheless, it was curious that my co-visitor and I saw or felt nothing when we called (perhaps sunny afternoons in May are not part of their agreed working hours).

Of more concern to me were the number of horrid instruments of torture on display on one of the lower levels, and a room claiming to be a dungeon. If, as I suspect, any ‘ghosts’ which are 'real' are actually evil spirits and not the souls of the dearly departed, these creatures are eviler than we can fathom. Yet, as the contraptions and technologies in that lower room testify, humans are more than capable of creating, sustaining and developing their own evil impulses. It is not ghosts which give me the heebie-jeebies, but fallen, unrepentant, unregenerated human beings, who reject God in this life, and receive His own rejection in the next.