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The Most Haunted Towns In Britain To Visit For Halloween

Matt Crisp October 14, 2024

It’s that time of the year when we begin to obsess with all things spooky as Halloween and all the associated shenanigans are just around the corner. Who doesn’t enjoy a good ghost story, whether you’re a serious student of the paranormal or just love a spine chilling tale. 

It’s the perfect opportunity to hire a coach and arrange a visit to some of these most haunted places in the UK this October. They are also places that are well worth a visit at any time of the year, so even if Halloween isn’t your scene, there’s still plenty of interesting things to see and do at these destinations. 

Chester

The ancient city of Chester in the north west of England is of course a favourite tourist destination at any time of year, and being so steeped in history, it’s also a rich ghost hunting ground. For example, on Watergate Street is an original timber framed building that used to be a 17th century tavern called the Hand and Shake.

According to the history books, the tavern was favoured by well-to-do gents who would hand over their fashionable headpieces to young boys, who would wash the wigs with arsenic in the basement of the building. 

This is obviously a highly toxic substance that presumably killed off the various creepy crawlies that lived in the wigs, but unfortunately poisoned the boys too, often resulting in their death. Legend has it that the screams and other sounds of the boys can be heard in the former tavern, and even sometimes in the street outside. 

Glastonbury

Everyone has heard of Glastonbury thanks to the world famous music festival, which is actually held in a village a few miles away from the town. The revellers who do make the effort to visit the town itself will be charmed by the quirky new age shops and magnificent ruined Abbey, which supposedly contains the grave of King Arthur.

This has unsurprisingly given rise to all manner of supernatural legends and myths over the centuries. You don’t need to look hard for them in this place, which is a hotbed of folklore and magical thinking. Some of the most intriguing stories are based around Glastonbury Tor, which stands on a hill that overlooks the Somerset Levels.

The ancient tower on top of the Tor is said to be occupied by the Fae, mythological fairy people who were thought to be the souls of unbaptised babies. At times when the barriers between the spiritual world and the everyday world are at their thinnest, such as Halloween, it is said that you can hear the Fae partying on the Tor in the hours of darkness. 

Canterbury

Canterbury is another well known tourist destination, thanks to its magnificent Mediaeval cathedral and the surrounding cobblestone streets, which are packed with independent shops and have a thriving foodie scene. The 12th century cathedral is famed for being the site of the brutal murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. 

The tomb of Thomas Becket is situated near the High Altar in the ancient building, and at certain times of the year, occupants have reported seeing the apparition of the Archbishop near the tomb. 

Another archbishop named Simon Sudbury was murdered in the Cathedral in 1381 by the leader of the Peasants’ Revolt, a man named Wat Tyler. In fact, the wise and learned holy man was brutally decapitated by an angry mob and his head was paraded around the town on a spike, before being taken all the way to London to be displayed on London Bridge.

The head of Wat Tyler joined it shortly afterwards. The whereabouts of Sudbury’s head remains unknown, but his body was transported to Canterbury and he was given a stately and dignified burial. His solitary figure is said to haunt the tower of the cathedral; apparently not headless though, as you might assume from that rather grisly story. 

Edinburgh

Yet another tourist favourite, Edinburgh also appears highly on those ‘Britain’s most haunted cities’ style lists. One of the most prominent ghost stories centres around the South Bridge Vaults, which were used to store the bodies of the victims of two notorious serial killers. The murderers, Burke and Hare, sold the bodies for medical dissections.

The building is said to be haunted by the spirits of the murdered souls, who understandably are struggling to rest in peace after such a disturbing demise.

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