The Most HAUNTED Historic CASTLES in BRITAIN Revealed

historic houses across Britain report sightings of ghosts and often you feel an atmosphere so a sense of those who have lived there before in this very special episode I'll be hearing some rather spooky Tales of ghostly [Music] activity when I married into the British aristocracy it was the start of a wonderfully exciting Journey but it was also a little daunting I became a VI Countess and for an American girl from a small town outside Chicago that was quite a shock I live with my husband Luke heir to the Earl of Sandwich and our family at mapperton house in dors it living in a place like this is a joy but also a challenge and every day we're aware that we're preserving a very special part of Britain's heritage materon has opened up an extraordinary new world for me and I can't wait to share it with you all so if you love castles and manners and stately homes as much as I do please join this American bounce as I journey into the British Countryside in search of some of Britain's Finest historic houses [Music] welcome to mton where today we're in the tutor wing of the house and I do think that every historic home must have at least one ghost and certainly here at mton there are some rooms where guests have said that they have felt or seen something I haven't yet but that's what I've been told upstairs is in the tutor bedroom it said that there is a gray lady who apparently does not allow you to enter without asking for permission first so many of the historic houses that I visited also have haunting stories to tell Barkley Castle in gler has been the home to the Barkley family for nearly 900 years but within its walls a brutal reality of English History was played out in 1327 King Edward II was murdered so I asked Mrs Barkley if she has ever encountered any house ghosts over the 50 years that she has lived in the castle on two occasions one I was up in the top of the keep there making up bed for the um we had the hump ball have the hump ball here and the band for going stay and I was making this bed and all of a sudden I heard this foot fall and they have to come down Stone steps and I thought well it's not the dogs cuz they never like coming down right and I sort of half turned and all of a sudden there was someone standing behind me and you know when someone is close to you don't you you can feel and yes and it was male and I suddenly felt all the hairs in the back of my neck going up I've never had that happen and I always wondered what people were talking about there hair set up on the back of your neck and so I turned the opposite way to him cuz he was on my right and uh rushed out of the room I absolutely just had time to switch the light off cuz about half 7 in the evening and I had these all these flight of stairs upstairs and across and down and down to here and I absolutely rigid it really you know was really quite something well you could feel that energy absolutely must you must it was a man you know I didn't at the time think it might have been uh the king say right although I would think a second uh otherwise one might have been more polite you know but anyway no it's uh it was that was quite shock and and another time I went out one of the dogs wanted to go as they do in the middle of the night or the early morning actually it's about 6 and I bought it down and I let let it out into the inner Bailey and I suddenly saw movement opposite and there was two women sitting there I thought how peculiar who's this come in now and anyway husband John was coming back in he took the dogs he got downstairs before me it was really the old bring them back in and he said good God what's wrong with you you look as if you've seen a ghost I thought of course that's what I've done these two women who were actually fairly modern they were sort of 1900s I suppose right right and I think the spirits after all this is quite old and Spirits are under the floor BS or wherever you like aren't they yes they are I mean they find a skeleton under the great hall floor when that had to be lifted the stone oh and so I suppose if you died in those very early days they just put you under the the rubble wouldn't they they didn't bow with burials with burials no these very ancient buildings really do absorb their histories and athelhampton house here in Dorset is no exception I met up with owner Giles keing to hear more about athle Hampton's ghostly past there are quite a few ghosts here quite a few I mean or so they say and and I mean I one or two people who I know have had quite a number of experiences but I'm going to tell you perhaps one particular story if I is a old story actually and this is a story um there was a a young a girl a young woman who lived here and uh possibly in Tuda times 500 years ago and she had a pet ape and people in those days did have Apes as pets right and who I think she loved very much and and the the ape loved her right and this young woman um obviously also had a a human sweetheart and unfortunately things did not go well in that relationship and she became completely disillusioned and she decided that she really just all she wanted to do was to die very sad right she was she was heartbroken and heart sick heartbroken right Y and so she decided that she was just going to go into one of the the many secret passages at athel Hampton and and just die oh my goodness and uh so I'm afraid she did that but the the ape who was so loyal to her the ape followed her and I mean I think we can we can have a look yes went in behind the paneling with her no no so oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness they went in here well I'm going to see if I just feel something here it does feel heavier feel do you feel that oh my goodness Giles this is creepy this is unbelievable this is unbelievable we're in this secret so she went in here with the yes and and what people say is that I mean sadly they both die there no and the ape is now people say still walks the house and you can actually see that's what they say i' I've not seen it disappear through the paneling when when people are are there and and they see that yeah oh my goodness so the ape could be here could be somewhere it did feel a bit heavy everybody I did I have to say it's right do do you go in this little area very often no no this is this is also a very useful area yeah right yes oh my goodness okay [Music] wow honestly it was really creepy in that hidden space the story of the girl and the ape captured Gil's imagination and when we were exploring the upper floors he explained more [Music] oh my goodness Giles this is astonishing it's lovely isn't it yeah it is so beautiful now I'm guessing it's a library indeed right yeah this is the library yeah yeah brilliant but I do spot something out of of my corner of my eye you're an author uh that is correct that is correct yeah yeah Giles yes oh my goodness okay you must explain to our viewers well this is athl Hampton here yes on and it's an of athl Hampton and the riddle of the Apes can you explain to everybody and do I get a signed copy I hope so let you have a course that um wonderful explain to me a little bit about the inspiration to this and and this book it's fiction it's it is fiction but it's absolutely based on a lot of documentary evidence of what actually happened right and an Anne of athelhampton she is the youngest of the four Martin daughters uh who lived here in the middle of the Elizabethan period okay around about 1580 1585 yes right right and uh yes and can you give us a little bit on about sort of um you know the context of this book so uh a couple of things that the ape of course is her pet she has a pet ape um so we know where the inspiration came from that some the stor is in the house and um the the the the the story line is really about a bit of something that's going on with her cousin um who is actually the young Sir John tonwell they actually have quite a feud uh this young s John with Anne's whole family and that's documented That's History okay right and so the book kind of picks up on that and just kind of develops where that might have led and poor an is is actually really gets into quite a difficult Corner um but uh anyway well you have to read the book well I am I'm just going to quickly just read here just the back um because I was just reading it while you were uh telling me and it's lovely because it's I see the words witchcraft riddle Secrets passageways says why has Anne been given a pet ape Andy as a 12th birthday gift from her grasping cousin young John Kenny solved the riddle before an and use it to accuse their grandmother the Lady Elizabeth of Witchcraft and of harboring a priest uh helped by Andy the ape and her friends Lizzie and Robert and searches the passageways and walls of her family home athl Hampton to reveal their secrets and Solve the Riddle only to discover that she herself self is Young John's Target and that her struggle against him will lead her into mortal danger dot dot dot right yep yeah well man this is just the first of a Trilogy actually yes so the next volume which is an of affle Hampton and the Queen's pearls is pretty well finished fantastic coming out over the next few months and then the the third volume is in process oh my goodness well that is very exciting and if you want to purchase a copy of Gil's book the details are down below affle hampton.com and when you purchase if you mention Julie mue Giles will also sign the book for you as [Music] well it's been said that athel Hampton is one of the most haunted houses in all of England with Tales of a hooded priest walking through the Great Hall a bride in the gardens and reports of doors slamming and lights switching themselves off Owen Davies the estate manager had even more stories to [Music] tell this is one that is is is a ghost who is often seen by our visitors and we see quite a lot of visitors every year and a lot of them mention that they've seen a lady stood in this room and until recently this room had was completely out of bounds it had a had a a gate at the door that you couldn't come in so we people used to come down and say how how do you get in there I've seen a woman in there little bit scary but we did some research and we know exactly who it is it's a lady called Susanna long and she is the wife it's 1680 is the year and she is the wife of James long he is the owner of affle Hampton and he's not a good guy he's a womanizer he's a drunkard he's a gambler right and one day he's off in Southampton and he gambles away the family fortune not a good way to be a few weeks pass and eventually the woman that he owes all the money to takes it takes the family to court and the sheriffs come to puddle town right they've come to sequester the whole estate to pay to pay off the debt they arrive in puddletown on one rainy evening and they're in the Local Tavern and they're having a having a a glass of beer with the locals and the locals start to Just Wind them up a little a little bit teasing and they tell them how how very well armed and defended a Hampton is pistols and muskets on the table in the Great Hall but it's all just a little bit of a story just to just to wind them up a little bit so the next day the sheriff's come to afal Hampton they're a little bit apprehensive and they pound on the front door but James long has another character he's also a total coward and he hides in a cupboard in the depths of the house and he leaves his wife to deal with the sheriffs now she's not dared she doesn't go downstairs and open the door instead she shouts at them from what would have been her bed chamber window this window here and you can just see the porch of the house below right and she shouts to them and says you know go away go away my husband my husband isn't here he's abroad it's a complete lie he's in the cupboard the sheriffs you know they keep they keep trying to break in but they can't get in so they they go away the next day they come back and they have another go pounding on the door and Susanna is shouting and shouting and shouting go away go away you know not coming in here my husband is away you'll have to wait till he comes back he's probably still hiding in the cupboard so they go they they know they're not going to get anywhere Susanna is so you know the adrenaline is rushing the heart is beating she's so um affected by this that when she goes to sleep at that night she supposedly dies in her sleep and this is all recorded in her brother's diary he he makes a record of this um and he records this in his diary and Susanna is dead no so we wonder if it's Susanna that we see but the story has a nasty little twist because James long we know he's not the nicest of guys but he goes to Southampton with a couple within a couple of weeks he's off to Southampton again and he finds the lady that he owes all the money to Mary Keeley and he marries her and what brings her back to affle Hampton Susanna's bed is barely cold and he's got a new bride and he installs her in the house no so the ghost here is Susanna absolutely now Mary has a pretty has a pretty good effect on James he mends many of his ways but he never gives up the gambling and actually he himself dies a few years later in dea's prison he owes more money so Mary Keeley is living here in Susanna's house so no wonder Susanna is a little bit annoyed and haunts this room to this day to this day and you're you visitors have seen this visitors see it I I reckon probably one in 200 people will spot this lady and they come up to you and they do they come up to us and say who's the lady who's the lady in in in the library now of course today it is a library but back in back in James Long's time this was the lord of the manner's bed chamber and the Mistress of the manner's bed chamber oh my gosh that is spooky 1680 1680 she's still here and she's still here I believe that stuff especially if you have one in every 200 absolutely yeah no they lot of people see her oh my I'm kind of like looking for her around yeah she'll she'll pop up she's going to appear yeah okay that's that's the scariest ghost story I've heard here that is a scary one that is a scary one sh I feel it yeah I feel it I feel I feel like I need to get out of here now I think she's got her eye on [Music] us there really was a feeling in that room what a story but then Owen told a haunting tail in a room that felt like literally heavy with [Music] chills okay Owen where have you taken me well I've brought you into one of the chilliest rooms in the house that crib yeah well this is this is a room and we call it the marriage chamber it's a very original Tuda bedroom it's got one of the oldest fireplaces in Dorset car from beautiful hamst it shows the it shows the family emblems of the Martins and the faringdon family the monkey and the unicorn but this room's always got a little bit of a chill on it because this is the room that the chuda the chuda wife would be uh she would be put into bed as soon as they knew she was with child and she would be cared for because in Shuda England 30% of mothers would die in childbirth and an equal number of children would die before their first birthday so child birth was taken very very seriously they didn't have the the modern conveniences we have today oh my goodness so it would all happen in here so it all happened in here but would it also it almost listen I did walk in here and I felt a bit of a chill yeah just going to say that but they were here from the moment that they knew that they were expecting from the moment and this room has a very nice little chapel so that the ladies who are waiting on the the wife of the lord of the manor can go and pray because they would need God on their side for for this tremendous Journey so instead of an onsite bathroom we would it's an chap nowel farington is is a lady that I'd like to talk about now she is a very important lady because she is the wife of Sir William Martin who is the creator of the fabulous Great Hall which is just behind this panel exactly um and sadly Isabelle did not last very long she lived till she was in her mid-30s and she died in this room probably right here where this bed is no um sadly in child birth oh my gosh either her second or third child the the records on on that are a little bit a little bit dubious and did the Child live the child did live and and would live to to to inherit affle Hampton the eldest son would would inherit affle Hampton but again sadness strikes again because he marries a lady called Christina chevel and sadly Christina also dies in this room most likely this room um in child birth as well yeah just a generation later right so both his mother and his wife his mother died while having him and then his wife died while having their child while having their child oh he must have been devastated I think at the time it was it was quite normal now this room has been converted uh it's still very historic but we can use it and we do welcome people to come and stay and have a a slightly spooky night at affle Hampton but of course what people do report is when they're sleeping in here is that they can hear the sound of babies crying no yes no I could never I could no well I think it does it does take a brave soul to come and spend the night in here and do you when you have guests to St do you tell them this story beforehand or do they wake up the next morning at breakfast and say bizarrely I heard babies crying all night well I think it it depends on the character of the guest I don't want to put people off and certainly when we have guests to stay we use this as an option so that maybe they can they can come and spend a few hours here and if it gets too too much they can they can go back to their bedroom right oo yeah I don't think I would be brave enough hearing babies crying ghost babies ghost babies yeah that would be it for me I'd go find another bedroom absolutely I think that's a very good idea wow well we but listen we do love good ghost stories in these houses and well it's all it's all you know it's all been absorbed by the paneling and the stonework over over the [Music] centuries Alpin is a tutor Manor House hidden in an an absolutely beautiful Valley in the cwal it's been home to Sir Nicholas and Lady Manda and their family since the 197s but it's said that some who have stayed or lived at Alpin in the past still haunt the [Music] rooms the house has a lot of Secrets because there are these so-called witches marks and Daisy Wheels carved on typically around fireplaces windows and doors and they were said to keep we don't really know much about it but they were said to keep evil spirits out of your house and the owner of the house at the time 1616 had been educated at Oxford educated people but like James I first who wrote a book on demonology they obviously were plugged into this tradition of witchcraft folkl right that is simply undocumented we don't know what they thought or believed but we're finding more and more an old houses they have these sort of Secrets concealed in the very fabric marks s of inscribed joist covered up with floorboards and this and do you have the markings here yes we have them upstairs yes and we've got shoes that have been finded by fireplaces 17th Century Shoes old shoes you know obviously very well worn before they man before they put them in the wall yes [Music] before we made our way upstairs to see the markings I asked if either Sir Nicholas or lady Manda believe in ghosts I've seen them have you and I've felt them what he doesn't believe in anything and I does wish one day he will see or feel something well I just say I'm agnostic I believe they're possible and where we don't understand actually I've seen one here oh H literally I mean we got four girls in the house and one is a little girl who was drowned in the mil Pond and I remember one day when we were doing work in the Attic the Builder and I and my cleaner came to me and said that you you you made such a mess in the oak Po and I said well I haven't done anything so any I so she said well you know that that chair is just messed up and all the cushions are all over the place and uh I I come in here and I see the cushion going up and down up absolutely so I yeah that one no so I thought um which you would think was that we cleared the upstairs and and probably a bird had come down how I thought that I don't know and got into the chair in know so we did we took everything off the chair and of course there was nothing there and then she said she said it's a little girl isn't it well it was it was we couldn't see her but the cushion was literally because my grandchildren used to jump in these chairs right right so she obviously did exactly what they did yeah so it's a little girl jumping up and up and down yeah I mean the cushion literally was moving down yeah oh my goodness and there are old stories right going right back that uh the was an alchemist at the top of the house and where they he had a room was found sealed up in the 19th century I think and The Parson K was called in to burn his books and papers and so on they thought they were somehow evil and then it is said that black birds flew out of the Flames as they were burning them but the great story that is documented long time ago also is that Queen Margaret of vju came here on her way to the Battle of chury in 1471 and she spent her last happy night here because her team lost the battle and so it's supposed to be her last happy night and therefore she keeps coming back you know to and where's that room and it's [Music] upstairs okay the ghost of Queen Margaret of Anu creepy so come in this we call Queen Margaret's room because it is supposed to be where if you tread very softly you might find her sleeping uh dreaming dreaming of battles and so on and occasionally her she appears in the mirror apparently oh my goodness has been block that I know that was many years ago when we had a guide standing by the door there and a man come and that mirror was over there in those days and um so so this man walks in and he turns around to the guide and says is there a ghost here and she said yes there is a ghost here said I just saw her in the mirror well car talks if it's categorically true well it is we do know this room didn't exist in 1471 not at least in this precise form and it's a bit of a story that she yeah but my father saw her somebody yes I'm just I'm I'm on the I'm I'm right here I'm on the side of Lady Mando absolutely so tell me just a little bit more about the ghost story that I now believe and and how it came to be how it sort of evolved over the years well we know that the family were lancastrians and there's a letter from Edward Prince of Wales to the DA the family were called at the time right about the Battle of tuxbury saying must men we're going fighting coming from the West country um so and it may be a bit of a legend but she definitely came this way from Bristol where the merchants wouldn't let her in and then and then would have the men would have camped in the fields she would have come here and it's supposed to be her last happy night because her son was lynched after the battle the Prince of Wales and her King uh Henry V 6 was either murder or died very shortly afterwards so this is where she comes back year after year particularly on the eve of the battle of chury in May um and there's certainly stories for instance the evacuees in the war who were here sleeping in attics and in here and then one day they asked Mrs Bray who had to go out to a bull or something and didn't say good night to them and tuck them up as she as was her W and they said who is that beautiful lady who came in last night in a fur trimmed gown and a a back Veil and a wimple and all this describing medieval costume which they couldn't have known anything about in her sort of patronizing way she so they couldn't have known what Que Mar War sort of thing and so she was a great Ron and had this sort of story which was current in the neighborhood and again we've got the graffiti on the fire place right and the horde of shoes which were found in the house I was how they would bury these things yes yes weren't they burying them for Good Luck Good Luck to keep to keep evil spirits at Bay yes and we don't they always apparently they are found here and there and they're always very worn shoes and they're always child's shoes that's it's just one shoe isn't it it's one shoe and the other one was found somewhere sometimes they a little hoorde oh they were both you found these uh well they were found I don't know when I think in the 20s doing the repairs so you mentioned um when we were downstairs you mentioned about sort of markings of the The Witches candle burn marks just on the passage outside oh and uh in this room we've still got the graffiti on the fireplace of the children of the house should we go but they're on a window still upstairs oh so what the graffiti Mark the graffiti little Daisy Wheels oh I'd love to see that which we hadn't really noticed for years and years but now they're turning up now you're seeing them now that people know about [Music] them so this room my father used to call the monk cell because it's a remote attic at the top of the house people are relegated here but I used to have a sort of office in here out of the way of everyone and I years for years I used to see these marks on the window sill which have been inscribed as if by a school child's compasses but they're now known to be aeropic marks probably to keep Spirits no witches Devils out of the house and they're finding them in country hes people begin to recognize them now and they're in the form of this sort of geometry they're also marks alluding to the Virgin Mary and that kind of [Music] thing isn't it all just fascinating I mean there is so much more to be uncovered at these historic houses and keeping bad spirits out of the house isn't just a centuries old tradition so when I visited birdal house in North Yorkshire lady Carl Willoughby met me at the ruined Church to tell me how she has dealt with unwelcome ghosts [Music] all right so what was this then so this is the old belar I think right oh my goodness it's wonderful did they take the bell with them chur I think they did I think they did yeah um incredible yeah and then we've got this is all a graveyard so you can still see the gravestones they're all in the grass no so how big was this Church yard do you think I who knows I mean it's so hard to tell but I mean there must be somewhere you know there's a gravestone over there and and when the weather gets hot you can start seeing where they would be and ghosts because of this yeah I think they I mean I think they were we've definitely I I actually got someone to come into the house um and clear the ghost when we moved in because I a bit nervy did you feel it yeah I did a bit and I just thought you know what this is my generation and we're going to move on doing one thing and then we don't need 15 Generations family joining my gang so can I say that you got a Ghostbuster in in one sense what do they call them a clear clearer I think and we just generally said would they like to move on um cuz I I don't know much about ghosts but you know I think their time they needed to move on and I think you have you know there's energies going on around and I just wanted to be in the best POS best position right I hear you on that well so they've just move so she the ghost clearer came and just moved them on is that what happens when you clear them I I think yeah it's it's a bit of a mystery it's interesting that you felt it did you yeah well I just didn't want people to be asleep and suddenly feel there was someone sitting on their bed or do you know something and I just thought you know what I think we need to start with fresh cards on this one so I agree but do you have any left in the house just curious did you let any stay I don't know but I think it's quite a good feeling in the house I think it's quite calm and it's quite positive so I hope that if they are in the house they're happy in the house right yeah you no exactly do occasionally I see bum prints on the beds when I'm going up and checking the rooms and as if someone's you know sat on the bed to do their shoes up or something like that it's like stop sitting on my bed spreads but that's that's but that's okay that's part of living in part of Liv in in an old house that has you know has history history there you go wow well I mean listen they you know I always think of ghosts as they come and go as they please yeah but keep good ones [Music] yeah I certainly believe the walls of these historic houses are filled with spirits of past generations and there's sure to be many many more ghost stories to tell from the wonderful houses I visit in the future but for now happy ghost hunting [Music]

Channel: American Viscountess

Views: 121,895

Keywords: julie montagu mapperton house, julie montagu american aristocrat, mapperton house, aristocracy documentary, meghan markle, prince harry, american aristocrat, American viscountess, julie montagu, mapperton, viscountess, viscount, Luke montagu, prince and princess of wales, the royal family, all things royal, royalty, real royalty, bridgerton, the crown, royally obsessed, Italian house renovation, restoration, King Charles III

Id: O62puucwed0

Length: 36min 17sec (2177 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 28 2023