10 Most Haunted Places In Birmingham

Baskerville House is a former civic building in Centenary Square and was built on the former estate of Easy Hill, the home of the wealthy printer John Baskerville. In 1971, riots broke out in the city and three looters broke into the wine cellar, unaware that the house above had been set alight. The men died in the fire and their spirits have been blamed for a negative atmosphere in the cellar and strange goings on in the house ever since.

The Court Oak pub in Harborne is said to be the most haunted pub in the city of Birmingham. The pub is said to be built on the site where many criminals were hanged in the 17th century. It's believed that the pub's resident ghost, nicknamed "Corky", is the spirit of one of the executed.

Corky has been described as a "wine snob" and apparently haunts the pub's cellar, where he's blamed for bottles of wine mysteriously smashing, and some customers have seen the ghostly figure of a man behind the bar. Witnesses say the man appears to be in his 60s and has been spooking the staff for years.

Warstone Lane Cemetery, also known as Brookfields Cemetery, or Mint Cemetery, from the adjacent Birmingham Mint. The cemetery dates back to 1847 and includes unusual two-tiered catacombs. The cemetery is the final resting place of 51 Commonwealth servicemen from World War I and 13 from World War II.

Visitors to the Grade II listed site have frequently reported the ghost of a white lady, who has been seen wandering the graveyard and the road outside its gates. Passing drives claim to have slammed on their brakes after seeing her walking out in to the road, only to see her disappear seconds later.

There's also the ghost of an unknown young woman who is seen in the cemetery by passersby at night. It's said she's seen sat on top of her own grave, but no one has ever been brave enough to venture into the cemetery at night in order to read the name on the grave stone.

Birmingham New Street is a major transport hub and the busiest of the three main railway stations in the city, it said that throughout its more than 160 year history, four people have committed suicide, all on platform four. Their ghosts are said to appear on the platform late at night and include the spirit of Walter Hartles, a retired train driver who shot himself and a Victorian man who goes by the name of Claude, who is said to have poisoned himself.

On the outskirts of Birmingham, is a Tudor manor house with legends of an entombed monk, secret passageways and plenty of ghost stories.

The house was built in 1878 by the Haden family, throughout its lifetime the building has been used as a public air raid shelter and a home for evacuated children during the Second World War. It was also used as a library and a doctor's surgery. The house was almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1977, but thankfully the house was restored and maintained.

Legend tells of the ghost of a monk who fell in love with Eleanor, a young woman who lived nearby. In order to prevent them from being together, Eleanor's parents captured the monk and walled him up alive in the secret passage that couple had used to meet each other.

The main paranormal activity in the house is said to be the deep sound of moaning, which is thought to be the monk. As well as doors banging and footsteps which coincide with a partial apparition in the form of feet running up and down one of the flights of stairs in the house.

The New Alexandra Theatre, commonly known as the Alex, is a theatre on Station Street. One of the property's former owners, Lester Collingwood, was killed in a road traffic accident in 1910 and was succeeded by Leon Salberg, who died in his office at the theatre in 1938. His ghost is said to still roam the building.

Other ghostly sightings include that of a former master of the wardrobe department who also died in the building, a military man in a top hat, a stage manager called Dick who can be heard jangling his keys and the mysterious grey lady who was first seen by a cleaner in the 1980s.

Aston Hall is a Grade I listed Jacobean house built between 1618 and 1635, today it is used as a museum. The mansion is said to be haunted by Sir Thomas Holte, who built the hall, as well as several other regularly sighted ghosts.

There's been multiple sightings of a female spirit, a white lady, who is thought to be Holte's daughter, Mary. Holte imprisoned her in a room for years as he didn't approve of her choice of lover. The story goes that she went mad and died 16 years later.

There's also the spirit of a servant boy called Dick, who's said to have hung himself in the staff quarters in the attic due to the fear of the repercussions after being accused of theft.

Other visitors to the building have reported seeing a green lady sitting on a chair in the great hall, who is said to be Holte's housekeeper. Records show that Holte was charged with her murder, but he wasn't found guilty of the crime.

Birmingham's Steelhouse Lane Lockup, a historic Grade II listed police station which operated for 125 years. The prison was built in 1892 and has housed some of the most infamous convicts in British criminal history, including members of the Peaky Blinders gang, and the mass murderer Fred West.

The grim prison is packed full of small cells on all its floors, and inmates would be confined to their cells as there's no dining area or exercise yard in this fairly small city centre prison. It was used as a remand prison, which meant criminals stayed here while on trial, hence the lack of facilities you'd find in a longterm penal establishment.

In recent years, the grand old building started to struggle to cope with the demands of modern policing and in 2017 its doors were slammed shut for the final time. Like most prison, Birmingham Central Lockup has its fair share of ghost stories. Many people have reported seeing dark shadows walking across empty corridors, and objects moving on their own. They've heard the moans of a distraught woman throughout the day and night, as well as the loud slamming of heavy doors, jangling keys, and heavy footsteps. Most of the paranormal activity is said to happen in cell B23.

Birmingham Town Hall is a Grade I listed concert hall and events venue in Victoria Square, which opened in 1834. The building is said to have one very famous ghost, the spirit of Charles Dickens, who gave his first reading of 'A Christmas Carol' at the venue on Boxing Day of 1853. His ghost has been seen sitting in the empty theatre and strolling along various corridors in the building. Another of the theatre's resident ghosts is said to be the spirit of a Victorian-era man, who's been seen smoking a pipe at the back of the theatre, when approached the figure simply vanished.

The building's great hall is allegedly haunted by the ghost of two stonemasons, who died in 1833 during the construction of the town hall. The pair were said to have been working on the external carved pillars when part of the roof collapsed and crushed them. Ever since, the men have been seen and heard continuing their work, chiselling away at the pillars.

Birmingham Council House is a Grade II listed building in Victoria Square that was built in 1875. The building is said to be haunted by a former mayor of Birmingham, Joseph "Brummagem Joe" Chamberlain, who laid the first stone. Sightings of his ghost usually coincide with the smell of flowers.

His apparition has also been seen by staff in the Lord Mayor's office, wearing a black velvet coat and red neck tie, sat behind his wooden desk, upon which he insisted on always having freshly cut flowers.

The hall was once part of an old monastery, which is thought to be linked to sightings of a shadowy monk roaming the corridors. Others have reported seeing the ghost of a former councillor, who allegedly hanged himself in the entrance hall. His ghostly figure is seen hanging at the top of the main staircase.