15 Best Haunted Tourist Attractions In The UK

From haunted castles to ghosts roaming theme park and military museums haunted by phantom soldiers, these are the 15 best tourist attractions in the UK that sell themselves on their paranormal activity.

When the SS Great Britain first set sail in 1845, she was the most most advanced and longest steamship in the world, a testament to Bristol's naval engineering past. The grand passenger ship was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was operated by the Great Western Steamship Company.

Today the ship is a museum and one of the city's most popular tourist attractions, but during its 41 years of service it spent its time shipping passengers between Bristol and New York. The crossing of the Atlantic usually took around 14 days, so with all this time at sea, it’s no surprise that the iconic ship has plenty of paranormal stories to tell.

The Great Britain's most re-told haunting is that of Captain John Grey, who vanished one night after falling ill during a voyage. He was never to be seen again, some say it was suicide, while others claim he was murdered for all the gold stowed away in his cabin.

Since then passengers have reportedly hear the heavy foot step of his hobnail boots as he walks across the deck, accompanied by sights and sounds of doors opening and closing and even a self-playing piano.

Captain Grey isn't the only ghost to tread the planks on this famous ship, others include that of Mrs Cohen, who tragically and mysteriously died aboard the ship a few short weeks after her wedding and the ghost of a young sailor who reportedly fell from the rigging.

Yvette Fielding and the Most Haunted team described the SS Great Britain as one of the top five most haunted places they've ever visited.

There have been many mysterious sightings of an old miner underground here, the miners knew him as "th'old mon." In 1973, while filming for a television series called 'The Jensen Code,' technicians needed to take electrical cables deeper into the mine to power their cameras and lights. It turned out that they did not have enough cable to reach the place they wanted. Their difficulty was miraculously overcome however, when an old miner appeared and suggested a more difficult but shorter route for the cables, this alternative route proved ideal. The technicians went to thank the old fellow, but he had gone; no one knew who he was. Visitors walking through the mine today have reported feeling as if someone is watching them.

The Haunted Museum & Spirit Shop opened at the end of 2021 and is home to various haunted artefacts and ghost hunting paraphernalia, including an old granddaughter clock in the séance room. The clock hasn't worked for years, but it's said to resume its steady tick-tock from time to time, as well as letting out the odd unexpected chime.

According to the building's history, a little girl named Sarah was found dead at the bottom of the stairs. Beneath the stairs are copies of the infamous crying boy paintings lining the wall. Two of these prints came from a house where a family suffered from 11 years of hauntings. After these pictures were found in the attic and removed, the activity stopped.

The museum's most famous object is Mary, an old-looking doll that has been seen to violently rock on her chair, has been thrown out of the chair, and her eyes have been seen moving. Many of these incidents have been caught on the museum's CCTV cameras.

A twelve-roomed former farmhouse on the outskirts of Stratford-Upon-Avon where the wife of William Shakespeare, Anne Hathaway, lived as a child. The cottage has been in the hands of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust since 1892 and was damaged by fire in 1969. The house is now open to the public as a museum.

The house is said to have a sinister presence in one of the upstairs bedrooms and passers-by have seen what they believe to be the ghost of a female through one of the upstairs windows. The apparition was seen late at night after guests had lift and staff had locked up for the night.

An antique chair is said to move around overnight, as if being returned to its proper place, and an old Bible in the house has on many occasions opened by itself while still in its glass display case.

When Yvette Fielding and the 'Most Haunted' team visited the cottage for their live show entitled, 'The Life And Loves Of William Shakespeare' in 2004. During their investigation a cradle was seen rocking of its own accord.

A theme park conjures up images of fun and games and seems a world away from the gothic towers of a classic haunted house, but the historic Pleasure Beach in Blackpool is said to be a hotbed of poltergeist activity.

Before the advent of the railway, Blackpool was no more than a small seaside village, a far cry from the bustling resort it is today. Since opening in 1896, the pleasure beach is the town's most famous attraction and it's grown in size over the years.

By day the park is a tourist attraction that draws in around seven million people every year, many of whom don't realise it's haunted. Although the pleasure beach is a place of fun, there's not many places creepier than an empty fun fair at night.

The two most paranormally active locations are said to be the gift shop, which is underneath the Sir Hiram Maxim's Captive Flying Machines ride. The spirits of children, often a young girl, have been sighted here and staff have reported poltergeist activity, in the form of objects flying off the shelves and moving around at night.

Another active location at the pleasure beach is the ghost train, which is said to have a real mischievous ghost called Cloggy. The spook gets its name from a former train operator who used to wear clogs. Staff and visitors have heard the sound of his shoes tapping on the floor as his spirit walks behind them.

The famous show caves are said to be haunted due to their colourful past, most famously its former, a resident witch.

She is said to have cursed a monk from nearby Glastonbury, he came to the caves in search of the witch in an attempt to break the curse. He splashed holy water on the cave walls, which is believed to have turned into the impressive stalagmites visitors can see in the caves today.

Fort Amherst in Chatham is a historic military location that has seen a great deal in its past and is said to house plenty paranormal energy. Visitors have frequently reported seeing dark shadowy figures, children are heard playing, and painful cries and disembodied footsteps are heard echoing through the eerie labyrinth of subterranean passages.

The London Tombs are part of The London Bridge Experience, a tourist attraction on Tooley Street, in vaults below the southern end of London Bridge, built on the site of what was once a plague pit. As well as being a popular tourist spot, it's also a popular location for ghost hunts and is said to be the most haunted bridge in the world.

Staff and visitors have reported paranormal activity ranging from unexplained sounds like knocks, bangs and dragging sounds, through to poltergeist activity in the form of objects being thrown by an unseen force. There's even been reports of dark shadowy figures moving around in the creepy subterranean tunnels.

There's also been reports of a little girl who's believed to be called Emily. Other visitors have reported encountering an unenthusiastic staff member in the tombs. She's said to be dressed in character but doesn't interact with the guests, she simply stares at them. When the guests mentioned this to staff they are surprised to hear that there is no such woman working in that part of the tour.

The tombs were built over a plague pit and many think this could be the cause of the hauntings. The pit, which was discovered in 2007, contains a large number of skeletons that date back to the 11th century through to 17th century.

The bridge also has a grim past as severed heads were at one time displayed on the bridge after executions. This was commonplace in Tudor times when they used to impale the heads of traitors and criminals on spikes along the bridge.

The Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre opened in February 2018 on Regent Street Hinckley and houses an eclectic collection of interesting and old artefacts displayed across three main rooms. Every item has some kind of meaningful attachment, it's either a sentimental keepsake, a once-loved toy or a personal object of some kind.

There are hundreds of items on display, everything from a copy of the famous 'Crying Boy' painting and old framed family photographs, to genuine death masks - from the macabre practice of making likenesses of someone's face following their death. One of the most prominent items in the collection is an eerie haunted wartime wheelchair, which featured on ITV's 'This Morning' last year. The show's presenter, Philip Schofield, was brave enough to sit in the chair, which is said to be haunted by the ghost of hundreds of wounded servicemen.

The museum also has a smaller and darker room, known as "the witch's room". This part of the museum houses anything with any remotely negative or evil story attached to it. There's also a dedicated séance room, which is set up to resemble a Victorian parlour. The centrepiece is a large table draped in a black velvet cloth, where visitors can conduct séances.

Various paranormal teams have visited the centre since it opened, including Barri Ghai who's perhaps best known for his appearance in the 2018 ghost hunting show, 'Help! My House Is Haunted'.

Today Bodmin Jail is a tourist attraction, but for almost 150 years it was prison, in which time it saw over 50 public hangings. The jail is a popular location for paranormal researchers, including the 'Most Haunted' team who visited in their sixth series.

This was the location of the legendary incident that involved the show's producers feeding medium Derek Acorah false information, which saw him get possessed by a named Kreed Kafer. It came to light after the show that the spirit was fictionally and was in fact an anagram of the phrase "Derek Faker."

Hall's Croft is one of the more prominent buildings in the centre of Stratford-Upon-Avon. It is also regarded as one of the most haunted. It is here where William Shakespeare's daughter Susanna and her husband lived before taking over New Place in 1619.

Some have reported seeing a blue ghost on the stairs, believed to be the spirit of Betty Leggett who fell to her death here, and the ghost of a young child has been seen skipping through the corridors, as well as the spirit of two American females.

Shrieves House is one of the oldest structures in Stratford-Upon-Avon having survived the plague, civil war, world war and four major fires. It was for a time known as the Falstaff Experience Museum, and is now the Tudor World Museum, depicting the gruesome past of the town. Elizabeth Rogers lived in the house from 1578 and her nephew was known to be Shakespeare's godson. Her husband, William Rogers, is also thought to have inspired the character of Falstaff.

Visitors have reported seeing phantom soldiers standing on the stairs and a ghostly French maid seen wandering the darkened corridors. People have also reported being pushed and grabbed on the stairs by an unseen force.

The Hellfire Caves are a manmade network of chalk mines, which extend a quarter of a mile underground near the village of West Wycombe. The caves have a past of satanic rituals, worship and sacrifice, making them a terrifying place to visit today.

The Hellfire Caves are said to have many resident spooks, including the spirit of Benjamin Franklin, who was a regular visitor to the caves in the 18th century. Another apparition regularly spotted is that of Paul Whitehead, a former steward of the notorious Hellfire Club from which the caves take their name.

There's also the spirit of a young girl called Suki, she's said to have been tricked into meeting a man at the caves, the visit resulted in her murder.

Nestle deep beneath the Royal Mile in Edinburgh there's a hidden a labyrinth of narrow streets and houses. The area of Mary King's Close was originally a number of streets lined with houses, taverns and shops. Buildings were up to seven storeys high and housed hundreds of Edinburgh's inhabitants, but in 1645 the city was hit by the bubonic plague and the confines of the close proved to be a fertile breeding ground for the black death.

In an attempt to stem the spread of this ravaging disease, city officials quarantined Mary King's Close, and although victims of the plague were cared for, many died in their homes.

By the mid 18th century, the council decided to build the Royal Exchange on top of the close. Residents left the area and the street became a subterranean underworld, buried for centuries, but the close was recently reopened, allowing its macabre history to be retold.

The close is said to be the site of dark shadows, strange noises and even apparitions of body parts have been reported here. Chesney's House, is said to be so scary, that some staff member refuse to enter certain areas on their own and the ghost of a man has been seen here before vanishing.

A building known as the "Murder House" is said to be the location of a killing. A woman murdered her son in law here and was executed for her crime. Since then his wounded figure has been seen and heard reenacting the moment of his death.

Annie's Room are said to be the most haunted part of the close, as well as cold spots, phantom voices and dark shadows, the spirit of a little girl has been seen wandering endlessly, trying to find her mother, who apparently left her to die during the plague. She's been seen so many times that guests often leave her toys to play with.

The Edinburgh Vaults are a network of eerie chambers which are formed in the arches of the South Bridge in Edinburgh. Due to the city's growing population, the 120 rooms or 'vaults' beneath the bridge were put to use to house taverns, workshops for cobblers and other tradesmen in 1788.

The vaults were damp with poor air quality and condition were grim, which resulted in businesses leaving. This meant that the dank caverns were overtaken by Edinburgh's poorest citizens, the homeless and criminals, who carried out activities such as illegal gambling, whisky distillery and even bodysnatching.

Eventually the vaults were filled in and forgotten about, until they were rediscovered in the 1980s and eventually opened as a tourist attraction. Thanks to its depressing past, the vaults are now said to be one of the most haunted places in the UK.

Visitors report hearing disembodied voices, including the sound of children crying. The mysterious sound of feet shuffling can also be heard coming from dark corners of the vaults, and people have reported being touched. During 'Most Haunted's' investigation of the location in 2008, one of their team was scratched by an unseen force, to this day it is still one of the team's most violent investigations.