Muncaster Castle is a privately owned castle overlooking the Esk river, about a mile south of the west-coastal town of Ravenglass in Cumbria, England.
Built on foundations dating to the Roman era, the site was originally selected by the Romans as the place from which to guard the Esk River ("Muncaster" contains the Latin word castra, meaning "encampment", or "fort"). It is currently owned by the Pennington family, who have lived at Muncaster for at least 800 years, the land being granted to Alan de Penitone in 1208. The oldest parts of the castle include the Great Hall and the 14th century pele tower, a type of watch-tower fortification unique to the English-Scottish border region.
Muncaster Castle has also acquired a reputation for being one of the most haunted houses in Britain, however this has only been since the 1990s, partly due to the investigations of Jason Braithwaite of Birmingham University into whether the alleged hauntings are down to environmental factors such as magnetic disturbances.
Prior to the 21st Century, most ghost books that bothered to list Muncaster mentioned only two ghosts, that of Henry VI (who was sheltered at Muncaster after his defeat at the battle of Hexham) and the head carrying ghost of an apprentice carpenter who was decapitated whilst sleeping in the old stable block by jester Thomas Skelton (Tom The Fool) at the orders of Sir Ferdinand Pennington because of his love affair with his daughter Helwise.
However, visitors to the castle have long been informed by guides that as well as the above, the ghost of Skelton and the vengeful ghost in white of Mary Bragg - a foul-mouthed local girl who was murdered by being hanged from the Main Gate by drunken youths in the 19th Century after they'd kidnapped her for a joke: those responsible were never brought to justice. There were even tales that a lion shot by the last Lord Muncaster in Kenya, and whose skull is kept in the castle, was sometimes heard prowling (& gently growling) around at nightfall.
Guests may book a tour of the castle and an all-night vigil in a haunted bedroom known as the Tapestry Room, where guest reports of paranormal phenomena include: hearing footsteps, seeing the door open of its own accord, hearing a crying child (allegedly Margaret Susan Pennington, who died of screaming fits in the 19th Century) and/or a singing woman, having their digital cameras turn off and on inexplicably, feeling themselves patted, experiencing changes of room temperature, chest pains, and even being inexplicably tossed out of the bed.
Built on foundations dating to the Roman era, the site was originally selected by the Romans as the place from which to guard the Esk River ("Muncaster" contains the Latin word castra, meaning "encampment", or "fort"). It is currently owned by the Pennington family, who have lived at Muncaster for at least 800 years, the land being granted to Alan de Penitone in 1208. The oldest parts of the castle include the Great Hall and the 14th century pele tower, a type of watch-tower fortification unique to the English-Scottish border region.
Muncaster Castle has also acquired a reputation for being one of the most haunted houses in Britain, however this has only been since the 1990s, partly due to the investigations of Jason Braithwaite of Birmingham University into whether the alleged hauntings are down to environmental factors such as magnetic disturbances.
Prior to the 21st Century, most ghost books that bothered to list Muncaster mentioned only two ghosts, that of Henry VI (who was sheltered at Muncaster after his defeat at the battle of Hexham) and the head carrying ghost of an apprentice carpenter who was decapitated whilst sleeping in the old stable block by jester Thomas Skelton (Tom The Fool) at the orders of Sir Ferdinand Pennington because of his love affair with his daughter Helwise.
However, visitors to the castle have long been informed by guides that as well as the above, the ghost of Skelton and the vengeful ghost in white of Mary Bragg - a foul-mouthed local girl who was murdered by being hanged from the Main Gate by drunken youths in the 19th Century after they'd kidnapped her for a joke: those responsible were never brought to justice. There were even tales that a lion shot by the last Lord Muncaster in Kenya, and whose skull is kept in the castle, was sometimes heard prowling (& gently growling) around at nightfall.
Guests may book a tour of the castle and an all-night vigil in a haunted bedroom known as the Tapestry Room, where guest reports of paranormal phenomena include: hearing footsteps, seeing the door open of its own accord, hearing a crying child (allegedly Margaret Susan Pennington, who died of screaming fits in the 19th Century) and/or a singing woman, having their digital cameras turn off and on inexplicably, feeling themselves patted, experiencing changes of room temperature, chest pains, and even being inexplicably tossed out of the bed.
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