The most haunted churches in Britain
The UK has many church buildings, with some especially reputed for their hauntings. Here are several of those sites — and ghosts they are said to harbour.
Image: St Mary's Church in Whitby | Shepps / Shutterstock.com
A church can be many things. Basilicas, cathedrals and chapels all count as churches. One thing you might not expect a church to be, on the other hand, is haunted.
Of course, many burials do take place in churchyards. However, while the UK has plenty of haunted houses, castles and pubs, sites dedicated to religious worship are somewhat overlooked in rankings of paranormal hotspots.
It’s long past time to redress this balance. Many Sky HISTORY shows, like The UnBelievable with Dan Aykroyd, already tell chilling tales. Continuing in this vein, here is our close look at those UK churches where ghosts appear to linger in especially high numbers.
St Mary’s, Whitby
Is there any way to tell which individual church is the UK’s most haunted? It’s arguably a subjective judgement anyway, but St Mary’s was the church awarded this accolade in a 2024 study.
This Anglican parish church is famous as a setting in the seminal 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. Contrary to popular belief, St Mary’s does not hold Count Dracula’s grave because he’s a fictional character. However, the ghostly vision of a horse-drawn coach has reportedly often been seen near the building.
St Nicholas, Pluckley
In Pluckley, the ghosts aren’t limited to the church. The village has been linked with as many as a dozen distinct spirits. Some of these are said to specifically lurk at St Nicholas.
These include two women, nicknamed the ‘White Lady’ and the ‘Red Lady’. Apparently, the former, a member of the Dering family, was interred in multiple coffins and a wooden sarcophagus.
While the White Lady lingers inside the church building itself, the Red Lady sticks instead to the churchyard, reputedly to search for her stillborn child.
St Andrew’s, Newcastle upon Tyne
St Andrew’s Church lies on Newgate Street, not far from Newcastle United’s home stadium St James’ Park. However, it’s actually the churchyard of this Grade I listed structure that gives it its spooky reputation.
One story centres around a young curate who falls in love with a local landowner’s daughter and later sees her walking around the churchyard. He unsurprisingly attempts to approach her there and then, only for her to vanish before his eyes.
The following day, the lovelorn curate learns that the young woman died the night before. Her ghost purportedly continues to wander around St Andrew’s Churchyard to this day.
Norwich Cathedral
Norwich, the county town of Norfolk, is well-known for its stunning cathedral. Hence, many visitors are keen to photograph the Church of England building.
In 2015, tourist Kerry Launders did a double take when she noticed what looked like an apparition in one of her own photos. This interior shot of the cathedral showed a ghostly figure resembling a bishop, complete with long robes and tall hat.
Launders recalled to the press: 'I was just taking photos of the arch on my camera and that was that. There was nothing up there.' Other visitors have similarly reported spotting supposed ghosts in the 11th-century Gothic building.
St Mary’s, Avenbury
Unlike other churches in this list, St Mary’s is no longer technically active as a church. In fact, it currently lies in ruins in the Hertfordshire parish of Avenbury. The building stood intact for centuries before eventually shutting its doors for good in 1931.
Since then, though, stories of spooky goings-on have proliferated. A phantom organist has reportedly lurked at the site, where even sounds of Christmas celebrations have rung out. There have also evidently been attempts to unearth a grave here.
Greyfriars, Edinburgh
Gregfriars Kirkyard is home to the ‘Black Mausoleum’, the final resting place of 17th-century Lord Advocate Sir George Mackenzie. He earned himself the nickname ’Bluidy Mackenzie’ due to his brutal treatment of Presbyterian Covenanters following the Stuart Restoration.
Still, if you are intrigued by Mackenzie’s life story, you might not want to get too close to his mausoleum. Towards the end of the 20th century, someone recklessly broke into the structure, apparently unleashing Mackenzie’s vengeful ghost.
Well, that’s at least one theory behind the spate of chilling occurrences to have befell many visitors to the Kirkyard in the years since. Hundreds of peculiar disturbances — including scratches, burns and inexplicable hot and cold spots — have been attributed to the poltergeist’s wrath.
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