Chillington Castle: Horror or Hype?
The growing peace in the borderlands during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries completed Chillingham Castle’s evolution into a country house. Capability Brown designed landscaped gardens to surround the castle and its new east wing. In 1832, the King of France, Louise Philippe stayed at Chillingham and gifted the owner with garden urns from Versailles. However, by 1932, the Greys had left the Castle as the costs of running Chillingham became too high, leaving the castle to its ghosts, until its rescue at the end of the twentieth century.
Ghost stories of Chillington in this gentler period continue to manifest. One notable spirit is the ghost of Lady Mary Berkley, the wife of Lord Grey of Wark and Chillingham who in 1682 ran off with his wife’s sister, Henrietta. Lady Mary was left alone at Chillingham with her baby daughter. She died in the castle in 1710, and her ghost reputedly remains there still, signaled by a rustle of silk and an eerie chill.
But how real are Chillingham’s ghosts? American heiress Leonora Van Marter, who married George, Earl of Tankerville in 1895 certainly seemed to believe in them. The new Countess was a keen believer in the spirit world and claimed to have experienced many of Chillingham’s spirits herself, capturing their stories in a pamphlet published in 1925.
However, Chillingham’s reputation as Britain’s most haunted castle seems to stem from its current owners. And despite its undoubted turbulent history on the borders of England, some of Chillingham’s more bloody tales are difficult to verify. For although much of the castle’s history is well documented, the character of John Sage, for instance, is not. Nor are the exact number so those who died within Chillingham’s walls. It could be that in reality, Chillingham’s history is no more horrific and bloodstained than any other castle fortress in England, such as the Tower of London or Warwick castle.
However, the mysterious finds of bodies in the castle remain as a testimony to the grim goings-on, no matter how undocumented. Then there are the reports and photographs of visitors to the castle and paranormal investigators. Maybe these are fakes, flukes or the workings of overworked imaginations. Perhaps, as the early nineteenth-century poet Longfellow said of Chillingham:
“All houses in which men have lived and died are haunted houses:
Through the open doors, the harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
with feet that make no sounds upon the floors.”
Or perhaps there is something to the reputation of Chillington Castle after all.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources
“Believed to be the most horrific place in Europe, the Chillingham Castle has seen many wars, deaths, and tortures since the 12th century”, Brad Smithfield, The Vintage News, January 11, 2018.
“The Ghosts of a Chance,” Mary Wakefield, The Telegraph, October 30, 2004.
“Chillingham Castle, Northumberland, England,” Ghost Story.co.uk.