As Harry Potter fever sweeps the country get into the spirit of things with our guide to who is haunting what and why...
Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland
Who? A knight, Sir Guy the Seeker, and a maiden.
Where? The cliffhanging ruins of fourteenth-century Dunstanburgh, still hinting of its original grandeur, can be found near Alnwick. It is open daily from 10am to 6pm (adults £1.80, children 90p). Tel: 01665 576 231.
Why? The story goes that when Sir Guy rode up to the castle he found the drawbridge lowered and a lantern leading him to an ornate chamber in which a beautiful woman was trapped. He was offered the choice of a sword or a horn to help her and chose to summon help with the horn - at which point the vision vanished. His ghost can be seen lamenting the wrong decision, while the maiden still waits in the ruins for rescue.
Whitby Abbey, Yorkshire
Who? Two nuns, one of whom is St Hilda, the founder.
Where? The thirteenth- century abbey was built on the site of St Hilda's religious community, dating from 657, which also included the poet and monk Caedmon. The ruins were also Bram Stoker's inspiration for Dracula. Open daily from 10am to 6pm (adults £1.70, children 90p). Tel: 01947 603 568.
Why? St Hilda's shrouded ghost has been seen in one of the windows, but a more tragic story is attached to the other ghost, believed to be Constance de Beverley. She broke her vows by falling for a knight named Marmion and as punishment she was led to cell, bricked in and left to die.
Scarborough Castle,
Yorkshire
Who? Piers Gaveston, Edward II's lover.
Where? The site has been strategically important since the Iron Age, but became a royal stronghold in the north in the twelfth century. Open daily from 10am to 6pm (adults £2.30, children £1.20). Tel: 01723 372451.
Why? The Earl of Warwick drove Gaveston to the castle, and beheaded him. The headless ghost still haunts the remains and is said to try to push sightseers off the castle battlements.
Okehampton Castle, Devon
Who? 'Wicked' Lady Howard.
Where? Another set of ruins, this time of the largest castle in Devon, but also with decidedly uneerie woodland walks and picnic spots. Open daily 10am to 6pm (adults £2.30, children £1.20). Tel: 01837 52844
Why? Lady Howard is alleged to have murdered all four of her husbands and then is supposed to have built a coach from their bones. Appropriately, it is also said that she employed a headless coachman and headless horses and rides to the castle every night. Watch out for the one-eyed dog.
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
Who? Anne Boleyn.
Where? Blickling, a superb Jacobean house with parkland and a lake, is open Wednesday to Sunday from 1pm to 4.30pm (£6.50; garden only, £3.70). Tel: 01263 738030.
Why? Anne Boleyn spent much of her childhood in a medieval house around which Blickling Hall was built. Rumour suggests she still returns to the place where she was happy.
Buckland Abbey, Devon
Who? Sir Francis Drake.
Where? Drake secretly bought Buckland from a rival, Sir Richard Grenville, just before setting off with the Armada. It is open daily except Thursdays (adults £4.50, family £11.20). Tel: 01822 853 607.
Why? Drake seems to have inspired many supernatural stories. On display inside the house, along with banners from the Golden Hind, is his drum which is said to sound whenever England is in danger. The last time it was supposed to have been heard was when the German fleet were gathering during the First World War.
Magdalen College, Oxford
Who? Various black-clad figures.
Where? The college, on The High in Oxford, was founded in 1458 by Bishop Waynflete and its original site included a thirteenth-century hospital and burial ground.
Why? It easy to be sceptical, but it appears that these are not apparitions of the alcoholic variety. The most recent manifestation was in February 1987 when a resting language student was woken by the sound of mysterious mutterings and saw the locked door of her room open. A presence then leant over her. The Rev Jeffrey John even felt it was necessary to bless her room. In 1968 a student walking towards the Colonnade arches saw a silent gliding figure, but inside the cowls of its gown there was no face and it vanished in brighter light. Magdalen College is open during the summer from Noon to 6pm (adults £2, children £1) Tel: 01865 276 000.
Meanwhile, in Scotland...
It was at the grimly titled Bloody Stone at Harta
Corrie on the Isle of Skye that a fierce battle was
fought between the MacLeods and the MacDonalds in
1395. People have since reported spectral warriors
fighting among the rocks. The ancestral home of the
MacLeod clan on the island, Dunvegan Castle , is
itself closely associated with fairy legend. A male
clansman is once supposed to have married a fairy,
who gave the family an enchanted flag, which can still
be seen at the castle. The castle is open daily from
10am to 5.30pm (adults £6.50, children £3, family
ticket £15) and boat tours to the loch's seal colony are
also available. Tel: 01470 521 206 or www.dunvegan.com
The Big Grey Man is mountaineering's own
supernatural legend and is old enough to have a Gaelic
name, Am Fear Leath Mor. He haunts Britain's second
highest mountain, Ben Macdhui in the Cairngorms.
Climbers since 1831 have reported the sound of his
footsteps, then feelings of intense melancholy and
despair, followed by terror.
One of Scotland's busiest ghosts is the bearded
sailor who has been sighted walking Sandwood Bay
near Cape Wrath. But the most haunted place is north
of the border is undoubtedly Glamis Castle , which
has witnessed a catalogue of misfortune. Glamis is
Scotland's oldest inhabited castle, home to the
Bowes-Lyon family, the Earls of Strathmore, (the
Queen Mother was born a Bowes-Lyon). In 1034 King
Malcolm II was murdered and bled to death in the
castle (the story is told in Macbeth). The Grey Lady
haunting the corridors is Lady Glamis, burned at the
stake by James V on the grounds she was a witch.
The third Earl of Strathmore was notorious gambler. He
was in the middle of a game with the Earl of Crawford
when he was advised that Saturday night was about to
turn into Sunday morning. He replied that they would
play on and the devil could join them if he wished - the
devil took them up on the offer and condemned them to
play cards until Judgment Day. Rumours persist of a
secret room near which the rattle of dice can be heard.
Glamis Castle (01307 840 393), north of Dundee, is
open daily from 10am to 5.30pm (adults £6, children
£3).
