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- 28th Oct 2026
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17 haunted North East tales of cursed bottles, ghosts and medieval vampires
The haunted North East is rich in ghostly legends and chilling folklore, from the restless spirits of Durham Castle to bottles in a pub window in Alnwick nobody’s dared touch in 300 years.
Spooky season has arrived, so brace yourself for a journey through the most haunted places in North East England.
DURHAM CASTLE’S BLACK STAIRCASE ISN’T FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED
Durham Castle is said to have two restless spirits. On its black staircase walks the Grey Lady, said to be a 19th-century bishop’s wife who fell to her death from the top. Higher up, students claim to hear the pacing footsteps of Frederick Copeman, who took his own life believing he’d failed his degree. His top honours had been hidden by a misplaced sheet of paper.
LILY OF LUMLEY STILL RISES FROM THE WELL
Image credit: The Tudor Society
Legend says Lily, wife of Sir Ralph Lumley, refused to convert to Catholicism, so two priests threw her down the well at Lumley Castle in Chester-le-Street. Her ghost is said to float up from it and drift through the walls, and touring international cricketers, the Australian team among them, have famously been spooked here.
WHAT LIES BENEATH NEWCASTLE’S TOWN MOOR
In 1650, 16 people accused of witchcraft were hanged on the Town Moor and buried in unmarked graves. Locals still claim to see dark figures at dusk. A smallpox hospital later stood here too, and those who walk past the copse marking its spot at twilight often report an unnatural chill.
A ROYAL REGULAR AT THE OLD GEORGE INN
Legend has it King Charles I drank at The Old George, one of Newcastle’s oldest pubs, while held nearby in 1646. His chair still sits in the Charles I Room, and drinkers report a grey mist taking shape in it, as though the fallen king has returned to his favourite haunt.
THE POPPY GIRL OF NEWCASTLE’S CASTLE KEEP
Image credit: Spooky Isles
The Poppy Girl, a flower seller who died imprisoned here, is often seen wandering the halls, marked by the scent of fresh flowers. Not every spirit is so gentle. One staff member claimed an unseen force threw him to the ground, leaving a scratch that needed stitches.
THE SHOW NEVER STOPS AT SUNDERLAND’S ROYALTY THEATRE
Once a church and later a World War I hospital, the Royalty Theatre is said to be alive with poltergeists. Phantom footsteps echo across the stage, and many have reported a ghostly figure sitting silently at the back of the auditorium.
THE CAULD LAD OF HYLTON CASTLE
Image credit: Construction of Excellence
Legend says stable boy Roger Skelton was killed by a Lord of Hylton in the 1600s. His shivering, naked ghost wailed about the cold until servants left him a green cloak and hood, and he vanished for good. It’s the closest thing to a happy ending you’ll find here.
IS MARSDEN GROTTO BRITAIN’S MOST HAUNTED PUB?
At the foot of Marsden Bay’s cliffs in South Shields, ghostly bare footprints are said to appear on the bar floor and refuse to scrub away, while knocks echo up from the cellar. Out in the bay, a sea monster called The Shoney is said to lurk.
DON’T TOUCH THE DIRTY BOTTLES IN ALNWICK
In 1725, the landlord of The Cross on Narrowgate dropped dead while moving bottles in the window. His widow declared them cursed, warning that anyone who touched them would share his fate. Nobody’s dared since, and the bottles have sat sealed behind glass for almost 300 years which you can see at the front of the pub today, giving the pub its name.
Alnwick even has a tale of a medieval vampire, recorded by chronicler William of Newburgh, said to have risen from his grave until locals dug him up and burned him.
CHILLINGHAM CASTLE’S BOY IN THE WALL
Image credit: Country Life
Guests in Chillingham’s Pink Room reported midnight cries and a glowing blue boy. In the 1920s, a young boy’s bones and scraps of blue fabric were found inside the wall, and sightings reportedly stopped once he was reburied. Lady Mary Berkeley, whose husband ran off with her sister, still drifts the corridors in rustling silk.
DUNSTANBURGH CASTLE’S KNIGHT IS STILL SEARCHING
Sheltering here in a storm, Sir Guy was led to a hall of sleeping knights and a maiden in a crystal casket. Told to wake her with a sword or a horn, he blew the horn, the knights attacked and he fainted. He spent his life searching for that hall, and his spirit still does.
THE EERIE HEXHAM HEADS
In 1971, two children unearthed a pair of carved stone heads in a Hexham garden. Those who handled them reported ghostly apparitions, and one witness claimed to see a werewolf-like creature. Curiously, in 1904 a wolf escaped from a zoo and terrorised local farms.
THE WEDDING PARTY THAT NEVER CAME HOME
Image credit: Nairn Museum
After Abigail Featherstonehaugh’s wedding, her bridal party was ambushed by the Ridley clan in Pinkyn Cleugh. Nobody survived. That night they rode silently into Featherstone Castle, took their seats at the banquet and vanished. On 17th January each year, they’re said to ride again.
DOROTHY’S STILL WAITING AT THE LORD CREWE ARMS
When her brother Tom was jailed for his part in the 1715 Jacobite rising, Dorothy Forster broke him out of Newgate and hid him in the priest’s hole behind the Lord Crewe Arms’ huge fireplace in Blanchland. He fled to France, and her ghost is said to haunt the Bamburgh Room, still waiting for him to come home.
THE TOP-HATTED GHOST OF DARLINGTON HIPPODROME
Founder Signor Rino Pepi booked ballerina Anna Pavlova in 1927 but died hours before she performed. His top-hatted ghost is said to appear whenever The Dying Swan is played, alongside a stagehand and a little Pekingese dog.
BEWARE THE OLD HELL CAT OF RABY CASTLE
Image credit: Raby Castle
When their son married against their wishes, Lord and Lady Barnard stripped Raby Castle of its lead, glass and furniture to wreck his inheritance. Known as the Old Hell Cat, Lady Barnard is said to pace the battlements in a fury, knitting with red-hot needles.
WATCH OUT FOR THE GIANT WORMS OF THE NORTH EAST
Young John Lambton threw a strange worm-like creature down a well, only for it to grow into a beast terrorising Wearside. He slew it on a witch’s advice but ignored her warning, cursing his family. Bamburgh has its own Laidly Worm, a princess turned dragon by her jealous stepmother.
WHO ELSE IS LURKING IN THE NORTH EAST?
Do you know any other spooky tales and legends from across the North East? Share them in the comments.
Rachael Ellis
Head of Content
After gaining a first in her BA Media and Journalism degree at Northumbria University, Rachael worked at Newcastle’s leading regional newspaper with her stories being picked up in national and global newspapers. She spent two very successful years giving a voice to those communities across the North East who otherwise…
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