With Halloween approaching many of us will be partaking in events to get us ready for spooky season. Whether it be pumpkin picking, visiting haunted houses or going on spooky castle tours.

But where are the spookiest castles in the UK, we hear you ask?

Tombola has crowned Chillingham Castle as the scariest castle having analysed 43 of the UK and Ireland’s most haunted castles by sifting through TripAdvisor reviews looking for the following words: Spooky, Scary, Ghost and Haunted.

It then counted the number of reviews for the above words and created an index to provide each castle with a ‘spooky factor’ to reveal which castle or building takes the crown as scariest.

Free Press Series: Chillingham Castle (Tombola)Chillingham Castle (Tombola)

But where else in the UK has a spooky castle?

Top 10 UK spookiest castles

  1. Chillingham Castle, Northumberland
  2. Tulloch Castle, Dingwall
  3. Treasurer's House, North Yorkshire
  4. Craig y Nos Castle, Swansea
  5. Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
  6. Muncaster Castle, Cumbria
  7. Glamis Castle, Angus
  8. Dalhousie Castle, Midlothian
  9. Berry Pomeroy Castle, Devon
  10. Ruthin Castle, Denbighshire

Scare Factor reviews

Chillingham Castle is a 13th century medieval castle in Northumberland, and is Tombola’s top spot for the scariest building in the UK. The castle was awarded a Scare Factor score of 35, the highest of all analysed due to the number of reviews mentioning the words ‘spooky’, ‘scary’, ‘ghost’ and ‘haunted.’

Free Press Series: Ruthin Castle (Tombola)Ruthin Castle (Tombola)

According to Tombola’s research, there were 255 reviews mentioning the word ‘ghost,’ with the castle boasting some of the highest levels of paranormal activity in the country.

Coming in a close second in the ‘spooky’ reviews count was Alnwick Castle with a Scare Factor score of 24. Locals have stated they have seen the ghost of the Grey Lady who worked as a maid in the castle, along with the spooky sightings of the Alnwick Castle vampire.

Treasure’s House had the most ghost sightings, giving it a Scare Factor score of 25.

Tulloch Castle and Chillingham both come second and third respectively. What is left of the 12th century castle, the Tulloch Castle Hotel is said to be the home of the Green Lady, one of the very few ghosts to have ever been captured on film. If you visit, make sure to take your camera.

While also not one deemed one of the scariest castles in the UK according to the research, the home of I’m A Celebrity..., Gwrych Castle, is reported to have a haunted past. The ghost of The Countess, born in 1859, is said to still roam the castle, with The Countess’ Tower the hub of paranormal activity.