Original Featured Photo Source: Here.
The Haunted Files explore haunted places, either that are famous or little known. I do some research into the places history and talk about the apparent haunting and the possible reasons for it from research collected on history and background and then make a conclusion.
This shall be a 5-part series with one released each Tuesday. This is the 5th and final part of this series! I am planning to make a 2nd series on this that also includes 5-parts again!
Description of Chillingham Castle
Chillingham Castle is found in Northumberland, England, United Kingdom in the village of Chillingham and not too far from the coast and the Scottish border and is nearby to a number of small towns such as Wooler, Alnwick, Eglingham, Holburn, Belford and Lucker among others.
The castle has a thick quadrangle curtain wall with four towers, one at each corner and everything else contained within its walls, the castle is surrounded by landscape gardens designed by Capability Brown in the 1800s.
Rooms and spaces within the castle include its armoury, where various weapons such as cannons and rifles have been stored over the centuries, with the contents changing as time went on and different weapons came to be and new strategies were devised. Then there is the Still Room used for storage of preserves and liqueurs. There were the castle dungeons used for holding prisoners, although it was also used for hiding as well.
A large medieval courtyard is at the center of the castle. Then there is the Great Hall for dining and entertainment and for hospitality of the royals who visited the castle, with large windows that overlooked the courtyard.
Visitors heading up the castle stairs will see the artists room and also the famous Pink Room (a luxury royal bedroom). The Edward I room is the oldest state room of the castle named after the visit of Edward I “Hammer of the Scots”, this room kept Lords of the castle secluded and up high and safe. Another state room is the King James I room, named after the King’s royal visit in 1603.
There is then the Plaque Room Library which currently displays family memorabilia and furnishings, the room had also had a four-poster bed for the King to receive his family and close friends. The current New Dining Room was once during King James I and Charles I time as a place for them to sleep and wash.
The castle also has a Chapel which was originally a library in the castle. Then there is the Minster’s Hall which is yet another hall for entertainment and dining. Then of course there is the infamous torture chamber, its usage pretty self-explanatory, but very gruesome, with the usage of such medieval implements considered very inhumane in the modern age.
The castle also now has a museum for tourists/visitors as well.
The History of Chillingham Castle
The history of Chillingham Castle goes back into medieval times, with the castle having been established since the 12th Century and due to its location close to the Scottish border it became an often-important staging ground for armies preparing to defend against Scotland but was also often besieged by Scottish armies, leading to the grounds having seen many battles and much death.
The area the castle is located, Chillingham village, has had human activity since at least prehistoric times which are not recorded, but it is known due to finds on the grounds, such as flint and antler arrowheads and bronze-age axes, which were found during the castle’s usage as a POW camp during World War 2, another part of its dark history.
A fort had been erected in Chillingham by the time of the Iron Age by various local tribes and was located on Ross Hill, a hill which now-a-days gives a view of the castle’s grounds.
The castle has far too much history to mention it all in one go, but I will pick out some of the pivotal and important parts as well as parts important to the hauntings.
Transition into a Castle
Before it was a castle the place was a monastery constructed by monks but due to increasing border conflict between the English and Scottish in the 1200s the manor house was fortified and a tower and curtain wall was constructed. Wanting a point of defense and garrison against Scottish incursions, the English monarchy gave the monastery manor to the Grey family in 1246, this family was descended from the Croy’s and therefore related to William the Conqueror.
Scottish Wars
The family got to work on changing the monastery into a proper castle, such as by constructing battlements, dungeons and more. The castle would be used to hold many prisoners of war and also spies and others who were seen as enemies. The castle came to play pivotal roles in many wars with Scotland, such as the First Scottish War of Independence in 1297.
In one event the forces of William Wallace, a Scottish Knight who was one of the main leaders of the war, raided the village of Chillingham and committed atrocities such as burning woman and children alive in the village church. After this event the castle became the main base used against the Scottish in the war, used by Edward I who was known as the “Hammer of the Scots”.
John Sage
John Sage is another major figure of the castle although much of his history isn’t properly recorded and is shrouded in legend, originally said to be a soldier of Edward I, but eventually is said to have received a leg injury which prevented him from fighting, but he wanted another role so much that legend says he was appointed as a torturer of the prisoners of the castle and it is said for the next three years of the war he committed terrible acts of torture against prisoners, possibly torturing up to 50 prisoners a week. Sage by the end of the war is said to have burned the remaining prisoners alive while their children watched from the Edward I Room, and still apparently not feeling sated he eventually hacked the children to death with an axe, eerily this apparent axe is still displayed in the castle. At least 7,500 Scottish prisoners are alleged to have died at the castle, many of them allegedly tortured to death.
John Sage would soon meet his end though after apparently killing his lover Elizabeth Charlton in an apparent sex game gone wrong in the torture chamber. This act angered the leader of powerful border outlaw gangs (her father) that helped play a vital part in the fight against the Scottish and therefore to maintain relations Edward I handed John Sage over to the gangs who sentenced him to be hung in the village, but instead he was torn apart.
Again, much of the history on John Sage should be taken with a grain of salt as it is not properly established.
License to Crenellate
In the 1340s the Grey family was given a license to crenellate by Edward III, which means they were given permission to further fortify the castle, which was often only given by King’s to families they considered most loyal. The castle transformed into a quadrangle curtain wall which was at least 10-feet thick and towers and a moat were added to the castle.
The castle fortifications and new defenses came just in the nick of time for the Second Scottish War of Independence in 1345 which was headed by King David II. For hundreds of years more the Grey family would continue to remain strongly loyal to the English crown and act as a defense against incursions from the Scottish. The castle also hosted King James VI of Scotland as he was on his way to be crowned as an English King.
The original document of the license is still at the castle.
The castle went on to produce a number of Knights of the Garter, more than any other castle in the United Kingdom. Members of the Grey family also fought wars in France for the English crown and they even helped capture a Norman castle and they became Earls of Tankerville.
There was a period in 1536 when the Percy family from nearby Alnwick castle sieged the Chillingham castle during a rebellion against King Henry VIII called Pilgrimage of Grace.
Entering the Modern Age
As time went on and things begun getting more peaceful the castle eventually became more of a luxury country house for royalty rather than a castle used for defense and war. Landscape gardens were eventually designed to surround the castle. Louise Phillip, King of France, visited in 1832 and he gifted a pair of garden urns from Versailles.
As costs rose higher and higher to upkeep the castle it was eventually abandoned by the Grey family in 1932, it was then used as a POW camp during World War II which played a part in damaging the castle further and losing much of its luxury furnishings and compromising the castle to the elements and after this it fell into disrepair and ruin until 1982 where it was bought by Sir Humphry Wakefield, 2nd Baronet, and restored to what it is today where it is now used as a tourist attraction, which offers historical and ghost tours as well as a museum and also has some suites that tourists can book a holiday stay in. Wakefield was married to a member of the Grey family although she has since died in 2002. Wakefield’s son Maximillian is heir to receive Chillingham Castle upon his father’s death.
Interesting and Eerie Discoveries
In the 19th Century renovators discovered the skeletons of a man and child hidden near to a trap door of the underground vaults. It is speculated that the skeletons may have been forgotten victims of a border Reiver attack.
More terrifying yet was a discovery in the 1920s during work in a bedroom known as the Pink Room the skeleton of a young boy was discovered bricked up behind a wall which eerily gives credence to a legend of the blue/radiant boy ghost, said to be the ghost of a child who discovered sensitive documents in the castle related to the Spanish Invasion of 1588 and to keep the boy silent he was bricked up behind a wall with the papers. There was even evidence that the boy had attempted to scratch his way out of the wall. Although the discovery cannot prove the legend, it certainly is still something creepy to think about as to just exactly why this poor young child was walled up.
The wife of George, Earl of Tankerville, Leonora Van Marter, believed in the ghosts of the castle and even claimed to witness activity herself, she told of her ghost stories in a pamphlet that she published in 1925.
The Haunting of Chillingham Castle
There are a number of ghosts said to haunt the castle, pretty much they are believed to be the former historical inhabitants of the castle or in the case of John Sage, a soldier or other servant of the castle itself. Those who run the tourist operations of Chillingham Castle itself claim that the castle is the most haunted in the country, although this is most likely just a way of attracting curious tourists to the site, I’m sure numerous other castles could claim such a title if they wished.
Visitor accounts have claimed to feel invisible forces touching them as well as seeing and even capturing ghostly orbs on camera and also hearing disembodied whispering in places such as the King Edward I room.
There are several prominent ghosts that some believe to reside in and roam the castle, such include one called the white pantry ghost said to be seen in that area where the silver was stored, there is a legend from long ago during the castle’s operation that a guard of the inner pantry was sleeping in the pantry only to suddenly be awoken by a lady in white with very pale skin who begged him for water, the guard fooled for a moment thinking it was a guest of the castle went to obey but then realized he was locked in the pantry with no possible way for a guest or anyone to get in.
The above ghost is still said to be seen by some people in that area even now. Some have theorized the ghost could have been someone poisoned which is why she was asking for water.
In or near to the castle’s chapel it is said sometimes the voices of two men can be heard talking and it is impossible to track their voices to a location and if one tried for long enough the men’s voices will eventually stop.
Another is the apparent ghost of Lady Mary Berkeley who was the wife of the Lord Grey of Wark, but her husband ran away with her sister Henrietta in 1682 leaving her behind in the castle with her baby daughter, she died at the castle in 1710 and her spirit is said to roam, perhaps still waiting for her husband or is simply too restless to pass over after such a betrayal of love. It is said the rustling of silk and a drop in temperature signals her ghostly presence.
And another ghost of one already mentioned is that of a blue/radiant ghost of a young boy who, as already explained, is said to have been bricked up behind a wall to die due to finding sensitive documents in the castle. The ghost haunts the Pink Room and is said to cry out in fear or pain most often at the stroke of midnight, cries were also said to emanate from a passage that led to an adjoining tower and eventually the cries would fade and a halo of light would appear and then the apparition of a young boy dressed in blue would appear and then start moving towards those sleeping in the room.
The above phenomena are said to have stopped after the skeleton was found bricked up in the wall of the Pink Room and given a Christian burial, although reports from guests staying in the room since the castle’s renovation after 1982 claim to sometimes see flashes of blue emanate from the wall.
The Conclusion
I decided for the final edition of this ‘series’ of the Haunted Files that I wanted to do a supposedly haunted historical castle in the United Kingdom, with the idea of that coming to me after I saw the announcement by the I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here team saying that instead of doing the show in the Australian jungle like usual, they are instead filming the show in an old castle somewhere in the United Kingdom. And so that made me want to also feature a castle in this series.
One has to take into account that even despite the castles renovation and restoration it is still an old structure and so the environment can play tricks on people such as by draughts possibly making people think they are being touched by an unknown force or make it feel like the temperature dropped for no reason as well as affecting the general mood of the room and the large echoey spaces likely carry noise easily, leading to some people being tricked into thinking they are hearing ghostly voices, but in actuality are just voices of others in the castle being carried through the large rooms or cracks and holes in the old structure.
Of course, that cannot entirely put the matter to rest, if it is haunted then it has much reason to be haunted due to its history of having been besieged and the death that has happened and if legends are to be believed on John Sage, many, many prisoners may have been killed in gruesome and torturous ways which could, if one believes in such stuff, certainly bring about a dark haunting in and of itself.
As well as that there are the unusual discoveries of skeletons in odd places that leave many untold stories and possibly restless spirits wanting people to know what happened to them so they can finally feel free.
Bibliography
https://historycollection.com/the-chilling-history-of-chillingham-castle/3/ – castle history and haunting information
https://chillingham-castle.com/history-of-the-castle/ – Historical information
https://chillingham-castle.com/inside-the-castle/ – castle contents
https://chillingham-castle.com/ghosts/ – some haunting information.
https://great-castles.com/chillinghamghost.html – some more ghost information.
Thank you for reading the last part of one of my most ambitious series on the Weekly Rambler so far. Stay tuned as there is much more yet to come, such as the already mentioned Unexplained Files which will be released some time in the near future hopefully, although I am still working on it, we may at this point not see it until the beginning of next year.
As well as that I still have many other plans yet as well. And I will certainly be doing a series 2 of Haunted Files as well at some point.
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