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As Halloween looms around the corner, thoughts turn to all things creepy and it doesn’t get much scarier than a haunted castle. Gwrych Castle in Abergele, North Wales , has been named one of the UK’s most haunted tourists spots this Halloween, according to a new study. This huge castle with its many towers and lengthy walls is an imposing sight in the countryside of North Wales, and one that’s instantly recognisable to ITV’s I’m A Celebrity fans as it served as the backdrop for the 2020 and 2021 series. While the castle appears to have been there for centuries, it was actually built between 1810 and 1825 by Lloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh, in the Gothic Revival style and it’s claimed Queen Victoria herself even stayed there. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE During the Second World War it became home to 200 Jewish refugees and later became a tourist attraction following the war. But in the 1980s it fell into a state of disrepair. Plans to convert the castle into a hotel also fell through, but in 2018 it was sold to the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust, who look after the castle, which is open to visitors seven days a week. The main building cannot be accessed as it remains a ruin but a small number of rooms, some outbuildings and the castle grounds can be visited. Now research from Betway has named it one of the UK’s most haunted tourist spots. They analysed almost 180,000 tourist reviews across 30 famously haunted sites, to find the ‘spookiest of them all’. They looked for keywords such as scary, haunted, spooky and sinister in the reviews, and calculated how frequently they appeared to find the scariest locations. Chillingham Castle in Northumberland topped the list, with 61.6 per cent of reviews relating to scariness, followed by Berry Pomeroy Castle in Devon with 32.8 per cent of reviews featuring scary key words. Cornwall’s Bodmin Jail ranked in third place. Gwrych Castle ranked 10th in the list, with 8.6 per cent of reviews including the key words. The castle is said to be haunted by several spirits. Among them is the reported ghost of the castle’s former owner countess Winifred Cochrane, who died in 1924 and appears as a woman in white. Meanwhile the cast and crew of I’m A Celebrity reported ghostly activity while filming, including strange lights and the feeling of being watched. The castle is hosting a series of events to mark Halloween, including a family-friendly experience through half term featuring live entertainment, interactive trails and activities until November 1. From October 29 to November 1 it will host the Gwrych After Dark Festival of Spirits featuring a light trail, animated props and scare actors. On November 1 it will host a Rocky Horror party for adults only which includes themed cocktails and a “dazzling firework display”. But for those keen to for a ghostly encounter there will be guided ghost hunts taking place on October 31 and November 1. Tickets for all of the events and more information can be found on the castle’s website. For more of the latest What's On news, click here.
