Five Most Haunted Locations in the World

1. Woodchester Mansion

Originally built as a Gregorian country house called the Spring Park at the beginning of the 17th century, the Woodchester Mansion was converted by the freemason William Leigh who bought the property for £100,000 in 1845. William Leigh’s cash ran out before the mansion was finished and then later died in 1873.The mansion was never complete and was never actually lived in.

According to the legends, Sir Rupert de Lansigny, the man who inherited Spring Park after he killed his cousin, once owned the estate. Several locals have reported seeing a headless horseman who they believed to be Sir Rupert near one of the park lakes. A coffin has also been sighted floating above one of the estate’s lakes. They said that the coffin belonged to a Dominican friar who killed himself by drowning! And in 1902 a local vicar saw a strange apparition at the gates to the mansion and few years later a phantom horseman was also seen on the drive dressed in civil war clothing. But it was the Mansion itself that was the epicenter of the haunting.

The present mansion is effectively a Victorian building site. With its amazing sight of fireplaces suspended in mid-air, doorways leading nowhere and the strange undulating floor which is in fact the vaulted ceiling of the cellar below, visitors wonder why it is that the building was never finished. Some of the rooms still have the abandoned workman’s tools and equipment. During the building work there were seven deaths six from accidents and a reported murder.

The mansion has its very own chapel lit by two large stained glass windows. This chapel is said to be involved in “Satanic Rituals” during the 1890’s. There is also a small chapel on the left of the main chapel which is said to be intended for Leigh’s personal use. These two rooms are connected by an arch passageway. Guests and visitors have reported seeing stones and other bits of masonry being thrown across the chapel. On more than one occasion, the visitors of the chapel have witnessed a ghost of a small man standing in the doorway, gazing up at the two huge ornate stained glass windows, as if he is concerned for the poor state of repair, for most of the glass panels are now missing or cracked.

A number of sightings of an unknown ‘tall man’ was reported at one of the corridors of the mansion. The apparition has been seen standing at one end, beside the door leading to the laundry room. This figure doesn’t just stand in the one area, but has been seen walking along the corridor, which leads to the chapel, although he is never actually seen entering it.

These are not the only ghosts that resides in Woodchester Mansion, including these are a woman who sings in an Irish folk song at the scullery, the clock that chimes but is not working, the spirit of a young girl who is playing and running at the first floor stairs, the spirits of two men standing at the landing of the stairs, the Woodchester Park Angel, the spirits in military uniform, demonic presence, the “ragged Dwarf”, the floating head of a man in the bathroom, and a woman who attacks women in the dark.