Ghosts of Pontefract Castle

Pontefract Castle has a long and turbulent history, dating back to when a wooden motte-and-bailey style castle was first built in 1086 by Ilbert de Lacy.

 

In 1322, Thomas of Lancaster was defeated at the Battle of Boroughbridge and held prisoner at the castle before being executed by beheading outside the castle walls. Henry Bolingbroke would hold Richard II captive at the castle, where Richard would later starve to death in 1400.

During the Wars of the Roses, hundreds of soldiers were imprisoned or killed at Pontefract Castle. In 1483, Richard III had two relatives of Elizabeth Woodville beheaded at the castle, her son, Sir Richard Grey, and her brother, Anthony Woodville.

Though it is just a ruin today, Pontefract Castle is still home to several spectral inhabitants.

A dark and menacing figure has been spotted roaming the castle grounds, wielding an axe. The ghost of a monk in black has been observed walking from the kitchen towards the Queen's Tower in the late afternoons.

Visitors have also reported seeing a ghostly woman in gray holding a lantern near the castle gates, as well as ghostly children playing near the castle's dungeon.