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Explore eight haunted cultural highlights this Halloween with a National Art Pass

From royal palaces to world-famous galleries, these eight venues may just offer some paranormal activities alongside their stunning cultural collections.

1. Ham House and Garden, London

  • Free entry with National Art Pass
A paranormal puppy is said to roam the halls of Ham House. The spaniel was owned by the Duchess of Lauderdale, whose spirit supposedly walks the house's corridors as penitence for the murder of her first husband.

2. Newstead Abbey Historic House and Gardens, Nottinghamshire

  • Free entry with National Art Pass
Lord Byron's former home is apparently bustling with phantoms, from ancestors of the great poet to a spirit who smells strongly of roses. Chief among the Abbey's ghosts is the White Lady, an apparition of a shy, deaf-mute woman who admired Byron's poetry and continued to walk his dog around the estate following his death.

3. Nunnington Hall, North Yorkshire

  • Free entry with National Art Pass
According to folklore, the squire of Nunnington's second wife died of grief after her son fell to his death from a window while searching for his missing stepbrother. Visitors still claim to hear the rustle of her silk dress through the corridors, as she retreads the paths she walked in her anguish.

4. Aston Hall, West Midlands

  • Free entry with National Art Pass
Aston Hall was owned by Sir Thomas Holte, an aristocrat with a sadistic reputation. His daughter Mary is the house's most notorious ghost – Holte reportedly locked her away for eloping with an illegitimate suitor, and her spirit continues to haunt the room in which she died.

5. Kensington Palace, London

  • Free entry with National Art Pass
The curse of Kensington has turned at least seven former residents 'sad, bad or even mad' according to curator Lucy Worsley. The palace is said to be haunted by the ghost of King George II, who sits on the roof awaiting news from his homeland.

6. Lyme Park,Greater Manchester

  • Free entry with National Art Pass
Reports of a spectral funeral procession crossing Lyme Park pursued by a weeping woman can be traced back to Victorian times. Local legend attributes the cortege to the house's owner Sir Piers Leigh, whose mistress Blanche died of grief after he met his death at Agincourt.

7. V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum), London

  • 50% off with National Art Pass
In 1463 a carpenter from Hertfordshire presented a unique bed to King Edward IV. It was magnificently crafted, large enough to sleep 12 people, and decorated with ornate carvings depicting scenes from history and legend. Over time it fell out of use with the royal family and ended up at an inn in Ware, where lodgers debased it with carvings and graffiti. Legend has it that the ghost of the carpenter attacks any commoners sleeping in the bed, taking revenge against those who debased the object he made for royalty. The Great Bed of Ware is now part of the V&A's collection.

8. British Museum, London

  • 50% off with National Art Pass
'Priestess, dead centuries ago, still potent to slay and afflict', read a 1904 headline in the Atlanta Constitution. It referred to the beautifully painted coffin lid of Amen Ra, which was donated to the British Museum in 1889 after a clairvoyant warned its owner of an evil influence. The journalist Bertram Robinson detailed the disasters supposedly caused by the unlucky mummy – from the deaths of several owners to the sinking of the Titanic – and died soon afterwards.
From Cardiff Castle and Kensington Palace to the V&A and Tate Modern - the National Art Pass gives you free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions. Find out more
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