With Halloween approaching, people across the country are picking their pumpkins and getting their outfits ready for trick-or-treating.
As Brits prepare for a spooky evening, a new map shows which parts of the UK are the most haunted.
Dr Paul Lee, a researcher specialising in ghosts, has documented thousands of hauntings in the UK.
The paranormal encounters have occurred at more than 5,500 locations across the country.
Examples reportedly include glasses and plates being thrown across rooms or the sound of unexplained footsteps at night.
You can search the most haunted postcodes in the UK and check out the spooky locations near where you live using our interactive map.
These kinds of incidents occurred in 1,000 different postcode areas.
But it was the ME1 postcode in where the most incidents occurred. ME1 covers Rochester, Burham, and Wouldham in Kent.
The second spookiest postcode, according to Dr Lee’s findings, was in YO1, York City Centre, with 44 haunted locations.
Third was the SG14 postcode in Hereford with 43 reported incidents of paranormal activity.
One of the most unsettling hauntings in the ME1 postcode area is the sad tale of the White Lady of Rochester Castle.
In 1264 England was locked in a bloody civil war between the rebel barons led by the Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montford, and King Henry III.
The Royalist noble Sir Ralph de Capo fought to defend Rochester Castle from the rebels and protect his beautiful fiance Lady Blanche de Warenne.
After a week-long siege, word reached the castle that the King’s army was drawing near and the rebels retreated. An emboldened Sir Ralph led his followers in pursuit – but that was the moment Sir Gilbert de Clare, a knight with de Montford’s army and a rejected suitor of Lady Blanche, was waiting for.
He donned an identical surcoat to the one worn by Sir Ralf and managed to enter the castle unchallenged where he found Lady Blanche on a balcony overlooking the battlefield.
Sir Ralf returned in time to see his fiance struggling with the dastardly de Clare and swiftly fired an arrow at his rival.
But tragically, the projectile bounced off de Clare’s armour and killed Lady Blanche.
That night her ghost was seen walking the battlements, still pierced by the arrow.
Since then her sad spirit is said to return each Good Friday to walk the ramparts once more and re-enact her tragic death.
But the White Lady is far from alone in the spirit world of the ME1 postcode area.
The ghost of the famed author Charles Dickens, a former Rochester resident, has been seen wandering Rochester Castle, Rochester Cathedral, and at Rochester Corn Exchange where he is said to appear beneath a moon-faced clock at Christmastime.
Other spectres include a sheep thief who haunts the A466 road, an “old lady with an evil grin”, several grey ladies, and the headless apparition of the executed Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of King Charles II.
All the descriptions of paranormal activity on the map have come from Dr Lee’s meticulous research, which, in many cases, includes interviews with witnesses and his own investigations, which have seen him visit numerous locations and trawl through various newspaper archives.
Dr Lee, aged 52, of Norfolk – who achieved his doctorate in nuclear physics – began his research in 2015.
He is the author of The Ghosts of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, two volumes of a series examining UK Haunted Hospitality – Volume 1: Pubs and Clubs, and Volume 2: Hotels and Other Accommodation.
You can find out more about his research by visiting his website: www.paullee.com/ghosts.
