‘Expect goosebumps!‘: to celebrate Halloween, readers choose the spookiest places in the UK

Winning tip: an eerie clifftop castle near AberdeenDunnottar Castle, perched on cliffs above the crashing North Sea, is one of Scotland’s eeriest places. The most haunting part is the Whigs Vault, where more than 160 prisoners were confined in dreadful conditions in 1685. Standing in that dark chamber, it’s impossible not to imagine their fear and suffering. With my Fraser ancestry, the castle’s history feels especially poignant. The names of multiple Frasers are recorded, their details written on the wall. The wind whistles through the stonework, the waves thunder below, and there’s a sense that the past hasn’t quite left. It’s beautiful, tragic and wonderfully spooky, especially beneath Aberdeenshire’s brooding grey skies. RosieA Neolithic burial chamber in PembrokeshirePentre Ifan. Photograph: Louise France/AlamyMy dad and I reached Pentre Ifan on a November evening, just before dark. The burial chamber defies explanation: 16 tons of weathered capstone, barely touching three sharp stone points, as though something unseen was holding it up. There was a low hum from somewhere; I hoped it was the wind spilling over the Preseli hills. As the daylight crept away, the chamber beneath grew darker than the settling dusk around us. My dad, who has an explanation for everything, stood silent. I think we walked back to the car a little faster than we had come. TomHaunted by criminals in SomersetShepton Mallet prison. Photograph: Keith Stuart/The GuardianMy recommendation is Shepton Mallet prison, or “the Mallet” as it used to be called, back when it was used as a military prison. It opened in 1625, and you can still crawl through a wall into an original cell. The prison has three Victorian blocks and umpteen stories of past prisoners, including the Kray twins. You can have a daytime tour, or a night-time ghost tour, where you’ll hear stories of spooks and ghouls witnessed by many visitors and staff over the years. You can even stay the night in a real, cold, grim prison cell. The staff are friendly and all great characters, I can’t recommend it enough! CharlieHollowed out tower in West YorkshireSt Thomas à Becket church, Heptonstall. Photograph: Philip Silverman/AlamyPerched high above Hebden Bridge in the historic hilltop village of Heptonstall lies the roofless shell of St Thomas à Becket church. Raked into ruin by a storm in 1847, this 13th-century structure was left to decay alongside its 19th-century successor, creating a rare site where two parish churches share a single churchyard. Gaunt, towering arches frame open skies, and the hollowed-out stone tower feels like the Tower tarot card made real. Expect goosebumps! Finbarre SnareyA pub night you won’t forget in StaffordshireThe Four Crosses Inn. Photograph: Alex Telfer/The ObserverThe Four Crosses Inn is the most haunted pub in England – and I should know: it was in my mother’s family for many generations! I grew up hearing about all the ghostly goings on. It was also one of the oldest pubs (it’s only open for tours now), and family lore has it Dr Johnson stayed there. On the edge of creepy Cannock Chase moor in Staffordshire, the scene of many murders, it has dank cellars and creaking attics for you to get really scared in. RobPoltergeist stories in County FermanaghFivemiletown, Northern Ireland. Photograph: Bonzo/AlamyCooneen Ghost House, near Fivemiletown, is one of Northern Ireland’s eeriest places. The abandoned farmhouse is private, but it can be glimpsed from the road, which somehow makes its old poltergeist stories feel even more unsettling. Nearby Crocknagrally Forest is perfect for a cold-weather ramble to make a day of it, especially on a misty winter afternoon when the tracks are wonderfully secluded and it all feels very remote and spooky. The kind of walk where folklore seems woven into the landscape: dark trees, lonely roads and an old haunted house just out of reach. There are loads of stories around this place that locals will share. Christina Haweskip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionRomantic tragedy on Llŷn peninsulaAbandoned works at the Cae’r Nant quarry above Nant Gwrtheyrn. Photograph: Peter Martin Rhind/AlamyThe once abandoned quarrying village of Nant Gwrtheyrn, on Llŷn peninsula, lies at the foot of Yr Eifl, down a terrifyingly steep and winding road. On a misty autumn day, with the crashing waves below you and the unsettling presence of a wild goat peering down at you from the cliffs above, it can be truly eerie. The woods in the valley are home to the tale of Rhys and Meinir – a traditional prenuptial game of hide and seek gone awry, with the skeletal remains of a bride-to-be revealed by a bolt of lightning. The site is free to visit. SionedCrashing waves and call of rooks in AberdeenshireSlains Castle. Photograph: AlamyOn a cold grey day Slains Castle on the east coast of Scotland, north of Aberdeen, certainly has a spooky air. Although rumours about the castle inspiring Bram Stoker when writing Dracula are apparently untrue, the castle ruins bring to mind bats pouring out of windows and unsavoury aristocrats lurking around corners. It is precariously located on cliffs above the North Sea and the crashing waves and calls of rooks and jackdaws provide an evocatively eerie soundtrack to your visit. Joel RawlingsUnexplained screams on the South DownsChanctonbury Ring. Photograph: Veronique Stone/AlamyChanctonbury Ring is an iron age hill fort ringed by beech trees, on the South Downs in West Sussex. Folklore claims that by walking or running around the ring seven times you’ll see the devil. Writer Robert Macfarlane certainly had an unnerving experience there while camping, as recounted in his 2012 book The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot, when awakened in the dead of night by terrifying human-sounding screams high above him in the tree canopy, which seemed to divide and converge before swooping down upon him. Accessible only on foot, who dares follow in Macfarlane’s footsteps to check out the myth? Kirsty McHattieGothic atmosphere in WhitbyWhitby Abbey. Photograph: Peter Lopeman/AlamyMy favourite spooky spot is Whitby Abbey, perched high above the Yorkshire coast. Its ruined arches and weathered stone look dramatic in daylight, but imagine them at dusk, with mist drifting in from the North Sea and the wind moving through the empty windows. Whitby’s narrow streets and harbour add another layer of atmosphere, especially when the lamps come on and the town grows quiet. It is easy to see why Bram Stoker found inspiration here for Dracula. I would love to explore the abbey as the light fades, then wander down towards the harbour, listening to the waves and letting my imagination do the rest. The best spooky places are where history, landscape and legend meet – and Whitby has all three. Its magic endures. Emilio