Built by Henry VIII in the 1540s to protect against French and Spanish invasion stands the iconic Portland Castle.
Surrounded by stunning Seaviews, I cant say it looks like a castle, it is very small but it was one of many of Henry VIII Device Forts, it is also known as a Henrician Castle. It remains Dorset’s only intact medieval castle, and one of the best preserved 16th-century Henrican castles across the country.
It was involved in the English Civil War and later in the First and Second World Wars as a seaplane base and for the D-Day preparations respectively. Portland Castle experienced its only real action during the English Civil War 1642-1649.
It was then became a home and then was took on by English Heritage who stripped it back to its original form and it now has over 25,000 visitors cross its threshold a year.
English Heritage rate Portland castle in there Top 5 Most Haunted Castles!
It may be small but given its big history, it has energy!
I cant say I felt anything in the main building but I most definitely have to agree a lady in spirit is a regular visit to the Captains House which stands in the court yard. I’ve since read its believed by workers to be haunted by a murderer who as been seen washing their bloody hands.
Other Ghostly Reports!
Visitors of the site have said they have experienced members of the Tudor army whilst others have felt themselves ‘barged by inexplicable forces’ in empty rooms.
During the bloody exchanges during the Civil War, garrison physician, Richard Wiseman, was known to perform emergency surgery in the castle’s kitchen. There Wiseman would cauterize wounds with a hot poker, heated up in the nearby fireplace. Today, the smell of burning flesh often greets visitors to the castle.
The kitchen is used as a wedding venue for civil ceremonies. During a 2008 ceremony a lady in a long flowing gown appeared to several guests before fading into thin air.
Along a stone staircase leading to an upper floor, the scent of lavender is often noted. The “Lavender Lady,” a woman associated with the last governor of Portland, one Charles Manning, is believed to be the source of the scent. This woman reportedly withered away behind the castle’s walls. She hated living among the “dead” and suffered both mentally and physically.
There have been sightings of “ghost” children at play, as well as false fire alarms, cold spots, and other paranormal activity.
I’m bustin to get out and about (despite being a sociophobe, and never really chased ghosts, they usually find me – et oui je comprend en Francais aussi!), now most of the restrictions dropped and nearly everything reopened here in Bretagne (ex pat Northern Irish), as the curtain fell just after we moved here late 2019. The area overflowing with chateaux, manoirs, menhirs, tumulis, the alignements of Carnac, etc, etc, and the “Atlantic Wall” fortifications. I still get my “bleughs!” and raised hairs here and there in my new hometown of Vannes, a medevel walled city, with the old houses of different epochs still standing. I like your more relaxed style of reporting, rather than the OTT of most other sites, and the historic slant, which explains the sort of hauntings more than the sometimes random identification of the spirits present, or who or what causes the odd occurences in some places. I still go for multiple explanations, from natural occurences, misidentified as being paranormal, the “stone tape” thesis, for the repeated behaviour, with seemingly no recognisance by the fantome(s) (oops using the French term!) of anybody observing, and the interactive spirits, who seem to react to onlookers. Bon apero, bon weekend, et a bientot. Keep it real.
Read about Fyvie Castle on my webiste – https://castrumtocastle.com/scottish-castles/fyvie-castle-aberdeenshire/