Norwich is the county city of Norfolk, England, and one of the county's most extensively documented locations for reported paranormal activity, centred on its historic castle, cathedral, and one of Britain's oldest hotels.
The Maid's Head Hotel
Located on Tombland in the heart of the city, the Maid's Head Hotel claims to be the oldest continuously operating hotel in the United Kingdom, with parts of the building dating to the 13th century and a history of hospitality use said to stretch back to the 1090s. Queen Elizabeth I reportedly attended a banquet there during a visit in the late 16th century.
The hotel is said to be haunted by two distinct figures: the "Grey Maid," a woman in her late sixties dressed in an outdated grey maid's uniform, seen moving silently through the hotel's corridors and bar area trailing a strong smell of lavender; and the ghost of a former mayor of Norwich, believed to be Thomas Anguish, seen pacing the courtyard shaking his head as though troubled by something. A 1684 murder is also associated with the building, when Thomas Bedingfield was reportedly killed by Thomas Berney following a night of drinking at the hotel bar.
Norwich Castle
Norwich Castle, a Norman-built Grade I listed monument overlooking the city, has reported activity dating back to at least 1820, when imprisoned inmates were reportedly frightened by an indescribable presence. In 1844, two witnesses reported seeing what they described as the Devil dancing along the castle walls. Staff in more recent years have continued to report an apparition of a Victorian woman dressed in black, on one occasion said to have been seen floating above the ground.
Norwich Cathedral
Norwich Cathedral, with a history stretching back almost a thousand years, has its own collection of reported ghosts, including a bishop, a local hero, and a Catholic priest — the latter identified by one 18th-century witness's description as the Reverend Thomas Tunstall, a Catholic martyr executed nearby in the 16th century. In 2015, a photograph taken by a visitor, Kerry Launders, reportedly captured a ghostly figure resembling a bishop within the cathedral grounds.
Notable people
Parapsychologist Ciarán O'Keeffe was born in Norwich.