When it comes to ghosts, Scotland and England seem to take the lion’s share of haunted experiences. They really seem to have more ghostly encounters compared to the rest of Europe.

ENGLAND IS FULL OF GHOSTS

Nevertheless, some tours are just not for the faint-hearted. In fact, they’re plain scary.

I once joined an Edinburgh ghost tour that took in many locations with gory and violent pasts. It took us to Mary’s Close, an underground attraction that is reportedly among Edinburgh’s most haunted places.

Then it terminated in a local cemetery well-known for apparitions. I had to leave midway because of a terribly uneasy feeling. Apparently, not a few participants experience this, and some even start shaking all over.

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While many hotels worldwide might consider a ghostly resident asa public relations nightmare, quite a number of UK hotels seem to revel in, if not enjoy, the notoriety. Some even employ their ghosts as an effective marketing tool.

The 12th century luxury Ettington Park Hotel near Stratford-upon-Avon, for example, is often called England’s most haunted hotel.

This isn’t just because it’s neo-gothic architecture fits the popular imagery of a haunted house. Both guests and hotel staff frequently report seeing a lady in white roaming the corridors and hearing banging doors and footsteps from empty rooms.

I had a similar experience at a 16th century hotel in the Cotswolds, an area of ancient origins that almost certainly has a ghost story haunting every neighborhood. My suite – which was fashioned out of several rooms in the attic — was large, bright and decorated in pastel colored chintz.

I feigned sleep for the rest of the night, not wanting to come face to face with the unexpected by turning on the lights. Of course, at daybreak, we checked out. I’m from Asia after all, and if I were to encounter the supernatural, I’d much prefer them to be from where I hail.

She said she saw images of people from the past all along the hotel corridor, as she was walking to her room.

“They all looked pale and were lined up against the wall expressionless,” she told me.

Most Europeans I’ve spoken to don’t seem to care much about having to live with spirits long gone.

They even put up patiently with the idiosyncrasies of the ghosts – taking everything in with an amused air.

The somber atmosphere should have foretold of eerie occurrences.

However,  I naively chalked this up to a taste for the avant-garde and a penchant for dark colors.

In the middle of the night, however, the radio began blaring at full blast.

Scroll down to read the rest of this story, and about ghosts in Venice…

Later, amidst the fog of a waking dream, it came on again.

The skeptical might attribute this to faulty wiring but who really knows? And why did the radio only turn on at midnight?

I automatically assumed it was the air conditioning and so I called the front desk to complain.