As a city brimming with over 100 years of history and a cityscape that, for the most part, largely remains unchanged, Brighton and Hove is brimming with gothic stories of ghosts, witches, and demons. With many of the existing buildings that line today’s streets as old as the early 1800s, visitors can feel the mark of the southern city’s inhabitants, past and present, as they peruse the shopfronts and walk along the coastline. For this reason, many tourists feel as though they’ve stepped into another world when they visit.
Unsurprisingly, many view Brighton as one of the most haunted cities in the UK. From the Marlborough Pub and Little Theatre to Saint Anne’s Wells, many in the ghost-hunting community have tales of continued hauntings and disturbance in these parts. But more on that can be found in our previous article, The Top 5 Most Haunted Buildings in Brighton.
These ghost tours will amaze you
With many avid fans yearning to know more, a number of ghost walks and haunted tours have started for people to get involved, learn more, and potentially get their first spooky sighting.
If you find yourself considering joining a ghost tour but don’t know where to start, below is our list of the top haunted tours you’ll be desperate to sign up for, but beware…
Haunted Buildings and Locations in Brighton
The newest tour on this list is Enigma Tours. With the unholy in mind, the tours were created by Richard Jarvis with the aim of evoking similar emotions people felt when they first saw the “The Golden Age of Science Fiction, which started in the United States in 1938”. Led by a team of ‘investigators’, guests will be taken on a 3-hour tour around the Brighton area, usually by minibus, by the prestigious Professor Bond who explores a wide range of locations, but with a twist that makes it less like a ghost tour and more akin to The Blair Witch Project.
Though the details are purposefully light, so as to not give anything away, Engima Tours offers a range of tours. These include the more classic ghost tour the Haunted Buildings and Locations tour, Operation Monster Hunt, Zombie Apocalypse, and the Totally Engimatic (Mystery Tour). Tickets for all events are £60 per person and booking is available via their website or by calling directly.
Website: enigmatours.co.uk/tours/haunted-buildings
Ghost Hunt at Preston Manor
Preston Manor has a long and storied history making it the perfect place for a haunted tour. Dating back to before Preston became part of the Brighton and Hove postcode and was a village in its own right, the manor house was built by Lord Thomas Western in 1738. Though it’s changed hands many times since then, one thing has remained a constant, its otherworldly inhabitants. The Ghost Hunt at Preston Manor takes visitors on an exploration of one of the most haunted buildings in the UK in the hopes of seeing some of its longstanding guests including The White Lady.
No stranger to those trying to connect with the undead, a seance was famously held here in the Cleves Room by the then owners Charles and Ellen Stanford in 1890. Today the tours, organised by Ghost Hunter Tours include a range of activities from spirit board, table tipping, glass movement, and sensory work all whilst utilising paranormal equipment such as K2s and Ovulus. Though on a break at the moment, reach out to Ghost Tour Bookings to be the first to hear when they’ll be available to book again if you think you’re brave enough.
Website: ghosttourbookings.com/uk/ghost-tours/ghost-hunt-at-preston-manor-brighton/
Ghost Walk of the Lanes
Brighton’s most famous and longest-running ghost walk is last but by no means least on this list. Running every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. the tour’s starting point is at the Druid’s Head on Brighton Place. Led by tour founder and actor Rob Marks playing the role of Silas the Ghost Walker and sometimes accompanied by fellow ghost walkers, Jasper, Rosa, and Ebeneezer, visitors will hear the tales of The Lanes and see the area in a new light.
According to the guides, it’s easy to think that the quaint and narrow streets are the haunt of tourists looking for vintage deals and independent shops but as the oldest part of Brighton, once Brighthelmstone, the cobbled pathways hold much darker tales. For a total of 70 minutes, Silas will take those unaware to 8 of the most haunted and possessed places in the area, revealing their secrets, and for those unlucky few, potentially spotting a ghost.
If you’ve not been put off by that, and are now even more excited, tickets cost £12.00 for adults, £10.00 for Seniors, and £8.00 for Concessions. If it’s the standard walking tour you’re looking for there’s no need to book ahead but visitors must do so for private tours, and if all that eeriness has your appetite up, Mark and the team also offer a walking tour and dinner.
