Ananova:

A stately home in Norfolk has been named the National Trust's most haunted property.

Blickling Hall is said to be haunted by three spectres including the headless ghost of Anne Boleyn.

Henry VIII's second wife, who was beheaded in 1536, shares Blickling with fellow ghosts Sir John Fastolfe, the 15th century knight who inspired Shakespeare's Falstaff, and Sir Henry Hobart, killed in a duel in 1698.

"Oh yes, those three," said Jan Brookes, Blickling's house manager calmly. "Some of our visitors do mention them, especially around May 19, the anniversary of Anne's death.

"One or two of our volunteers report little bits too: the 'Grey Lady', someone coming through the wall and disappearing again but then, this is a very old house with a lot of clanking in the pipes."

Blickling Hall topped a list of the National Trust's top 10 most haunted houses which was compiled to coincide with Halloween.

Other properties with ghosts roaming the corridors include Dunster Castle, Somerset, where even the gift shop is said to be haunted.

The selection was made with the help of Siân Evans, the author of Ghosts: Mysterious Tales from the National Trust, who insists that at least 200 of the 630 attractions open to the public are haunted.

Miss Evans said that most National Trust ghosts were harmless. She added, however: "The trust does exorcise some properties. It doesn't shout about it, though."

The ghostly Top 10 in full:

1. Blickling Hall, Norfolk

2. Dunster Castle, Somerset - where a man in green wanders through a former stable block

3. Quarry Bank Mill, Cheshire - home to a ghostly gang of former workers

4. Newton House, Carmarthenshire - where Lady Elinor Cavendish was strangled by a suitor

5. Gibside Hall, Tyne and Wear - haunted by "The Unhappy Countess"

6. Lyme Park, Cheshire - a phantom funeral cortège is said to pass through the park

7. Lanhydrock, Cornwall - home to ghosts including a man hanged by Civil War Royalists

8. Hughenden Manor, Bucks - Former PM Benjamin Disraeli is said to smile at guests by the stairs

9. Powis Castle, Powys - visitors report a lady in black, or feeling a hand touch them

10. Belton House, Lincolnshire - the "Gentleman in Black" is said to stalk the Queen's Bedroom