Europe's Haunting Castles

Three of the most famous European castles that are still haunted. In all of these cases, the ghosts were of high-ranking families, even royalty. Château de Brissac is located in the French commune of Brissac-Quincey, Maine-et-Loire department. Built in the 11th century, the castle is said to have a homegrown ghost, la Dame Vert or the "Green Lady". In 1435, the fortress was given to King Charles VII's loyal paladin Pierre de Brézé  On March 1, 1462, his son Jacques, the seneschal of Normandy and comte de Maulévrier, married the 16-year-old illegitimate daughter of the French king Charles VII from his affair with Agnès Sorel. In addition, Charlotte de Valois was the half-sister of another French monarch, Louis XI.

This politically advantageous marriage produced five children, including Louis de Brézé, who later married Diane de Poitiers, the former official mistress of Henry II. Charlotte was murdered on the night of 31 May–1 June 1477 by her husband, who suspected her of adultery with one of his huntsmen, Pierre de Lavergne. According to legend, the deceased's favourite place was the tower room of the chapel, where her ghost appears in a green dress. The Green Lady, as historian Michel Pastoureau argues, "is dressed in a faded green, which medieval Latin called subviridis - always perceived as sinister or even deadly. It is the colour of mould, disease, decay, and above all, the colour of decomposing flesh." It is said that her face has holes where her nose and eyes should be, perhaps a reflection of what was done to her when she was killed.

 The Castle of Poppi, or the Castle of the Counts Guidi was built around the second half of the 13th century in the historic part of the city of Poppi, in the Italian province of Arezzo. Today it is considered one of the best preserved and most terrifying castles in Tuscany. One of the most notorious residents of Poppi Castle was Matilda (or Matelda), the wife of the elderly Count Guidi or his daughter. According to one version, Matilda was unhappy with her marriage and sought solace in the arms of young men from the city. Another legend says that after the death of her husband, she gave herself to young lovers. However, after a night of love, the cruel one led the men along a path where there was a hatch, and the unsuspecting fell to the bottom of the pit and crashed to their deaths. Eventually, an angry mob of townspeople stormed the castle and walled Matilda up alive. Matilda's ghost is believed to still haunt the castle.

The Corvin Castle in Romanian Transylvania was built in the mid-15th century as a feudal residence for the House of Hunyadi or Corvin . There are many legends surrounding the construction, such as the one about the Turkish prisoners who built the fountain inside the castle. The story goes that they were promised freedom, but after 15 years of work they remained slaves. One of the prisoners wrote on the fountain: “The one who wrote this inscription is Hasan, who lives as a slave to the infidel in the fortress near the church.” Turkish tourists throw coins into a fountain in memory of their enslaved compatriots. The most famous prisoner of Corvin Castle was Vlad the Impaler . While in a cell beneath the Hall of Knights, Dracula had to eat rats to survive. 

- Pravda.ru