With Halloween 2026 upon us, data has been compiled from the Paranormal Database by travel specialists Ski Vertigo including reports of ghosts and hauntings.

The research excluded sightings of UFOs, big cats, fairies, and other paranormal creatures.

The study saw Essex top the list as the county with the most ghost reports with 422 on record since the database was set up in 2002.

Colchester recorded the highest number of sightings in Essex – with 30 reports, followed by Clacton-on-Sea with 15, and Brentwood and Southend-on-Sea with 13 each.

Ski Vertigo picked out Colchester Castle as a potentially haunted location and said it is believed to be inhabited by the spirit of James Parnell, a Quaker who died after being imprisoned there in the 1650s, and by a headless nun.

Ahead of Halloween this year, co-founder of Paranormal Research Investigators UK (PRIUK) Nick Howe spoke about three stand-out investigations he undertook in Essex.

Nick picked out Tilbury Fort, Thaxted Mill and The Essex Regiment Museum as three locations that he felt had particularly strange activity during his visits.

He recalled recording a voice which may have said “f*** you” in response to Nick saying “make a noise” at Tilbury Fort as well as a potential child’s voice saying “mummy” in Thaxted Mill.

In The Essex Regiment Museum, Nick recounted hearing a “very, very loud thump” which left “the floor vibrating”.

Despite explaining his experiences, Nick said: “Our findings are what we’ve discovered ourselves, but we look for rational explanations, we’re not sensationalists and I’m not even sure I’d say I believe in ghosts anyway.

“I’ve never been to a place and said that place is haunted because ultimately there could always been an explanation.”

London was not ranked as a county by Sky Vertigo, but if all its postcode areas were combined it would total 810 ghost reports, according to the study.

The UK’s 10 most haunted counties, according to Sky Vertigo is as follows: 

Essex – 422 reports

Sussex – 404 reports

Kent – 374 reports

Suffolk – 350 reports

Devon – 340 reports

Dorset – 323 reports

Somerset and Bristol – 320 reports

Lancashire – 307 reports

Wiltshire – 302 reports

Norfolk – 293 reports