The ghostly past of the terrible tudors

Much of her incarceration was spent in Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire - she hated this place. Her rooms were cold and damp and she was often in poor health.

One of her gaolers, a puritan named Sir Amayas Paulet, was particularly cruel to her. He took away her smallest pleasures such as a comfortable chair and walks in the garden. During all the years she spent there she was constantly anxious that sooner or later she would be killed.

Her misery has seeped into the atmosphere of Tutbury, which maybe why her ghost is often witnessed.

A large number of people (which is quite unusual) once saw her dressed in a white gown. They thought they had seen a member of the castle's re-enactment staff, but this was later discounted.

Other sightings have been of her in a black dress walking across the grass. Even some archaeologists, usually more scientifically minded than most, have been shocked to see her.

In 1587, Mary's worst fears were realised and she was taken to Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire to be executed for treason.

Even by the standards of Tudor England, her death was horrific. The executioner, probably drunk and scared, made rather an unpleasant mess of the whole sorry affair. After trying to sever the Queen's head with three blows of the axe, he had to resort to sawing it off.

He then held the severed head aloft, not realising that all he had in his hand was the Queen's wig.

Mary's head fell to the ground and rolled around a bit. As if this wasn't enough, the spectators noticed movement and strange sounds coming from inside the dead Queen's regal dress. Her tiny, blood spattered dog emerged to run around yapping at everybody.

Fotheringhay Castle fell into disrepair after Mary's execution. Nobody wanted to live there. Local people were allowed to take from it what they wanted.

The grand oak staircase was eventually incorporated into a building which is now the Talbot Hotel in Peterborough. Mary walked down this staircase on her way to the scaffold and, interestingly, this is where her apparition is most often seen.

Mary wasn't the only Tudor Queen to suffer the headsman's axe. She had an illustrious predecessor in the beguiling form of Anne Boleyn, who also seems to be able to haunt more than one location.

Anne arrived at the court of Henry VIII in 1522 and soon became the focus of his affections. The King resolved to divorce his first wife Catherine and marry Anne.

We know from the history books just how much trouble this affair caused.

Henry's determination and Anne's scheming finally paid off in 1533 when they were married. However, her ambition was to be her downfall. She realised too late that her life depended on giving Henry a male heir.

When she couldn't do this he began to grow tired of her and then he began to hate her. Henry decided to get rid of his troublesome wife by any means necessary.

Rumours were spread that Anne was evil. She was said to have six fingers on her left hand and a hidden birthmark that her enemies said were surely signs of witchcraft.

She was eventually charged with adultery, incest and treason and taken to the Tower of London. Anne became hysterical in her cell at the Tower, especially after being told she was to be burnt at the stake.

Eventually, kindly old King Henry commuted her sentence to one of beheading. He even went to the expense of hiring a French expert in the craft, rather than an English butcher. What a nice chap he was!

After her death she was buried in an unmarked grave in a nearby chapel. Her ghost, though, was to be seen on many occasions over the coming centuries.

The spectral figure of a small woman was often seen standing on a spot in the chapel that adjoins Tower Green.

In Victorian times this spot was excavated and a body (with severed head) was discovered and identified as Anne's. Her final resting place is now marked on the marble floor.

A soldier on duty at the Tower is said to have looked through the chapel window late at night to see a woman leading a ghostly procession towards the alter. He was certain he had seen the ghost of Anne Boleyn who he recognised from her portrait.

There was a famous incident at the Tower in 1864. A sentry was arrested after being found asleep on duty. At his court martial he protested his innocence. The soldier insisted he had been confronted by a "white figure". She was wearing a "queer looking bonnet, but there wasn't no head inside the bonnet".

He challenged the spirit but was overwhelmed with fear and fainted. Other witnesses, including a senior officer, came forward to say that they too had seen a headless ghost in the vicinity.

The court martial found the soldier not guilty and he was acquitted.

A much more dramatic vision of Anne has been witnessed at her childhood home, Blickling Hall in Norfolk.

On the anniversary of her death she has been seen in a ghostly carriage, driven by a headless coachman, with four headless horses galloping down the driveway.

The carriage comes to a halt outside the front door and Anne steps out. In one hand she is carrying her head, blood dripping down her white gown.

Anne Boleyn also lived at Hever Castle in Kent, where a more peaceful version of her apparition has been seen.

This is the place where Henry courted Anne during the happiest years of her life. Her vision is sometimes witnessed walking over a bridge and resting under a magnificent oak, lost in conversation with her unseen lover.

There are many other royal ghosts around the country besides these two unlucky Tudor Queens and I'll try to search out some more bloodthirsty tales to do with our mad monarchy through the ages.