London, Oct 28 : The National Trust has revealed the most chilling and spooky chapters of British history by releasing a top 10 list of its most haunted historic properties.

Blickling Hall, Norfolk, described by the National Trust as a "magnificent Jacobean house”, took the top spot for the headless ghost of Henry VIII's second wife Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded in 1536.

Boleyn took Blickling to the top spot with the help of her "fellow residents": Sir John Fastolfe, the 15th century knight whose name was adapted for Shakespeare's comic character Falstaff, and Sir Henry Hobart, killed in a duel in 1698.

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

"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,” he added.

National Trust officials chose their top 10 on the basis of how often the spirits appeared, the celebrity of the ghost, and whether it offered "something that little bit different".

The second spot was taken by Dunster Castle, Somerset, where even the gift shop is haunted. Shop staff have reported a general air of menace, a "mysterious man in green" and stock inexplicably falling from the shelves.

At the third place was Quarry Bank Mill, Cheshire, which is said be home to a ghostly gang of former workers.

Other properties with ghosts roaming the corridors include Newton House, Dinefwr, Carmarthenshire, where visitors report invisible hands squeezing their throats; Gibside Hall, Tyne and Wear, which is thought to be haunted by The Unhappy Countess; Lyme Park, Cheshire, where a phantom funeral cortège is said to pass through the park, and Lanhydrock, Cornwall, said to be a home to ghosts including a man hanged outside the gatehouse by Civil War Royalists.

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.

However, Evans said that most National Trust ghosts were harmless.

"The trust does exorcise some properties. It doesn't shout about it, though,” she said.

UK’s top 10 haunted hotspots:

1. Blickling Hall, Norfolk

2. Dunster Castle, Somerset

3. Quarry Bank Mill, Cheshire

4. Newton House, Dinefwr, Carmarthenshire

5. Gibside Hall, Tyne and Wear

6. Lyme Park, Cheshire

7. Lanhydrock, Cornwall

8. Hughenden Manor, Buckinghamshire (pictured)

9. Powis Castle, Powys

10. Belton House, Lincolnshire