Spookiest Universities
Many universities date back a hundred years or more, and in that time many strange goings on have been reported from haunted hallways to ghoulish apparitions. With so many students passing through the halls and classrooms of these educational institutions, it’s no wonder that many people claim to have seen evidence of otherworldly presences. In fact, these student horror stories can become so well known on campus that they're just another part of student life.
As we’re creeping toward Halloween, we wanted to find out which university towns are the spookiest places to study. So whether it’s hearing strange voices at night, past students coming back to haunt the library, or objects floating through the air of their own volition, we’ve tried to find out which uni towns experience the most ghostly occurrences.
If you’re wary of black cats and walking under ladders, or you consider yourself a real-world ghosthunter, you might take note of these haunted towns. After all, it’s not something often mentioned in the university rankings!
So, where are you most likely to make contact with the other side, and which uni is the most haunted of the lot?
The UK’s spookiest uni towns
Having looked at a range of frightful factors, we’ve uncovered the creepiest university towns in the country. Which one takes the top spot?
1
York
Spooky Score: 7.48
2
St Andrews
Spooky Score: 4.48
3
Brighton & Cambridge
Spooky Score: 4.02
Table Key:
Ghost sightings per 100k people
Posts per 100k people
Spooky Searches per 100k people
Spooky score
City
Brighton
University of Sussex (1961)
121
2,211
46
4.02
Cambridge
University of Cambridge (1209)
44
684
40
4.02
Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh (1583)
43
922
182
3.27
Glasgow
University of Glasgow (1451)
14
266
7
2.73
Spookiest Uni Towns
#1 York
Spooky Score: 7.48
York is officially the spookiest place in the country to go to university, with by far the highest Spooky Score of 7.48. A treasure trove of history and culture, York is packed to the brim with ghosts and spectres, with many of the city’s ancient pubs claiming to be haunted by one or more of the pesky poltergeists. However, don’t be put off by fears of a ghost town. York is a lively and bustling city that is home to two universities, meaning there are plenty of opportunities to study in this spooky yet picturesque setting.
Spookiest Uni Towns
#2 St Andrews
Spooky Score: 4.48
In second place is St Andrews, home to the synonymous and prestigious university that counts royals amongst its alumni. With a Spooky Score of 4.84, the remoteness of this coastal Scottish town and the ancient buildings of the university only adds to the otherworldly feeling that ghostly goings-on are afoot.
Spookiest Uni Towns
#3 Brighton & Cambridge
Spooky Score: 4.02
Brighton and Cambridge are tied as the third-spookiest university towns, with both receiving a Spooky Score of 4.02. Cambridge University is the second oldest in the country, with a history dating back 800 years, so you can only imagine what lost souls and dark deeds haunt the uni halls to this day. While not boasting a university quite as old as Cambridge, Brighton is no stranger to ghosts and apparitions. For instance, the legendary Black Belly, a floating figure with a large black belly who is usually seen in the corner of your eye, has been known to haunt the area around the Churchill Square Shopping Centre since around 1911.
The UK’s oldest university towns
Everyone knows that the older a building is, the more likely it is that some foul deed has tainted the place, or that a poor lost soul has become trapped, cursed to wander the rooms for eternity. So, feel like studying in a (probably) haunted setting? Pick one of these ancient universities, and you just might!
1
University of Oxford
University Established: 1096
2
University of Cambridge
University Established: 1209
3
University of St Andrews
University Established: 1413
City
Oldest university in town
University established
Spookiest Uni Towns
#1 University of Oxford
University Established: 1096
Established as far back as 1096, the University of Oxford is the oldest university in the country. With almost 1,000 years of history, this university has seen countless people come and go, with more than a few leaving an unnaturally lasting impression. From the robed figure of All Souls College that drifts from the chapel to library before vanishing into nothingness, to the sometimes-headless ghost of a former king that haunts the grounds of Christ Church College, Oxford is a truly spooky place to study.
Spookiest Uni Towns
#2 University of Cambridge
University Established: 1209
First opening its doors more than 800 years ago, the University of Cambridge is the second oldest university in the UK. Such a long history has given rise to a wealth of ghost stories and tales of the unnatural. For instance, at midnight on nights of the full moon, a man wearing a beaver hat can be seen by a mulberry tree in Christ’s College. As the story goes, the man haunts the spot where he killed the only doctor capable of saving his girlfriend’s life.
Spookiest Uni Towns
#3 University of St Andrews
University Established: 1413
The University of St Andrews is the third oldest university in the country, originally established in 1413 by Augustinian monks as a place of study for theology, logic, philosophy and law. In the long years since, many spectral apparitions have been noted in the university and surrounding town. One such example is a man known as Plater, who brutally murdered Prior Robert of Montrose before evening prayer, remaining earthbound as a result and haunting a former dormitory of the university.
The uni towns with the most ghost sightings
By looking at the number of ghost sightings in each university town, we can pinpoint which is the most haunted. Here, we’ve found the towns and cities with the highest number of ghost sightings per 100,000 people.
1
Brighton
Ghost sightings per 100k people: 121
2
St Andrews
Ghost sightings per 100k people: 108
3
York
Ghost sightings per 100k people: 99
Table Key:
Ghost sightings in town
Ghost sightings per 100k people
City
Universities in Town
7
Canterbury
62,767
54
34
Spookiest Uni Towns
#1 Brighton
Ghost sightings per 100k people: 121
Brighton has the highest density of ghost sightings of any university town, with 121 sightings per 100,000 people, making it the most haunted city for its size.
Spookiest Uni Towns
#2 St Andrews
Ghost sightings per 100k people: 108
St Andrews has the second-highest density of ghostly apparitions, with 108 sightings per 100,000 people. This also makes St Andrews the city with the highest concentration of ghosts in all of Scotland.
Spookiest Uni Towns
#3 York
Ghost sightings per 100k people: 99
York places third with there being 99 ghostly appearances per 100,000 people in the city. This city has seen civilisations come and go, from the Romans to the Vikings, and there has been plenty of blood spilled on York’s walls and down in the city dungeons. Yet for some reason, it’s the city's countless pubs that seem to be the most haunted spots in town.
The university towns with the spookiest Google searches
Here we can see which towns and cities are featured in the most spooky searches. By looking at the number of searches for a range of terms for each city such as “Haunted Manchester” and “Manchester Ghost”, we can see where people are looking for supernatural events the most.
1
York
Spooky searches per 100k people: 8,365
2
Brighton
Spooky searches per 100k people: 2,211
3
Canterbury
Spooky searches per 100k people: 1,848
Table Key:
Total spooky searches
Spooky searches per 100k
City
Universities in Town
3
Canterbury
62,767
1,848
1,160
9
Edinburgh
488,050
Edinburgh Napier University
Heriot-Watt University
Queen Margaret University
922
4,500
Spookiest Uni Towns
#1 York
Spooky searches per 100k people: 8,365
York has the highest number of spooky searches for its size, at a whopping 8,365 searches per 100,000 people. This makes York the city that people perceive to be haunted the most of anywhere in the country.
Spookiest Uni Towns
#2 Brighton
Spooky searches per 100k people: 2,211
Brighton takes second place, with 2,211 spooky searches per 100,000 people. Having recorded the most ghost sightings per head of any university town, it makes sense that people would come here looking for an otherworldly experience.
Spookiest Uni Towns
#3 Canterbury
Spooky searches per 100k people: 1,848
In third place is Canterbury, a small city steeped in history and home to three separate universities. There are many spirits and shades to be found in this medieval town, particularly around the cathedral area where, for example, the ghost of a servant named Nell is supposed to walk, unable to pass on for the regret of killing his niece and her lover.
The most haunted uni towns according to Instagram
We also looked to social media as a source of spooky inspiration. Here we can see which towns and cities are featured in the most Instagram posts about ghosts and haunting and other spooky happenings.
1
York
Spooky posts per 100k people: 2,653
2
Winchester
Spooky posts per 100k people: 651
3
Durham
Spooky posts per 100k people: 382
Table Key:
Total spooky instagram posts
Posts per 100k
City
Universities in Town
8
Edinburgh
488,050
Edinburgh Napier University
Heriot-Watt University
Queen Margaret University
888
182
10
Liverpool
790
136
Spookiest Uni Towns
#1 York
Spooky searches per 100k people: 2,653
York is a huge source of inspiration for Instagram users, topping our table with a huge 2,653 posts per 100,000 people. This further highlights York’s creepy credentials as one of the most haunted places in the country, and the spookiest place to go to university.
Spookiest Uni Towns
#2 Winchester
Spooky searches per 100k people: 651
In second place is Winchester with 651 posts per 100,000 people. This ancient English town was the country’s original capital city, so it’s certainly seen a lot of people coming and going. However, it seems that not everyone manages to leave, such as Alice Lisle, the last woman to be sentenced to decapitation. Her ghost can be seen in several places, including in a spectral carriage on Ellingham Lane or opposite the Eclipse public house where she was beheaded for assisting local rebels.
Spookiest Uni Towns
#3 Durham
Spooky searches per 100k people: 382
Durham has the third most ghostly Instagram posts for its size, with 382 per 100,000 people. An old city with plenty of ghosts haunting its streets, Durham’s spirits can be seen all over town, with hauntings reported in the cathedral, castle, prison and private houses. One of the most recent apparitions took place on the A1, when a mounted highwayman was seen looking towards the city, though when approached he melted away into thin air.
Methodology
We wanted to find out which university towns and cities are the spookiest in the country. To do this, we first collated a list of all UK universities and the towns in which they are located. We then took that list of towns and used Wikipedia to find out which university in each place was the oldest, recording their founding dates.
We also collected search data for each town, showing us how much each town is associated with the supernatural. We used Google Keyword Planner to find the search volume of a range of search terms such as “X ghosts” where X is replaced with each town’s name. We did this for multiple spooky search terms and found the total number of searches, then used the population figures to calculate a rate per 100,000.
Lastly, we collected Instagram data for each town and city by searching a range of hashtags with a town name linked to a spooky term, such as “Haunted X” where X is replaced by the town name. Again, we found the total number of posts for each city and calculated the rate per 100,000.
We then merged all four of these factors together into a single score which gave each metric equal weighting. We used this score to rank the university towns and reveal the spookiest places to study in the UK.