Worthy of several Game of Thrones plotlines and then some, these heritage homes have seen everything from grisly murders and executions to arson attacks and witch trials, plus more than a few sinister spectral residents. Feeling brave? Let's uncover the chilling past of 17 of the world's most beautiful stately homes and reveal the skeletons lurking behind their regal façades. 

The Morris-Jumel Mansion is Manhattan's most venerable surviving house. Built in 1765, the building served as George Washington's HQ for a time during the American Revolution. The amazing American estate was acquired in 1810 by French-Haitian merchant Stephen Jumel who set up home there with his wife Eliza.

Rags-to-riches Eliza was looked down upon by some in New York society, though her obituary in the New York Times states that she was "deep and shrewd and able enough to maintain her position against the combined attacks of those who envied her". When her husband died at the mansion in 1832, her marriage to ex-vice president Aaron Burr in the months following Stephen's death created something of a stir.

Now a museum, the mansion is said to be one of the most haunted places in New York. A former curator has claimed to have heard the groans of Stephen Jumel, while a group of boisterous school children said they were told to shut up by Eliza's spectre. A phantom revolutionary soldier has purportedly been sighted marching in the grounds, as well as the spectre of a serving maid and the likeness of Aaron Burr.

Sitting atop an extinct volcano, Edinburgh Castle towers over the Scottish capital, protected by grand, fortified walls. But the historic fortress, which dates from the 12th century, has a macabre past and was the scene of the Black Dinner, an infamous event that inspired one of the most shocking Game of Thrones moments, the bloody Red Wedding massacre.

In November 1440, 16-year-old noble William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas, and his younger brother David received an invitation they couldn't refuse: dinner at the castle with King James II, a boy of 10 at the time. The soirée was organised by the Lord Chancellor Sir William Crichton, who feared the Douglas Clan was becoming too powerful and could pose a threat to the young monarch.

The feast took place in the castle's Great Hall and according to some historians, just as the dinner was coming to an end, a black bull's head, a symbol of death, was brought in and placed in front of the Earl. Much to their horror, the Douglas boys were dragged out of the castle, subjected to a mock trial and brutally beheaded.

Almost 700 years old, Lancashire's Samlesbury Hall, which was the seat of the staunchly Catholic Southworth family for centuries, has a history peppered with tragedy and ghoulish goings-on. Jane Southworth, who married into the clan in 1598, was accused of witchcraft and forced to undergo a degrading trial to prove her innocence. Thankfully, she was acquitted and spared an agonising death sentence.

In the 17th century, Dorothy Southworth is said to have fallen in love with a Protestant neighbour. As the legend goes, the couple met in secret and decided to elope, but on the night of their planned escape, Dorothy's lover and two of his friends were killed by her brother. Bereft, Dorothy was packed off to a convent abroad where her mental health was said to have deteriorated before she eventually died. Her ghost, the so-called White Lady, is said to roam the house.

The impressive stately home passed to the Harrison family in the 19th century, headed up by Patriarch Joseph Harrison. Joseph's son William is thought to have committed suicide in the house in 1879 following a painful accident. His phantom may be behind other paranormal phenomena that have been reported in the house, which include room bells ringing on their own.

The Monte Cristo Homestead in Junee, New South Wales has been dubbed the most haunted home in Australia. A hotbed of paranormal activity, the property was built in 1885 by local pioneer Christopher William Crawley and belonged to the Crawley family until 1948. The historic house lay empty until 1963 when it was snapped up by Reg and Olive Ryan, who restored it to its former glory.

The Ryans have reported everything from ghostly hands touching their shoulders and lights randomly switching on to hearing the sound of phantom footsteps. In fact, a total of 10 spirits are thought to haunt the house. The paranormal activity comes as no surprise given the homestead's spooky history, which is marked by a number of harrowing incidents.

Sometime during the late 19th century, a maid who was rumoured to be pregnant with Mr Crawley's baby, purportedly threw herself off the second-floor balcony. It's also said that a young child was pushed down the stairs not long after and a stable boy was burnt alive in a horrific arson attack. Adding to the homestead's dark history, the then-caretaker was reportedly shot dead on the property in the early 1960s.

Once a grand stately home, Leap Castle in County Offaly was built by the O'Bannon clan but was the seat of the ruling O'Carroll chieftains for centuries. The O'Carrolls were notorious for their ruthlessness – after enlisting the O'Neill clan to assist them in a battle, they rewarded the family by slitting their throats. The O'Carrolls broke faith with their allies the McMahons in a similarly murderous way, slipping deadly poison into their drinks at a victory banquet.

Following the death of clan patriarch Mulrooney O'Carroll in 1532, his two sons, one of whom was a priest, fell out spectacularly and a bitter struggle for leadership of the clan ensued. According to local legend, the struggle came to a violent end when the priest was murdered by his brother while performing mass for members of the family in the castle's chapel. The priest is said to haunt the so-called Bloody Chapel to this day.

Leap Castle passed to the Darby family in the 17th century. English soldier Captain Darby acquired the estate following Oliver Cromwell's conquest of Ireland. The Darby family remained at the castle until 1922 when it was torched by the IRA. The property was bought by a descendant of the O'Bannon clan in 1974 and underwent some renovations. The castle has since changed hands again and restoration work is continuing on the struggling stately home.

Nicknamed the giant of the Loire Valley, the towering Chateau de Brissac is the tallest chateau in France. Built over seven floors, the 204-room castle was constructed for the Counts of Anjou in the 11th century and bought by René de Cossé, the first Lord of Brissac, in the 1500s. The chateau was ransacked during the French Revolution and later restored by the Cossé-Brissac family in the 19th century.

Like so many centuries-old stately homes, the chateau has a chequered history and its very own ghost, La Dame Verte or the Green Lady. The phantom is said to be the spirit of Charlotte de Brézé, an illegitimate daughter of King Charles VII, who married nobleman Jacques de Brézé in 1462. The union was purportedly not a happy one.

Some years later, rumours swirled that Charlotte was having an affair. One night in May 1477, Jacques is said to have murdered Charlotte and her lover. According to legend, the Green Lady has ghastly hollows where her eyes should be and roams the chateau wailing and trying to remove a knife from her chest.

During his disastrous reign, King Edward II feuded with the aristocracy, who strongly disapproved of his close relationships with favourites including Piers Gaveston. Edward II was eventually deposed by his wife, rebel Queen Isabella, who teamed up with her ally and rumoured lover Roger Mortimer, a power English baron, to oust him. The king was forced to abdicate in January 1327 and imprisoned in Gloucestershire's Berkeley Castle.

Whether Edward II and Gaveston were an item is open to question, but the king spoilt his favourite with titles, land and jewels, and the duo were said to be virtually inseparable. Rumours of an intimate relationship between the pair were rife during and after Edward II's reign, and these were later fictionalised in Christopher Marlowe's play, Edward II. However, the tale takes a rather gruesome turn...

According to local lore, Edward II was held in this cell and executed on the night of 21 September 1327 with the assistance of a red hot poker. The story goes that his screams were heard for miles around. Most historians have dismissed the account as homophobic propaganda, but the deposed king is still thought by many to have been murdered at the castle, possibly by suffocation. Some experts, however, believe he escaped and ended up in Italy.

The grandest and largest privately owned home in America, Biltmore was built for George Washington Vanderbilt II, patriarch of one of the world's most famous families, in the late 19th century. The colossal Gilded Age mansion sprawls over 178,926 square feet and has a storied history, some of which is pretty weird to say the least.

After George died in 1914, his widow Edith would purportedly spend hours in the library at Biltmore. Servants noticed she was speaking out loud to her deceased husband for hours on end. These daily conversations continued for quite some time, and legend has it, they could even be heard following Edith's death.

The home is the scene of another curious story. In 1925, purportedly inspired by an avant-garde Russian cabaret troupe called La Chauve-Souris, which translates as 'the bat', George and Edith's eccentric daughter Cornelia commissioned ghostly murals to be painted on the basement walls. Aptly named the Halloween Room, witches, bats and black cats can be seen in the eerie underground space to this day.

Austria's Moosham Castle was built on the foundations of a Roman fortress and dates back to the late 1100s. While it may look like a fairy tale castle, the medieval estate served as the prison for the local area and was the site of the horrifying Salzburg Witch Trials, which took place in the 17th century and claimed many innocent lives.

In 1675, legend has it that a woman called Barbara Koller was put on trial for witchcraft and confessed under duress that her son Paul Jacob Koller, who became known as Magician Jackls, had made a pact with the devil. Paul seemingly vanished and scores of poor children and adults who were purportedly part of his gang were arrested and thrown in the castle's dungeons.

In the end, it's approximated that 139 children and adults were executed. Their ghosts are said to haunt the castle. More than a century after the witch trials, a number of local people were reportedly accused of being werewolves, after countless deer and cattle were found dead in the castle grounds. According to local lore, some were tried and eventually killed for their supposed crimes.

Situated on the banks of the River Rhine, the picturesque Castle of Doorwerth was erected in the 15th century by Robert van Dorenweerd. The estate was under the ownership of the wealthy Dorenweerd family until the early 17th century when it passed to a German aristocrat, Count Anton I van Aldenburg. The property was vacated at the end of the 18th century and the abandoned palace suffered years of neglect.

Ghosts are said to abound in the castle. The most famous is that of a servant girl who was purportedly accused of stealing and thrown in the castle's dungeon where she starved to death. Her spectre allegedly haunts the hunting hall in the north wing. Other frightening phantoms reported include the ghost of a witch who has been observed in a carriage pulled by headless horses.

A paranormal investigation was carried out in the castle in 2004. Ghost hunters claim to have seen spine-chilling mists while conducting their work. Staff are also said to be frequently spooked by the ghouls of Doorwerth. One ex-employee claimed to have heard phantom footsteps and always felt incredibly uneasy when working at the castle.

Muncaster Castle near Ravenglass in Cumbria has been the seat of the Pennington family for more than 800 years. The enchanting stately home is teeming with ghosts if the many reports of sightings are to be believed. They include the phantom of murderous jester Tom Skelton, who is believed to be the original Tom Fool.

Recorded in an 1825 compilation of tales and essays, Skelton was said to have had a devilish sense of humour and serious psychopathic tendencies to boot. Hired by the Penningtons in the late 16th century, the evil clown was partial to playing deadly practical jokes. It is said he used to sit under a chestnut tree in the castle grounds offering directions to passing travellers. Those he didn't like the look of were directed to a perilous patch of quicksand where some no doubt met their death.

Rumour has it the spiteful jester murdered the local carpenter's son Dick, after he embarked on an affair with Sir Alan Pennington's daughter Helwise. As the story goes, Skelton suspected the man of stealing money from him, so with the blessing of a nobleman who had been spurned by Helwise, he's said to have chopped off Dick's head with his own axe as he slept.

Kreischer House on New York's Staten Island may look calm and peaceful but its past is anything but. Truth be told, the Queen Anne-style property is linked to an eyebrow-raising number of violent events. The house was built around 1885 by German-born brick manufacturer Balthasar Kreischer, who also constructed an identical mansion nearby – one for each of his sons, Charles and Edward.

Not long after the completion of the two properties, Edward shot himself in the head, while Charles's mansion was set later alight. Only Edward's former home now stands. The spirits of the Kreischer sons are said to encircle the spooky abandoned property. 

More recently, the Kreischer House saw a savage Mafia killing. In 2005, the property's caretaker Joseph Young was reportedly paid by the Bonanno crime family to murder mobster Robert McKelvey, who was stabbed, strangled and drowned. His corpse was dismembered and incinerated in the basement furnace.

One of Switzerland's most historic sites, the picture-perfect Chillon Castle, nestles on an island on the edge of Lake Geneva. The castle dates from the early 11th century and served as the summer residence for the Counts of Savoy from the 12th to the 16th century, when it was converted into a prison, though a jail existed in the castle from the 13th century onwards.

Large numbers of people were tortured and killed at the castle during its long history. Wrongly accused of spreading the plague, Jews from the nearby town of Villeneuve were rounded up in the 14th century and imprisoned at Chillon, where they were remorselessly tortured. Many died from their wounds while others were put to death.

François de Bonivard is Chillon Castle's best-known prisoner. Immortalised in Lord Byron's poem, The Prisoner of Chillon, the devout scholar was imprisoned for his heretical Protestant beliefs. As the poem goes, he remained there for six years chained to a pillar, however, in reality, it was only six months.

Upon its completion in 1914, Toronto's Casa Loma was the largest private residence in Canada with a total of 98 rooms covering 64,700 square feet. The mansion has all the trappings of an elite stately home, including showy staterooms and royalty-worthy guest suites. Built for financier Henry Pellatt, it turned out to be something of a curse and contributed to his ruin.

Not long after the amazing Canadian mansion was finished, Pellatt's financial fortunes took a turn for the worse. His luck dried up and many of his investments failed. Pellatt and his wife were driven to near-bankruptcy and forced to let go of their beloved Casa Loma in 1924. Their ghosts allegedly haunt the house, which isn't surprising given the couple's reluctance to leave.

Another ghost said to reside at the property has been labelled the White Lady. Thought to be the ethereal phantom of an ill-fated maid who worked at the house in the early 1900s, she has purportedly been seen by several guests and members of staff sauntering through the corridors and rooms.

Steeped in history, Glamis Castle in Angus, Scotland dates back to the 11th century and features in Shakespeare's Macbeth as the residence of the eponymous character. The ancestral home of the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne (the Lyon family), the castle was extensively restored in the late 17th century. A house with a strong connection to the British royal family, Glamis was the childhood home of the Queen Mother, who was a Bowes-Lyon, and the birthplace of her daughter, Princess Margaret.

Several dark legends are associated with the castle. The best-known is the Monster of Glamis, the name locals gave to a child with a physical disfigurement who was supposedly born into the Lyon family and cruelly locked away in a secret chamber. According to a 1908 publication by Oxford University Press, the story goes that the secret was only to be known by the Earl of Strathmore, his heir-apparent and the estate manager.

Other legends include the story of the 15th-century Earl Beardie who gambled and cursed on the Sabbath, a big no-no way back when. According to the story, the devil appeared and upon beating the Earl at cards, condemned him to play for all eternity. The ghosts of the Monster of Glamis and Earl Beardie are said to haunt the castle to this day.

Completed in 1928, Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills was thought to have been the most expensive home built in California at that point in time. A year after the construction of the 55-room Tudor Revival mansion, a horrific crime took place in one of the guest bedrooms.

Owner of the house Ned Doheny and his long-time assistant and friend Hugh Plunkett were found dead from gunshot wounds. Rumours swirled that the killings were a murder-suicide, with some historians suggesting their deaths were related to the two men's upcoming testimonies at Ned's father's federal fraud trial. To this day, the tragic events remain a mystery.

A number of ghost sightings have been reported at Greystone Mansion. These range from a sombre man wearing a black suit to the phantom of Lucy Doheny, Ned's widow. Now an in-demand location for TV and film, scores of shows have been shot at the famous movie home, including Gilmore Girls, Murder, She Wrote, The Big Lebowski and X-Men.

A beguiling fairy tale castle, Burg Eltz in the west of Germany dates from the 12th century and has remained in the Eltz family for an impressive 33 generations. The wonderfully romantic castle, which sits above the Elzbach River, is iconic in Germany and was featured on the 500 Deutsch Mark note from 1965 to 1992.

Needless to say, the castle has its fair share of ghosts, the most famous of which is the phantom of Countess Agnes. Legend has it that the countess was promised in marriage to the Knight of Braunsberg but during a feast to celebrate the match, she rebuffed her suitor, publicly humiliating him. Enraged by the rejection, the spurned knight organised an attack on the castle.

As the tale goes, Countess Agnes's father and brothers were away from the castle but Agnes donned armour and a sword and began fighting off the intruders. After a valiant fight, she was struck and fatally injured.  Upon lifting the visor, Burg Eltz's valiant defender was revealed to be none other than Countess Agnes. Her ghost is said to haunt this bedchamber in the castle.