Boscobel House

Boscobel House is forever linked to one of the most famous episodes in British royal history: Charles II’s hide-and-seek escape from Cromwell’s forces after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. It was here that the defeated king spent a day hidden in the branches of an oak tree—the legendary Royal Oak—while Parliamentarian soldiers searched the grounds below. Later that night, he concealed himself in a priest hole within the house itself. The Penderel family, who served as the house’s keepers, risked everything to protect the king during his desperate flight to safety.

The ghost of Charles II is regularly reported at Boscobel House, appearing both inside the building and near the descendant of the famous Royal Oak tree in the garden. Witnesses describe a tall figure in dark, worn clothing—the disguise Charles wore during his escape—moving furtively through the grounds as if still evading capture. Inside the house, his apparition has been seen near the priest hole and in the attic hiding space. Some visitors report hearing whispered conversations and the creak of floorboards under invisible feet, particularly at night when the king would have moved between hiding places.

The priest hole itself is a center of paranormal activity. Those who enter report feelings of claustrophobia, anxiety, and the sense of another presence sharing the confined space. The sounds of horses and soldiers have been heard in the grounds with no physical source—possibly residual echoes of the Parliamentarian search parties. Staff members have experienced unexplained cold spots, shadow figures moving through corridors, and doors that open and close on their own. Several visitors have reported seeing a group of men in 17th-century clothing near the oak tree, thought to be the loyal Penderel brothers still keeping watch over their king. Boscobel’s ghosts are guardians of a pivotal moment when England’s future hung in the balance.