Many of the UK’s most ancient homes are still occupied today, whilst others remain empty, acting as deteriorating time capsules – as of 2021, 6.1% of all dwellings in England and 8.2% in Wales are empty 1.
As well as its rich history, old properties in the UK hold reputations for being haunted (like Littledean Hall, often regarded as one of the most haunted homes in England). With this in mind, the unoccupied house insurance experts Alan Boswell Group set out to reveal the cities where you are most likely to be living with a ghost.
The cities most likely to be living with a ghost
Rank | City | Per 10,000 people | Spooky score/10 | ||||
| Paranormal reports | Cemeteries | Memorials | Vacant properties | Houses built before 1918 | |||
| =1 | Aberdeen | 0.11 | 0.14 | 233 | 41.1 | 118 | 8.25 |
| =1 | Bradford | 0.05 | 0.16 | 347 | 6.6 | 160 | 8.25 |
| 3 | York | 0.33 | 0.33 | 49 | 6.2 | 122 | 7.85 |
| 4 | Swansea | 0.02 | 0.31 | 287 | 6.8 | 141 | 7.60 |
| 5 | Edinburgh | 0.11 | 0.13 | 163 | 20.8 | 94 | 7.55 |
| 6 | Exeter | 0.55 | 0.12 | 83 | 5.8 | 120 | 7.40 |
| 7 | Dundee | 0.06 | 0.09 | 281 | 18.1 | 91 | 7.20 |
| 8 | Peterborough | 0.21 | 0.17 | 141 | 4.8 | 85 | 7.05 |
| 9 | Plymouth | 0.09 | 0.06 | 131 | 3.3 | 134 | 6.65 |
| 10 | Bristol | 0.03 | 0.06 | 494 | 3.4 | 131 | 6.55 |
| 11 | Liverpool | 0.04 | 0.04 | 247 | 6.6 | 120 | 6.45 |
| 12 | Norwich | 0.12 | 0.14 | 127 | 3.3 | 99 | 6.35 |
| 13 | Kingston upon Hull | 0.04 | 0.06 | 75 | 5.9 | 106 | 6.10 |
| 14 | Oxford | 0.11 | 0.18 | 80 | 2.3 | 83 | 5.90 |
| 15 | Ipswich | 0.16 | 0.13 | 28 | 2.5 | 112 | 5.80 |
Full dataset here
The unoccupied house insurance experts Alan Boswell Group can reveal that Aberdeen and Bradford are the cities where you are most likely to live with a ghost, with final scores of 8.25 out of 10.
Aberdeen has the most vacant/abandoned buildings per 10k people in the UK at 41.4 (7,790 total) – a whopping 40.6 more per 10k than Manchester (1,875). The city is also home to 118 homes per 10k people built before 1918, making it the most likely place for paranormal activity. Aberdeen has had 20 paranormal reports (0.11 per 10k people) and is home to 26 cemeteries (0.14 per 10k).
Bradford has 79 cemeteries, 80,450 properties built before 1918, and 24 paranormal reports (0.05 per 10k people) – the city is definitely brimming with history. Bolling Hall, dating back to the 14th century, has put a chill in the air of Bradford by drawing in paranormal investigators from around the globe, even the TV show Most Haunted.
York comes in third, with 7.85 out of 10. The city is home to 52 cemeteries, 979 vacant properties and 19,350 houses built before 1918. The Treasurer’s House is known as one of the most haunted locations in York. Living up to its name of ‘the City of 1000 Ghosts’ York has 53 paranormal reports amounting to 0.33 reports per 10k people – the second highest in the UK.
On the other end, in 15th is Ipswich with 5.80/10, with a rich history dating back to the Anglo-Saxons, Ipswich has 112 properties built pre-1918 per 10k people but only 0.16 paranormal reports per 10k people. In nearby Woodbridge, Sutton Hoo a famous site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries has been named one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time and adds to the eerie ambience of Suffolk.
Heath Alexander-Bew at Alan Boswell Group shares why vacant properties require unoccupied property insurance:
“Data reveals that there are 760,821 vacant properties in England, Scotland and Wales. Many are holiday homes or second homes but some are derelict properties decaying by the day.
If your property is empty for long periods of time, you will need unoccupied property insurance as standard home insurance policies are unlikely to cover the property – for some insurers this can be as little as 30 days (but up to 60 for others). Otherwise, you may not be covered for accidental or malicious damage, theft and other risks far worse than a ghost tenant.”
