From crimes of passion to curses and even a ghoulish horse, see what haunts the halls of these storied Châteaux.
Where there is a crumbling old château, there must also be a pilfering poltergeist, sinister specter, or perhaps even the ghost of a decapitated Marie Antoinette roaming the hallowed hallways.
There are over 40,000 châteaux in France, many of which have endured a colorful history of revolution, religious conflicts, and wars that lasted up to a hundred years, so is it any wonder that there are more than a couple of ghosts lurking in these turreted towers?
Number # 8 :
Château de Brissac, Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire
Not to be outdone by all the châteaux boasting white ladies, the Château de Brissac has a vivid green Wicked Witch of the West.
The tallest castle in the country, seven stories high with some 200 rooms, there’s plenty of space for Brissac’s green lady to roam.
Charlotte de Brézé, the illegitimate daughter of King Charles VII, married nobleman Jacques de Brézé but fell in love with a huntsman named Pierre and started an affair.
Mad with rage, Jacques killed them both. He probably wished he hadn’t because the pair rose from the dead shortly after and chased him from the castle.
Pierre hasn’t been sighted since (haunting his old hunting grounds, perhaps), but Charlotte in her green dress is a regular apparition, moaning dramatically, with holes in her face where her nose and eyes should be.
Fodor’s Travel / ABC Flash Point News 2025.
It was originally a castle built by Foulques Nerra, Count of Anjou, in the 11th ecentury. After the defeat of the English by Philippe Auguste, he cedes him to Guillaume des Roches.
The castle was acquired in 1435 and rebuilt in 1455 by Pierre de Brézé, a wealthy minister of Charles VII. On his death, which occurred at the Battle of Montlhéry by saving the king, it was his son, James, who inherited it and settled at the castle.
Murderer of his wife, whom he caught in the act of adultery, he deserts the scene of the tragedy.