Top 3 ghost stories for scaring guests this Halloween

The rain's settling in and the nights are getting longer: it's officially time to embrace the autumn, as well as a certain event that takes place every 31st October. Once you've chosen your Halloween fancy dress, carved up a pumpkin and dragged all your friends around to celebrate, it's pretty inevitable that the conversation will turn to ghost stories. Everyone has a few in their repertoire, but what really inspires fear in these times when we've seen it all, splashed in high-definition blood and gore across the big screen? If you want to be the one who gets your guests shaking in their beds too scared to sleep, read on...

The scariest stories are always those with the most evidence to back them up, and a good place to start is with the famous tale of Borley Rectory. Regarded as the most haunted house in Britain, Borley is famous for stories of malevolent poltergeists and ghostly writing on the walls. The hauntings are alleged to have begun when the Reverend Smith's wife discovered a young woman's skull wrapped up in a brown paper package - that in itself is enough to send a shudder down most spines.

If you prefer to read out loud from a master, we recommend Bram Stoker's The Judge's House for an old-fashioned, creepy slow-burner. This yarn from the creator of Dracula tells the tale of Malcolm Malcolmson, a student who isolates himself in a desolate residence full of devilish rats and spooky portraits. All the classic hallmarks of horror are there - the warnings from locals, the blithely sceptical protagonist, and the inescapably unfortunate conclusion.

Finally, there's nothing like a scary story set in your local area to really bring the fear home. The Haunted Britain website is a comprehensive guide to ghostly tales relating to every part of the UK and Ireland. One favourite example is the tale of Dozmary Pool in Cornwall, where a damned 17^th century magistrate is said to be chained for all eternity with a pack of hellhounds at his heels. This treatment was supposedly dished out by his local community to save him from hell. If you're feeling really brave, you could even make a Halloween visit to your local haunted hotspots once you've read all about them.

Written in collaboration with Kira