The massive iron key felt icy in my palm as I stood before the oak door of the King James Suite at Lumley Castle . This formidable 14th-century fortress overlooking England’s River Wear had just assigned me to one of its most notorious rooms, steeped in ghostly lore.

Deep, shadowy corridors and cavernous galleries lined with oil portraits of long-dead nobles echoed with centuries of intrigue. With arched windows framing views of misty countryside, gothic stone walls and soaring buttresses, the scene was straight out of a medieval thriller. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Inside, the King James Suite felt more cathedral than chamber. Twenty-foot ceilings loomed overhead, a large fireplace gaped like a dark mouth and a towering cano

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