Haunted Castle: Difference between revisions

[[File:HauntedCastle 7993.jpg|frame|Reichsburg Cochem. If it isn't, it should be.]]

 

 

''This is the article for the trope Haunted Castle. For the [[Castlevania]] game of the same name, click [[Haunted Castle (video game)|here]].''

In an American setting, instead of a haunted castle, the [[Haunted House]] will be the monster's home, since actual castles are in short supply in the U.S. of A. They are plentiful in [[Transylvania]].

 

* Castle McDuck in Disney's ''[[Donald Duck]]'' and ''Uncle Scrooge'' comics—When first introduced in [[Carl Barks]]' "The Old Castle's Secret," it was purportedly haunted by the ghost of Sir Quackly McDuck, who sealed himself in its walls along with a chest full of treasure. In [[Don Rosa]]'s comics, it's apparently haunted by every member of the McDuck clan, who watch over their descendants and help scare off enemies; Sir Quackly is the one who shows himself the most often. There was also a [[Scooby-Doo Hoax]] launched by their rival clan the Whiskervilles involving a ghostly hound.

* Rueben Rueben, from ''Zip Comics'', stumbled on a haunted castle with benevolent ghosts who gave him powers.

* Doctor Doom's castle in Latvaria. The only monster is the human monster of Doctor Doom.

 

== Film ==

* ''Castle of Blood'' depicts Edgar Allan Poe being challenged to reveal the inspiration of his stories. Big mistake—it leads to a night in a haunted castle. The film claims to be based on a story of the real Poe but nothing he wrote in our world really fits the bill. The movie was remade in 1971, titled ''Web of the Spider'' and was allegedly based on Poe's famous story ''Night of the Living Dead''. Uh, yeah.

* Many of Vincent Price's movies were set in haunted (or supposedly haunted) castles, ''The Pit and the Pendulum '' probably being the best example. Although P&P was directed by Roger Corman, other of Price's vehicles were directed by William Castle.

 

== Literature ==

* Walpole's ''[[The Castle of Otranto]]'' initially gave rise to this trope in popular culture, not to mention to [[Gothic Fiction]] in general.

* Bram Stoker's ''Dracula,'' of course. Dracula greets Jonathan Harker: "Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!"

* Present in Christopher Stasheff's novel ''The Warlock's Companion''; it's the location where half the story takes place. The other half is flashbacks, including one that plays with the trope by referring to an ancestor a few centuries ago who, seeing that haunted houses were becoming all the rage, but owning only a fairly recent mansion, instructed the house butler/majordomo to go out and ''buy'' an ancestral ghost from somewhere.

* In [[James Thurber]]'s ''[[The 13 Clocks]]'', the Duke finds his castle haunted by the children he locked in the tower: that is, he hears their laughter, and children's balls come bouncing down the stairs. Cold as he is, he finds this more horrifying than the ordinary sort of ghosts.

* [[Harry Potter (novel)|Hogwarts Castle]] is a unique form of this trope: the castle is indeed haunted by several ghosts, but most are perfectly nice (well, except Peeves, but he's a pest rather than an actual threat), and the castle is, of course, also a [[Wizarding School|school]]. Most of the ghosts just hang around and give advice when asked, but one of them is actually teaching classes, and no-one's sure if he's even noticed he died.

 

* Castle Forrester in ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''

* Subverted and played for laughs in an episode of the Canadian reality series ''Kenny Vs. Spenny''. The two title characters have a competition to see who can stay inside an abandoned house the longest without getting scared. Kenny (the member of the duo that always cheats) tries a number of tactics to scare his friend Spenny, who's easily manipulated. In the end, Kenny is spooked out of the house by a loud noise, which he believed to be a ghost. It was actually a construction crane that fell on the house, making Spenny win the competition.

* * ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has too many examples to list, but the [[Ravenloft]] campaign is setting is especially full of them, due to its Gothic horror inspirations. Most notable is Castle Ravenloft, after which the setting is named.

 

* Fighting your way through such castles is the very premise of the ''[[Castlevania]]'' series. In fact, ''[[Haunted Castle (video game)|Haunted Castle]]'' is the actual title of one of the arcade games in the series.

* Keith's castle in ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' is both a straight example and a subversion. It ''is'' haunted, as is only appropriate for a castle owned by a vampire, but the owner himself is a very nice guy; all the ''real'' trouble in the area is being caused by the mayor of nearby Bistriz.

* Hang Castle Zone in ''[[Sonic Heroes]]'' is filled with ghosts and witches and sprawls out as far as the eye can see. The following stage, Mystic Mansion, is set on the inside, with the final area on the roof at dawn, having survived the many traps within. The reason Sonic is here is because he's spotted a Chaos Emerald in the castle.

 

* The ''[[Girl Genius]]'' webcomic has Castle Heterodyne. The ruined steampunk castle may not actually be haunted, but it's stuffed full of deathtraps, and its broken [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|artificial intelligence]] tends to kill the people trying to repair it.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Tower]]

[[Category:Settings]]

[[Category:Abandoned Area]]

[[Category:Horror Tropes]]