Three university students – Ingrid from Denmark (Liliane Sottane) and Americans Bill (Richard Lyon) and Ronnie (David Rose) – take a tour of Ambrose Castle in England. After learning that the castle is haunted, they decide to secretly spend the night inside in the hopes of seeing a ghost. During the night, the ghost of the 4th Earl of Ambrose (Clive Revill) appears and tells them that he and the other ghosts are being bothered by Malcolm, who was beheaded 600 years earlier and condemned to wander about the castle until his body and head are re-joined.
The ghostly 4th Earl asks Ingrid, Bill and Ronnie for their help. He says the task of reuniting Malcolm's head and body can only be accomplished by finding a secret chamber, which contains a pouch filled with ashes, and throwing the ashes against Malcolm's portrait while reciting an incantation. Ingrid memorises the incantation when the 4th Earl says that he will tell it to them only once: The wing of a bird whose song was never heard/The snout of a toad that perished in our road/The scales of a fish all burned in a dish/Gathered in a pouch of leather/Hurled in stormy weather/To set him free/To set him free.
The three students go in search of the secret chamber, but once they hear the ghostly screams of Lady Wingfield being murdered by her husband Charles, who returned from the Crusades to discover that she had borne a child by another man, they change their minds. Ingrid tells the 4th Earl that they're facing 'impossible hurdles' and must leave. But then the voice of Malcolm booms out, declaring that he is holding them prisoner until they find his head, without which he cannot rest in peace.
As they search for the chamber, they come across a room of ghosts enjoying a banquet. A ghostly 'heathen' dancing girl-slave (Josephine Blake) performs, but before she can be ordered to 'see to' Bill and Ronnie, Ingrid demands that they leave the banquet. They do, quickly finding the secret chamber and the pouch.
Meanwhile, Parker (John Stacy), the manservant of the current, living 16th Earl of Ambrose (Jack Allen), informs him that something strange is going on inside the castle. The 16th Earl telephones the police. Sgt Grayson (Carl Berhard) and his Constable (Patrick Connor) quickly arrive and they, the 16th Earl and Parker enter the castle to investigate. They discover Ingrid, Bill and Ronnie and, of course, don't believe their story. The police threaten them with arrest.
As the officers chase Ingrid, Bill and Ronnie through the castle, Ingrid breaks away, recites the incantation and tosses the ashes on Malcolm's portrait. To everyone's amazement, the headless ghost of Malcolm then walks downstairs as his head floats in through a doorway. Malcolm catches his head and sticks it on, smiling in satisfaction when it is firmly attached. The 16th Earl says that he doesn't intend to press charges against Ingrid, Bill and Ronnie, but Grayson insists that everyone accompany him to the police station so that they can explain to the Inspector exactly what has happened. They all walk out into the foggy English night, smiling and chatting amiably.
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