tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48300711103640580702024-02-21T10:24:26.649-08:00Haunted WalesHaunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-68430130437981557722008-05-26T09:33:00.000-07:002008-05-26T09:47:04.591-07:00Ghost caught on camera at Chirk Castle?<strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Following on from the piece about this blog in the 'Evening Leader' newspaper, the publication has carried a front page article about a photograph of an alleged ghost taken at Chirk Castle, near Wrexham. This well-preserved Norman castle is now in the care of the National Trust.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Grant Scott, an amateur photographer from Farndon in Cheshire, noticed the transparent image of a woman on one of the photos he took of the castle a couple of weekends ago. A spokeswoman for the castle suggests that the image is of a regular visitor and that she appears to be queuing for the disabled toilet. But Mr Scott is intrigued not only be the fact her image is far from solid (when compared to the man standing a few feet to her right) and that she appears to be wearing clothes of an antiquated fashion. Also, he didn't notice anyone standing there when he took the snap.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Mr Scott was experimenting with long exposures, however, and it might be possible that the woman moved quickly into frame, stood for a split second - long enough to partly register - before moving quickly out of frame. She appears to looking in precisely the same direction as the man nearby, which implies that she is a real person. One thing I'm uncertain about is why the photo is in black-and-white when it was taken on a digital camera. My digital camera can only take photos in colour - after all, there's no black-and-white film involved - but maybe there's are monochrome settings on more sophisticated cameras than my own.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Make your own mind up by visiting: </span></strong><a title="blocked::http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/Does-this-picture-show-a.4103978.jp" href="http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/Does-this-picture-show-a.4103978.jp"><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/news/Does-this-picture-show-a.4103978.jp</span></strong></a>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-15915759233174193762008-05-20T07:01:00.001-07:002008-05-20T07:16:37.183-07:00In the news<p align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8uodhqrwvXeibDk9BPMzJSLF9ZhnkAqJznHyfVMXyqhQ8gyP_O1u7DmzJWKH4Hbxwn3RbGOVpp7GrpHawM72orpjjjZ_SuH9JjdoGvxax6zeB3mpSlWLB0s_HA_xuzW_dCTYQXgRqJ8/s1600-h/EveLeader.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202462074329939186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8uodhqrwvXeibDk9BPMzJSLF9ZhnkAqJznHyfVMXyqhQ8gyP_O1u7DmzJWKH4Hbxwn3RbGOVpp7GrpHawM72orpjjjZ_SuH9JjdoGvxax6zeB3mpSlWLB0s_HA_xuzW_dCTYQXgRqJ8/s400/EveLeader.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>My last Haunted Wales blog intimating that Wrexham may be the most haunted town in Wales was picked up by NWN Media journalist Rob Bellis, who, with colleague Joanne Shone, turned it into a double page spread in the 'Evening Leader' on May 15. You can see an extract of it here. </strong></span><br /><br /><strong>Rob found the blog through his Google Alerts setting, which immediately highlighted the key word 'Wrexham'. Very decent of them to create so much from so little! The article was a handy plug for the new and improved version of my website Uncanny UK, which has moved to a new home at </strong><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.com/"><strong>http://www.uncannyuk.com/</strong></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>This new version of the site is fully content managed, which means there should be no excuse for me not updating the site with at least one new article on a weekly basis. It's on a much better server, too.</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Recent posts include a piece in the Ghosts section on Paul Devereux's book 'Spirit Roads' (of which more in a future blog) and a 'More Uncanny' article on the weirdest of many weird phenomena encountered at the infamous Borley Rectory on the Essex/Suffolk border. You'll have to register to read the latter feature, but that's just a case of typing in your email and getting a password in return.</strong></span><br /><br /><strong>So, if you haven't already done so, please visit </strong><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.com/"><strong>http://www.uncannyuk.com/</strong></a><strong> and let me know what you think.</strong>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-70170134053658219002008-05-05T13:50:00.000-07:002008-05-05T14:04:05.273-07:00The scent of time<strong>The latest article on </strong><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/"><strong>http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/</strong></a><strong> is about ghostly smells. These are quite common phenomena, although not as common as I would expect considering how evocative the sense of smell is.<br /><br />A recent blog tells the story of a female apparition seen in Flintshire: she appeared near the turning to a medieval farmhouse, Brithdir Mawr, and she may possibly be the same ghost of a woman reportedly seen in one of the bedrooms there. When I visited Brithdir Mawr when researching my book 'Haunted Clwyd', I spoke to the then owner, a Jane Mould, who told me that the most prevalent spook was the unmistakable smell of cooking stew.<br /><br />'It's wonderful, very savoury,' Jane told me. 'It makes you hungry just to smell it! I often come across it in the passageway.'<br /><br />Considering the house dates back to the 14th century, this could be somebody's dinner that was cooked one day six hundred years ago.<br /><br />A more sinister aroma, though equally pleasant to the uninitiated, was the smell of thyme emanating from some old cottages near Llanasa, in the north of the county. Elias Owen, in his 'Welsh Folklore' of 1896, reports this phenomenon, stating that no thyme then grew there, but that many years ago there had been a bed of thyme, under which had been laid the bodies of two murdered children. The ghostly aroma was a supernatural reminder of this horrible deed.<br /><br />Makes you wonder about that savoury stew - perhaps it was poisoned!</strong>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-75280200753560389692008-04-30T03:25:00.000-07:002008-04-30T03:49:59.777-07:00Weird Wrexham<span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Wrexham may well be the most haunted town in Wales; certainly in North Wales. Every year I learn of new ghostly experiences here. Of course, it's a big, busy place which spreads out into many satellite towns and villages, so not only does it have a sizeable population, it's had a large former population, too (if you see my point!)</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Recently I heard that the swimming baths may be haunted - that deserves some further investigation. However, a correspondent to my </strong></span><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>www.uncannyuk.co.uk</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong> website has drawn my attention to several other allegedly haunted sites in the town. He works in a job that brings him into contact with lots of townspeople and hears of personal encounters that way. That nature of his work is such that he has asked that he remains anonymous.</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The old 'Groves' school is one Wrexham location he has identified. He writes: 'I spoke to a young chap the other day who works as a security guard for a reputable company and he said he worked on duty at the Groves not long back, and during the early hours he was terrified by the sound of furniture moving around on the floor above his guard post. The building is alarmed and no one apparently in the building. Some of my colleagues have spoken to the cleaners at the Groves site and they confirmed they see ‘things’ there.'</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong><br />My Wrexham correspondent has also had a couple of personal experiences with the supernatural, the first at Wrexham Training on Ruabon Road and the second at Trinity House on Egerton Street by the former ‘Thirsty Scholar’ pub.<br /><br />He tells me: 'I was studying a part-time admin course at Wrexham Training about six years ago when I personally experienced the paranormal activity at that location. It was very lively to say the least. Staff and students alike were seeing and experiencing - often quite unpleasant - things. I maintained contact with some staff a little while after I completed my course, and things were still occuring there.<br /><br />'In relation to Trinity House, I was working on a Mental Health Help Line in the evenings and weekends. Over time, I saw apparitions and heard the usual doors banging, and the lights on several occasions had a life of their own. When I left working there, I mentioned it to management, who then told me they too experienced seeing apparitions, doors banging, etc.'<br /><br />This interesting chap has been good enough to offer further details, so I shall certainly take him up on that - keep watching this space!<br /></strong></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-38850632864230311752008-04-03T02:49:00.000-07:002008-04-03T03:12:19.570-07:00The ghost of Brithdir Mawr<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoizEIZghyphenhyphensWDPZeeBgUeqCfQDhN4A0QrsozfOQ-2HSYMoexpUZ6oRD4b61D4LwJmtEPS9nPsT84roFpsvsgjlP1FjmEcO67VYwiZg7F0UDbWuiEOyMUh-YhIQq0BcYFdJNH8K-7MnfVM/s1600-h/Brithdir.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184959450928835298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoizEIZghyphenhyphensWDPZeeBgUeqCfQDhN4A0QrsozfOQ-2HSYMoexpUZ6oRD4b61D4LwJmtEPS9nPsT84roFpsvsgjlP1FjmEcO67VYwiZg7F0UDbWuiEOyMUh-YhIQq0BcYFdJNH8K-7MnfVM/s400/Brithdir.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>In my 1992 book 'Haunted Clwyd' (ISBN: 0-86381-218-X), I described the fascinating Brithdir Mawr, a house nestling on the lower slopes of Moel Fammau, near the hamlet of Tafarn-y-Gelyn, in Flintshire. This wonderful old place has hardly changed since the 16th century, as you can see from the picture.</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The then owner, Jane Mould, told me about several ghosts seen in or near the house, including that of a femal figure she believed to date from the Middle Ages. Recently, Liz Ledsham, of Mold, told me she saw a ghost near the turning for Brithdir Mawr. She wonders whether it was the same ghost, with a wider 'circle of activity' than previously realised. Liz was on her way back from a night out in 1994. She was sitting in the front seat of a taxi; it was about 2am.</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Liz told me: 'We were driving along the Loggerheads Road towards Cilcain and we passed a property called Llais Llyn Lliw, which is located by the telephone box just before the turning for Brithdir Mawr. As we drove by I saw this figure of a lady with long hair in a light grey, flowing gown, on the left-hand grass verge; she was very distinctive. As we approached the figure, I made a comment to my friend and she laughed, saying I had had too much to drink, but then the ghostly figure just passed inf ront of the taxi and we drove straight through her.<br /><br />'I said that I had just seen a weird thing and commented to the taxi driver that we had just driven through a ghost. At that moment the taxi driver slammed on the brakes and asked if I had seen it too as he couldn't believe his eyes, and he described the exact same thing which I had seen. He appeared to be shocked and was in a cold sweat. A couple of weeks later we had the same taxi driver and he said that he had not driven down the Loggerheads Road at night since the sighting as it had frightenend him so much.<br /><br />'I thought nothing much of the sighting until I saw the story about the ghost in your book and thought it was too much of a coincidence to be nothing.'</strong></span></div></div>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-72955549875206194822008-02-04T03:20:00.000-08:002008-02-04T03:41:01.663-08:00Hairy and scary<span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The latest article in the 'Weird Creatures' section of Uncanny UK is about Woodwoses: wild, hairy people who feature in medieval myth. Some think they may be a race memory of pre-Homo sapiens homonids still to be found living in deep, remote forests when prehistoric man first began his intensive cultivation of the British Isles.</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Apparitions of hairy, half-humans are occasionally reported to this day. In the Uncanny UK article I refer to such a case reported from North Wales a few years ago but this will have to wait until I've interviewed the witnesses and made sure they are happy for me to quote them. In the meantime, though, here is an interesting little story from Elias Owen's 'Welsh Folklore' of 1896 that may have some bearing on the phenomenon:</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>'Richard Roberts, Coederaill, Bylchau, when a young man, worked in Flintshire, and instead of going to a place of worship on Sunday he got into the habit of wandering about the fields on that day. One fine autumn Sunday he determined to go a-nutting. He came to a wood where nuts were plentiful, and in a short time he filled his pockets with nuts but perceiving a bush loaded with nuts, he put out his hand to draw the branch to him, when he observed a hairy hand stretching towards the same branch. As soon as he saw the hand he was terribly frightened, and without turning round to see anything further of it, he took to his heels, and never afterwards did he venture to go a-nutting on Sunday' (p. 152).</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Mr Roberts was convinced that the Devil had come to him for not attending church (there are many tales of apparitions appearing to frighten 'Sabbath-breakers' into mending their ways) but his rector tried to convince him 'that a monkey was in the bush'.</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Perhaps it was a 'manimal', or the spectral appearance of one. Or perhaps it was just some unfortunate, homeless individual living wild - the origin, I suspect of many other accounts, and accounts of werewolves, too.</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">To read more about Wild Men of the Woods, visit: </span><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/article.php?id=51"><span style="font-family:arial;">www.uncannyuk.co.uk/article.php?id=51</span></a>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-80016588776628076042008-01-16T12:05:00.000-08:002008-01-16T12:20:14.687-08:00Haunted Anglesey<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiOE2GMxzS1VzX6IgF-0OQrjo5Sp7yPfs7rveh7BzVRf4yL0EVg3eUshnZhN2H5Un2FBW8OsSexLtnktqAVC70vmfO2DxuplBcn4CoYiRlmUWsAUvEYLd5PF7B2H_yUwb9353wmB-NvDo/s1600-h/HauntedAnglesey.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5156171431977982130" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiOE2GMxzS1VzX6IgF-0OQrjo5Sp7yPfs7rveh7BzVRf4yL0EVg3eUshnZhN2H5Un2FBW8OsSexLtnktqAVC70vmfO2DxuplBcn4CoYiRlmUWsAUvEYLd5PF7B2H_yUwb9353wmB-NvDo/s320/HauntedAnglesey.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The latest true ghost story on Uncanny UK has been taken from the book 'Haunted Anglesey' by Bunty Austin. The weird encounter described actually took place in Scotland, not Wales, but was told to Bunty by an Anglesey resident.</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>It's ironic that in my 'Haunted Wales' book (which appears to be currently unavailable, much to my annoyance), I state that ghost stories from this ancient and magical isle are remarkably thin on the ground. Well, that remains true for the pre-War stories on record, anyway. But Bunty, who has lived on Anglesey for many, many years, has succeeded in gathering a considerable collection of superb first-hand accounts of ghosts from Ynys Mon,as well as some historical sightings. 'Haunted Anglesey' is the sort of book we should have for every county in Wales - indeed the whole of the UK - a volume of previously unfamilar stories collected over many years from the witnesses themselves. </strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>As far as current hauntings are concerned, Anglesey appears to be a very scary place indeed! When I was writing my 'Wales of the Unexpected' column in the 'Daily Post', most of the first-hand accounts of ghosts I received came from readers came in Anglesey. These are now gathered together in the book 'Wales of the Unexpected' - check out the strangling horror of Lofft Pinc!</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>'Haunted Anglesey' by Bunty Austin is published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch (ISBN 0-86381-883-8). 'Wales of the Unexpected' by Richard Holland is also published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch (ISBN 1-84527-008-8)</strong></span></div><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">For more accounts of ghosts from around Britain, visit </span><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:arial;">www.uncannyuk.co.uk</span></a> </div>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-73156700338097416882008-01-10T07:39:00.000-08:002008-01-10T08:18:33.710-08:00The Carmarthenshire Ghost train<span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The most recent ghost story on Uncanny UK concerns a poltergeist that caused mayhem in an old farmhouse near St Asaph over the Christmas period of 1812. I took the story from a manuscript letter that describes the disturbances first-hand. The exceedingly rare nature of this source material makes it a favourite of mine and I have mentioned it in many of my books as well as on the Uncanny UK website.</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Another recent article describes a few 'ghost trains', apparitions of locomotives that have long since shunted into the Great Beyond. Briefly, I mention a phantom train that was seen in Carmarthenshire. This ghost was recorded by the folklorist J C Davies, who got it first-hand from the witness, 'an old man named James'. Here I repeat the story verbatim from his book 'Folklore of West and Mid Wales', which was published in 1911:</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>'Some years ago when he [James] happened to be out about midnight once, he saw a train passing, which came from the direction of Carmarthen, and went towards Llandilo, and as no train was to pass through the station of Nantgaredig at that hour, he enquired of the Stationmaster next morning what was the special train that passed at midnight. In reply he was told he had been either dreaming or had seen the spirit of a train, as no train had passed at that time of night.</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>'A few days after this a special train passed through the station conveying a large funeral from Carmarthen to Llandilo; and James and his friend were convinced that the train he had seen in the night was nothing but an apparition of the real train with the funeral!'</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>James's belief was that the ghost train had taken the form of a - for then - hi-tech version of the phantom funerals that commonly reported as shuffling through Welsh lanes at twilight to warn of real funerals to come.</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">To read about the Christmas poltergeist, please visit: </span><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/article.php?id=47"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/article.php?id=47</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> ; to read more about phantom trains: </span><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/article.php?id=46"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/article.php?id=46</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> ; and to read more about phantom funerals, visit: </span><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/article.php?id=22"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/article.php?id=22</span></a>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-23023466144004359742007-12-08T03:21:00.000-08:002007-12-08T03:29:18.892-08:00Odd coincidences still intrigue<span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Since writing the previous Haunted Wales blog, I have cause to mention the Johnson family again but this time in my Uncanny UK blog at </strong></span><a href="http://uncannyuk.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>http://uncannyuk.blogspot.com</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong> </strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The story ties in with an article I've written for the More Uncanny section which is accessible to Registered Readers at </strong></span><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>www.uncannyuk.co.uk</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong> (it's free to register and all you have to do is fill in your email address and choose a password).</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The article revives two stories I originally uncovered in the obscure old journal called 'Bye-gones', which has proved an absolute treasure trove of ghosts, folklore and weird incidents from Wales and the border counties. Both stories feature men who experienced a dream so vivid that it forced them to take action, thereby saving a complete stranger to them from imminent death. </strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>One of the stories features a minister who nearly drowned when overtaken by the rising tide in the Dee Estuary and the other a young girl who nearly suffocated in the cellar of a house in Welshpool, Montgomeryshire.</strong></span>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-87997692902716762602007-11-29T04:11:00.000-08:002007-11-29T04:50:42.193-08:00Return of the ghost of Ty Gwernen<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitS1_-FCaDz3PmjLNOGzJL_QJU0_ylCSN_9jB6XAUvGiqLhH4FCq5EvA7w36Ctwx6XJhgkEpdZGNffLXiW8HtBtQZdF9PCfbD4ybAfpYEdjLK3CtxRxOsMY0ULIbzjSfn2C8KlXZzYl7Q/s1600-h/TyGwernen.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138243432485229362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitS1_-FCaDz3PmjLNOGzJL_QJU0_ylCSN_9jB6XAUvGiqLhH4FCq5EvA7w36Ctwx6XJhgkEpdZGNffLXiW8HtBtQZdF9PCfbD4ybAfpYEdjLK3CtxRxOsMY0ULIbzjSfn2C8KlXZzYl7Q/s400/TyGwernen.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">In 1992, my book 'Haunted Clwyd' included a story from Gwernymynydd, in Flintshire. Ty Gwernen, a lovely old house on the hillside overlooking Mold, was lovingly restored by Dave and Ann Johnson and is still their home, although their three sons Daniel, Matthew and Edward have now found homes of their own.</span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">In 1990 the boys were all in their teens. Matthew told me that one evening he had been frightened by the sight of 'a horrible face' peering in through his bedroom window. He said it was 'very wrinkled, ugly and, in my frightened state it also looked very evil'.</span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Coincidentally, a few hours after telling of his experience, he went home to discover younger brother Edward in a state of shock after seeing a ghost. Matt phoned me up from Ty Gwernen that night and put Ed on to me. </span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Ed told me: 'I was on my own in the house watching television in the sitting room when suddenly this old woman walked into the room. She was very old and white haired, with a thin face. She walked into the middle of the room and stood in front of the fire, staring at the wall.</span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">'It was terrifying, she was just a few feet in ront of me. But she didn't seem to be aware of me at all. After a few monents, she slowly disappeared. I've spent the rest of the night hiding in the kitchen!'</span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Eldest brother Daniel admitted to hearing mysterious tappings and scratchings in an upstairs room but had never seen a ghost. Neither had Dave or Ann, who naturally played the incident down and assumed an air of healthy scepticism.</span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Seventeen years later, however, and the ghost has been seen again - this time by Dave. When Matthew got married on November 17 (to the lovely Emma), the whole family came home and Dave wasted no time in telling me that his own doubts of the ghost of Ty Gwernen had been dispelled by the 'seeing is believing' rule.</span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Dave told me that earlier in the year, he had been repairing a set of glass sliding doors overlooking the garden and which filled the original entrance to the building. He had been steadily, quietly working away for a while but then looked up to glimpse an elderly lady watching him. She seems to have been the same figure seen by Edward back in 1992. She too vanished on being spotted.</span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">'I think she was just seeing what I was up to,' said Dave. 'Making sure she was happy with what I was doing to her old home.'</span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong></div><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">It is true that building work often brings ghosts 'out of the woodwork'!</span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;">(The picture reproduced here from 'Haunted Clwyd' shows Matthew and Edward standing outside Ty Gwernen - at the very spot where their father Dave saw the ghost this year. 'Haunted Clwyd' is still in print and published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch).</span></div></div>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-58205089514828869032007-11-20T12:36:00.000-08:002008-01-01T03:27:32.648-08:00Alien Big Cats on the prowl<span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>One of the two articles recently uploaded on </strong></span><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>www.uncannyuk.co.uk</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong> gives a brief outline of the so-called Alien Big Cats that are so often reported prowling round the countryside.</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Almost every county in Britain seems to have had reports of people glimpsing panthers, pumas or whatever they might be in the fields and hills. My own small county of Flintshire is no exception.</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>A few years ago I was talking to a young chap called Callum who told me he had seen a strange animal one evening in his home village of Cymau. Cymau is very much a rural village, on a B-road from the main road connecting the towns of Mold and Wrexham. It is in a fairly wild corner of pastoral Flintshire, surrounded by wooded hills.</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Callum told me that he and a few friends were walking along a path that skirts 'the park', an open area in the village with a few swings and a slide. It was early evening. As they walked past a house, a security light came on, causing Callum to glance up to a spot where it had illuminated the top of a bank at the far end of the park.</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>He said: 'I saw a silhouette of some animal. It was dog-shaped but three or four feet high. The thing is, it was bounding like a cat, not running like a dog. And it was very fast: it cleared the width of the park in seconds. Then it disappeared into shadow. No one else saw it.'</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>This was in 2003. A year previously reports had been circulating about a big black cat spotted by several witnesses around the village of Leeswood, about eight miles from Cymau as the crow flies (or the cat bounds).</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>There is a string about big cats in the area on the BBC North-East Wales website, including a sighting at Alex's Pool, Leeswood by a teenager named Matthew. Matthew says: 'It was black and had a tail about one metre long, and its body was even bigger. I heard something rustling in the bushes and when I looked around there it was. It stopped and then just made its way through the trees away from me.'</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Maybe it was the same animal, for big cats can cover a large territory. What intrigues me, though, is Callum's description of his creature's being 'dog-shaped', although it moved like a cat, and that he saw it at twilight. This brings us smartly into the territory of the Gwyllgi, the mysterious Black Dogs of Wales that appear to be more ghost than substance, and include the strange beast seen by Malcolm Jones at Brymbo (which is only four miles from Cymau).</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Perhaps some of these black cats are actually Black Dogs, or variants of them, and not real animals at all. There are quite a few articles on Black Dogs to be found on Uncanny UK at <a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/">http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/</a> </strong></span><br /><strong>If you have seen what you believe to be an Alien Big Cat or a Black Dog, in Wales or elsewhere, please let me know.</strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Visit the Big Cat string for North-East Wales at: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/guides/weird/mythsandlegends/pages/panther.shtml">http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/guides/weird/mythsandlegends/pages/panther.shtml</a></strong>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-65170598535622923072007-11-10T07:05:00.000-08:002007-11-10T07:43:29.355-08:00The Gwyllgi, Black Dogs of Welsh folklore<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW8bBDWZI45ih3F6iLBlzoP0Q7-SR73tMDpcyXj-JX1KRhkZBoEYGVajTkwEhIAw1nORuDsa2D6BhyTAYOdc3gVtsrVGMierViLG5XG_xvJ8obMoRVlQLFJ-uVmNJmY5b6JQWDShG0mOg/s1600-h/POGANYGWYLLGI.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131237727328468242" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW8bBDWZI45ih3F6iLBlzoP0Q7-SR73tMDpcyXj-JX1KRhkZBoEYGVajTkwEhIAw1nORuDsa2D6BhyTAYOdc3gVtsrVGMierViLG5XG_xvJ8obMoRVlQLFJ-uVmNJmY5b6JQWDShG0mOg/s320/POGANYGWYLLGI.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The second part of the 'Beast of Brymbo' story has been uploaded on Uncanny UK, with witness Malcolm Jones's account of a huge, unidentifiable animal he saw one evening in the early 1970s.</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>His description of this creature, seen on a lane leading into the Wrexham village, echoes those of the Gwyllgi, the mysterious dog-like apparitions of Welsh folklore. These commonly reported yet inexplicable spectres have their counterparts in England, where they go by a variety of regional names, including Padfoot, Skriker, Trash and Black Shuck. In the literature, they are usually simply referred to as Black Dogs.</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>In Wales, as elsewhere, they are usually described as being black in colour, with a shaggy pelt and closely resembling a dog of the mastiff breed but much larger, about the size of a calf. They are said to haunt lonely lanes at night or twilight. Mr Jones's spook has many of these characteristics, although his had a leaner outline, more like a lurcher. There are other variants throughout Wales. In the Afan and Margam district of South Wales, for example, they were described as being blood red in colour. The most grotesque is that which haunted a green lane near Llysworney in Glamorgan: this was described as having the hind-quarters of a spotted dog but the head of a man.</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>When I was writing my 'Wales of the Unexpected' column in the Daily Post newspaper, I received accounts from readers of two separate Gwyllgi seen on Anglesey. These accounts are reproduced in my book of the same name (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, ISBN 1-84527-008-8). </strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The word Gwyllgi, incidentally, first appears in a rare book, 'The Vale of Glamorgan', published in 1839. I believe the best translation of the word would be 'Dog of the Twilight'.</strong></span><br /><strong></strong><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The are several other stories of the Black Dogs to be found on the Uncanny UK website, including one that could fly! To read more visit </strong></span><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>www.uncannyuk.co.uk</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong> </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>To buy a copy of 'Wales of the Unexpected' from Amazon, visit: </strong></span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wales-Unexpected-Richard-Holland/dp/1845270088/ref=sr_1_1/202-3642153-2258216?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194708087&sr=1-1"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wales-Unexpected-Richard-Holland/dp/1845270088/ref=sr_1_1/202-3642153-2258216?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194708087&sr=1-1</strong></span></a>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-48686427824661519112007-11-01T03:52:00.000-07:002007-11-01T04:11:51.430-07:00The Beast of Brymbo and other horrors from Wales<span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>My new website, Uncanny UK, went live on Hallowe'en night with a range of articles on ghosts, witchcraft, fairies and strange creatures. If you haven't already visited Uncanny UK, I do hope you'll give it a go and that you will regularly revisit to read the further features that will be uploaded every week.</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>There are several stories from Wales, including an account of fairies arriving in a UFO, Welsh women being accused of witchcraft as late as the 19th century, and a horrible ghost which chased a preacher up a road in Mid Wales. </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The 'Latest Story' features a particularly frightening, and previously unrecorded, apparition that looks like 'a cow standing on its hind legs'. It lurked around a village in North-East Wales and on separate occasions terrified two small children and two women returning home late one night. I have personally interviewed the latter two witnesses of 'The Beast of Brymbo' (as I couldn't resist calling it) and I have no doubt that their experience of seeing this devilish phantom is entirely true. </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Over time, I hope more writers will join me on Uncanny UK and that readers will favour us with their own experiences, too. In this way we may be able to record other previously unknown ghosts, from Wales and elsewhere in Britain. Shortly, there will be a Forum where readers will be welcome to share their views and comment on the articles. </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>I'm asking readers to register on the site (for free, of course), because it will help me gauge its popularity or otherwise. Registered readers will be able to use the Forum and also access an otherwise exclusive series of 'More Uncanny' articles on a range of weird subjects (fairy-ghost hybrids, guardians of burial mounds, prophetic dreams, all sorts of peculiar stuff). The 'More Uncanny' section will be presented with a new article every month. </strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Please visit Uncanny UK at </strong></span><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>www.uncannyuk.co.uk</strong></span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong> and let me know what you think. You can send your comments to: </strong></span><a href="mailto:editor@uncannyuk.co.uk"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>editor@uncannyuk.co.uk</strong></span></a>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-59905558043575246902007-10-27T04:53:00.000-07:002007-10-27T04:58:02.693-07:00Solution to the riddle<span style="font-family:georgia;">Mr Daulby has come up with his own translation (possibly with some help!) of the limerick below:</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>A boy who lived in Llansannan<br />Saw ghosts everywhere<br />Until one night he saw<br />One rise out of the ditch/dyke/trench/moat<br />And today he's a ghost himself!</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Inspired by this, he's written another one:</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>There was a young man from Gwespyr<br />Who went ghost hunting on his Vespa<br />At Talacre, from the sand<br />Came a bony old hand<br />And now he's good friends with Casper!</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Excellent! Kind of Scooby Doo meets the Mod Squad, what with that Vespa.</span>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-61481870394335599982007-10-18T01:41:00.000-07:002007-10-18T02:08:21.592-07:00Spooky limerick<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyutd1twWw5UG5ts49wpYsHfxLzOYwWyO-AOC3W4ezm3wRqkvrOdbZSBNSJ6bH5GhcidhBbrgNe5RKnlZ9DNNIWXuZpELTtRm_WFL_VPWGs6PBiv-ZnRFXhrbQLxPyLBN5wfeJ4DHTcyQ/s1600-h/cartoon.jpg"><span style="font-size:0;"></span><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5122598582582091442" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 340px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 316px" height="316" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyutd1twWw5UG5ts49wpYsHfxLzOYwWyO-AOC3W4ezm3wRqkvrOdbZSBNSJ6bH5GhcidhBbrgNe5RKnlZ9DNNIWXuZpELTtRm_WFL_VPWGs6PBiv-ZnRFXhrbQLxPyLBN5wfeJ4DHTcyQ/s400/cartoon.jpg" width="379" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Alan Daulby came across an odd litle book that he thought might help him with his dauntless efforts to learn Welsh. It's called 'Cerddi Dwli' (which means something like 'Nonsense Verse') and is by Leslie Harries, with sketches by E. Alwyn Lloyd. </strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong></strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>It's general style gave it the appearance of having been published at any period from the 1920s to the '50s, although a scanning of the introduction made it clear it appeared sometime post-1960.</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Among the many sub-Edward Lear limericks (llimericau?) in Welsh is one about a ghost at Llansannan in Denbighshire. Here it is:</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>'Roedd bachgen yn byw yn Llansannan</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Yn gweled ysbrydion ym mhobman;</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Nes gwelodd un nos</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Un yn codi o'r ffos, -</strong></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;"><strong>Mae e' heddiw fel ysbryd ei hunan!</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Mr Lloyd's cartoon shows a classic bwbach grinning under a tree. Welsh ghosts seem to enjoy haunting the countryside more than stately homes and castles, as they do over the border. Anyone able to translate the rather old-fashioned and perhaps provinicial Welsh of Mr Harries' verse will perform a kindness by uploading it here.</strong></span> </div>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-88560089969740321202007-10-13T04:04:00.000-07:002007-10-13T04:35:14.088-07:00The haunted valley, Glyn Diffwys, near Corwen<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1r0SPAjHLOaz5H7QT6nRqT01OaID-0pMzTuyVkSHYFxgEMtqaG8JoaiapWo_l65asU56bteUDZjfq8vTfXftjhza6L1Hrr3I1MY1rdKidN67uWSTIASDRuWVzejXw4SSb0ynd5Z7-wk/s1600-h/PontyGlynsmall.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120783018548046722" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1r0SPAjHLOaz5H7QT6nRqT01OaID-0pMzTuyVkSHYFxgEMtqaG8JoaiapWo_l65asU56bteUDZjfq8vTfXftjhza6L1Hrr3I1MY1rdKidN67uWSTIASDRuWVzejXw4SSb0ynd5Z7-wk/s200/PontyGlynsmall.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Recently, I made a visit to a classic site in haunted Wales, Glyn Diffwys, just off the old A5 near the village of Llangwm. Once upon a time Glyn Diffwys was one of the most visited sites in North Wales, considered one of the highlights of any tour of this wild region in the 18th and early 19th centuries. </strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>When George Borrow stopped here on his tour of 'Wild Wales', he described Glyn Diffwys as 'one of the wildest and most beautiful scenes imaginable'. According to a recently erected plaque, the little projection in the wall beside the road you can see in the picture is where Borrow stood to admire the view. You may be wondering what all the fuss is about. The tragedy is that the tree cover has been allowed to grow so extensively that the view that made Glyn Diffwys famous has been almost entirely obscured.</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Hidden behind those trees is an old, single-arched bridge perched high over a narrow gorge through which the River Ceirw tumbles down a series of falls, overlooked by steep precipes and dramatic outcrops of rock. When I visited with my friends Stuart, Beth and Cameron McFadden, we could all hear the roaring of the falls but alas could do no more than glimpse the occasional splash of white water through the trees. The four of us even tried to make our way up through the valley, but were defeated. I'm not usually one to suggest chopping down trees, but in this case some management of the smaller trees choking up the foreground would return to view one of the most spectacular scenes in North Wales. </strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>For a long time the view has been impossible to access because the A5 was just too busy along this stretch. Now that a new stretch of the road has been provided, this wiggly bit of Thomas Telford's road has been turned into a footpath. It's ironic that Telford incorporated viewing platforms into the road verges so that the majesty of Glyn Diffwys could be enjoyed by the visitors of his own day. It's even more ironic that Conwy Council should set up a plaque highlighting the beauty of the scene without considering that it is now obscured. I'd like to see the tree cover thinned and a foorpath created to improve access to this formerly celebrated spot.</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>They'd have to put up new signs warning about the ghosts, though. This is what Elias Owen had to say about Glyn Diffwys and the bridge that spans the gorge in his book 'Welsh Folklore' published in 1896:</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>'There is a picturesque glen between Corwen and Cerrig-y-Drudion down which rushes a mountain stream, and over this stream is a bridge, called Pont-y-Glyn. On the left hand side, a few yards from the bridge, on the Corwen side, is a yawning chasm, through which the river bounds. Here people who have travelled by night affirm that they have seen ghosts - the ghosts of those who have been murdered in this secluded glen.</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>'A man who is now a bailiff near Ruthin, but at the time of the appearance of the Ghost to him at Pont-y-Glyn, was a servant of Garth Meilio - states that one night, when he was returning home late from Corwen, he saw before him, seated on a heap of stones, a female dressed in Welsh costume. He wished her good night, but she returned him no answer. She, however, got up and proceeded down the road, which she filled, so great were her increased dimensions.' (p. 197)</strong></span></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">If you're interested in ghosts, you may also like to visit my other blog </span><a href="http://uncannyuk.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">http://uncannyuk.blogspot.com</span></a> </div>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-70308997899448798322007-10-02T07:23:00.000-07:002007-10-02T07:51:08.471-07:00Exploring Supernatural Wales<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxCygUUCkcS7VbqfFgk3IqjcSmot_uy09jSVR1UZIJEHDdBs3NiJhhf2ZBKTHYyEhCT_OvhDNKYQHLWvXAAxY-P9c_Ib2qIkyGwYIXu9QVdTao0Sz-5Ai1iaEnrU0r2q-B03ODsbIIvjI/s1600-h/Exploring.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116751934042712946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxCygUUCkcS7VbqfFgk3IqjcSmot_uy09jSVR1UZIJEHDdBs3NiJhhf2ZBKTHYyEhCT_OvhDNKYQHLWvXAAxY-P9c_Ib2qIkyGwYIXu9QVdTao0Sz-5Ai1iaEnrU0r2q-B03ODsbIIvjI/s200/Exploring.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">I've just received a new, or shortly to be published, book: 'Exploring Supernatural Wales' by Alvin Nicholas. To quote the blurb: 'The book contains information on over 40 supernatural locations in Wales. The main featured stories are accompanied by 25 walks of terror and mystery.'</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">No quite sure about the 'terror and mystery' (publishers are always writing blurbs that embarrass their authors, though) but Alvin certainly covers some fascinating and beautiful locations. Alvin draws on some of the classic works of Welsh folklore, particularly 'Folk-lore and Folk Stories of Wales' by Marie Trevelyan and 'British Goblins' by Wirt Sikes, and he's also used my own 'Haunted Wales' for inspiration. I am delighted, though, that where he has used my research, he has given it full credit. Not every author is so polite. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">Two of the spooky sites Alvin has based his walks around are particular favourites of mine. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">One is an ancient track at Llysworney in Vale of Glamorgan. It took me ages to find the 'Lisworney Crossways' mentioned by Wirt Sikes because this archaic spelling was no longer on the map and failed to turn up on any genealogy websites. If I'd lived in South Wales, like Alvin (who's from Caerphilly), I might have known Llysworney and made the connection but this was an area I was unfamiliar with. I was relieved when I spotted the village on a map and pleased when I worked out the exact location. It's a pretty little spot, or at least it was when I visited it one summer's afternoon. It's probably eerie as hell at night. According to folklore, it was haunted by a weird apparition in the shape of a big, spotty dog with a man's head. Eek!</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">The other site is the Old Warren at Broughton in my home county of Flintshire. This is another lonely, wood-bound lane. Its ghost, a floating clergyman who terrifies courting couples, was previously unrecorded until a kind lady wrote to tell me all about it when I was writing my 'History and Mystery' column in the local paper back in the early 90s. Both her mother and her aunt had been bothered by the disapproving spectre as young women in the 1930s.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">There's also a great deal in 'Exploring Supernatural Wales' that was unfamiliar to me and which has got my Spookisense tingling. I'm especially impressed with Alvin's pictures of the Carreg y Bwci (Goblin Stone) near Lampeter, and the mighty burial mound of Twm Barlwm, near Risca. Alvin Nicholas is clearly a great enthusiast, with considerbale knowledge, of folklore and weirdness in Wales. I have no doubt that I will find lots more intriguing gems when I read it more fully.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:130%;">'Exploring Supernatural Wales' by Alvin Nicholas is published by Landmark (the same publisher as 'Haunted Wales') and is priced £9.99.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;">(For more high strangeness, UK-wide, visit my other blog, </span><a href="http://uncannyuk.blogspot.%20co/"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://uncannyuk.blogspot. co</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">m)</span> </div>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-65843986069032750792007-09-23T02:18:00.000-07:002007-09-23T02:42:37.270-07:00Mold gets spookier<strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">My home town of Mold (Yr Wyddgrug) in Flintshire has a long history of haunting happenings. In fact, I once took a camera crew on a ghost tour of Mold for an HTV programme called 'Night Owls' some years ago.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Recently Mold's ghost factor appears to have been stepped up. I was talking to Roy, the owner of the town's second-hand bookshop in Earl Road a few weeks ago and he told me that a ghost appears to be haunting the entire row of shops. It's all rather vague: cold spots, inexplicable noises, vague figures glimpsed out of the corner of the eye and that sort of thing. But it's funny how these things start to manifest after years of inactivity. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Interestingly, the shop on the end of the row, nearest the town centre, has had a ghost for a century or more. Now a fancy dress shop, the building started life as a doctor's residence, back in the days when Earl Road and beyond were all fields. The story has it that a small girl - a patient or the doctor's own daughter - lived in the upstairs room overlooking Earl Road and was confined there after contracting smallpox. One day she threw herself out of the window and died on the cobbles below. Her badly scarred face is said to have been seen peering out of that window ever since. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">When I was researching my second book 'Haunted Clwyd' in 1992, I felt a chill when I looked up at this window and saw that it had been whitewashed over. Why would anyone wish to paint over a window in an upstairs storeroom? Was it because of the face? The current owners had no idea, which is why they scraped the paint off it - they were a bit creeped out when I told them the story behind it! Moreso, because they had already become convinced the building was haunted. They frequently hear bumps and crashes coming from that room and the stock is often found in disorder. Maybe the spirit of the unfortunate little girl has taken to wandering further afield. After all, once upon a time, the land on which those modern shops, including Roy's, now stand may have been her garden.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">And just a few days ago my friend Alan Daulby was having his hair cut in the hairdressers in Wrexham Street when one of the girls started hollering that she'd seen a ghost in the back room. It was just a shadowy shape, but she saw it several times and was convinced she hadn't been imagining things.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Of course, I ought to go and investigate. But I probably won't. I can just sit here quietly twiddling my thumbs and wait for another ghost to come along. That's one of the things I love about living in Wales - it's just so damn' spooky!</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Don't forget to check out my other blog at </span><a href="http://uncannyuk.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;">http://uncannyuk.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> . You can buy Haunted Clwyd through Amazon. Just type the title into their search engine and up it will pop up for purchase.</span>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4830071110364058070.post-84574896790411273882007-09-09T11:44:00.000-07:002007-09-09T11:57:58.046-07:00'The most haunted country in the world'<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCq1o6Hm-IUpiIq_JY9TN0RZSpO1YQ6NAi7eHJyV-BU5qNgqs3uNMCl3ZYupWLhNucu3KlDpDDxrBJDpPaqnXNE5XgBDNO7TIgiwIm1JbPmwolxO3HQmqOyupoVYgIFgqrqwb8G6hsgy8/s1600-h/HK240305.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5108280321777312434" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCq1o6Hm-IUpiIq_JY9TN0RZSpO1YQ6NAi7eHJyV-BU5qNgqs3uNMCl3ZYupWLhNucu3KlDpDDxrBJDpPaqnXNE5XgBDNO7TIgiwIm1JbPmwolxO3HQmqOyupoVYgIFgqrqwb8G6hsgy8/s320/HK240305.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">When I wrote my book ‘Haunted Wales’ (published in 2005), I made the bold assertion on the cover blurb that: ‘Wales is the most haunted country in the world’. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">My research had uncovered such a wealth of ghost stories pre-dating World War 2 from such a small and under-populated nation that I felt justified in making such a claim. After all, this didn’t even include all the modern ghost sightings, which so far as I can tell from years of writing and broadcasting on the subject, seem to happen on an almost daily (or nightly) basis in Wales.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Admittedly, even as I made the claim I knew three other countries might have a right to argue the point: England, Scotland and Ireland. Taken as a whole, I believe it's certainly true that the United Kingdom is the most haunted nation on earth. In terms of its legends, folklore, spooky literature and first-hand accounts of the supernatural our little nation is unrivalled. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">This year I will be launching a website, </span><a href="http://www.uncannyuk.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">www.uncannyuk.co.uk</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> in which I and a few likeminded friends will be collecting together accounts of ghosts, fairies, witches, monsters and other supernatural phenomena in Britain. In time I hope it will become a superb resource for everyone interested in the supernatural and a repository for accounts of genuine experiences of the paranormal in the UK. The website will be launched on Hallowe’en (when else?). </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Because I live in Wales, however, I decided I should write a blog devoted to this very spooky corner of the world. For one thing, I have a wealth of material to draw on, having spent very many years carrying out research into the Principality's folklore and supernatural history. Also, because I'm fairly well-known now for my books, broadcasts, talks and columns on the supernatural in Wales, friends, neighbours and acquaintances are kind enough to tell me about strange things that have happened to them. Because I didn't want the Uncanny UK website to be too biased towards Wales, this blog will serve as an excellent space to record them. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">I would be delighted to hear your stories, too, and any comments you care to make on the yarns and musings I'll compile here. Who knows, between us, we may be able to prove that Wales really is ‘the most haunted country in the world’ after all! </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">(You might also be interested to look at my other blog at: </span><a href="http://uncannyuk.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">http://uncannyuk.blogspot.com/</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;"> )</span></div>Haunted Waleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06351887409607847250noreply@blogger.com1