Ghostly apparition caught on camera in the Nursery Bedroom!

Today I was told about a very interesting ghostly encounter which happened a couple of weeks ago. A woman visitor was on a private tour of the family rooms at Penrhyn Castle with a group of people before the castle was opened for the public. She was standing in the corridor in the Keep by the door of the Nursery bedroom and she took a photo of the room looking towards the fireplace. She checked the image on the camera screen and could see a white shape which completely obscured a teddy bear. She wondered what it was and immediately took another photo of the same view. When she looked at the camera screen again the white shape had disappeared! I hope that she will read this blog and submit her photo for inclusion with this story.

I also heard another story today from one of the visitor services team. She said that she was in the Servants' Hall before it was made into the National Trust shop a few months ago. A woman came into the room at the end of her tour of the castle saying very loudly, "He doesn't like it at all you know!" The Visitor Services Assistant asked what was wrong and the lady explained that she had seen a man near the Keep bedrooms who said he was Lord Penrhyn. He was very unhappy about other people interfering with his property!

The other story I heard this week was from one of our conservation team. He said that last week a woman come to the castle and said that she had never been there before but she felt as though she knew every part of the building, as though she had once lived there. Her son came over to her as she was talking and apparently he looked exactly like Richard Douglas Pennant, son of Lady Janet Douglas Pennant who gave the castle to the National Trust in 1951. Several people have commented to me on the likeness between the man and Richard. Very strange!

I always wonder what stories I will hear next whenever I am working at the castle. I have had some more copies of the ghost guide book printed today and I hope that more people will buy it and take an interest in the supernatural goings-on there. It is such a busy castle with ghosts seemingly popping up all over the place. I haven't actually seen one myself yet but I keep hoping that I will meet one. I will keep you posted!

The Pale Lady of Penrhyn

I received this comment on another post on this blog and thought it would make a great story on its own.  It came from someone called Robert. 

He said, "I would just like to firstly say: I have never seen anything spooky or scary in Penrhyn Castle. It's a lovely place, full of history and now as a grown man I can fully appreciate its beauty. 

However, a friend of mine's grandmother did see something weird there or at least claimed to have… 

During school holidays in the mid to late 1980s, myself, my friend Dave and his grandmother Edith, used to go for days out to Penrhyn Castle on a number of occasions and we used to picnic on the grass in the summer sun.

On the way home to Bethesda after one visit, his grandmother told us that the next time we wanted to go to the Castle, someone else would have to take us because something had upset her. Being a kid, I thought nothing of it and that was it.

A number years later, when I was in my early twenties. My friend Dave told me that his grandmother had claimed to have seen an apparition of a young woman standing at the bottom of the stairs and when she turned to call us to look it was gone. She said the woman was pale/white, with a blank look on her face and she was overcome with a feeling of sadness.

Apparently, over the years what she claimed to have seen that day, became a family joke and his grandmother was mocked for saying to the family that she would never step foot in the castle again, they’d refer about the woman as the ‘Pale Lady’.

My wife always asks me about this story and say’s it gives her the shivers. Like I said earlier, I've been back to Penrhyn Castle a number of times since that day and I haven't seen anything spooky at all or felt uncomfortable at any time. I was on the stairs that day when she would have seen the ghost and my friend was also – we didn’t see it… My only explanation for what she saw was that; her imagination was playing tricks on her, or that certain people may have a sense that enables them to see ghosts, etc… Or that she simply made it up!

However, she was a religious woman and to the best of my knowledge an honest person. My friend Dave always says his grandmother was true to her word and never stepped foot in the Penrhyn Castle again. Despite her other grandchildren asking her to take them there to show them where ‘Pale Lady’ was stood.

Edith sadly died a few years ago.

I know live in Cambridgeshire and I have fond memories of those days out to Penrhyn Castle. Hopefully, one day I’ll get to take my grandchildren there…"

What a fascinating story. This fits in very well with other sightings and feelings picked up by staff and visitors. I wonder if it was Alice again? I hope to hear from Robert again or that he will come and visit the castle soon.

Ghostly lady seen in the State bedroom.

While I was out shopping in Caernarfon today I met one of the Room Stewards from Penrhyn Castle. She told me that her daughter recently visited Penrhyn and had a ghostly experience there. She was at the top of the Grand Staircase with her husband and children. As she walked through the doorway into the State bedroom she felt someone go past her. She looked back onto the landing and her husband and children were still standing there. She looked at the oak four poster bed and saw the figure of a woman. She described her as being very slim with an hourglass figure, as though she was wearing a corset. The Room steward and I both said, "Alice!" We thought that it was probably Alice Douglas Pennant.

Alice Douglas Pennant (1863-1939)

The State bedroom at Penrhyn Castle

She looked at the woman then glanced back to her husband and children who were walking into the room. When she turned back to look at the bedroom, the ghostly figure had completely disappeared.

A few minutes later, as she was walking with her 19 month old daughter along the Grand Hall Gallery, the little girl started giggling and pointing into a corner near a doorway. She put her finger to her lips and said, "Shhhh!" Her mother could not see anyone but her daughter clearly could and was interacting with them. She continued laughing and pointing until they moved away from the area towards the bedrooms in the Keep.

What a fascinating experience! I will try to get some more details about the figure in the State bedroom next time I see the room steward at the castle. I would like to find out what she was wearing and if it really could have been Alice. Watch this space...!

New ghostly experiences email received today!

Today I received an email from someone who used to work at Penrhyn Castle. He said, "I worked in the Castle in the early Seventies when there was a pottery in what is now the kitchen. I remember there was a series of servants bells along a very low corridor where we kept pots for sale.  At times the corridor and the kitchen area would become icy cold at any time of the day and I was always looking behind me as I got the feeling someone was with me. Often the hairs on the back of my neck would rise and I would rush to lock up and get away at night."

How interesting! I have replied to him and hope to hear some more details of his experiences soon. Please contact me if you have had an similar spooky experiences or feelings in the castle. Thanks.

Alice Douglas Pennant's etchings story in newspapers

I recently discovered this article about the etchings on the windowpane in the Nursery bedroom in the keep at Penrhyn Castle. The story about Alice being in love with a gardener and her father locking her in her bedroom started here with a story I wrote in November 2010 after an elderly lady visited the castle and said that she saw Alice in the room. It is from BBC News.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-20048410

Penrhyn Castle Alice Douglas-Pennant 'love story' uncovered

The writing etched on to the glass pane was thought for many years to be in Latin

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Staff at a castle believe they may have shed new light on a decades old mystery and uncovered an aristocratic Victorian love story.

For several generations workers at the 19th Century neo-Norman Penrhyn Castle in Gwynedd have been aware of writing etched onto the glass pane of a window in one of the towers.

It was long believed the graffiti was a confused jumble of Latin words.

However, an Italian named Resi Tomat was taken on to the staff at the National Trust landmark and promptly came up with another explanation.

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“Start Quote

The story goes that he forced her to stay in the nursery to keep her away from her love”

Clare TurgoosePenrhyn Castle steward

"Resi pointed out that the graffiti, 'essere amato amando', was actually in Italian, albeit with a few grammatical errors, and it actually reads, 'to be loved, whilst loving'," explains Clare Turgoose, house steward at the castle near Bangor.

The realisation encouraged Ms Turgoose and others at the castle to try to uncover more about the circumstances in which the graffiti came to be written.

In the late 1800s the castle, situated between Snowdonia and the Menai Strait, was inhabited by the second Lord Penrhyn, George Douglas-Pennant (1836-1907).

Formerly the Conservative MP for Caernarvonshire, Lord Penrhyn became prominent for his battle against trade unions at the Penrhyn slate quarry at Bethesda.

Lady Alice Douglas-Pennant was one of 15 children

This battle culminated in one of Britain's largest industrial disputes, The Great Penrhyn Strike of 1900-1903.

But, as Ms Turgoose discovered, it may not have been Lord Penrhyn's only conflict.

As she delved into the family's affairs she heard rumours of a falling out between Penrhyn - twice married with 15 children - and his second daughter, Lady Alice Douglas Pennant (born 1863).

'Gardener'

"We knew the nursery had once been Lady Alice's bedroom, and that she'd scratched her name on another window pane so it was fair to assume that the writing was probably hers," says Ms Turgoose.

The Douglas-Pennant family rebuilt the castle with money from sugar plantations and slate

"And when we began to dig a little we kept coming across the same story, or perhaps rumour might be more accurate, that as a young woman Lady Alice had fallen for one of the castle staff, possibly a gardener.

"Such a crush would not have gone down well with her father… and the story goes that he forced her to stay in the nursery to keep her away from her love."

The National Trust says it has discovered no documentary evidence as yet to corroborate the story and is undertaking further research into family diaries in a bid to do so.

And it may be that this story of a lovelorn young woman hidden away in a castle tower by her domineering father remains no more than a latter-day fairy tale.

True or otherwise, it had a sad ending. Lady Alice, who became an artist, died in London at the age of 76 in March 1939.

She was unmarried.

Spooky orbs captured on photo of the Grand Staircase

Today I received a copy of a photo taken by one of the conservators at Penrhyn Castle which appears to show two light orbs on the Grand Staircase. He showed me several photos taken at the same time which clearly showed orbs in different places on the photos. I would be very interested to hear what people think they could be. Please leave a comment below. Thanks.

Grumpy Grand Hall ghost!

Last Thursday I was playing Lady Penrhyn in the Library at the castle for the schools Christmas hands-on programme. The children came into the library with Wilson the butler, played by my friend's husband, with some of the volunteer helpers and school teachers. My friend (who works in the Learning Department) was late coming down to the Library and she decided that rather than walk all around the Grand Hall on the carpet she would save time by cutting across the middle of the room. She said that when she walked into the Grand Hall she felt very uneasy, as though she was being watched. She looked up at the Grand Hall Gallery but could not see anyone, and it was very quiet. She was dressed as a housemaid in a high necked black long sleeved blouse, long black skirt, white apron and lace cap. As she crossed the stone floor she heard a gruff man's voice, which seemed to be directed at her. She could not make out any words clearly as the voice was muffled, but felt as though she was being reprimanded for crossing the middle of the room, rather than going around the edge. She looked up at the gallery above the Grand Hall but could not see anyone there. She scurried to the Library door and tried to turn the large brass handle, feeling very spooked! She was very relieved when the door handle eventually turned and she was able to slip into the back of the room, where I was talking to the school children about the Christmas parties which used to be held at Penrhyn in Victorian times.

I did not know about this incident until a couple of days ago when we were at Bodysgallen Hall near Llandudno where we had our Volunteers and Staff Christmas lunch. She was convinced that it was not her imagination and that someone or something did call out to her. I will speak to the Conservators later as I am at the castle playing Lady Penrhyn in the Library for the last time this season today. I will ask if any of them was playing a trick on her. When I spoke to them last Thursday they were all downstairs in the Breakfast Room cleaning picture frames, so it is unlikely that they would have been upstairs when my friend walked across the Grand Hall. I will report back on here when I have grilled them!

                     Me as Lady Penrhyn in the Library with Wilson my butler

I spoke to the conservators this morning and they confirmed that they did not go into the Grand Hall last Thursday as they were busy working on  the picture frames in the Breakfast Room. They did not make any noises as they were aware that a school visit was taking place and did not want to disturb the children. I also spoke to my psychic friend today and she was certain that it was the last Lord Penrhyn, as she has also heard a similar sound whenever she she seen him in the castle. She said it is as though he is clearing his throat, which is how my other friend described it when she heard the noise last week. One of the conservators has a photo which he took of the Grand Stairs. It apparently shows an orb floating up the stairs. He has promised to email it to me so that I can put it on here. Sounds very interesting!