Mysterious flying sign!

The exhibition in the Gallery

I went to the castle this afternoon to collect some of my paintings which have been on display in the Gallery in an exhibition for the past two weeks. While I was there I was told about a strange occurrence which took place this afternoon. Two of the ladies manning the exhibition were talking while there were no visitors, when suddenly the sign on the doorway of the gallery was ripped off the frame and thrown across the room! They said that it really made them jump. They looked around the area to check if anyone was there but there was nobody about. When they were telling me about it one of the ladies tried to pull the sign off the door frame to demonstrate what had happened. It took quite a bit of tugging to get it off as it was held firmly in place with Blu-tack. She said that if it had fallen off by itself it would have landed on the floor by the door, not halfway across the room! They said that it could not have been a draft as there were no open doors or windows in the area. Very spooky. Perhaps the grey lady who was seen recently on the Gallery stairs was trying to help dismantle the exhibition. I will definitely be watching out for any other signs of ghostly activity in the area. Watch this space!

Grey lady seen on stairs

Yesterday I went to the castle with a friend who is very psychic. I asked her to walk up the stairs to the gallery and tell me if she felt anything there. She walked up to the place where the member of staff had reported seeing a grey shape a couple of weeks ago. She told me that there was a woman standing on the stairs wearing a grey dress. She said that the dress had a high neck and a row of black buttons down the front of it. The waist came down into a point at the front. She was quite tall and was standing very straight with her hands clasped in front of her. I went to the office and spoke to the lady who had seen the grey shape and introduced her to my friend. When she explained what she could see on the stairs to the secretary she said that it fitted in exactly with what she had seen, although she couldn't make out the details.

I spoke to the manager of the Industrial railway museum yesterday morning. He asked me if I had ever heard of a "brindle coloured" dog being seen in the museum. I had only heard stories of dogs being seen in the Slate bedroom and in the Ice Tower, but not in the Stable area. He told me that a visitor had reported a dog running loose in the museum to the staff. It had been seen running next to the Fire Queen engine. The staff checked all around the museum but no dog was found in the area. Visitors who bring their dogs have to keep them on a lead at all times.

I am hopefully getting a graphic designer to help me with the layout of my Ghosts of Penrhyn Castle booklet, which I am hoping to have ready for sale by Dark Happenings week at the end of October. I will let you know when it is available. It will hopefully be on sale in the National Trust shop at Penrhyn Castle. I will be giving a guided ghost tour of the house at night on Saturday 27th October. Please phone the castle if you are interested in coming on the tour. (01248 353084) Last year's tour was very eventful with a white shape being seen by a visitor drifting across the King's bedroom and a pebble being dropped at our feet on the Grand Hall Gallery! I wonder what will happen this year?

Spooky grey shape seen on the Gallery stairs!

As I was collecting some keys this morning from the General Office at Penrhyn Castle one of the staff told me that she had recently encountered something strange on the Gallery stairs. I asked her to tell me the story. She explained that about three weeks ago she was locking up the gallery doors at the end of the day. There were no visitors around as the castle was closed. She stood at the top of the stairs by the door to the gallery with her back to the room. She was talking to the manager of the Industrial Railway Museum when she caught sight of something on the stairs below her out of the corner of her eye. She thought at first it was just her hair and she pushed it back. She looked over the rail at the top of the stairs and saw it was still there. It was a greyish shape, like a person, standing on the stairs. She could not see if it was a man or a woman. She looked away and back again to the stairs, but it had vanished. She told me that she has often heard footsteps in the corridor outside the office when there is nobody else in the building, but it was the first time she has actually seen anything. She said that the manager had not seen it, because he was standing by the lift doors and he could not see over the stairs.

         The ghostly grey shape was seen on this part of the Gallery staircase

I also spoke to John today, one of our conservators. He told me that he has often seen things moving about out of the corner of his eye, especially up in the Keep bedrooms. He said that he does not feel uncomfortable in any part of the castle apart from the Keep, where the family bedrooms are. He said that he feels especially uncomfortable in the Slate bedroom. He feels as though there is something watching him in there, as though he is not alone. He told me that a visitor recently commented that they had felt that there is a sadness in the house and that there was definitely something lurking on the Grand staircase, which made them feel very gloomy and sad.

I always wonder what people will tell me when I go there. I will keep you posted. Please leave me your comments. Thanks.

Man's voice heard in Lord Penrhyn's Sitting Room

We have an exhibition at Penrhyn Castle for two weeks called "Penrhyn's Got Talent". It is an opportunity for staff and volunteers to show and sell some of their art and crafts. There is some excellent work on display. I was manning the gallery last week with one of the other artists who is a room steward. She told me that recently she was standing in Lord Penrhyn's Sitting Room at about 4pm when the castle was very quiet and there were no visitors in the room. She heard an older man's voice saying "Owen, Owen," with a strong Welsh accent. She wondered who it could be, as there was nobody in the room. She went out of the room and looked in the corridor outside, but no visitors were there. She walked down the stairs from the Keep to the Grand Hall, which is quite a distance, but there was nobody around at all. It would be very difficult to hear anyone speaking from the Grand Hall to Lord Penrhyn's Sitting Room.

She was convinced that the voice was just outside the door. She has often heard sounds in the room when she has been there alone as a room steward. She said that they are sounds of someone working, such as putting things down on the desk. The room next to the Sitting Room is the Valet's room which can only be viewed from the sitting room. There is no other access to the room, only one door in and out. A visitor could not have moved fast enough to get back down the stairs before the steward went to look. She said that she is not scared if she hears anything. It feels very peaceful in the room. I will let you know if she hears anything else in there. Watch this space!

Mischievous ghost in the shop

Last Friday evening I attended a retirement party for the head gardener at Penrhyn Castle who is leaving on Friday after 33 years. I spoke to a lady who works in the National Trust shop, as someone mentioned to me that she had recently had a supernatural experience there. I asked her what had happened and she explained that last Thursday she had been working in the shop, which was empty, when a lady customer walked through the door. As the lady passed a shelf near the door a book jumped up off the display book rest and landed on the floor. The book rest was still standing on the shelf. She asked the visitor if she was all right and the lady asked her whether there were any ghosts in the shop? She replied that we think there are. The lady explained that she has had similar strange experiences whenever she visits anywhere haunted. She thinks that she attracts them! She had been in a tea room in Conwy recently when a door opened and closed in front of her without anyone being there. She asked the tea room manager whether it was haunted and they replied that it was. She told them that the ghost had just walked through the door!

The shop assistant at Penrhyn told me that the same thing happened with another book later that same day when another customer was in the shop. She saw the books jump up off their book rests and lift up in the air before landing on the floor. If they had simply fallen down then the book rests, which are made of light plastic, would have fallen with them. She is convinced that someone lifted the books up and dropped them on the floor. I told her about the other stories involving things being placed on the floor of the shop when the manager has opened up in the morning. That has happened on several occasions to two shop managers who I have spoken to. If the things had fallen down they would either have broken (in the case of glass bottles), or been in a crumpled heap, (such as tea towels which have been found neatly folded in the middle of the floor)! Very strange goings-on indeed!

Has anyone reading this had a similar experience? I would love to hear your stories. Please comment on the blog and share your own ghostly encounters with other readers. Thanks.

Is something ghostly lurking in the State Bedroom?

Today I did a tour of the castle with some friends who had not been there before. One of them is originally from Jamaica. He is very sensitive to all things supernatural, something I was not aware of until after I started the tour of the house. He was enjoying looking at all the beautiful rooms and fine furniture until we went up the Grand Staircase and I walked into the State Bedroom. I carried on talking about the room when I realised that the rest of my group had not followed me in. I turned to see what the delay was and they were gathered around him looking anxious. My other friend said that he would not go into the room because he had a bad feeling about it. He was moving backwards away from the door to the room and looked quite scared. I asked what he was experiencing and he explained that there was a feeling of darkness, of decay and death as he approached the doorway. He said that there was a strange smell, which he described as being like "old hospitals". He said that he usually smells it when there is a spirit nearby. He did not like the feeling coming from the room and was anxious to move away from the area as quickly as possible. I explained about the hand painted Chinese wallpaper and use of the rooms, then we went to the Grand Hall Gallery.

He did not mention anything else untoward until we left the Keep bedrooms and went back along the gallery. He stopped outside a locked door and asked me what was behind the door. I told him that it was either the curtain store or carpet store. It is a suite of rooms including a bedroom and dressing room. I have been in it before, but not for a few years, so I was not quite sure which room it was. It is not open to the public. He said that he had the same feeling of death and the strange smell he had experienced by the door to the State Bedroom, but it was not as strong. I could not smell anything unusual in either area.

After our tour of the house we were walking past the Stable Block and I pointed out the Industrial Railway Museum through the entrance doors. He said that he could feel something in the entrance and knew that there was a spirit in that area.

After we left Penrhyn Castle to go to a meeting in Bangor he had to leave the room to have a sleep. He said that the ghostly encounters had left him feeling very tired and that he had a headache. He is often asked to get rid of spirit from people's homes. He said that he calls on angels to escort the spirits away. I asked him to leave the Penrhyn Ghosts where they are for now, as I would still like to meet one myself!