Man seen by Lord Penrhyn's Sitting Room

I had a great day out yesterday with volunteers and staff from Penrhyn Castle. We visited Powis Castle. I was chatting with one of the other volunteers about a ghost story on an interpretation board at Powis when she told me that something strange had happened to her at Penrhyn a couple of days previously. I had been there on the same day but she had not told me about it. I asked her to explain what had happened to her and she told me the most extraordinary story. She was hurrying to get to the Keep Bedrooms because she had been delayed by an accident on the road on her way to the castle. She decided to go up the spiral stairs from outside Lord Penrhyn's Sitting Room up to the Keep bedrooms to save time. She went up the stairs towards the Sitting Room, which is not normally open to the public, then turned left along the passageway to go towards the door to the spiral stairs.

As she reached Lord Penrhyn's Sitting Room she suddenly noticed a man standing in the doorway. She described him as tall and slim with high cheekbones. He had a beard and was wearing a long, dark jacket and striped grey trousers. He had a high collared shirt with a type of ruffled cravat at the neck. He seemed to be holding a book or some papers in his hands, which were very pale. She was surprised to see someone there and asked if he was lost. He asked her, "Where are you going?" in a voice which she described as an "Oxford English" accent. She explained that she was in a hurry to get to the Keep bedrooms as as she was running late and asked him if he would be going to a meeting on Friday morning. He answered, "No!" very firmly. She said that his voice went up at the end of the word.

She hurried up the spiral staircase and did not think too much about the man. Unfortunately she tripped near the top of the stairs and cut her leg open, injured her knees and elbow. She was going to go back down the spiral stairs but thought it would be better to go the usual way down the Grand Staircase because she needed first aid. I saw her just as she got back to the Stewards room and found the duty first aider to help her. I went up to the Keep bedrooms to cover her place while she was being treated for her injuries. She said that she asked the people in the Stewards Room if anyone knew who the man could be? There was nobody in the castle of that description. The castle had not been opened for visitors and there were definitely no staff wearing a morning suit!

I had not heard anything about the incident until yesterday. I was fascinated to think that it could have been one of the Lord Penrhyns and that she was able to have a conversation with him! I have asked her to look up photos and portraits of the Lord Penrhyns in the castle guide book to see if she can recognise the man she saw.  Could it have been the 2nd Lord Penrhyn George Sholto?

George Sholto Douglas-Pennant. Second Baron Penrhyn (1836-1907)

Update!! I saw the Room Guide who told me the story today and showed her a photo of George Sholto Douglas-Pennant. She confirmed that he was the man she had seen in the doorway of Lord Penrhyn's study.

Vanishing man seen in the Slate Bedroom

I was told a fascinating story last week, which I hope to confirm with the Room Guide who experienced it. I was told by two of the conservation team that a volunteer Room Guide was standing in the corridor looking into the Nursery bedroom last week, when out of the corner of her eye she saw a man in a dark jacket walk into the Slate Bedroom. She quickly went into the room expecting to see a visitor standing there but she found nobody in the room. She looked all around the room and even looked under the bed in case he was hiding there! She could not think where he had disappeared to. She looked down the stairs towards the Grand Hall Gallery and opened the doors to look up and down the spiral stairs to the other floors of the Keep. He had completely disappeared and yet he had seemed so real. I look forward to reading or hearing the account from the lady who had this experience and will update this account when further details are told to me! It would be interesting to identify the man if possible.

Has anyone else seen anything in this area of the castle? Please let me know. Thanks.

A ghostly voice heard in the Dining Room

I had another email this week from a visitor who had a disturbing experience in the Dining Room and wondered if anyone else had ever reported anything similar. She said,

"I went to the castle a few months back, around April with my mum and dad, and experienced something that made me feel quite unnerved. I was wondering if you could tell me if there is any history with the dining room? As soon as you walk into there, there is this awfully thick tension, it's impossible to miss. 

More to the point, I was standing by the window when a deep voice (sounding like it came from an elder gentlemen) boomed "Welcome" down my ear. For obvious reasons, since there was no one else near in the room, I had a rant at my dad for teasing me but to this day he still insists to everyone (even my mum in private) that it wasn't him. 

Has anyone else had any experiences in there? Or is there any significance to it?" 

Has anyone reading this account had a similar experience to this lady? I would love to hear your stories. Please let me know by email. Thanks.

Spooky orb spotted on the Grand Hall Gallery

I received another interesting sighting story this week from a visitor.

"Just seen your blog and thought I would pass on something I saw yesterday.

Now first of all, I am certainly not a ghost hunting fanatic, in fact nothing could have been further from my mind as we walked around the house. I was so awestruck by the craftsmanship I didn't consider anything creepy or anything. I don't even know where exactly we were, but it was upstairs on the second floor of the main house. I THINK it was close to where you can look down into the main part where the greeters stand. There was a window on my left but definitely a big dark door at the end of the hall. I know the door was there for sure because it was against this dark backdrop that I saw what I saw.

I looked up and saw what I thought was an orb floating and darting for a few seconds in front of the door. It was fairly soft yellow and orange colour and I would say 1 cm . What struck me was first of all the size. This orb seemed to have a definite strong presence, was yellowy orange  and much bigger than a dust spec. It seemed to want to make its presence known and was certainly not shrinking into the background. I then dissuaded myself saying first of all it was probably a fly, but secondly that I wasn't even sure if orbs can be seen with the naked eye. Anyway, I was thinking about it today and I know for sure it wasn't a fly because  well it just wasn't and I have seen a couple of google posts to say that some people do see orbs with the naked eye. So I don't know exactly where I was in the castle but I know what I saw. I am finding Penrhyn FASCINATING though. Of all the National Trust properties we have visited, I find this one the most intriguing."

I have put photos on here of orbs on the Grand Staircase. I wonder what they are? I would be interested in any comments.

Ghostly boy seen on Grand Staircase

I received an email today from a visitor to Penrhyn Castle. She had a very interesting experience there a few days ago. She said,

"My friend and I visited on Thursday 26th May. Now I must say I think that I am mad as well as others thinking so as I have only just recognised what I was seeing is probably true, so I'm not a seasoned believer in ghosts or such like.

Whilst walking up the stairs in the grand staircase I was behind my friend and noted what I thought was a little boy, thought, because he looked a bit like a girl as he had long blond hair and a white dress on, but he looked like a boy and probably was appropriate for the time.  He was running playfully up and down the staircase looking between the balustrades on the next to top flight of stairs before the guest suite, whilst we were in the guest suite he was 'hiding' under the bed just like in a game of hide and seek.  When we got into the dining room on the ground floor he looked exactly like he boy in the big picture of the family. He was the one standing to the left of the boy with the dog.

On the landing with the big mirror at the other end of the corridor a woman looked like a servant walked from the doorway on the left but when a member of staff walked toward her she turned and hurriedly went back through the doorway. 

Like I say I don't know what I believe but I do know that I did see this more now as a friend of my friend that I had never met before saw the same thing as me at Chirk Castle, so I do believe more than I did!

An amazing story! I wonder who the little boy was that she saw on the staircase? Please let me have your comments on this latest story. I am always interested to hear about ghostly experiences visitors and staff have at the castle.

Ghost caught on photo in the library

I have just received an email from a visitor who came to the castle with her son on Saturday 14th May. He took a photo in the library at Penrhyn and when they looked at it they noticed a ghostly lady reflected in the mirror. They asked the shop assistant whether there are any ghosts in the castle and showed her the photo. She asked me if I could contact them so that they could email the photo to me. They said there was nobody standing near the mirror when the photo was taken, which is why they were so surprised to see the figure in the photo.

Ghostly figure in the Library fireplace mirror

I would be very interested to hear what people think about this photo. Thanks.

Man in black in office doorway

This evening I spoke to one of the Shop Assistants from Penrhyn Castle and she told me a fascinating ghost story. She said that she went up to the offices above the stables at 10.30am one morning a couple of weeks ago. She was in a good mood and said "Hello" or "Good morning" and smiled at the staff who were in their offices as she walked along the corridor towards the ladies cloakroom. As she walked past one of the offices near the ladies cloakroom she saw someone standing in the doorway. It seemed to be a tall man wearing a black coat with the hood up. She instinctively felt that she should acknowledge the man but something told her not to turn her head or speak to him. She thought about what had happened and decided to look for a simple explanation. When she left the ladies cloakroom she walked back past the office and looked inside the room to see if there was a coat stand with a long black hooded coat on it near the door, but there was nothing there. The wall was white and there was no coat stand. The office was empty. There was nobody in the corridor wearing a black coat. It was a warm, sunny day and it seemed strange that someone would be wearing a hooded coat indoors. She said that when she saw the figure in the doorway she had an inexplicably strong feeling of "keep walking!"  She told me that she always has a weird feeling in that corridor.
     

Other strange things have happened to her in the National Trust shop. She was working in the Castle shop today. She put the CD player on and turned the volume down to 20 as it was too loud. It is a digital CD player and she likes to use numbers with a 0 in them so she knows it was set to 20. The shop was empty and she was working in the main room which used to be the servant's hall, when suddenly the CD player was turned up loud. She went into the book room to check the volume and it had been turned up to 23. There was nobody in the shop. This has happened before when another shop assistant was in there.

Last Thursday she went into the stable shop to cash up at 4 pm after the shop had closed. The shop lights were switched off and she was working by the desk light. She was concentrating on what she was doing when suddenly she heard a loud crash at the end of the shop where the books are displayed. It made her jump! She thinks she may have screamed. She said it was a shock. She went over to see what had made the loud noise and discovered that a large book had fallen off the shelf display. It was on the floor a couple of feet away from the shelf. She thought that if it had simply fallen off it would have been next to the shelves but it looked as though it had been thrown off. There seemed to be no reason for it to fall off the shelf. The other books behind it had not moved at all. If it had slipped it would have dislodged the other books around it. There was nobody around and the other shop assistant was in the castle shop. When she spoke to her she said, "Don't tell me! Was it a book?" She knew exactly what she was talking about. I wonder if she has been in there and had a similar experience. Other shop assistants have told me similar stories. She also told me that several times she has opened up the shop and found stationary such as note cards in the middle of the floor. Very strange.  Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Book displays in the shop

                                   

Black ghost dog seen in the Breakfast Room

I was talking to one of the Visitor Experience Assistants at Penrhyn Castle on Saturday when she told me of an interesting experience she had there a few months ago. She was on duty in the Grand Hall welcoming visitors when she had to go to another part of the castle. She walked past the Breakfast Room and as she passed the door she noticed a black Labrador standing in the doorway. She carried on walking then suddenly wondered what a dog was doing in the castle. She went straight back to the room and looked for it but there was no dog around. There were visitors in the room. She asked the Room Guide if he had seen a black dog but he said that he had not. She looked around the Grand Hall and Dining Room but there were no dogs. It was a busy day and there were a lot of people about. She is convinced that it was the ghost of Lord Penrhyn's dog Pandy who was a favourite gun dog. There is a painting of him in Lord Penrhyn's study.

Several people have reported seeing dogs at the castle and in the grounds. Perhaps they were happy there and do not want to leave!

Spooky experience for shop assistant in office corridor

I attended the launch of the Artists in Residence project at the castle this week. I met up with one of the NT shop assistants at the event. She told me that she had a very scary experience the previous evening when she went upstairs to the offices above the stable block to find a laptop. She went into the room which used to be the Learning Department toys and games room. She could not find the laptop and turned towards the door to leave the room when she suddenly felt very uneasy. She said that she had called out when she first went up to the offices to see if anyone was around but the staff had all gone home. She went into the corridor and closed the office door behind her. As she started walking towards the end of the corridor to go down the stairs she heard a low growling sound behind her and something whooshed past between her and the noticeboard on the corridor wall. Her long hair blew out in front of her and all the notices pinned to the board flapped about as it rushed past. She did not see anything but was absolutely terrified. She ran to the stairs and down to the outside door into the courtyard. A Visitor Experience Assistant was coming towards the stairs to go up to the offices The shop assistant warned her not to go up there and told her what had just happened. She told me that she was dreading the next time she has to go up there to the offices after her terrifying encounter.

                                                   Office corridor above the stable block

I also spoke to one of the conservation team at the event and he had an interesting story for me too. He said that a couple of weeks ago one of the Lead Guides was about to lock the door to ground floor rooms of the Keep at the end of the day, when someone told them not to lock it as they had just seen two men go up the stairs towards Lord Penrhyn's sitting room. It was after the main entrance had been closed for visitors so they went to check who could be there. They did not find anyone. I wonder who it could have been? Possibly Lord Penrhyn and his valet? I am trying to find out exactly who saw the two men so that I can ask them for more details. I am very pleased that there are still ghostly sightings and spooky things going on at the castle, as I have not had any new stories for a few months.



Please let me know if you have had any experiences there or have any comments on the stories I have collected so far. Thanks.