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!