Ghost dog in the Ice Tower

Last Friday I taught 60 students aged 16-18 from a school near Chester about the history and architecture of Penrhyn Castle. One of the girls told another Learning Assistant that when she came to visit the castle a few years ago she went into the Ice Tower. While she was in the tower she felt something warm pressing against her leg. It felt like a dog. She did not see it but felt it quite clearly. I will find out more on this story and add further details when I get them. The students were very curious to know if there are any ghosts at the castle so I directed them to this website. I hope that they enjoyed their day with us and that if any of them have had any supernatural experiences at the castle they will share them on here.

More sounds heard in the Victorian kitchens

Today I met a lady who used to work at the castle on the beach in Caernarfon. She is doing a research project for the National Trust at the Bangor University archives for her MA. We discussed the ghosts stories at Penrhyn and I mentioned the sounds which had been heard in the Victorian kitchens just before Christmas. She told me that a couple of years ago she was asked to get something from the archives at Penrhyn Castle, which are in the scullery maids bedrooms at the top of the scullery stairs. She went down to the kitchens and stood outside the door of the main kitchen with the keys ready to open the door. She said that she could hear noises inside the kitchen, which sounded like someone working in there. She was too frightened to go into the kitchen because she knew that nobody was working in the room, as it was locked up. She would have had to walk through the kitchen to get to the scullery to go upstairs to the archives. She said that she went back up to the office and made her excuses about not being able to get the file but didn't tell them why! She is the same lady who was locked in the Pickard room and has heard footsteps in the Learning and Communications corridor when nobody was there. She also saw something black go across the window in the door of the toilets in the L&C department, and when she looked down the corridor there was nobody there!

I have been investigating the possibility of  producing a booklet of some of the ghost stories I have collected so far, which could be used as a room by room guide for people who visit Penrhyn and are interested in ghosts. I would appreciate any feedback from people who read this Blog as to which stories I should include. It will hopefully be sold in the National Trust shop at the castle. If it sells well and there is enough interest in it, they may agree to have it published professionally. I still plan to write a book when I have enough information and stories, so if anyone reading this has had any spooky encounters at the castle please let me know via the comments on here. I look forward to hearing from you.

Eerie black shapes seen in the Keep

I was talking to one of the conservators at Penrhyn Castle a few days ago and I asked whether anyone had seen anything ghostly since I was last there. He said that he often sees things out of the corner of his eye, which he says are dark shapes moving just to the side of him, as though he is being followed around as he does his work. I asked where he sees these shapes and he said that it is mostly in the Keep, which is an area of considerable ghostly activity, where lots of staff and visitors have seen things. He has not been able to identify anything specific but he often has an uneasy feeling as though he is not alone and is being watched. He told me that he wonders whether he imagines the shapes but they appear when he is not thinking about anything to do with ghosts and it happens quite regularly. Very creepy! I wouldn't want to be up in the Keep on my own after all the things people have experienced in there! I will ask him more about it when I am next at the castle.

Spooky black shape seen in the scullery and ghosts working in the Victorian kitchen!

Me in the Victorian kitchen with Christine

I spoke to Lindy, the new Winter Engagement assistant, in the Victorian Kitchen at Penrhyn Castle again yesterday. I needed to use her keys for the storeroom to put some costumes away because our Christmas schools programme has now finished. She was very excited to tell me about something extraordinary which happened to her the previous day. She was sitting at the large wooden kitchen table facing the windows, making Christmas decorations. Another assistant was standing on the opposite side of the table and there was a lady visitor with two children standing next to her. Lindy said that she suddenly saw a black shape moving quickly across the scullery doorway from the area near the vegetable pantry to the bacon loft side of the room. She asked the other assistant if she had seen anything, but she had not been looking towards the scullery and did not see it. Lindy also asked the visitor, but she had not seen it either. She said that it was a definite shape which looked very solid, but there was nobody there.

When she was locking up the kitchen later that afternoon she heard hail on the window of the roof light near the kitchen door. As she was listening to the hail hitting the glass she became aware of sounds coming from the kitchen. She knew that there was nobody else in the area but she called out, "Hello!" She said that she was very spooked and wanted to run out of the door but she remembered that she had not switched off the electric switch for the spit in front of the range. Lindy said she could hear it turning round. which struck her as rather peculiar, as it is usually silent. As the hail died away she could hear sounds of mixing and chopping coming from the kitchens and several voices, as though there were people in there busily preparing food. She gingerly walked along the corridor to the kitchen door and peeped into the room. She said that as soon as she got to the door everything stopped and it was completely quiet! She switched off the spit, locked the doors and went home.

Lindy told me that when she arrived this morning she was too scared to go and unlock the kitchens on her own. She asked the conservators if somebody could come with her after what had happened yesterday, but they just laughed at her. (One of them is her husband!) Eventually she persuaded John to go to the kitchens with her to check that they were ghost free before she started work.

I have asked her to let me know if anything else happens. I am delighted to get a story about the Victorian kitchen as I haven't had many from there yet. I am sure that there will be more to follow!

Ghostly Footsteps in the Scullery

Today I met a lady called Lindy who is working in the Victorian kitchens as a Winter Engagement Assistant. I asked her if she had felt anything or had any unusual experiences whilst working there. She has only been at Penrhyn for three weeks and she has already had several supernatural experiences! She said that she is quite sensitive to spirits. She explained that when she unlocks the kitchens in the morning she often feels a cold shiver down her spine and senses that she is being watched. She was sitting at the kitchen table two weeks ago when she heard footsteps coming down the stone stairs in the scullery from a locked door, which used to lead to the scullery maids' bedrooms. She looked through the doorway of the kitchen into the scullery but could not see anyone.

The same thing happened again yesterday. She told me that she was sitting at the table polishing some copper pans when she distinctly heard footsteps coming down the scullery stairs. She got up and went to investigate but there was nobody around and the door at the top of the stairs was locked as usual. Very mysterious! I wonder if any of the Victorian scullery maids are still around and if they are aware of us?

Mysterious raking sounds in the night

Whilst at Penrhyn Castle today I spoke to the son of the head gardener who lives in an apartment in the castle. I asked him if he had ever experienced anything supernatural there and he told me that sometimes in the night he hears the sound of gravel being raked near the Barbican Gate. He said that he knows what gravel being raked sounds like because he has worked with his father doing just that on many occasions over the years. He said that is sounds as though it is happening between the Barbican gate and the main entrance of the castle, which is near the windows of their apartment. He has never seen anything and there would definitely not be anyone outside raking in the dark. He has heard it on many occasions and is totally mystified as to who or what is causing the sounds. If it was a badger of another animal scratching the ground there would be some evidence in the morning, but he has not seen any disturbances on the gravel. Very mysterious!

Barbican Gate

Spooky tour of Penrhyn Castle at night and a white lady in the King's bedroom!

Today I did a tour of Penrhyn Castle in the dark. It was held at 6 o'clock in the evening and by the time we came out of the castle it was pitch black outside. The shutters had been closed in the rooms and there was only a minimal amount of lighting for safety. I took a group of about 13 adults around the house telling the ghost stories from my blog as we went. I dressed as a Victorian Housekeeper all in black, for added atmosphere. I was carrying an old brass and glass lantern with a flickering battery powered candle in it. The castle was very atmospheric in the dark even without any ghost stories! I explained that all the stories were genuine experiences and that I had interviewed the people myself. I said that I have recorded the stories for a book, which I am planning to write when I have got enough material. I asked if anyone had any feelings or saw anything supernatural on the tour to let me know. They were allowed to take photos without using flash, so I hope that if anything does show up on their photos they will contact me.

We walked around the bedrooms in the Keep and I told the relevant ghost stories there. One of the women in the group looked back into the King's bedroom while we were all in the Slate bedroom. I was telling them about the slate four poster bed, explaining that Queen Victoria refused to sleep in it because she said, "It would be like sleeping in a mausoleum!" When we came back down the steps from the Keep bedrooms and walked along the Grand Hall gallery we were waiting for the people at the back to catch up with us. Suddenly a stone fell down at our feet, as if it had been thrown! The Events manager picked it up and looked at it. It was about 1/2 in across, and looked like a small pebble. The lady at the back who had looked into the King's bedroom was very startled by it. She was just telling her friend that when she was looking into the room she saw a white shape, like that of a woman, moving across the room. We were all very interested to hear about the supernatural sighting and I noticed that the group stayed much closer together after that! We could not work out where the stone had come from. It made quite a clatter on the stone floor.

The rest of the tour went without incident, and everyone said that they had enjoyed the stories. I gave them all a piece of paper with the website address on it so I hope that they will read this and comment on it. I hope that they will let me have any photos which are of interest to put on the site too. They asked if I regularly did ghost tours and I told them that this was the first one. As it seemed to go well I hope that we may make it a regular part of the Penrhyn programme of events in the future.