Cardiff Castle, South Glamorgan, Wales

Some might say that if a resident of a castle has never experienced any phenomena then it is unlikely to be haunted. This is, of course, untrue for the individual might not be attuned to the haunting for some years and then suddenly see the ghost which has been in the building for decades Derek Edwards the custodian of Cardiff Castle in 1975 experienced his first encounter with one of the ghosts after only twelve months working there. He was clearing up after a civic luncheon in the dining room when he noticed the figure of a man in the doorway at the other end of the hall. Mystified, he walked towards the stranger, ‘Can I help you Sir?’. The man turned, but as did so the shape and faded away. His children and friend staying with them claimed that they had seen a man looking at them in the bedroom and shortly afterwards poltergeist activity was experiences. Doors were locked by the unseen force, a wardrobe moved and the dog went berserk.

The second Marquess of Bute died in what is now a small chapel behind the library and it is here that the ghost of a man in a long cloak has also been seen, In January, 1977 Mr. Keith Carton of Birmingham visited the castle and was told by the custodian that a year earlier a young couple had told him a strange incident that they had experienced when passing through the door of the chapel. A tall man in a cloak pushed past them in a great hurry and when I mentioned it to the chief architect the following day she appeared somewhat disconcerted. That morning she had been standing at the top of the stairway and on turning to her right witnessed a tall figure in a red cloak. The man seemed to be scowling at her and then vanished. His appearance was identical to the portrait of the second Marquess of Bute whose portrait hangs on a nearby wall….

Wherever possible, we try to collect modern sightings. So here’s a story about Cardiff Castle that was emailed to us:

Fey wrote, ” Living in Cardiff I have been to both Cardiff Castle and Castle Coch several times. I have felt nothing in either though the woods around Castle Coch tend to be frightening enough at night own their own. But I thought you would be interested in a story that my mother told be about Cardiff Castle. Many years ago she visited the castle along with my father. Not knowing anything at the time about the hauntings. Going into the nursery she was overcome by fear, so much so that she rushed out and refused to go back inside. Afterwards she went to the ladies toilets and felt so peaceful and calm. Several years later she read about the hauntings, the funny thing was, where she expected there to be sightings in the nursery there were none but the ladies toilet had seen quite a bit of activity.

Another one that I have just remembered. While I was very young I went to the castle with my mother and older brother and his wife. After have a wander myself and my brother went into a sort of small building, I dont know whether it is still there now, Im going back about 22 years. Anyway, in this building was part of the original roman wall of the castle I stayed in there for about 10 minutes with my brother then became very cold and went out to be with my mother. My brother came out ashen-faced swearing that he watched a roman garrison walk through the bulding. 4 on horseback along with several foot-soldiers. All of them walking as though through the cement….as in the floor was approx calf-height on then. My brother tries very hard NOT top believe in spirits and so on and refuses to talk about it even now. In fact, he thinks I`m slightly loopy for being so fascinating. Thanks for Reading – Fey.”