Craigy-Nos castle
WHILE many historical buildings shy away from ghostly associations, the owners of Craigy- Nos Castle celebrate the building’s rich paranormal history of family curses, lingering tuberculosis patients and the ghost of a famous former owner.
The building has had a colourful history. It was constructed, as Bryn Melin, in 1843 by Captain Rice Powell, whose family were said to suffer from a blood connection to the curse of the Dutch family, Overbeek, of Calcutta and Capetown, with six members of the family dying before the house was sold in 1875-76. The building was then briefly owned by Morgan Morgan, of Abercrave, before celebrated opera diva Adelina Patti purchased the castle in 1878 and gave it its current name Craig-y-Nos (Rock of the Night).
The castle was said to captivate the singer who felt she had found the home of her dreams and many feel that her spirit has never left the house. There have been many stories of her presence being felt over the years including a lady pianist who performed in the theatre who claimed she felt a strange presence around her and then found herself playing Adelina’s song Home Sweet Home perfectly, a song which before then she had not been familiar with.
The song has featured in many of the ghostly experiences at the house and it has been suggested that playing it brings Adelina’s spirit forwards.
After the era of Adelina Patti, the castle was bought by the Welsh National Memorial Trust in 1921, and became ‘Adelina Patti’ Hospital which was used as a children's tuberculosis sanatorium for almost 40 years, before being used to treat the elderly and infirm.
The ghosts of patients have been said to be seen wandering the building and there have been reports of children’s crying heard coming from the conservatory.
With its multitude of suspected ghosts and the chilling tales of former patients and visitors, since the hospital shut in 1986 – and fell firstly into the hands of the Welsh Office and then private ownership – many ghost hunters and enthusiasts have visited the site and carried out investigations.Among these are the Most Haunted television crew, The Ghost Research Foundation International and The Paranormal World, a group of resident investigators who have set up live streaming web cameras at the castle. The Paranormal World point to three main areas where the paranormal activity seems to be centred; the stairs, Adelina’s Boudoir and the top children’s ward –- where they have seen full apparitions that have interacted with the investigators and have regularly heard the sounds of children’s footsteps, bouncing balls and giggles.
During The Ghost Research Foundation International’s investigation they claimed to find evidence that the castle is haunted after one of the team took a photograph of a semi-transparent figure on the stairs.