Dyfed Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Hovering Head
Location: Aberaeron - Llanina House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghostly form of a severed head belonging to a murdered young bride reputedly hovers around this building. There are also reports of a phantom man whose clothes are saturated with water.
Rapping
Location: Aberarth - Two unnamed adjoined houses
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: March 1909
Further Comments: A resident in one of two homes plagued by unexplained rapping moved out after being unable to stop the sounds. Visitors to the properties traced the sounds to the chimney but were unable to discover the source of the sounds which started at 9pm and ceased at 3am.
Bathing Mermaid
Location: Aberystwyth - Cliffs near the town
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: July 1826
Further Comments: Twelve people watched a beautiful pale woman washing herself in the sea, with what appeared to be a black tail splashing around behind her.
Beast of Bont
Location: Aberystwyth - Countryside surrounding the area
Type: ABC
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Something here killed over fifty sheep in the space of a year; police marksmen were called in to comb the area.
Brown Man
Location: Aberystwyth - Crossroads en route to Waun Fawr
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1901
Further Comments: While newspapers reported that a phantom had taken up haunting the lanes in this area, local police maintained that it was a case of mistaken identity - a witness had observed a person in the distance and panicked needlessly.
Cheated Devil
Location: Aberystwyth - Devil's Bridge
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Devil is said to have built the bridge for an old lady - he expected her soul as a reward but ended up with that of a dog instead. Crossing the bridge at night is said to risk the Devil pushing you off as revenge for the old woman's treachery. Another legend says that a ghost that haunted a nearby house was banished to a cavern under the bridge where it now works.
Headless Hound
Location: Aberystwyth - General area of Penparcau
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This headless dog was said to have once belonged to a young giant who ran so fast that he decapitated the dog by pulling too sharply on the leash.
Saint Padarn
Location: Aberystwyth - Lanbadarn Fawr
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Sixth century
Further Comments: Lanbadarn Fawr was founded by Padarn. King Arthur once tried to steal Padarn's tunic but was seen. Padarn then caused the ground to open and swallow Arthur, where the king remained until he apologised.
Cloaked Gentleman
Location: Aberystwyth - Nanteos House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1984
Further Comments: One of several ghosts reported to haunt the house, the cloaked figure disrupted a video unit sent to shoot several TV scenes here to such an extent, the crew refused to work after dark. The other ghosts comprise of a phantom horseman and two spectral women, one of whom appears before a death. The building is also thought to have once contained part of the Holy Grail.
Screaming in the Basement
Location: Ammanford - Unidentified house
Type: Other
Date / Time: June 2018, ongoing as of June 2019
Further Comments: A couple who had lived eleven uneventful years in their home fled after recording screaming and voices coming from beneath their basement. The couple claimed to have recorded hundreds of hours of strange sounds which they believe to come from a secret underground criminal lair. A newspaper report stated that the police had been made aware but had not found anything suspicious.
White Mary
Location: Blaenporth - Church
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Known as White Mary, this ghost once manifested to a local man and instructed him to find the thief who had stolen the church's communion cup. She gave her champion exact details on where to find the item and the criminal, so it was not long before the missing goblet was returned.
Bell for the Dead
Location: Blaenporth - General area
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Before a death in the village
Further Comments: If the phantom bell is heard to ring three times at midday or midnight, someone of importance is due to die.
Yr Hen Wrach
Location: Borth - Cors Fochno (a peat mire)
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Yr Hen Wrach (translated meaning The Old Hag) reputedly stands seven foot tall and makes people ill by breathing on them. Another local legend says the second oldest creature on earth, a toad, lives here.
Cantre'r Gwaelod
Location: Borth - Off coast
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 1770
Further Comments: To the west of Borth, off the coast, lays the lost land of Cantre'r Gwaelod, a walled country which sunk after a prince forgot to close the flood gates. The bells are said to ring in times of danger, and the lost land was reputedly spotted under the sea in 1770 by William Owen Pughe.
A Husband Away
Location: Brecon Beacons - Llwynywormwood, also known as Llwynywermod
Type: Manifestation of the Living
Date / Time: Circa 1870
Further Comments: In an estate now owned by the Prince of Wales, one former occupant claimed to have seen her husband in a bedroom, even though he was four hundred miles from the property at the time.
Saucer Occupants
Location: Broad Haven - Broad Haven County Primary School
Type: UFO
Date / Time: February 1977
Further Comments: A large disc was seen landing near the school by fourteen of its pupils, some of whom also said men with pointed ears and dressed in silver clothing had climbed out. For several months after the event, sightings continued in the area.
White Lady
Location: Broad Haven - Haven Fort Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend once claimed that the grounds of the hotel were haunted by a white lady.
Silver Suited Figure
Location: Broad Haven - Ripperston Farm
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 23 April 1977
Further Comments: A seven foot (2.13 metres) tall silver clad entity was seen by Billy and Susan Coombs from the window of their farm. The family were plagued by other ufo related experiences around this time, although in 1996 businessman Glyn Edwards claimed he had wandered the area in a silver suit as a joke.
Uniformed Pixies
Location: Brynberian - Pentre Ifan Cromlech
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These little people, standing a couple of feet tall, wore red military uniforms, as if guarding the burial site. Other people have seen the little people dancing over the dolman.
Monster's Grave
Location: Brynberian - Prehistoric burial ground
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The people of the village once found a water monster in a nearby lake - they took the creature and buried it on the mountain slope.
Black Monk
Location: Caldey Island - Priory and all over Island
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1920s, though no sightings since 1929
Further Comments: Standing taller than six foot, the monk dressed in black was said to rise from the graveyard at the old priory before drifting off. Though reported on the land immediately around the priory, some islanders encountered him further away, in their homes or on the roads. The ghosts of a white lady and of a madman were also said to haunt the island at some point in the dim and distant past.
Three Men
Location: Carmarthen - A40 between Carmarthen and Llangathen
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer, 1981
Further Comments: A heavy goods vehicle driver spotted a parked pickup truck and three men standing on the side of the road ahead of him. Moments before he was now about to pass them, one of the men was pushed onto the road, falling under the cab. There was no bump or sound, and as the truck driver gazed in his rear view mirror, truck and men had vanished.
Merlin's Prison
Location: Carmarthen - Bryn Myrddin (Merlin's Hill)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A legend says that the great wizard Merlin was caught by a woman (possibly Nimue) and is kept as a prisoner under this hill to this day. He can be heard working in his cell late at night. At least one legend names Carmarthen as Merlin's birthplace.
Merlin's Oak
Location: Carmarthen - General area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: An old prophecy, reportedly spoken by Merlin, states that one day the entire town will sink beneath the ground when a sacred tree falls. The tree in question, known as Merlin's Oak, was dug up from its location on the corner of Oak Lane and Priory Street and placed in the Civic Hall in 1978.
Figures
Location: Carmarthen - Lyric Theatre, King Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1940s onwards?
Further Comments: Several figures, both male and female, are reported to haunt this building. One former member of staff claimed that the phantoms have been making themselves known since the 1940s, while in 1996 a tall man in a suit was spotted in the projection room.
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