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Sunday 26 May 2013

The Pale Lady of Penrhyn

I received this comment on another post on this blog and thought it would make a great story on its own.  It came from someone called Robert. 

He said, "I would just like to firstly say: I have never seen anything spooky or scary in Penrhyn Castle. It's a lovely place, full of history and now as a grown man I can fully appreciate its beauty. 

However, a friend of mine's grandmother did see something weird there or at least claimed to have… 

During school holidays in the mid to late 1980s, myself, my friend Dave and his grandmother Edith, used to go for days out to Penrhyn Castle on a number of occasions and we used to picnic on the grass in the summer sun.

On the way home to Bethesda after one visit, his grandmother told us that the next time we wanted to go to the Castle, someone else would have to take us because something had upset her. Being a kid, I thought nothing of it and that was it.

A number years later, when I was in my early twenties. My friend Dave told me that his grandmother had claimed to have seen an apparition of a young woman standing at the bottom of the stairs and when she turned to call us to look it was gone. She said the woman was pale/white, with a blank look on her face and she was overcome with a feeling of sadness.

Apparently, over the years what she claimed to have seen that day, became a family joke and his grandmother was mocked for saying to the family that she would never step foot in the castle again, they’d refer about the woman as the ‘Pale Lady’.

My wife always asks me about this story and say’s it gives her the shivers. Like I said earlier, I've been back to Penrhyn Castle a number of times since that day and I haven't seen anything spooky at all or felt uncomfortable at any time. I was on the stairs that day when she would have seen the ghost and my friend was also – we didn’t see it… My only explanation for what she saw was that; her imagination was playing tricks on her, or that certain people may have a sense that enables them to see ghosts, etc… Or that she simply made it up!

However, she was a religious woman and to the best of my knowledge an honest person. My friend Dave always says his grandmother was true to her word and never stepped foot in the Penrhyn Castle again. Despite her other grandchildren asking her to take them there to show them where ‘Pale Lady’ was stood.

Edith sadly died a few years ago.

I know live in Cambridgeshire and I have fond memories of those days out to Penrhyn Castle. Hopefully, one day I’ll get to take my grandchildren there…"


What a fascinating story. This fits in very well with other sightings and feelings picked up by staff and visitors. I wonder if it was Alice again? I hope to hear from Robert again or that he will come and visit the castle soon.

Saturday 25 May 2013

Ghostly lady seen in the State bedroom.

While I was out shopping in Caernarfon today I met one of the Room Stewards from Penrhyn Castle. She told me that her daughter recently visited Penrhyn and had a ghostly experience there. She was at the top of the Grand Staircase with her husband and children. As she walked through the doorway into the State bedroom she felt someone go past her. She looked back onto the landing and her husband and children were still standing there. She looked at the oak four poster bed and saw the figure of a woman. She described her as being very slim with an hourglass figure, as though she was wearing a corset. The Room steward and I both said, "Alice!" We thought that it was probably Alice Douglas Pennant.


Alice Douglas Pennant (1863-1939)



The State bedroom at Penrhyn Castle

She looked at the woman then glanced back to her husband and children who were walking into the room. When she turned back to look at the bedroom, the ghostly figure had completely disappeared.

A few minutes later, as she was walking with her 19 month old daughter along the Grand Hall Gallery, the little girl started giggling and pointing into a corner near a doorway. She put her finger to her lips and said, "Shhhh!" Her mother could not see anyone but her daughter clearly could and was interacting with them. She continued laughing and pointing until they moved away from the area towards the bedrooms in the Keep.

What a fascinating experience! I will try to get some more details about the figure in the State bedroom next time I see the room steward at the castle. I would like to find out what she was wearing and if it really could have been Alice. Watch this space...!