Manon Williams speaks with television’s favourite spirit medium Derek Acorah to find out his top haunted picks in Wales.
Llancaiach Fawr
When I went there, what comes to mind, is that I came across a couple of spook people there. One was a lady, and I worked out she was a housekeeper there, and she’d moved about the house quite a lot, especially around the bed chamber, and I found out that she died tragically, and she gave her name very clearly as Mattie. Also, another sad situation is that I came across a little boy spirit, and, oh God, he was really really anxious. When he showed himself he said he was scared, and he didn’t know that he had passed over as a child, so he was grounded there. He could actually recall that he had had an accident, but he didn’t realise he had passed over. That was sad so I tried to help him as best I could.
Llancaich Fawr, Nelson. Info: 014 4341 2248 / www.llancaichfawr.co.uk
Skirrid Mountain Inn
Next is the famous Skirrid Inn in Monmouthshire. I knew as soon as we walked in, and we didn’t even have the cameras and it was still daylight. I looked over across the room as we walked in and there was a stairwell, and on that stairwell, I could see different things that had happened in the past… and my words were “Oh my god”. There’s a man, throwing another man off the top there, and he’s hung him. Then I got more, and I said this place has got so many people that have been hung here. So yes, there was an upset in the atmosphere in the Skirrid Inn.
The Skirrid Mountain Inn, Abergavenny. Info: 018 7389 0258 / www.skirridmountaininn.co.uk
Bodelwyddan Castle
In Bodelwyddan Castle I started to get these inclinations that we had found bones, and it was a woman who was murdered. 1649-50 around that time. She let me know that she’d been hit on the head so many times, and she just passed out. As I went along the investigation I came across a spirit man who had committed this crime, and he told me he was the woman’s husband. He murdered her because she’d had an affair. It seemed that he was still in the atmosphere, and still very unhappy because of the adultery. Then of course we went down under the building and there was another spirit down there. I took it to be the same spirit man as before. I was very glad to leave there, as things were getting knocked over, and people were getting emotional.
Bodelwyddan Castle, Rhyl. Info: 017 4558 5088 / www.bodelwyddan-castle.co.uk
Craig Y Nos
At Craig Y Nos there was a mixture. There was a lot of happy stuff there, and there was a lady who introduced herself to me there, who was a really lovely lady. As soon as we walked in I could hear this voice that started singing, opera singing. She announced herself to me as Madam Patti, and she was a real nice lady. She’s also still there and heavily haunts that place, but she leaves a lot of good stuff there. So that was the happy highlight of Craig Y Nos.
Craig Y Nos Castle, Powys. Info: 016 3973 0725 / www.craigynoscastle.com
Plas Mawr
There was a man that approached who introduced himself as Robert, and then I got his surname, Wynn. He was very angry, and kept on saying “The doctor, the doctor, I hate him, I can’t find him”. Later on in the investigation, Robert Wynn again in a different part of the building, kept going on about his wife, calling her “Lady Wynn”, and I asked him who Lady Wynn was and he told me. He told me that something had happened with the doctor and Lady Wynn, and I think she was murdered. They hadn’t moved onto the spirit world. It’s only because they’re in this atmosphere that they keep these memories. What I try to do, and what I do off the camera is try to help the spirit people, by sending them over after the investigation. I ask the spirit world to come and kill them, and we relieve them.
Plas Mawr, Conwy. Info: www.conwy.com/plasmawr