Most Haunted At Ruthin Castle, Part One - Series 23, Episode 5 Review
This article is more than six years old.
Yvette Fielding and the team begin a two-part investigation of the 13th century castle in Wales, complete with its own drowning pit.
Tonight Yvette Fielding and the Most Haunted team investigate a location in Wales that dates back to the 13th century. Ruthin Castle has stories of murder, execution and jealousy, so it's no surprise it has such a haunted reputation. The team's investigation will be spread across two episodes, this is the first part.
The first document fortification on the site was created for King Edward I in 1277. It was a strategic stronghold in the eventual defeat of the Welsh by the English in 1282. Soon after the de Grey family took over the castle and remained until 1508.
During the Civil War, the building was attacked by both the parliamentarians and the royalists, depending on who was occupying the castle at any given time. In 1923 the castle became Britain's first private hospital for the investigation and treatment of obscure internal diseases. Today the building is operated as a hotel.
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Is Ruthin Castle Haunted?
The castle has many ghost stories, the most famous being that of the Grey Lady. It is said that she was the wife of the second in command of the castle. She discovered that her powerful husband was having an affair with a local woman and in a jealous rage, she murdered the woman with an axe. She was tried, found guilty and executed, but as she was buried inside the castle ground, her ghost is said to walk the building.
In the abandoned rooms on the upper floor, people have witnessed the sound of children running around and playing, but when they check inside the room, there's nobody there.
When the castle was a hospital, the basement was used as the mortuary. In this area since, people have witnessed hearing the sound of crying and moaning as if people were in desperate pain and need.
In the banqueting room, the ghost of the Grey Lady has been seen on several occasions, dark shadows have been seen dancing across the walls and the banqueting table has even been said to lift off of the floor. The show's skeptic, Glen Hunt, doubts this story based on the fact that the room wasn't originally a banqueting hall and has just been made up to look like one. He thinks the room's original use was to house animals.
The Lillie Suite, one of the guest bedrooms, is named after Lillie Langtry, a famous British actress and one of Edward, Prince of Wales' lovers. She used to frequently visit the castle and this was her favourite room. She is now said to haunt the room.
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Lights Out
With the lights out, the investigation got underway. The team began by splitting up and taking on different parts of the castle. Yvette started her night alone in the banqueting hall armed with a "rubbish" wind up torch. Her first scare happened as she looked around the room and saw an imposing suit of armour, which she forgot was there.
Yvette then started calling out to the spirits and heard footsteps near her, before hearing a sound like something falling onto the floor. She then heard banging behind her and a few minutes later heard knocks on the door behind her. Yvette then said, "I'm going now, what about a little bit of the call back phenomena? You know when you don't want me to go, throw something now." I'm not sure that a spirit from the 13th century would know what "call back phenomena" is as they probably don't watch Most Haunted.
The Dungeon
Glen was on his way to the castle's dungeon with demonologist Fred Batt, and camera men Stuart Torevell and Gregg Smith. They stopped at what Fred said was the grave of the executed Lady Grey. Fred used some of his incantations to try to encourage the spirit to show herself tonight.
They then moved on to the dungeon where Fred tried to call up something more sinister. He cried out, "I invoke thee Lucifer from the East, Astaroth from the West, Beelzebub from the North, Azazel from the South. Come forward, come and see us."
Meanwhile, Karl went alone to the cellar where he heard several strange knocks and bangs, footsteps and the sound of things moving around him. Karl described the atmosphere in the cellar as feeling dark and said, "it's as if something doesn't want me here." As he left the cellar, he heard a strange breathy sigh and said, "that has freaked me out completely."
Room 222
The team changed locations, Yvette remained in the banqueting hall, but was joined by Fred, Glen and Gregg. The first thing they encountered was a strange whimpering sound while Fred was speaking. Gregg said that he could hear a strange sound like a heartbeat, which Yvette could also hear.
Meanwhile, Karl and Stuart went to the haunted bedroom 222, but after an hour and 20 minutes, nothing had happened. Eventually they sat down on two comfy looking chairs and continued to call out, but when they suddenly heard the sound of footsteps and they sprang into action. Stuart jumped over the back of his chair, caught his foot and fell over. They then remembered they didn't have the camera and Karl ran back and grabbed it before going upstairs to investigate the sound.
Once upstairs they found themselves in the empty and abandoned rooms, making the footsteps a mystery. While exploring these rooms they heard a door slam in one of the rooms, but they couldn't actually find any door which could close or bang, so the noise remained a mystery.
A few minutes later something moved amongst the junk in the room. Stuart said, "it sounded like something landing, Karl." Soon after, they heard a similar sound again, followed by a disembodied whistling sound that started copying Karl's whistles.
At this point, the episode came to an end, but the team's investigation of Ruthin Castle continues in the next episode of the series tomorrow night and it promises to be very dramatic.
The new series of Most Haunted continues as part of Really's #13NightsOfFrights. Watch on Freeview (17), Sky (142), Virgin Media (129) and Freesat (160), or watch previous episodes of Most Haunted on demand on the UKTV Player.
For reviews of all of the new episodes, plus highlights and evidence from the shows, and to find out when Most Haunted is on next, visit the Most Haunted episode guide.
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