Investigating The Paranormal Claims Of Cardiff Castle

This video was uploaded to the YouTube channel Dead Air in April 2020.

Cardiff Castle is a main landmark in the Welsh capital, and it is full of ghostly legends and strange sightings.

There have been forts on this spot since Roman times, but its within the last millenium that the castle has expanded into what it is now. The Staurt family lived in the castle in recent centuries, as it slowly transformed into a Georgian mansion.

The ghosts? The most famous legend told around Cardiff is that of a ghostly horse drawn coach that manifests on castle street, and goes straight through the locked gates of the main entrance as if they were not there. This ghostly sighting usually occurs whenever a member of the Hastings family dies, and was last seeen in 1956 by a puzzled chef, who was leaving work one night nearby.

The castle's main ghost is that of John Crighton-Staurt, 2nd Marquess of Bute. After a large meal in the banqueting hall, he collapsed and died in a small drawing room behind the library. That drawing room is now a chapel with a bust in his memory marking the exact spot where he died. There have been countless sightings of the Marquess in the library, and countless visitors have reported that his ghost is rather unfriendly.

His wife Lady Sophie has been seen all around the castle, most notably in the living quarters. In the 1960's, a college music student called Barbara was practicing piano in one former bedrooms, when a female ghost in 18th century clothing walked straight through the room and vanished.

Another female ghost has been seen in the banqueting hall, often rearranging items overnight, and a soldier has been seen inside the castle walls, which contain a tunnel, most recently used as an air raid shelter during WWII.There is also a clocktower here complete with its own seance room, used in Victorian times, and a female spirit that is seen.

If you would like to visit Cardiff Castle, daytime tours are available. If you would like to do a paranormal investigation, then you can do an overnight ghost hunt with NIP Investigations. The company are the only paranormal group to have access to the castle at night, and tickets are reasonably priced. Check their website for any future events.

Dead Air was formed in 2009 by University friends Rob Davies and Chris Felton, originally as a radio show in Newcastle based FM station, NE1fm. The show originally was based around encouraging callers to talk about their own experiences and opinions on the paranormal, as well as monthly live broadcasts from some of the North East's scariest places.

Chris works alongside Alan Robson, the host of Metro Radio's Nightowls and Sky TV's 'Scariest Places on Earth', and plans to make a full return to the show in 2021. Rob has been a radio presenter with NE1fm on the music scene, but is now 100% committed to creating paranormal content for the channel.