The Paranormal Database

Cwn Annwn

Location: Buckholt - Road through the area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1961 onwards (hound), face sighting possibly mid twentieth century
Further Comments: A driver passing through Buckholt in 1961 reported seeing a large black hound, believed to be Cwn Annwn, a spectral hound of Annwn, although some people believe it to be a ghostly donkey. More recently, although no date has been mentioned, the hound has been seen in a nearby cottage which is also haunted by two phantom people (one short, one headless). Finally, a witness encountered the face of a beautiful woman along the road. The witness apologised and stepped to one side before realising that there was no one else present.

Round Table

Location: Caerleon - Exact area unknown
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Some have named Caerleon as the site of the original Arthurian round table and of Camelot.

Monks Chanting

Location: Caldicot - Llanthony Secunda Manor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The manor featured in the press during 2017 when it went up for sale. Aside from once being owned by Henry VIII and one of the oldest buildings in Wales, a unique selling point was that the site is supposed to be haunted by monks which can be heard chanting or felt as they lightly brush against the living.

An old photograph of ivy-covered Chepstow Castle.

Sleeping King

Location: Chepstow - Chepstow Castle
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A cave under the castle was once explored by a man who claimed to have seen King Arthur and his knights. He fled after making noise which made the knights stir.

Grey Lady

Location: Chepstow - St Pierre Golf and Country Club
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It was said that this country club was home to a grey lady and the scene of some poltergeist activity.

Turning Key

Location: Chepstow - Welsh Burns Unit (hospital)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: A nurse at this facility reported seeing a key turn in the lock of a glass door - no one could be seen on the other side.

The Lonely Shepherd

Location: Clydach - Limestone Pillar
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 23 June (or Midsummer Eve) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A shepherd who drove his wife to suicide was petrified by God as punishment. Once a year, on Midsummer Night, the rock animates and walks down to the River Usk where his wife drowned herself, before returning prior to dawn.

Pwca

Location: Clydach - Pwll y Cwn pool
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A water spirit, Pwca was once thought to hide out in this deep pool of water located under the waterfall here.

Sound of a Horse

Location: Clytha - Road on the hillside
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Autumn 1898
Further Comments: The driver of a horse and cart and a passenger were left shaken after encountering the sounds of a horse which passed them, and although nothing could be seen, the sounds were accompanied by a cold gust of wind. A murder had occurred along the road a few years previous, where a woman on horseback was decapitated by a former lover.

Goblin?

Location: Coedkernew - Mardy Farm
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: January 1904
Further Comments: Although the activities which occurred at the farm would now be attributed to a poltergeist, items moved, thrown, or poured over the floor, at the time a goblin or elf was blamed. A policeman watching over the sight was hit in the face by half a pound (0.2kg) of butter. After a month of upset, the tenant of the farm declared the incident to have been a 'foolish invention of foolish people'.

Celliwig

Location: Coedkernew - Neolithic burial chamber
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: It has been suggested this site was once King Arthur's court.

Oh God, What Shall I Do?

Location: Crumlin - Bridge (no longer standing?)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, likely to be pre-nineteenth century
Further Comments: A woman standing on the bridge one evening heard a voice travelling up the river repeating 'Oh God, what shall I do?'. The woman was struck with terror and fled the scene, fainting once she reached home.

Glowing Pike

Location: Crumlin - Large stone in the area (exact location not known)
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost which took to haunting a man convinced him to travel one night to a large stone. The ghost gave the man the strength to lift the stone, under which a glowing weapon, a pike, was discovered. The man was given instruction to take the pike to a nearby river, stand with his back to the water and throw the weapon over his head. After performing the ritual, the ghost was seen no more.

Rustling Woman

Location: Cwmbran - Road between Llantarnam Abbey and church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1909
Further Comments: A man walking this route at midnight watched as a woman approached him. Their paths crossed under the branches of a large oak. The rustling of the woman's dress could be heard, and moments after passing the man, he turned to take another look at the woman. As the moonlight fell upon her, she vanished.

Black Hound

Location: Cwmbran - The Chapel, St Dials
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend says that this area was home to a large black dog which hunted souls. A local minister faced the hound and banished it after smacking the creature between the eyes with a bible. The story found renewed interest in 2022 after the chapel sold at auctions for fifty-three thousand pounds.

Fairy Assault

Location: Cwmcarn (was known as Abergwyddon up to 1817) - Trwyn Farm
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Pre-1817
Further Comments: The farm owners would leave milk and bread out for the local fairy to ensure it did not create mischief. On one occasional, a servant drank the milk and eat the bread, after left water and crusts for the entity. A short time later the servant was grabbed by unseen hands and flung around, and a voice warned never to commit the offense again.

The owls are not as they seem.

White Owl

Location: Cwmcarvan - Hill in the area
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: An unnaturally large white owl took to hunting over an ancient battlefield, leading locals to believe the creature was magical and should not be interfered with. A visitor to Raglan castle who laughed at the story and killed the owl, himself died a few hours later, choking to death at a dinner table.

Warning Voice

Location: Devauden - B4293
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A woman driving home alone along this twisting lane heard a soft voice next to her tell her to stop. She did so, and almost immediately a car with no lights on sped past in the opposite direction on the wrong side of the road - by pulling over, the driver managed to avoid a serious accident.

A phantom man with his long dead hound cross a field.

Dog Walker

Location: Dixton - Field close to the river
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown, likely early twentieth century
Further Comments: Two friends camping on the riverbank watched a man walking a large white dog in the field. As the man and his dog approached the friends, the man began to vanish from the feet upwards, until he and the dog completely disappeared. One of the friends was later told by his grandmother that the area was haunted by the entities he had seen.

Haunted by a homeless man.

Parcel Carrier

Location: Dixton - Lanes between Rectory and river
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather dependent: Dark winter nights
Further Comments: A homeless man drowned in the river, and now walks around his final route, tightly clutching an unknown package. One version of the story says the man now has the head of a rat. The village is also haunted by a white dog, often seen alongside a strange man.

Mother

Location: Ebbw Vale - Churchyard, mill stream and bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A woman with her baby is said to haunt this area, with some believing the woman to have committed suicide by leaping from the bridge after falling in love with a Norman soldier. A few versions of the tale do not mention the baby.

Untouched Armchair

Location: Ebbw Vale - Council house, exact location unknown
Type: SHC
Date / Time: January 1980
Further Comments: The body of a seventy two year old was found reduced to ash, leaving only a pair of feet in socks, a soot covered skull, and an undamaged armchair in which most of the remains sat...

Ripper

Location: Ebbw Vale - Farmhouse overlooking Ebbw Vale
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1936
Further Comments: A family who lived here were said to be plagued by an entity which ripped their clothes and attacked them. A ghost candle was also observed drifting down the staircase. They fled.

Older Woman and Child

Location: Ebbw Vale - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 1877
Further Comments: Two ghosts, one an older woman and the other a younger girl, were said to have been seen around the streets after dark. While some people believed the figures were flesh and blood, all attempts to catch the night-time wanderers failed.

Tall Woman

Location: Ebbw Vale - Road from Abergavenny
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Thomas Harry's horse took fright at something unseen along this road and galloped home. Upon reaching his house, Thomas looked and could make out a woman standing nearby, as half the height of nearby tall beech trees (which can reach forty metres).