The Paranormal Database

Fairy Tree

Location: Maesteg - Exact location not known
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: A knarred and knotted tree was thought to be home to a group of fairies from Ireland, and ill luck fell upon anyone who picked up deadwood from under it.

Winner

Location: Maesteg - Mountainside near Colliery
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A group of miners playing cards invited a passing stranger to join their game. He sat with them, quickly winning all hands, although the game quickly came to an end when the miners fled, having realised their guest had cloven feet.

Horses

Location: Maesteg - St David's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A legend once said that horses were driven around the area of the church by an invisible entity. Fire emerging from the horses' nostrils would be blamed for darkened grass and the flaking paint on fencing. In the same area, a phantom donkey was said to have been banished after a man kicked the creature.

Card Player

Location: Maesteg - Unnamed public house
Type: Other
Date / Time: Likely pre-twentieth century
Further Comments: Playing cards in the back room of a pub, a group of people fled in terror after a short, dark figure manifested and started to dance on their table.

An old woodcut of fishing raining down from the sky.

Raining Fish

Location: Mountain Ash - General area
Type: Other
Date / Time: 9 February 1859
Further Comments: Workers in a timber yard watched as hundreds of small fish rained down upon them during a sudden downpour. The fish were still alive and flopping in the puddles; the workers filled several buckets with the creatures before returning to work.

Footsteps

Location: Nantymoel (Nant-Y-Moel) - Black Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1904
Further Comments: A man walking along this road could heard footsteps following him but was unable to see anyone else. He became paralysed with fear and collapsed after hearing a horrifying scream behind him. Other people apparently were aware that something haunted the area, but the details were not forthcoming.

Wolves

Location: Ogmore Vale - Forest near the former Abba school
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1990 onwards
Further Comments: A local has claimed that several people in the area have spotted wolves stalking the forest. There is an unsubstantiated report that a boy disappeared in the woodland and was eventually found torn apart.

Lad on Horseback

Location: Pencoed - Roads in the area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1902
Further Comments: The lad was said to resemble a 'farmers son' and would ride his horse through the village around midnight. Man and steed would gallop through the area completely silently.

An Arthurian knight.

Sleeping Arthur

Location: Pont Nedd Fechan - Craig-y-Ddinas, cave system
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This location is another contender for the place where King Arthur and his knights lay sleeping.

Screaming

Location: Pontycymer - General area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: January 1903
Further Comments: A woman's screams could be heard for several nights throughout the village - one assumes the locals were aware of the difference between a fox scream and a human one.

Tolaeth

Location: Porthcawl - Cottage near Sker Rocks (may no longer stand)
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A folktale says that the couple living at the cottage heard their door open and sound of several men shuffling around and grunting as if carrying something heavy. Nothing could be seen, but two days later their son was drowned and his body brought home, carried by several men. The couple believed they had heard the 'Tolaeth before Death', an ominous sound heard before a fatality in Wales.

Elizabeth Williams

Location: Porthcawl - Sker House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Forbidden to marry the man she loved, Miss Williams slowly pinned away in the building - her shade can sometimes be seen staring out a window, gently crying. Phantom monks have also been reported onsite.

Captain of the Le Vainqueur

Location: Porthcawl - Sker rocks
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The captain's body was washed up ashore here after the ship was torn apart on the rocks nearby - his shade is reported to take the form of a corpse candle, while the boat manifests in full form.

Farm Animals

Location: Rhondda - Exact location unknown
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1992
Further Comments: Built on a farm, one house here was reportedly haunted by pigs in the garden. Poltergeist like activity was reported inside the building itself, including exploding cups and electrical equipment powering itself up and off.

Lady of the Lake

Location: Rhondda - Llyn Fawr
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This beautiful woman sits on a stone on the bank of the lake, though she dives under the water if she becomes aware of anyone watching her.

Shoulder Rider

Location: Rhondda - Path to Ocean Colliery (aka Maendy Pit)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: September 1887
Further Comments: A colliery worker walking along the path lagged a short distance behind his colleagues, as they headed towards a late shift. The lone worker felt a tap on his shoulder; he turned his head to see an ethereal woman standing behind him who then promptly vanished. The man's cries caused his colleagues to run over, and after telling the group what he had seen, they all ran. The entity reappeared, gave chase, and clambered upon one worker's shoulders before once again vanishing.

Ghost on the shoreline.

Earl of Dunraven

Location: Southerndown - Beach
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A wrecker operating in this area, the Earl accidentally lured a boat onto the rocks which carried his son. Guilt has prevented the spectre from moving on.

Gliding Figure

Location: Tondu - Area around Ynysawdre (or Ynisawdro) farm, no longer present
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa September 1904
Further Comments: A gaunt figure was said to have been observed by a witness as it drifted around the area. Two locals looking for this ghost heard a horse galloping towards them, but nothing could be seen. The horse continued and passed on by, invisible to the witnesses.

Carried Away

Location: Tonypandy - Private residence, Amelia Terrace, Llwynypia
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1893
Further Comments: Mrs Downe was pulled from her chair by a phantom which proceeded to drag her to a water closet. The entity instructed Downe to remove an item from a wall, which she did, before pulling the woman out of her house to a nearby pond. Downe was instructed to throw the item (it is not specified what it was) into the water. Having done so, the ghost told Downe that she would not be troubled again.

Carpenter

Location: Ynyshir - Private residence and Rhondda River
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1883 - late October 1885
Further Comments: Mrs Jenkins told police that she had heard strange bangs and knocks for two years before finally seeing the ghost of a carpenter. The entity forced Mrs Jenkins to remove an old tool which had been hidden behind a brick and then escorted the woman to Rhondda River, in which she was instructed to throw the tool. The ghost then took Mrs Jenkins back home, where she fell into a neighbour's arms. The neighbour did not see the ghost, but one of Mrs Jenkins' sons had been previously terrified by the entity.

Walking Man

Location: Ynyshir - Private residence, Whitting Street, and surrounding area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa October 1893
Further Comments: After the sounds of footsteps and someone chopping wood were heard emerging from this property at night, several teams patrolled the area. Most bore witness to the footsteps that moved from room to room, and one group encountered a ghostly man standing at the top of the staircase, who resembled a former owner who had died of disease.