"In 1980 I was with my husband and two boys on holiday on Anglesey. One evening at dusk, we visited Penmon Priory near Beaumaris. We had visited the church, the well and my husband led the way to the old stone priory which was open to visitors.
He suddenly looked at me with a very surprised expression on his face and said "did you see that?" I replied "see what?" he said "that Nun - she bent down, looked at me and walked into the priory".
Puzzled, we walked towards the building and walked in. There are only two rooms, we didn't see her in the first so we walked through to the back room only to find that she had completely vanished!
Later on that evening, we spoke to the keeper about my husband's experience and he asked him to describe her. He descibed her in detail to which the man replied "Oh I've seen her a few times around here. When I'm walking the dog at night, I sometimes feel someone tapping me on the shoulder when I'm out at night. Often the church bells ring during the night by themselves."
It was at this point that we realised that he had indeed seen a ghost.
When we were driving away from the grounds, the car kept stuttering and stalling until we were out of sight of the priory. The car was brand new and had been running fine up until that point and was fine afterwards.
My husband was never one to invent stories so I believed him straight away. I didn't believe in ghosts back then but I sure do now!"
Watch Owain Llyr of Caernarfon and others on YouTube during a night they spent in Beaumaris Gaol.
your comments
Laura Reader, Worcester
I also had a strange experience at Beaumaris Castle in the chapel. I didn't think this place would be haunted at all because I hear it was never lived in, but upon entering the chapel through the tunnels I immediately felt watched. In the chapel itself I started to play with the acoustics of the room by singing in a Tomb Raider-like manner and decided to record it. We found to our surprise that we had caught some female chanting after I stopped singing. The exhibition room was closed and no-one else was around, so to this day I have no idea what caused the chanting! I still have the audio too.
Thu Apr 16 09:45:19 2009
Nic Reid, Warrington
One afternoon in the Whit holidays when I was 16 I visited Beaumaris Castle with my family. My younger brother made fun by running off and hiding in corners, jumping out on me as I passed - great fun. Close to four o'clock I met the lady who had been on the ticket office who advised me to leave as they were due to close. I started to search for my little brother, but was stopped in my tracks as I made my way up the staircase which overlooks the chapel on the righthand side by the sound of someone crying in extreme distress. Convinced that someone had sustained injury I ran up and down the steps, calling that I was coming to help, the noise seemed to focus on that area, but I was unable to locate the source of the wailing. In much distress myself after 20 mins of searching, I went to gatehouse for more help to find my brother waiting for me there. The ticket lady assured me that I was the last out, and put the sound down to gulls/wildlife. I left feeling a little foolish, but 17 years later I am convinced that the sounds I heard were human in origin. These days I am a very sensible nurse, I am not at all suggestible - and I never was as a girl.
Tue Dec 30 09:31:33 2008
Peter Pennell, Liverpool
We were on holiday in Llangoed (mr Jones's farm) when my mum, aunty, dad and uncle went out to a nearby pub. When they were walking home they got split up. My mum and aunty started to talk to two women who said they were sisters and would walk with them to Mr Jones's farm. While walking they pointed at a house they lived in. Next day my mum tried to find the house to thank the sisters but all they found was a derelict burnt house. When they asked the locals they were told sisters were burnt to death years ago - our holiday took a weird and exciting turn!
Tue May 6 10:07:32 2008
Pat Metcalfe, High Peak, England
I visited Penmon Priory around 1977 with my friend Christine. It is a day I will never forget. A lovely blue-sky summer's day. A window was open in the priory house, and someone was playing the piano - a Dave Brubeck tune, I think.Inside the old priory, I experienced a sense of what I can only describe as Grace - a feeling, never experienced before or since, of a powerful and infinitely kind presence pervading that space and filling me with indescribable happiness.I said nothing to Chris about it - didn't know what to say really. But later , on the beach, she asked me if ! I'd felt the beautiful presence in the old priory. Not sure how this fits in with spooky feelings and ghosts, I only know that whatever spirit pervades Penmon, it is joyful, benevolent, and much greater than the ghost of an individual.
Mon Feb 25 11:23:07 2008
Hoyle, Cornwall
My parents lived at the priory from 1947 to 1950. My father was curate at the time. He told us that he used to be woken at twenty past two every morning and feel a "presence" which he felt resented his being there. He told nobody about it at the time. When my mother went into a nursing home to have my brother, 13.03 1948, and he was alone in the house, he felt more vulnerable and left a lamp burning all night. (This was before mains electricity). Sure enough, at twenty past two he was awakened, and maybe because he was alone, he felt the presence even more strongly ( indeed he used to say "you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife"). He decided to conduct his own form of exorcism and reported that the atmosphere which had been icy changed and that he was never bothered again. When the time came for him to leave the parish, he went to settle up for the papers etc at the local shop. He was asked if he had had any experiences of "the ghost", but played the innocent. The shopkeeper suggested he go to speak to someone who lived in the coastguard cottages at the point which he did.
Thu Feb 14 09:51:48 2008
Hoyle, Cornwall
This chap reported manifestations (I do not know if they were first hand or reported) which tied in with my father's. I have to add that many years later, I worked with Duncan Pemberton who has been mentioned in previous submissions.
Thu Feb 14 09:50:31 2008
elen from llanddona
i live near penmon. i have never seen anything there. but i dont like the look of the place and dont go into the building. i would never go there alone. it's got a creepy atmosphere,and i also know that it was munks that were there not nuns.
Thu Jan 3 09:53:22 2008
Debbie Garman-Holland from Oxford
In May 2007 I went to Beaumaris Castle with my husband. When walking around the castle (clockwise) I first felt as if there was somebody else with us. When I left the chapel I felt as if I shouldn't go on any further. When I caught up with my husband in a small side room we both felt that it was "time to leave". We passed two young lads entering the room shortly afterwards, we could hear one of them saying "I don't like this in here". A few years earlier I had visited the same spots in the castle and felt nothing.I know this does not prove anything but it is interesting how my husband and I felt uneasy in the same room as the young lads whom we had never met.
Tue Sep 25 09:27:06 2007
Eve Pemberton-Blyth
I lived in my beloved priory for almost 30 years and I love every stone. I have just three stories. One evening whilst locking the church I turned by the organ and said "Goodnight All" and I felt on my head the weight and also the warmth of two hands. I used to walk my golden retriever in the evening and during this walk I used to visit the well and sit on a particular stone, not at the well itself but by the hut circle. One evening as I sat in my usual place marvelling at the peace and beauty of the spot when I heard a voice, either in my head or aloud, I am not sure. But the voice said "Child, walk in the way of God" - I replied "I don`t think I can do that" The reply came "You can, whether you will or not is up to you". I used to hear a small bell like an altar bell ring in the house sometimes and on one occasion friends heard it too. Also in the then bathroom at the top of the house there was a presence which manifested itself like dark wings flying just over my head. Although like most people I can be afraid of the dark etc. none of these things ever frightened me.
Wed Aug 22 09:22:14 2007
bryan hope from Tampa
Growing up in Bangor with an uncle living in Glanrafon, I have visited the Priory several times and never felt a supernatural presence. However, not too far from there, inland from Benlech near Y Maen there is an old church in Llanfihangel called Eglwys y Plwyf. Several of my relatives are buried there including both my parents. Every time I have visited this site, no matter the weather on the approach road; several times it was warm and sunny with high white clouds drifting across the sky, the moment I passed through the church gate dark clouds immediately swarmed all around, the wind picked up%! 20and gusted and being there was definitely an unnerving experience. Has anyone out there had a similar experience at this church?
Thu Aug 16 09:54:44 2007
Max Pemberton, Cyprus
I moved into the Priory House with my parents and younger sister around Christmas 1972. I eventually moved away to work but visited regularly. A few years ago my mother, the Ivy mentioned by an earlier contributor, re-married and moved house so I took up residence as the new key-keeper until early last year (2006). I have walked around the site at night with my own dogs many times, around the cemeteries, the well and the dovecote, but I’m afraid I never witnessed anything ‘spooky’.
I too have locked up the old church, like my father (Duncan by the way, not Doug) late at night, but again encountered nothing weird. I lived alone in the house, miles from anywhere or anyone and surrounded by a cemetery, but all I ever felt was tranquility. If there is a ‘presence’ there, it must have liked me.
Also, in the original article, the lady said that she walked into the first room then ‘through’ into the second. Unless she is a ghost herself and can walk through walls this is impossible. You have to exit the first room and walk around the outside of the building to enter the second, so it is quite simple for anyone they were following to elude them.
Incidentally the site was used to represent a Scottish isle in 1964 for the TV series Danger Man, and more recently as an eastern European location for a film starring Vanessa Redgrave and Angelina Jolie no less. As everyone has said, it is a fascinating place and I miss it greatly.
Tue Aug 14 09:50:18 2007
Bob Hill from St. Helens
I was invited into Penmon House by Ivy and Doug about 30 years ago who I feel were the relations of one of our earlier posters. I do know they said the house which is in a very isolated situation was haunted and that Doug who worked at Bangor hospital getting people ready for autopsys, told me he had gone to switch the lights off in the main church about midnight on his return from Bangor Hospital and had irreverently said "goodnight all" and then been pushed!! whether this is true is debateable, but one sad thiong about this meeting , is we met their young Daughter, who at the early age of sixteen, lost her life and is buried in the new part of the churchyard not 25 yards from where she lived.
Tue Jul 10 09:30:02 2007
Nic Reid, Warrington
I had an unexplained experience at Beaumaris Castle a number of years ago. I would be interested to hear if anyone else has had anything strange happen in the chapel area.
Fri Jun 1 09:04:13 2007
Phill Wrench from Nr Holywell
Hi, this seems a fantastic place. Would be grateful if anyone knows of ghostly goings on there. Can you visit it at night?
Tue May 1 09:01:39 2007
J.W
St Elen, a Christian missionary, founded a priory and hospice at Penmon. Catholics of the time had separate monastries for men and women but the celtic church a century later had mixed retreats for work and worship. There is evidence of a nun's cell near the well.
Mon Mar 12 15:47:50 2007
Steffan Williams, Cardiff
While the Urdd Eisteddfod was on in Anglesey I was playing piano for a friend of mine who was competing. I had an hour or two to waste so me and my wife (girlfriend at the time) went for a drive. We arived at Penmon and decided to take a look around. As we drove past the 2 buildings which I think is the old stone priory she said "there's something creepy there". It was a beautiful sunny day, not at all spooky. i told her that she was being stupid, parked and told her to follow me in to the first room. As we both entered the room which has a small doorway and no window and high walls, a sort of shimmer swooped around us and dust from the floor. It wasn't windy at all and it was very real. I did try and think of every possible explination for it and be rational but still do not know to this day what it was. My girlfriend was also a little freaked out by the well and could sense a presence but nothing happened there really. I do believe that something is in the priory. The room I'm talking about is the right hand side room as you look at the building from the road.
Thu Feb 8 09:29:34 2007
Anne Casey Wirral
My sister and I visited Penmon Priory last week a beauitful place, we didnt see anything strange but we did feel slightly uncomfortable around the well.Are there any stories linked to this?
Mon Oct 23 10:41:18 2006
martin davies st louis mo ex LLangoed
I spent a couple of years on Anglesey in 1963 thru 65. I lived near Llangoed and ghosts and hauntings were a subject of endless conversations almong all ages... stories of so-and-so's father died in a motorbike acident right there in that spot back in the late 50s, an old man - lovelorn - hung himself himself on learning that his love had married another etc. these tales were so pervasive that my friends and I go haunting, it was a very popular game amongst the 13 to 16 year old set. The hauntings would begin in the early autunm as the nights were getting longer. we would paint an old sheet with green and brown leaving just enough white to show, we even had chains. then we'd hide behind stone walls. we'd wait for the Crosville double decker bus from Bangor and, as it came around the corner, we'd pop up and stand still. allowing for just an ever so brief glimpse then duck down again and wait for the next car to come on down the road. the best haunting we did was held just behind the bus stop where the Bangor - Glanyrafon bus would turn left to go the Glan-yr-afon. this would have been around 8pm and there was a group of kids young teens hanging around there. You should have heard them as the wind caught the sounds of the chains "what's what's that?' 'what... ' 'that, over there in the bushes...' 'it's a ghost... a ghost...' we drop down and crawl away trying hard not to laugh and give ourselves away as we crawled away through the long grass of the dell. later - as the winter approached - the hautings would become more open and blend into the halloween fun. Then, after that as Guy Fawks night approached it was on throwing bangers at innocent passers by. the next day on the school bus to David Hughes School at Menai Bridge you'd hear the younger kids talking about it. so much fun. I believe Anglesey is choc-a-bloc with ghosts both made up and genuine.
Wed Sep 20 09:56:44 2006
Llangoed
Me and my father have also seen similar sightings. My dad is in the coastguard and my little brother loves going into the priory, but I've seen the mysterious woman quite a few times now, and have since stayed away from the place, but my dad is still left having to take my brother there! Poor soul!
Tue Jul 18 09:47:46 2006
Eoghan Flemmings-jordan
Hmmm... highly dubious. My grandmother moved into the house at Penmon Priory in 1975 and lived there until 2001. So, being the keeper, walking HER dog, would have noticed things like this going on.
There was ony one bell, which could only go "clunk".
There were NEVER any nuns there. It was a monastery for monks.
I spent many a summer there over the years - there is definitely a presence in the house itself - but that's pretty much it. I suspect she will leave a comment here too - she said she would like to set the record straight!
Mon Jul 17 09:53:14 2006
Gareth Phillips of LLangoed.
There were no Nuns at Penmon, however if you go into the large room next to the pantry and look up at the fireplace you will see carved into the left hand side an engraving of a medieval woman in a classic headress. I'm not sure who she was but it's a mystery as to why Monks would have such a carving in such an obvious place.
The other mysterious carvings at Penmon are inside the Church where there are erotic pre-Christian carvings, Scandinavian carvings and, around the archway separating the 2 halves of the church are carvings which are strangely similar to Haida indian carvings from the North west pacific. Penmon does not need ghosts to be mysterious, there is enough there already to hold a convention on the subject!
Sat Nov 26 11:29:34 2005
Michael from Penmon
The Priory Church only has one bell and it's not a particularly loud one.
Sun Jul 24 22:17:45 2005
Alun Williams from Llanfairpwll
Penmon was an Augustinian Priory,and thereby home to a community of monks. So, what was a nun doing there? On second thoughts, don't answer that.
Not convinced.
Thu Jun 30 13:21:11 2005
