Hang around a castle in Wales and sooner or later you’re bound to spy some ghostly apparition or hear things that go bump in the night, and as you would expect from a city that’s been around 2000 years Cardiff has its fair share of spooky stories.

Cardiff’s most well known ghost is that of the 2nd Marquess of Bute, who died suddenly one night in his home of Cardiff Castle and whose ghost now haunts the library close to where he died. Tours of Cardiff Castle take place every day, and a short journey North takes you to another of the Marquess' homes, Castel Coch. Also known as the Red Castle, this ancient building is claimed to be haunted by a woman named Dame Griffiths, whose son fell into a dark pool nearby and was never seen again. Her ghost now wanders the woods searching for her lost son.

To increase your ghost hunting chances, however, then a visit to Britain’s most haunted museum is a must. The Museum of Welsh Life, which has free entry and is only a short distance from the centre of Cardiff, is home to dozens of buildings transported from all over Wales and reconstructed brick by brick in the museum grounds.

Together with the building, however, come the ghosts. One of the first ‘inhabited’ buildings was Llainfadyn cottage from Rhostryfan. It housed dozens of children from 1762 until the mid twentieth century and visitors to this simple stone-boulder cottage have heard and seen children playing, laughing and crying inside its thick lime-washed walls.

The 18th century Cilewent farmhouse has also been home to bizarre goings on. Upon opening the locked wooden trap to the loft , museum staff were startled to find tiny footprints in the dust covering a series of Welsh wooden chests and several visitors complained of feeling ice cold when entering the building.

Visitors to the Penrhiw Chapel, a white Unitarian chapel from Carmarthenshire, have also been shocked to see the macabre sight of the 'toili', a phantom funeral procession, in which they would recognise friends, family or even themselves.
Such is the wealth of ghostly tales in South Wales that a group dedicated to the investigation of the paranormal has been set up.

The activities of the South Wales Paranormal Research Group include ghost watches, some of which the public can attend, at sites such as Margam Castle and Llancaiach Fawr manor. Many of these sites run ghost tours around Halloween time, but for a year-round ghost tour your best bet is ‘Creepy Cardiff.’ On this walking tour around Cardiff’s civic centre you will discover the tales of ghosts in the National Museum, local pubs and even the alleged burial place of Queen Bodecia.

Check out www.visitcardiff.com for more information about visiting Cardiff.