Ghosts of Caldicot Castle
Caldicot Castle stands in Monmouthshire, in southeast Wales, on a site where the Normans built a castle around 1100. It later passed to the de Bohun family, Earls of Hereford, who held it for more than two centuries. In 1376, the castle passed to Thomas of Woodstock, a son of Edward III, when he married Alianore de Bohun. Thomas ordered major work in 1381, including a new gatehouse, drawbridge, and the Woodstock Tower, but in 1397, on the orders of his nephew, King Richard II, he was kidnapped and murdered.
The castle later fell into ruin and was used as a farmyard until 1885, when Joseph Richard Cobb bought it and restored it as a family home. Today it is a popular place for visitors, and it is also a popular place for ghost hunters, who say the castle is home to several restless spirits.
The best-known is the Grey Lady, who is believed by many to be Alianore de Bohun. She is said to appear especially around the gatehouse and the banqueting hall. Not everyone agrees on who she is, and some accounts describe only an unidentified woman in white near the main entrance, a fleeting figure who disappears as quickly as she appears, with soft footsteps heard in the courtyard when no one is there.
Brown-robed, hooded figures have also been seen drifting through the corridors, and a ghostly child, sometimes called the beggar boy, is blamed for small footsteps and glimpses of a child in empty areas of the castle.
The dungeon in the circular tower to the west is said to have icy blasts of cold air, and some visitors have reported hearing screams of anguish and ghostly footsteps. In the gatehouse, which once served as a prison, visitors have described cold spots, an uneasy feeling, low whispers, and doors that open and close on their own.
Other reports sound more like the work of a poltergeist: furniture that moves, knocks and taps, sudden drops in temperature, shadowy figures, distant chatter, and a strong feeling of being watched. Some visitors have even reported being grabbed by something they could not see, and pet dogs are said to refuse to enter some areas of the castle.
