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Said to be the most haunted house in Wales, Penyffordd Farm has kept fans of the paranormal fascinated – and freaked out! – for decades.
What started as an ordinary story of a family moving into their new farmhouse soon turned into a nightmare, with the new owners of Penyffordd Farm experiencing more than 300 strange happenings in their home.
Read here to learn more about the Penyffordd Farm haunting, when its apparent haunting started, and what the family of this North Wales farmhouse had to endure.
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Penyffordd Farm Haunted History
The hair-raising story of the Gowers and their paranormal experiences in Penyffordd Farm started in 1997.
The family, David and Rose-Mary Gower and their four kids, moved into their 15th-century house in Flintshire in North Wales and looked forward to cleaning their new home, tidying the garden, and settling down.
However, not long after unpacking, things started going awry…
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Moving the headstone
In several interviews, Rose-Mary said all paranormal activities started after they moved an out-of-place headstone.
While cleaning up their garden before a party, Rose and David decided to move a headstone, leaning on an outer wall of their home, somewhere else. They moved the headstone, clearly showing the name Jane Jones, who died in 1778, into their backyard.
The pregnant girl
Rose-Mary claimed that a few days after moving the gravestone, they had their first paranormal experience: She saw an apparition of a young, pregnant girl, wearing a cloak and appearing to be in mourning, wandering through their garden.
Nobody knew the connection between the ghost and the gravestone. However, years later, a man who once lived in the haunted home managed to explain the possible reason for the ghost:
“We looked into it and she was actually our relative… She died in childbirth and they wouldn’t allow her to be buried in consecrated ground because of the disgrace of having a baby at 14. It is plausible Jane is on that land.“
Strange words on the walls
The English family, who didn’t speak or understand Welsh, also claimed to have seen Welsh words magically appear on their home’s walls.
Words such as “tangnefedd” (peace), “hir am aros” (long-suffering), and “erlidiau” (persecutions) would randomly appear on the home’s walls, with no one knowing who wrote them there.
The couple’s daughter, Nicolette, who stayed on in the home after her parents moved out in 2002, also recalls one day seeing her infant son’s name appearing on a wall in the living room:
“Quinn’s name appeared on the wall and I really didn’t like that. How can you sit in a room and words appear on a wall?”
Moving objects and strange happenings
Rose-Mary documented all her experiences throughout their more than a decade living in Penyfford Farm, explaining how some household objects would randomly move around. The items would often move right in front of their eyes, freaking out the family and their young kids.
In her notes, Rose-Mary writes how she was on her way to throw out a bunch of dried old flowers when she went to answer the door. Upon her return, all the petals disappeared and were replaced with dead and half-drowned wasps!
The Gowers claim they would hear strange, unexplained noises throughout the home at all times of the day. They reported hearing muffled voices in some of the home’s empty rooms and often heard children singing.
The hooded monk
Nicolette Gower tells a story of how, in 2002, after her parents moved out of the Penyfford Farm cottage, she awoke one night and saw a hooded figure leaning over her sleeping baby’s cot.
Startled and scared, she screamed, only to realise that the apparition, resembling a monk, had mysteriously vanished. She grabbed her infant son and left the room in fright.
The Gower’s younger daughter, Adrienne, also tells of how, one night visiting her parents, she woke up to realise a hooded figure was standing over her.
Paranormal Investigation of Penyffordd Farm
The haunting of Penyffordd Farm made local and national headlines, with the story even ending up in a BBC documentary series exploring the Gowers’ ghostly encounters.
In the series “Paranormal: The Girl, The Ghost And The Gravestones“, Radio 1 DJ Sian Eleri investigates the haunting of this now-famous farmhouse and speaks to members of the Gower family to get their first-hand experiences on tape.
Featuring previously unseen video footage, eye-witness accounts, audio interviews, and photos, the four-part BBC documentary ‘Paranormal: The Girl, The Ghost and the Gravestone” is a must-see for all fans of the paranormal.
FAQs
Were there any other sightings of ghosts around Penyffordd Farm?
Yes. A year before the Gowers moved into their home, an Irish couple, hiking in the area, claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in a nearby field.
What happened to Jane Jones’ headstone?
The Gowen family buried the teenage mother’s gravestone in 2010. The farmhouse’s current owner found the headstone and dug it up a few years later. It’s not known what happened to Jane Jones’ gravestone after that.
Are there any other haunted places in Wales?
Yes, here is a list of 10 other of Wales’ most haunted places:
- Skirrid Mountain Inn, Abergavenny. The inn was once used as a courthouse, with those found guilty of their crimes hung from the pub’s staircase. Many visitors reported seeing the apparition of a man, dangling by his neck, hanging from the ceiling.
- Whittington Castle. A dark, hooded figure is often seen guarding the castle’s gates, and some eyewitnesses have also reported seeing the ghost of a blacksmith roaming the grounds.
- Roch Castle, Pembrokeshire. Visitors have reported seeing the ghost of Adam de Rupe, the original owner of the castle, wandering around the hallways.
- Llanthony Secunda Manor, Caldicot. Rumoured to be one of the most haunted places in the UK, visitors reported their belongings inexplicably disappearing, objects moving around in their rooms, being touched by unseen entities, or the haunting chants of long-dead monks.
- Sker House, Bridgend. Built more than 800 years ago, Sker House is known for its numerous sightings of dark, shadowy figures and high-pitched wailing and screaming from one of its many dark rooms.
- Castell Coch, Cardiff. This age-old building is haunted by the ghost of an old woman, dressed in white, roaming the grounds, reportedly looking for he son who drowned in a nearby well.
- Margam Castle, Port Talbot. This mid-19th-century castle houses the ghost of Robert Scott. A gamekeeper, Scott was murdered on the castle’s grounds by a poacher.
- Llancaiach Fawr Manor, Nelson. Visitors reported random smells, blasts of cold air, and unexplained footsteps and voices. The manor also houses the ghost of a young boy who died after falling from one of the building’s windows.
- Cardiff Castle. Staff often report objects that get moved around and rearranged in the stockroom by a faceless ghost in a white skirt. Cardiff Castle’s main dining room doors also, even if locked, open by themselves every morning at 3:15 AM!
- Plas Nanteos Mansion, Aberystwyth. Constructed in 1739, Plas Nanteos Mansion houses countless ghosts including that of the famous Grey Lady (wearing a long white dress) carrying a candlestick, wandering the staircase.
Final Thoughts
Famous as being the most haunted home in Wales, Penyffordd Farm has given the Gower family their fair share of sleepless nights.
The family reported hundreds of unexplained ghostly encounters and other paranormal activity in their more than ten years of staying in the home. Believed to have been caused by moving the gravestone of the teenage Jane Jones, who reportedly died during labour, the hauntings seem to have come to an end when the family moved out.
If you’re a fan of hair-raising ghost-hunting adventures, why not make Penyffordd Farm your next destination and see if you run into the young, mourning Jane?
Remember to use SpiritShack’s range of ghost-hunting equipment, like our EVP recorders, infrared cameras, and touch sensors, to ensure you capture all the evidence of your ghost-hunting adventure.
Sources:
- Most Haunted House Put Back On The Paranormal Map By BBC Documentary (higgypop.com)
- Penyffordd Farm, Genuine Haunting Or Hoax? (spookyisles.com)
- Ghost Hunting At ‘Haunted House’ That Sparked Hollywood Interest (bbc.co.uk)
- North Wales Farmhouse Named Most Haunted In Britain (dailypost.co.uk)
- Haunted House Or spooktacular Hoax? (dailymail.co.uk)
- The 10 Most Haunted Places In Wales (hauntedrooms.co.uk)
