Believing in ghosts – Part 43

Until relatively recently, I didn’t.

However, in the last couple of years, I’ve worked a lot in a Welsh "castle" which was the home of a famous opera singer in the 19th century. She built her own theatre there, which is still a working space today, with the original stage machinery, and backcloths. It’s a beautiful place. Bleak and lovely, and she loved it a great deal.

After she died in 1919, it became a TB hospital. Given that, a lot of people would have died sadly at a relatively young age.

Recently, it has been given over to variously an Opera School, a luxury hotel, and a call centre in what used to be the hospital morgue…

I’ve got to know the staff well over the last couple of years whilst working at the theatre, and they’re good, no-nonsense, can’t-fool-me Welsh stock, not given to flights of fancy, or believing in ghosts.

Except every last one of them believes in ghosts. All of them. Incidents that have convinced them are as follows:

1) The opera singer had a great sense of humour and was a reknowned practical joker. She still is. She’ll happily swing the kitchen doors back and forth when there’s no one near them, and won’t let people in the TV room (her favourite sitting room) when she chooses. She moves things around frequently.

2) She also appeared to one of the Jazz Musicians playing in the bar once asking him if he sang. When he said no, the little old lady in black said "Oh, what a pity", and disappeared in front of his eyes. He never believed in ghosts either before that.

3) When young singers are performing "her" roles in the theatre, a shadowy figure can be seen standing at the back of the auditorium where a box for important visitors used to be. It’s not possible for anyone to actually stand precisely where this figure is seen today. There is a good "feeling" in the theatre, which is impossible to put into words, as though someone is listening intently and willing you to do well.

4) During its days as a TB hospital, the theatre was used as a children’s playroom. Laughter and children’s voices can be heard coming from the theatre when it is empty. When the door is opened, no one is there. This happens frequently even when there are no children staying at the castle. I’ve experienced this one myself.

5) In what used to be the library, a man’s voice can often be heard shouting orders. The castle staff often hear orders being shouted to them only to find that no one’s asked them to do a thing! I’ve heard the shouting man too. Incidentally, the voice is heavily accented (not Welsh), and there are no non-UK workers there at present. It’s thought to be the opera singer’s second husband, a hot-headed Italian tenor with a short fuse.

6) The cats watch things all the time that no one else can see. I know cats DO this as a matter of course (it’s part of being a cat), but when they run up to thin air and rub their heads against it, purring, that’s a different matter. Either the cats are having a laugh at everyone else’s expense, or there’s someone they’re really pleased to see that WE can’t…

A UK ghost watch programme has been in to record the phenomena, but unfortunately the programme in question has been exposed largely as a fake, so nothing they found can be relied upon as any kind of evidence.

I suppose it’s just an old building with a lot of memories, both happy and sad, and was the much-loved home for some time of a woman with an extremely strong personality. I don’t think memories ever entirely disappear.

So…I believe in buildings having memories. Ghosts? I’m not so sure.