Craig-Y-Nos Castle

Most Haunted Investigation

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I recently found a link to the Craig-Y-Nos Castle webcams  and then discovered that Most Haunted did an investigation there.  The Castle was built in the 1840s by the Powell family.  The head of the family was Captain Powell who was a surgeon in the Indian army.  He spent a fortune on the castle.

There is a story that there was a curse on his family as most of Captain Powell's children died of either disease or terrible accidents.  Captain Powell ran out of money, went blind and eventually became insane because of everything that had happened to him.

The house was then sold to the Morgan family who lived locally.  They lived at Craig-Y-Nos for a couple of years before it was bought by a lady by the name of Adelina Patti who was a world renowned opera singer who was born in Spain in 1843 to her Italian opera-singing parents.  

Adelina loved the castle and lived there for over 50 years.  Her ghost has been seen throughout the Castle and more so in the Theatre. 

Adelina had the names of all her favourite composers engraved into the archway in the Theatre and the name taking pride of place in the centre was that of the famous composer Rossini, whom Adelina admired and respected very much.  Whether they had a good friendship or a relationship I'm not sure but when Rossini died it was said that Adelina collapsed.  She also attended his burial and in her will, she had specified that she wished to be buried alongside him  when she died.  This did happen and when Adelina died in 1919 she was buried alongside Rossini in Paris.  Strangely though, Rossini's body was actually moved somewhere else eventually and it is not clear why?   Adelina died at aged 79 after falling down a flight of stairs.  Her embalmed body was stored in the cellar for a time before she was buried and there is a story that if you stand in the cellar and sing one of Adelina's songs "Home Sweet Home" her ghost returns and she is seen.

In the 1920's  after Adelina's passing away, the Castle became a TB Hospital/sanitorium and Most Haunted told the story of how patients were treated at the hospital ie it was thought that fresh air was a good cure and so patients were wheeled out onto the balconies of the Castle and in the morning the ones that were still alive were wheeled back inside and the ones that had passed away were taken away............

The present owners of the Castle are currently refurbishing  and restoring the castle and so many rooms remain derelict.  However, alot of the Castle is open to the public for things like weddings services, booking rooms and they also operate ghost tours around the Castle.

When Most Haunted did their investigation the owner related an experience he had, whereby he had locked and bolted the doors to the side entrance as he was getting ready to work on a speech.  He said the only way to open the doors was to physically unbolt them.  As he worked on his speech he noticed that the doors had been opened and he felt a presence in the room with him.  Singing has been heard in the castle and reportedly sighted is an appartition of a smartly dressed Victorian man. A lady who used to work at the castle when it was the sanitarium told how staff didnt like to walk up the back stairs because they would hear rustling noises and said it felt as if someone was walking in front of them with skirts rustling.  Also reported was the feeling of someone walking beside them up the stairs and that out of your corner-eye view you could see someone passing by you.

Most Haunted Investigation - Occurances

Before filming when the team were setting up they heard banging. 

Yvette heard whispering as did other members of the team.  Derek Achorah picked up the names of "Price" and "Morgan".  At one point Derek felt a whack on the back of his neck and then the team heard a deep laugh. 

Various banging noises was heard. In the Theatre Derek picked up the name of Adelina Patti and then said he kept getting a feeling of being unblanced (could relate to when Adelina fell down the stairs?). Also picked up was the name of Nicolini and it was later found that this was the name of Adelina's second husband who was the famous french tenor Ernest Nicolini, (1834-1896). Derek honed in on the energies of a spirit man who said he was waiting for Adelina to pass over and join him but that she loved the theatre and her singing so much she just loved coming back to visit.  Derek felt she would pass over fully when she felt ready too and he gave the impression that she was having too much fun and had such a great love for singing and her theatre.

Ernest Nicolini, (1834-1896)

In the cellar Derek picked up the energies of someone called Vicenti who appeared to have worked there.  Derek said it wasnt a good energy and it seemed that this Vicenti had done something to either a female or female(s) and that someone had helped him cover it up. Noises were caught on tape and also the sound of "sighs" and someone laughing. Also caught on film were a few orbs.  The group always splits into smaller groups when they investigate different areas.  This time each group all experienced activity. Loud noises, knocking sounds and footsteps were heard.  The team held a seance in the cellar where they played the song "home sweet home" but nothing happened although they said it was very emotional and they did experience a temperature drop.  All of the trigger objects which had been placed in various spots were checked at the end and none of them had moved.  All in all the team said it really was one of their most scariest and unsettling investigations.

(c) Spirit&SpiritualCircles2006