Librarian Ghost of Raglan Castle
As one of the last true castles built in Wales, Raglan Castle was constructed between 1435 and 1525. It was built on the site of a Norman motte castle by Sir William ap Thomas who was knighted as the Blue Knight of Gwent. He fought at the Battle of Agincourt with King Henry V in 1415. William was responsible for building the great tower at Raglan, which became known as the Yellow Tower of Gwent.
Although just a ruin today, the castle remains a fun location for visitors to explore. However, the castle still remains home to a resident from the English Civil War.
As Richard Jones tells the story ...
"A soothing atmosphere permeates the rambling interior of the cold ruin. Some visitors have been startled by fleeting glimpses of what they describe as a bardic figure, beckoning to them from the vicinity of the wing over which the library was once situated. He is thought to be the ghost of the castle’s librarian who, as the Civil War siege ebbed toward its inevitable conclusion, hid the valuable books and manuscripts in a secret tunnel beneath the castle. His fears proved well founded, for one of the first acts perpetrated by the enemy was the destruction of Raglan’s magnificent and priceless library. The fate of the librarian is unknown, but his guardian spirit still watches over his hidden cache of literary treasures. He was last seen in the summer of 2001, when a girl on a school trip came running from the castle, ashen-faced, insisting that she had seen him gesturing to her from a dimly lit corner.
Bookish bogies aside, there is no denying that Raglan Castle possesses a mysterious aura, and no one who treads its gloom-laden passageways and dark, twisting stairwells, or gazes upon its huge, hollow windows, can deny that a certain spine-tingling strangeness hangs over the entire foundation."
This ghost story was taken from the book "Haunted Castles of Britain and Ireland" by Richard Jones. We would like to thank Richard for graciously allowing us to use his text on Great Castles for some of the ghost stories presented on this site. You can find other stories by Mr. Jones on his web site, Haunted Britain.
About the Haunted Castles of Britain and Ireland book: Region by region, ghost-seeker Richard Jones reveals, explains and delights in the tales of tortured phantoms eager to restage their dark and turbulent pasts. The cast of characters ranges from ghostly queens that hurl themselves from the ramparts to malevolent monks that wander the corridors. This authoritative and accessible guide to haunted sites is illustrated throughout and includes extracts from original documents.