Unfortunately, they were doing some repair work to a section of the castle, due to weather problems, and so most of the castle was shut off. But they did have a tour going on. I just managed to catch the last one. The castle was impressive, to say the least. The tour guide, lovely chap, took us to some of the great rooms and delivered a spiel about the history and important facts - a spiel, you could tell, he'd been reciting ALL day, EVERY day for as long as he'd lived there. And as much as he made it out to be interesting, he told it in a manor of obviousness, possibly even a tiny hint of boredom. But the history of the castle and indeed the design of the interior rooms was rather spectacular - very "Gothic Revival" in design. And very Catholic too (these people obviously used to sit on spikes!)
The final room of the tour was a great library, full of books (well obviously) and contained a large fireplace. The tour ended here with chances of questions. The Guide was rather hoping we'd ask him something, as everyone had been silent on the whole tour - bit like walking around a dead place. At first I enquired as to the meaning (translation) of some of the ornate carvings above the fireplace. He wasn't sure completely, but he knew they must all be different forms of the alphabet. And then, because nobody else was asking, I posed the question "Any ghost stories?"
This seemed to wake him up a lot. Something that actually interested him, instead of repeated facts about "the history of this chunk of wood". He'd never seen a ghost himself, but he had an open mind. He'd heard a lot of ghostly happenings from other security guards in the castle. Especially people on the night shifts. People have seen Monks in the courtyard, a lady walking the corridors... Some have even been tapped on the shoulder by something that wasn't there.
We stood debating the subject for a good 15 minutes - best part of the tour. Then the Guide had a moment of inspiration. He decided to take us to a small marble room (which wasn't part of the tour) where, a hundred or so years ago, a Lord of the castle was found dead from an apparent heart attack. The room was cold. It used to be the Lord's dressing room at the time, so it would probably have been warmer. But now it was redecorated to look like a marble catholic prayer room - angels on the ceiling and walls - very cold and unwelcoming. In fact, this room was the coldest in the whole castle.
The Lord was found dead on a chaise lounge under an archway in the corner. But today, the place where he was found is replaced with a marble pillar and bust of his father's head - so that his father can watch over him, even in death.
At first, I thought I felt a presence in the corner of the room by the door; very slight and gentle, as if someone was just stood there. 'Could this be the dead lord?' I wondered to myself. But then I decided to take a closer look at the pillar - the death spot. The moment I got close to that thing, I felt something I'd never felt before. A repelling force. It was as if something was trying to push me away, like a magnet field. Almost like running into an invisible wall.
But to force my hand through that barrier, I picked up something bizarre. Static. An incredible charge of static energy that made my hand tingle - like putting your hand next to a well charged TV screen or wearing a magnet around your wrist. My hand soon felt as if I'd been lying on it. The blood tingled. That feeling was nowhere else in the room. Just around the pillar where the body was found. It was almost like a living thing.
Afterwards, we left the room and the tour came to an end. The castle itself was closing for the day. I walked with two guys who were also on the tour - both of them were ghost hunters, and we talked about ghostly encounters; orbs, psychic attacks, Azazel... it was a most bizarre evening.
Do YOU have a spooky encounter?
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