12/16/2025
Margam Castle - Margam, Wales:
Margam Castle in South Wales is reputedly haunted by the vengeful ghost of a murdered gamekeeper.
Set in the secluded Margam Country Park near the coastal town of Port Talbot, Margam Castle is thought to be one of the most haunted buildings in Wales. Although called a 'castle', Margam Castle is actually an early Victorian mansion built in the Tudor Gothic style. Margam's sinister exterior brings to mind the archetypal haunted house of countless movies and accounts of seemingly supernatural happenings have been reported here for many years.
It is believed that there have been settlements on the land where Margam Castle now stands since the Bronze Age.
Not too far from the house are the remains of an abbey which was formerly a Cistercian monastery in the 1100s. The cowled forms of spectral monks have frequently been sighted roaming around the abbey ruins. The estate was owned by the Talbot family since 1536 and an earlier house had existed on the land but was demolished in 1787. In 1830 the wealthy industrialist Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot commenced work on building the current house. It was completed in 1840.
Talbot died in 1890, aged 86, and the property came into possession of his eldest daughter, Emily Charlotte Talbot, the last of the Talbots of Margam. She herself passed away in 1918 although her ghost is one of numerous spirits still believed to walk the grand halls and eerie corridors of the castle. Emily has allegedly been both seen and heard. The estate was acquired by a man named Sir David Evans-Bevan in 1942 although he didn't live there, and it was unoccupied for many years. Much of Margam's interior was destroyed when the house was gutted by fire in 1977.
As well as Emily's ghost, Margam Castle is home to a whole horde of supernatural phenomena. Mysterious glowing orbs and sudden sharp drops in temperature have been reported, along with the disembodied sounds of footsteps and giggling children. Objects are apparently moved around by unseen forces and a shadowy figure has been spotted in the nursery, as well as a White Lady on the grounds. Some say that this is the specter of a woman who once worked at the castle and killed herself when she discovered that she was pregnant.
In 1898, a man named Robert Scott, who was the gamekeeper at Margam Castle, was murdered by a poacher called Joseph Lewis. Lewis was apprehended and subsequently hanged for his crime although apparently this wasn't enough to appease the vengeful spirit of Robert Scott, whose angry ghost is alleged to still haunt the house. Scott's ghost has been witnessed ascending the main staircase and it is rumored that certain people sensitive to the supernatural have actually communicated with him.
