Spookiest places in Wales revealed

Wales has no shortage of ghost stories, from the White Lady of Oystermouth Castle to the Black Nun of Llangranog. A recent study delved into these haunted legends to rank Wales’ spookiest places.

Holiday park operator Verdant Leisure conducted the study, analysing over 6,000 datapoints to conclude the most haunted areas of Wales to visit this Halloween and beyond.

The datapoints comprised the spooky spots listed on the Haunted Locations Database and The Paranormal Database. A score was then applied to each Welsh location relative to its size and population.

Haunted history

The study revealed that Cardiff is the most haunted area in Wales to visit, with an overall spooky score of 44,652.

Home to over 1,000 listed buildings dating back through the Victorian era and Middle Ages, there’s no doubt that Cardiff has a very haunted history.

As well as hosting the Cardiff Halloween Festival, the city’s supernatural hotspots include Llandough Hospital and Cardiff Royal Infirmary, where ghostly nurses are still said to haunt the halls to this very day.

The second most haunted area in Wales is Carmarthenshire. The county is home to several haunted pubs, churches and castles, more notably Newton House.

The country house in Dinefwr Park has been featured twice on TV’s Most Haunted and is named as one of the National Trust’s most haunted properties.

Newton House offers After Dark tours led by an expert guide on which it’s common to hear “loud bangs,” and see things moving “by their own accord.”

Ghosts and ghouls

Newport is in third position if you’re in the mood to be spooked this October. Sightings suggest that Robert Fitzhamon, a bearded figure, has been spotted at the top of Newport Castle’s largest tower.

Other haunted locations in Newport to visit this Halloween include Tredegar House, still haunted by the ghost of John Morgan, as well as the Spooky Lantern Trail, a family-friendly event at The Riverfront.

Taking the final two spots, Swansea and Monmouthshire rank closely behind. Swansea is home to the aforementioned Oystermouth Castle, with a one-night-only Halloween ghost tour running this year.

Verdant Leisure CEO Mike Wilmot said: “Autumn’s a wonderful time to get away. Quieter than summer, and you get to enjoy the coziness of the weather starting to change.

“And if you’re into the spooky side of things, our long and rich history of folklore in the UK offers up some amazing locations up and down the country to choose from.”

The full analysis of the spooky study’s findings is available here.