Watch: Creepy video captures strange figure in tunnels of Cardiff Castle

Emily Price

I’ve always said I don’t believe in ghosts. But during a visit to Cardiff Castle, something happened in the dark and eerie war time tunnels that will probably stay with me forever – and I happened to catch it all on camera.

It was the first time I had visited the stunning castle and my husband and I were the first people in line when the huge doors creaked open on a freezing February morning.

Aside from a group of visitors being led by a guide and a woman wandering around with an excitable toddler, it was quiet – although the sounds of city hustle and bustle could be heard from over the castle walls as a reminder that modern Wales had surrounded a structure dating back to the 11th century.

We took our time exploring the grand house and marvelled at the huge trebuchet, then made our way to the war time tunnels.

These chilling corridors were once used as air raid shelters during the Second World War when the people of Cardiff rushed inside for cover in fear of falling bombs.

For authentic ambience, the tunnels have low lighting and benches line the narrow corridors whilst the sound of Vera Lynn’s war time classic ‘We’ll Meet Again’ plays through speakers mounted on the walls.

As I began the long walk through the tunnels, Neville Chamberlain’s infamous radio announcement confirming Britain was at war with Germany began to play.

I pulled my phone from my pocket to capture the speech which seemed all the more haunting in the quiet of the old castle tunnels.

As I pointed my phone down the empty corridor, I wasn’t looking at my phone screen but was looking with my eyes at the darkness ahead when something came into view.

I’m not saying I believe in ghosts, but I saw something weird at @cardiff_castle early this morning. We rushed down to see if there was anything there afterwards and the corridor was empty. #paranormal #Cardiff #Castle #haunted pic.twitter.com/iTu43fCe2K

— Emily Price (@EPriceJourno) March 2, 2023

It looked like a woman, with no face.

‘She’ seemed to be wearing a grey and white dress and was in my view for just a few seconds, looking towards us briefly, then turning its featureless gaze away before completely disappearing.

After cutting the recording, my husband and I immediately made our way in the direction we saw the shape to see if there was anyone down there but the end of the corridor was empty.

When we emerged from the tunnels, the grounds were still fairly quiet with only a few visitors exploring the grassy entrance and a couple of staff members wearing their trademark Cardiff Castle fleeces.

My rational mind said it was a trick of the light or a visitor treading ever so quietly on the stone floor – but when I watched the footage back, I realised I had captured the terrifying moment on camera.

Back in the autumn, I had been making social media videos about Welsh ghost stories ready for Halloween.

I posted a TikTok about The Grey Lady of Queen Street – a grey spectre who supposedly wanders the town centre in broad daylight.

@emilyprice954♬ Spooky and scary music – LEOPARD

People claim to have seen the grey figure wander up Queen Street and pause to wave at the castle – or sometimes pass by to the River Taff where it points at the water.

When I made the video, I had never been inside the castle and wasn’t aware that so called paranormal sightings also occurred regularly in the war time tunnels.

When I posted the TikTok all those months ago, I never imagined I would become one of the people claiming to have witnessed The Grey Lady of Queen Street.

After sharing the video of my encounter in the tunnels to Twitter, a guide who used to steward the ghost tours at Cardiff Castle got in touch to tell me the what I had captured “goes along with all the stories we used to tell”.

I’m sure plenty of people who watch the footage will want to debunk it – someone on Twitter even suggested I had dressed up some of my “mates” in order to fake the footage.

Whether it was a shadow or a trick of the light I’ll never know – but whatever it was I saw inside Cardiff Castle’s tunnels, it will stay with me forever.