An ancient land with myth, legend and mystery, Wales has more than its fair share of ghostly goings-on. These are some of the best places in Wales to hear a hauntingly good ghost story or maybe even see an apparition for yourself!
The route starts from the Tommy Cooper statue in the car park by Caerphilly Castle. Tommy was a well known British comedian that tragically died on stage in front of millions during a live TV show. Ironically, Tommy was well known for clowning around so when he collapsed the theater audience began roaring with laughing thinking it was part of the act. The audience and viewers were greatly shocked to discover that they had just witnessed the death of Tommy. Not a ghostly tale, but a spooky one to get started with.

The Green Lady of Caerphilly Castle.
Legends say she is the spirit of Alice de la Marche of Angouleme, France, niece of Henry II, and the disgraced lover of a knight named Gruffydd the Fair. She died of a broken heart after he was hanged by her husband, Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, who was lord of the castle. Locals say that on moonlit nights she appears on the walls searching for her lost love. She is known as “the Green Lady”, perhaps because of the ivy that spills over the castle walls, or maybe she wears green because of her husband’s envy.

Llancaiach Fawr Manor.
Llancaiach Fawr Manor is a fine example of a fortified Civil War era Manor House - with the reputation of being one of the most haunted houses in Wales, if not the United Kingdom. There are reports of apparitions both inside and outside the house, as well as paranormal phenomena reported in the Visitors Centre. Apparitions include the mysterious male seen in the garden and on the road nearby, the appearance of Mattie a former housekeeper from the 19th century, said to still be in the room in which she died.

Quakers Yard.
Not a spooky tale here but an interesting fact for any boxing fans. One of the most famous British boxers of all time, Jimmy Wilde (1892–1969) was born at Quakers Yard. Wilde earned various nicknames one of them being: ‘Ghost with the Hammer in His Hand’ due to his bludgeoning punching power. (see the spooky link ) He fought 864 contests and lost on only 4 occasions. He was flyweight champion of the world from 1916 to 1921.

Pontypridd Old Bridge.
Folklore says that many years ago, spirits bade people to find and dispose of treasures into rivers, and there are many accounts of this from around Wales. Two such individuals found themselves tasked with such a deed in Pontypridd. However, they did not throw the money into the river as requested. The angry spirits beat them and pushed then into the river as punishment. It was only after they fulfilled the task properly a second time that they were given any peace!

Now the route heads over the Rhigos mountain road with a deep valley to your left and a towering rock face on your right, the views are breathtaking as you climb to the top. What goes up must come down and the descent is equally as beautiful with a couple of hairpin bends thrown in for free. Towards the bottom you will see Zip World Tower.

Zip World Tower.
Zip World are an adventure company whose main aim is to scare the living daylights out of you with their zip-line rides. Hundreds of years of coal mining and tunnelling further and further into the Earth has resulted in the unthinkable at Zip World Tower - a horrifying underworld has been disturbed, unleashing what lies below. The adrenaline-fuelled attraction at the former Tower Colliery site is getting a spooky upgrade this Halloween 2022 with its Monsters of the Mine after-dark event. You can ride the world’s fastest seated zip line, which if it wasn’t scary already, will be even more so!

Dinas Rock.
Dinas Rock is a huge, magnificent rockface said to contain a secret chamber filled with priceless gemstones and precious metals. The treasure is guarded by a sleeping army of King Arthur’s knights. A bell close to the entrance awakens the Knights if you enter – leading to disastrous consequences. A short 5 minute walk from here takes you to the to Sychryd Waterfall and the possible entrance!

Coelbren Roman Fort.
The ghost footprint of Coelbren Roman Fort is to your left as you head along Camnant Road. In outline the Coelbren fort platform and its outlying defences describe an almost perfect square with rounded corners. Excavations in the early 1900s found pottery dated to the late-1st or early-2nd centuries.

Henrhyd Falls.
A short walk of about 30 minutes from the car park using a well made path takes you to the magical setting of the falls. Back in the 30’s a young lad jumped from the ledge behind the falls into the pool below. He hit his head on the rocks and was killed instantly. To this day, people swimming in the pool feel a hand grab at their ankle as they climb out of the pool. It’s almost 90 feet high the tallest fall in South Wales and it’s one of the only waterfalls in the UK that allows you to walk behind it! Also a Batman filming location from the Dark Knight Rises!

Craig-y-Nôs Castle.
Craig Y Nos is a Victorian Gothic castle, known as the most haunted castle in Wales and is the former estate of acclaimed 19th century opera singer, Adelina Patti – once one of the world’s most famous women! Ghost-hunters can test their stamina at one of the castle’s overnight paranormal investigation events, where you can carry out spiritual experiments throughout the night, enjoy a three course meal and enjoy a tipple at their Cross Bar. Are you brave enough to stay the night?

Sennybridge Military Road.
The Military Road is scary for reasons other than ghosts or ghouls; it’s a road across a live firing range for the British Army! It also leads to a a mock German village built to train soldiers. The FIBUA (fighting in built-up areas) village is made up of houses and farmyards, a church, a cemetery with gravestones and lots of other buildings. There are also lots of military vehicles scattered around all showing signs of heavy combat. Riding through gives you a really eerie feeling that you have just stumbled across a battlefield. Access to the village for civilians is ok as long as the Army are not using it for practice and you’ll soon find out long before you get anywhere near to it! My advice is to keep your head down and follow the saying: It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than seek permission! After leaving the village you circle around the top of the training area and head back south on the eastern side. Here you’ll pass an abandoned pub called The Drover’s Arms. This was Closed by the War Dept when they took over the Sennybridge Training Area in approx 1942. The fact that this stone building in the middle of nowhere still has its pub sign showing is in itself a little creepy!

Lunch stop.
The idyllic White Hart Inn at the junction of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal and River Caerfanell makes a very scenic setting for lunch.

Tretower Castle and Court.
Tretower Castle, built around the beginning of the 12c as a motte and bailey castle and this was probably replaced mid-century by a stone shell keep. Tretower Court is a medieval fortified manor house that evolved from the adjacent Tretower Castle site. Tretower Court is haunted by a White Lady. Some claim that this could be the ghost of Roger Vaughan's wife, the Vaughan family being owners of this site from the 14th-18th century.

A465 road.
In 2015 work began on expanding the A465 road. It had become a dangerous route, with many fatal accidents caused by speeding vehicles. A gruesome discovery was found when 62 bodies were uncovered during the work. Most of them were children between the ages of 2 and 4 and many were double burials. Wrapped in cloth, with no coffin or personal belongings and tightly packed together. The children typically would have died of a disease epidemic such as typhoid, cholera, and influenza. The disused burial ground had become so overgrown with brambles and ivy it was impossible to see. South Wales was an industrial area and full of poverty, so faced with bereavement, most folk had the additional burden of not being able to afford a burial on consecrated ground. Many desperate folks found themselves forced to use the cover of nightfall to secretly carry their dead in silence to a church yard, or as close to the church yard as possible. The only place they believed would protect their child’s innocent and pure souls from evil spirits and help them to cross over to the other side. Civil registration for deaths had not been introduced until 1837, and it seemed that the parish registers were sadly destroyed in a fire in the early 1900s so no records existed for these poor souls!
The company building the road financed a new burial in a nearby cemetery.

From here the route heads back to Caerphilly Castle.