Welsh UFO sightings from 1880. For sightings from other years please click HERE.
PRESS
February 1880
Portmadog
The Llangollen Advertiser of February 27th 1880 reported on a ghost that wasn't:
A GHOST STORY. -For some time past the windows of a particular house in this town were now and then smashed in the night, and the door coal-tarred. No living being, in corporeal state, could be seen committing the mischief; it was, therefore, thought that it was done by some evil spirit. Some persons said, however, that the "ghost" was akin to the celebrated ghost of Pant-y-wenol, Last week this was proved to be the case, as the " ghost" was "caught" alive and well, in the form of two married women living in the neighbourhood.
PRESS
March 26th 1880
Gwynfil
A woman woke up to find see the figure of a bird on her wall and her window broken. It was believed local men had used a magic lantern to create the 'ghost'. The Cambrian News of April 30th reported:
Raising a Ghost. —John Jones, carpenter, and John Evans, blacksmith, Brynmaen, Gwynfil, were charged by Jane Jones, spinster, Tynewydd, with having maliciously broken a window at Tynewydd, and with having done injury to the extent of 10s. on the 26th March. Mr. Griffith Jones, solicitor, Aberystwyth, appeared for complainant, and Mr. Hugh Hughes. jun., Aberystwyth, for defendants.
John Jones said he lived at Canada, Gwynfil. On the 25th he met John Evans, one of the defendants, and he said "remember to come over to the place we agreed upon, Jane Jones's house. He went to send Elizabeth Herbert, and returned to defendants between one and two o'clock in the morning of the 26th, and together they went to complainant's house. They told witness to watch on the road. John Evans commenced to break the windows. After that John Jones lighted a. magic lanthern, and threw a figure on a wall inside the house."
Cross-examined by Mr. Hugh Hughes: First met John Evans near the blacksmith's shop, about three quarters of a mile from complainant's house. It was then about ten o'clock. He met Elizabeth Herbert before he saw John Evans. He took her home in about half an hour, then went to John Evans's house in another half-hour. He met the two defendants previously. They got to Evans's house about eleven o'clock. The inmates of the house had not gone to bed, and there was a light in the house. He and the other two left Evans's house between eleven and twelve, and went towards Jane Jones's house, which they reached in about an hour. The magic lantern belonged to John Evans. Hugh Herbert was petty respectable. (A laugh.)
Witness had had no conversation with him with reference to the affair. He had not told Herbert that he had met Jones of Cefngarn, at Cefngarn, and that he had insisted upon witness's going back to Plas Capel public house; neither had he said that Jones had given him (witness) beer, and wanted him to admit that John Jones, Evans, and himself had broken the window. They remained near Jane Jones's window about an hour, but they began to break the window as soon as they got to the place. There was no light in the row. Jane Jones did not come to the window, and he did not see her. He did now know whether she got up or not. After breaking the window he and his companions walked home quietly. They broke the window of the bedroom with an instrument they had from the blacksmith's shop. Re-examined: During the whole of the time witness did not see a watch or clock.
Jane Jones, the complainant, said she would not refer to the fact that a fowl was thrown down the chimney on the preceding day. On the 25th she went to bed, and fell asleep. She awoke, saw a light, and observed the figure of a bird on the bedroom wall. (Laughter.) She heard footsteps outside. She did not speak, but closed her eyes that she should not see the figure. She could not sleep afterwards. Next morning, rising about six o'clock, she saw that the window had been broken in. She left the house through the window, because she feared there was a man in another part of the house.
Jane Jones, sister of John Jones, the first witness, said that John Evans, Roderick Evans, and John Jones asked her where her brother was, and she went with them in search of him. John Evans asked, "how did you fare yesterday?" John Jones replied, "Boy, you don't mean to admit or confess?" Cross-examined: That conversation occurred after the police had been making enquiries. She was not present when there was a conversation in which a policeman took part, but she knew what the men were talking about, because something had been said to her previously about the matter. Mary Jones, sister of John Jones, Cefngarn, said that John Jones, the defendant, had a magic lantern. John Jones, Cefngarn, said he owned the house occu-pied by Jane Jones. The damage was abouut 10s. Wm. Jones, farmer and butcher, Penlone, said between one and two in the morning of the 26th he saw two men going from the direction of Jane Jones's house. This was the case for the complainant.
Mr. Hughes said it was a case of mistaken identity. He called John Evans, one of the defendants, who said he was a blacksmith, living at Brynmaen. He went to a prayer meeting and returned about eight o'clock. He then went to his father's house, and got home soon after eight. He did not go out again that night, and went to bed soon after eleven o'clock. He did not get up again until five or six next morning. John Jones, the other defendant, lodged at his (witness's) father's house. He came home that evening about eleven o'clock, went to bed, and got up about six next morning. Canadian Joaes was not there that night. Daniel Evans, John Evans's father, Elizabeth Herbert, Hugh Herbert, Roderick Evans, and John Jones, one of the defendants, were also called to corroborate the evidence as to an alibi.
At the conclusion the Bench said they were of opinion, from the evidence they had heard, that it would not be safe te convict. The case would, therefore, be dismissed.
Most of the cases I've found for 1880 revolve around the alleged Marian apparitions at Llanthony Monastery. To understand why these were immediately viewed as suspect you need a bit of context: Llanthony Monastery was run as a quasi-Benedictine Order under Father Ignatius, a well known religious eccentric who had been barred from preaching in London and forced from his curacy. His earlier attempt to eastablish a Monastery at Elm Hill in Norwich had ended in disaster, with Ignatius - Joseph Leycester Lyne (b. 1837) - owing money all over the place and the members of the Order in various levels of disgrace. Brother Stanislaus absconded with a 15 year old boy named Francis George Nobbs who "was reported to have affirmed that not only had the Superior [Ignatius] been aware of their degeneracy, but that he had condoned and encouraged it, by performing on their behalf, and in his own church, a ceremony which in itself was blasphemy and sacrilege of the most revolting kind."
The choir master, Brother Augustine, disappeared after his love letter to another 15-year-old boy, Samuel Hase, was found by the boy's mother and printed in the local newspaper. ("Sometimes on Sundays you have sat in your cassock and cotta looking so like an angel I could have worshipped you. ... Morning, noon, and night, nothing haunts me but your sweet darling face; in my very dreams I see it; in a word, I am infatuated and wretched and wish sometimes I had never seen you. I feel I could clasp you in my arms and never unfold them whilst I looked into the depths of those sweet eyes.") By the time Ignatius established Llanthony Monastery in a barn at Capel-y-Ffin in 1869 he, and his unsanctioned religious order, were infamous. In May 1880 the South Wales News reported that Ignatius was trying to raise £60,000 to recreate the grand Llanthony Abbey church. It could be seen as rather opportune that the basis for an annual pilgrimage event should soon present itself...
PRESS
Thursday August 30th
Capel-y-Ffin
In the morning at c. 9:30am 20-year-old Brother Dunstan was kneeling at a prayer desk in the church saw a 'ghostly sacrament'. ('when he saw the monstrance containing the Host appear on the altar in front of the tabernacle door.') He concluded it must be some kind of optical illusion. Later that morning Janet Owens, a c. 50-year-old lay sister and schoolmistress from Hay, had the same experience but thought the Sacrament must have been deliberately left out for some reason. When her watch finished at 11:00 she asked Brother Dunstan why the Sacrament was out, causing him to realise it had been no illusion.
Later that evening, at recreation time following Vespers, four young acolytes were playing on the adjoining 'Abbot's meadow' when at just gone eight they claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary walk towards them and disappear into a hedge. The four boys were Daniel Maguire (15 and half, son of a neighbouring famer), John Evelyn Stewart (12 and half, of Sheffield), Thomas Foord (11, of Brighton), and Joseph Chalkley (9, of London).
Johnny Stewart, one of the boys, attended the 1881 annual commemoration and Ignatius preached:
"As in the olden time, when God wanted a prophet, and chose one in little Samuel, he had now chosen one in this place in Johnny Stewart, the boy who sat before him, who was a witness of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin, and who, therefore, posseted the evidence that the agnostics desired. And, so, when God wanted to speak to the atheists of Franoe, he chose a witness in a little girl about 11 years of age. Why this was so we could not determine, but God knew his own business best. There was nothing particular about that boy that he knew of for which he should be chosen by God as a witness except that he was a monastery boy, always turning his heart towards God, but in a healthy frame of mind and body. The visions could be no fancy of his, for it was seen by eight witnesses—by himself (Father Ignatius) among them."
Saturday September 4th
Capel-y-Ffin
Members of the community congregated near the hedge where a vision of the Virgin Mary had been seen on August 30th and sang Ave Maria. The Virgin again appeared, this time accompanied by "a man unclothed save for a cloth around the loins." The couple then vanished.
Later a potion was prepared from the leaves of a rhubarb plant growing at this point of the hedge which was said to be able to heal various ills.
Wednesday September 8th
Capel-y-Ffin
Brother George said "I have seen the figure distinctly twice at the opening of the hedge." Sister Janet Owens said "I have seen the figure, too, distinctly over the green gates." Brother George's shouting alerted Brother Dunstan who was trimming the lamps for Compline. Dunstan told newspaper reporters (South Wales Daily News, 31/08/1882)
"I then looked and saw it in an exact line with where I had seen it on the previous Saturday night. We knelt in about the same place as before. It was very dark. The hedge was completely dark. Every now and then whilst we were singing a bright star would twinkle in the hedge, and then fall to the ground. We continued singing aves. I saw shadowy figures passing to and fro in the hedge. The light was very pale, not bright at all. This kept in for a long time. The grass was lit up in front of me. I had a headache. Something touched my head, and the headache was gone. As on Sunday night, the grass was dry where we knelt, but wet everywhere else. I saw the hedge lit up on the following Saturday night but I could not go out."
Brother George added: "Being very anxious to see the vision, I went into the meadow with Brother Dunstan and the boys. We sang an ave. I saw a light; it was very bright. It seemed to fill the bush. There were several lights; some burst in the middle of the hedge, some above it. I saw two figures, male and female. The female figure was draped in white; the male had waht appeared to be a cloth round the loins. The male figure held out its hands; the female figure had its hands crossed on the breast. I could not see the features of either. The male reminded me of the picture of our Lord in His baptism; the female of paintings of the Blessed Virgin. The male figure advanced towards the female figure, and as they met they vanished."
September 15th
Capel-y-Ffin
Four different people saw "the whole heavens and mountains break forth in bulging circles of light, circles pushing out from circles - the light poured upon our faces and the buildings where we stood, and in the central circle stood a most Majestic Heavenly Form, robed in flowing drapery. The Form was gigantic, but seemed to be reduced to human size as it approached. The Figure stood sideways, facing the Holy Bush. The Vision was most distinct and the details were very clear; but it was gone 'in the twinkling of an eye'. ... A few minutes after this Mr. E from Oxford and one of the boys, saw the shadowy form of the Blessed Virgin in light, by the enclosure gate with uplifted hands. This is the last of the visions vouchsafed by God's mercy to us."
PRESS
September 1880
Carnarvon
The North Wales Chronicle of September 25th 1880 reported:
CARNARVON. A 'GHOST.' —A 'ghost' has taken up its abode at this town. The story of this visitation first got abroad in this wise. A police officer received information to the effect that a certain tradesman and his wife were being 'troubled' at night by 'unearthly souuds' and 'strange lights.' It was said that one night during the Eisteddfod week a gentleman slept in the house and his experience was 'that he would not take the world for staying there again.'
The offers of the police to remain in the house at night and endeavour to capture the 'ghost,' thief, or burglar, were however rejected; as were also those of the lamplighter and extinguisher, who, in addition to his work of extinguishing the town lamps at all hours of the night, was ready to enter the 'haunted premises' and extinguish the 'strange lights' of the wandering spirit. Therefore, matters were allowed to remain as before - as far as the 'ghost' was concerned - the excitement gradually increasing until it has nearly reached a climax.
The establishment having been closed at night, crowds of people, young and old, assembled to wateh the premises. Lights, which certainly are not 'strange,' have been seen moving to and fro in the upper part of the house, and these illuminations are said to be the work of the 'ghost.' The excitement awakens the imagination, until many persons fancy they have seen the 'apparition' moving in the upper windows and assuming various forms. On Wednesday evening there were actually two hundred people located in the thoroughfare now celebrated for its ghost story, and the 'move on' of the police-constables appeared to be unheeded.
This story was disputed by the home owner, who put a notice into the October 1st 1880 edition of the North Wales Express:
THE "GHOST" IN TURF SQUARE. —Mr J. P. Jones, grocer, Bangor-street, requests us to contradict the statements published in other newspapers as to the supposed "ghost" at his house. Mr Jones is not responsible for the gossips which have been afloat regarding the "moving of hams," &c., by the ghost, as published in a local paper. The only thing which the family have complained of is a noise - a rapping noise - between one and three o'clock every morning, preventing them from sleeping.
The same statement was printed in the October 8th edition of the Llangollen Advertiser.
PRESS
October 1880
Halkyn
A 'ghost' was repearedly setting fires at a farm in Halkyn, according to the October 8th 1880 edition of the Flintshire Observer:
HALKYN. STRANGE DOINGS OF A GHOST. —Some of the people of Halkyn are much exercised at present respecting the doings of a reputed "ghost," who is said to have shown such a strong liking for fire, especially that of an incendiary character, that it has made either five or six attempts to fire the stackyard of one of the farmers in the parish. Strangely enough the ghost does not stalk forth at dead of night, the hour when ghosts are reputed to hold high revelry, but at "early morn and dewy eve," and fortunately its mischievous pranks have been each time discovered in time to prevent serious loss. Possibly in the course of a short time a charm may be found that will lay the spirit and prevent its too liberal indulgence in frolics over other people's goods.
PRESS
October 1880
Llanelly
The Cardiff Times (October 30th) and the Monmouthshire Merlin (November 5th), among others, carried a report on a pretend ghost in Llanelly:
A LLANELLY GHOST STORY. A Llanelly correspondent writes:— In Llanelly there are rumours of the appearance of a ghost at the cemetery. Sometimes a female figure was said to been seen floating in the air. On several occasions the ghost is said to have descended to the Llaueliy Park Some people were frightened; but one day last week the supposed ghost ventured rather too near a public house, known as the Star, near the Work-house. The cry was soon raised that the ghost was coming. A man at once made for the object, which was clothed in white, gave it chase, and, throwing his arms around it, carried it under a gas lamp, when the ghost" proved to be a young woman, who would seem to have been fond of a practica.1 joke at the expense of some ignorant neighbours.
PRESS
November 1880
Gower
Rumours circulated in the press that a ghost was haunting Swansea. This was soon debunked by a correspondent who claimed to be involved in the hoax, although it wasn't to the satisfaction of everybody following the case...
The South Wales Daily News of November 6th published a letter on the matter:
THE MUMBLES GHOST. TO THE EDITOR. SIR, May I ask, through your columns, why it is that the police permit some foolish and cowardly fellow to go about the roads here in the guise of a "ghost," so called? Already several youug people have been greatly frightened by his appearance after nightfall, and one poor child, I am credibly infonned, has suffered from fits in consequence. If the police are worth anything they could trace the whereabouts of this fool in one day. If they do not trouble to do so, some independent person will probably take the law into his own hand. and see whether the application of a stout stick will be of any avail in "laying this ghost," and thereby prevent what might be disastrous consequences to young and credulous people. —I am, &c, A RESIDENT. Mumbles, Nov. 3.
The Cambrian of November 19th reported:
THB GHOST. —The excitement created by the alleged nightly appearance of "the Ghost" in the various lonely and darksome places in the vicinity of the town has not subsided during the past week and crowds of persons still gather in the neighbourhood of the Graig and the upper part of the town to watch for the appearance of the apparition. The asseverations are many and emphatic that this mysterious "spirit" takes his (or her) walks abroad dressed in white, with various words emblazoned in phosphorous around the waist and on the arms, but wearing a cloak, with which he dexterously conceals his "distinguishing marks" upon the approach of the "bobby" or any suspected person.
Such are the rumours which have been curreut for many weeks past; and although the police have not yet caught a single sight of this mysterious visitant, there can, we presume, be little doubt but that some mischievous, foolish fellow has dressed himself in some fantastic costume and taken his walks abroad after dark, to the terror of women and young children. If such is the case we sincerely hope he will some night be caught in one of his escapades and the punishment we should like to see awarded him would be to hand him over to the tender mercies of some half-dozen of the mothers of the children whom he has frightened, — we will guarantee he would be unable to pursue his amusements for some few weeks at all events.
But we have good news for the timid people and the children of Swansea anent this unwelcomed visitant. He has actually taken his departure (pro tem it may only be) from the town, and arrived in Gower, for on Wednesday night he was actually seen in Port Eynon. About nine o'clock in the evening one of the substantial farmers of that village was quietly sitting in his house when bis servant boy unceremoniously rusbed in, trembling like an aspen leaf white with fear, and almost unable to speak. In a minute or two he gasped he had seen the ghost, "all in white and fire over him."
The farmer went out and found all the village in an uproar, and following the crowd, which was in eager pursuit, he saw "the spirit" run across the fields towards Overton. Some of those who were in pursuit were determined to give his majesty the ghost a warm reception could they get alongside him, for four or five shots were fired after him. He, however, escaped in the most mysterious manner over the cliffs, and was not again seen that night although many watched for his re-appearence for several hours.
The Gowerians would doubtless cool the courage of this foolish fellow could they succeed in catching him, for a good ducking in the nearest horse pond and a sound thrashing were loudly talked of. We can only hope that "the ghost" will shortly assume some tangible form, and that the police will succeed in puttiag a stop to foolish pranks which may probably produce serious consequences.
The Cambrian of November 26th reported:
"THE GHOST" IN GOWER. —A correspondent who signs himself "An Overtonian," says:— "On Saturday evening last, "the Ghost" made his second appearance at the little village of Overton. It appeared that Mr. J. Bevan, farmer, noticed some object in white apparel near his promises he immediately informed his family of what he had seen, and on hearing this his son, with two other young men, went in pursuit of the unwelcome visitor. After a while they saw him in an adjacent field. One of the party, who appeared to be a little braver than his companions, made a rush towards the hideous object.
The "ghost" led the way for a short distance, but subsequently stopped, to the great consternation of his pursuer. The latter, although terrified, had courage enough to lay hold of the monster a struggle ensued, but to the horror of the young man he found himself quite unequal to the combat. He shouted for help, but his companions instead of going to his assistance made off to the village for help and left their friend to the tender mercies of "the ghost." Having got additional help the two young men and others returned to the scene of battle but by this time "the ghost" had relinquished his hold of the young man and made off not to be seen again that night, leaving his antagonist little injured beyond a shock to his nervous system."
Another correspondent says:- On Saturday night "the ghost" was seen in the neighbourhood of Crow-Tor a lonely spot situated some distance to the west of Overton, on the road to Paviland Cave and the Worms Head, near a couple of desolate and long deserted cottages. On hearing this report three young men from the village proceeded thither, each resolved and determined to rid their country of the much dreaded monster. Arriving at the spot nothing was seen for some minutes; at last one of them saw it in an adjoin- ing field, whereupon all three rushed to the fence, where could be seen distinctly a huge monster clad in white moving across the field. One of the young men, apparently more brave than the others, pursued the object, calling on his comrades to follow.
"The ghost" led for some time, but at last faced his pursuer, who dauntlessly laid hold of him and a struggle ensued, in which the gallant young Gowerian found himself over-matched. He called aloud to his companions for help, but in vain, for one it seems was rooted to the spot almost speechless with fright, the other ran for his life to the village to get more assistance so after nearly losing a right-arm sleeve, and getting an injured left leg, and several other scars, our hero shook himself free of the, monster's clutches, and hastened towards the village where he met a large party coming to his rescue; but nothing more has been seen or heard of the ghost, except a notice which was stuck up in a public place the next morning as follows :—" Any person anyway molesting me, will be in great peril, (Signed), GHOST."
On December 1st the Cambrian published some correspondence explaining the situation:
THE GOWER "GHOST." TO THE EDITOR OF THE CAMBRIAN." SIR, —For some weeks past the public have been treated in the columns of your valuable paper to a description of "a huge monster," and which your correspondent, who signs himself "An Overtonian," calls "The Ghost." I think it right, in the interest of your too credulous readers and of the Gowerians in general, to furnish him with the facts of the case. The dreaded "monster" is quite an ordinary individual, whose hugeness and monstrosity need not alarm or frighten anyone.
The facts are simply these:- A young sailor, who has recently returned from sea, had been ordering a waterproof coat from the village tailor, and on putting on the coat it was remarked that he would make a very good "Ghost." The fame of "Spring-heel'd Jack" having reached the Goweriaus, the young sailor determined to try his fortune in this direction, and so, with his white long tailed coat and some other articles of dress, he was furnished with all that was necessary to complete his ghostly appearance. In this dress he walked home, and having succeeded in frightening some timid creatures in or near the village, the plan was originated and matured for competing with "Spring-heel'd Jack." In order to execute his plan he secured the assistance of a well-known character in the village. This then is the person who, with two others, "resolved to rid their country of the much-dreaded Ghost," and who is described by your correspondent as "rooted to the spot almost speechless with fright" from the apearance of a Ghost whom he had helped to cook. I am, Sir, yours, &c., A SWANSEA BOY WHO IS BEHIND Dec. 1, 1880. THE SCENE.
The original writer was not convinced, however, as this letter in the December 10th edition of the Cambrian shows:
THE GOWER "GHOST." TO THE EDITOR OF "THE CAMBRIAN." SIR, -The so-called facts related by your correspondent "The Swansea Boy who is behind the Scene," are not sufficient in my judgment to convince me and others that the ghost trick was entirely the caprice of a young sailor. Your correspondent is probably not aware that the ghost made two appearances in Gower. The waterproof or long-tail coat alluded to, could not have formed the covering of the ghost at his first appearance, because it can be substantially proved that on that day the material for making it was purchased.
Whether the young sailor was the acting spirit in the first appearance we leave your correspondent to conjecture it can, however, be positively asserted he was not the character who formed the second, because he was in my company when the cry for help reached the village. I would recommend your correspondent to become fully conversant with the facts of the case before attempting to enlighten the public. Although "behind the scene" he is evidently not aware of what transpired before it. All right-minded people know that it is a trick played by some one, not an experiment to obtain a fortune; but simply a joke for amusement. The Gowerians generally are not so weak minded as to believe in ghosts and goblins, whether they are represented to exist in Swansea or Gower. I am, Sir, yours respectfully, Balcony Cottage, Overton, W. GIBBS. Dec. 6th, 1880. [The correspondence on this subject must now close.]
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