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'Spontaneous Case - Paranormal phenomena that occur in everyday life, unsought and unexpected'.
Is Penmon Priory haunted? 'Joan' a visitor to Anglesey certainly thinks so.
"In 1980 I was with my husband and two boys on holiday on Anglesey. One evening at dusk, we visited Penmon Priory near Beaumaris. We had visited the church, the well and my husband led the way to the old stone priory which was open to visitors.
He suddenly looked at me with a very surprised expression on his face and said "did you see that?" I replied "see what?" he said "that Nun - she bent down, looked at me and walked into the priory".
Puzzled, we walked towards the building and walked in. There are only two rooms, we didn't see her in the first so we walked through to the back room only to find that she had completely vanished!
Later on that evening, we spoke to the keeper about my husband's experience and he asked him to describe her. He described her in detail to which the man replied "Oh I've seen her a few times around here. When I'm walking the dog at night, I sometimes feel someone tapping me on the shoulder when I'm out at night. Often the church bells ring during the night by themselves."
It was at this point that we realised that he had indeed seen a ghost.
When we were driving away from the grounds, the car kept stuttering and stalling until we were out of sight of the priory. The car was brand new and had been running fine up until that point and was fine afterwards.
My husband was never one to invent stories so I believed him straight away. I didn't believe in ghosts back then but I sure do now!"
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I love these kind of stories, or 'spontaneous cases' as they are called, when people are just going about their daily business without a mere thought of the paranormal and then witness something profound.
It is interesting that the experient actually thought he saw a nun. It appears to be a very fleeting visual description and it did happen over 20 years ago.
Thinking rationally; could he have been mistaken, why did he think she was a nun, there was no mention that they had described a nun to the keeper or that she was wearing a nuns habit or uniform in this narrative.
Maybe another visitor was present around the building. The old stone priory is a small ruin, so it doesn't take you long to get around the rooms, making it round in just a few seconds or so. And a pigeon couldn't be mistaken for a nun, surely? Unless she is really ugly! ;)
Also the light was fading it was dusk so he may have misinterpreted what he saw. But, church bells do not ring by themselves unless someone wanted to have a good ole yank in the middle of the night. The car misfiring may have a more down to earth explanation (dirty petrol).
Maybe another visitor was present around the building. The old stone priory is a small ruin, so it doesn't take you long to get around the rooms, making it round in just a few seconds or so. And a pigeon couldn't be mistaken for a nun, surely? Unless she is really ugly! ;)
Also the light was fading it was dusk so he may have misinterpreted what he saw. But, church bells do not ring by themselves unless someone wanted to have a good ole yank in the middle of the night. The car misfiring may have a more down to earth explanation (dirty petrol).
I have been to Penmon priory, it is a very tranquil and still place, so you may notice if anyone is around quite easily. This reminds me of a time when I was visiting Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, one busy summer afternoon, the paranormal was far from my mind; I had gone into the old mill area, nobody was in there only me, I entered the middle section and I thought I saw a man wearing a leather waist coat, he was bending down doing something on the floor, I only saw him for a split second, it was a cross between seeing something and a hallucination, it was very odd. Maybe my eyes and brain had done the window dressing for that location. Same applies to this story.
On researching the priory further, it is Augustinian and there could well have been Augustinian nuns staying there at some point in history. A believer would say, 'the nun looked at the husband, this could not be a residual type haunting as there was visual interaction'. There could be a logical explanation though of course and there doesn't appear to be any other related incidences at the priory apart from what the keeper had experienced too.
Footnote: Witness testimony
Retelling old experiences can lead to confabulation, the experiencer should immediately record or write down exactly what they saw. Getting a witness soon after their experience is important (paranormal investigators)
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