A new book suggests that South Wales is one of the most frightening places on earth ? Gareth Rogers met the author to find out if it?s true.
STORIES of ghoulish goings-on in South Wales have been serialised in a new book.
Steve Cluer, chairman of the South Wales Paranormal Research group (SWPR), has written Haunted Cardiff and the Valleys, featuring the most spine-chilling stories from across South Wales.
It included tales from places as unlikely as Companies House and Llandough Hospital.
The 30-year-old?s first interaction with the ?other side? came while he was doing a ghost tour at Llancaiach Fawr, Nelson.
He said: ?I was a bit of a sceptic, but halfway through the tour I felt a hand push against my back and it just stayed there constantly for about 10 minutes.
?That was scary and made me believe there has to be something out there.?
Steve, who lives in Brithdir, Rhymney, was born near London, but says he came to South Wales because he was fed up with the South East and that?s when his real interest in the paranormal began.
He said: ?I can remember having an interest in ghost stories when I was younger, because my parents were youth workers and they used to run trips to haunted sites occasionally.
?But when I moved to Wales I met up with some people who had a real interest in the paranormal.
?So we set up SWPR and my interest escalated from there.?
The group set up a successful website and asked people for their ghost stories and spent a lot of time visiting haunted sites. The book speaks of their experiences at places like the Maltster?s Arms in Pontypridd, and the mystery of lost treasure at Castell Coch, Tongwynlais.
The group were approached by publishers Tempus who wanted to print a book based around their experience of hauntings in South Wales.
Charity worker Steve said: ?Tempus came to us to see if we had any stories that were worth printing. We had loads.
?We were thinking about doing a book for a long time because most of the stories out there are based in England.
?We wanted to do the whole of South Wales, but in the end we concentrated on Cardiff and the Valleys. Maybe next we will do Swansea and the Valleys and then Newport and the Valleys.?
Steve said some of his favourite stories in the book are of the fabled Green Lady of Caerphilly Castle and resident ghost Mattie, who haunts Llancaiach Fawr.
Asked if he believed in ghosts, Steve, whose partner Clare is also a founder member of SWPR, said: ?I am on the believers? side of the middle ground.
?It ranges in the group from total believers to total sceptics, but some of the stories I have heard are really believable. In the book, we have spoken to all of the people involved, for a first-hand account of their stories.?
The book tells tales of other scary sightings in locations such as Pontypridd Municipal Hall and Hensol Castle, in the Vale of Glamorgan.
In tomorrow?s Echo we look at the story of the Green Lady which haunts Caerphilly Castle.
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/southwal ... _page.html
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