Did the dead ironworkers return to work after dark? Can an ironworks itself be haunted? And what would you make of the sound of machinery coming to life when the works should have been silent?

In this episode of the Ghosts and Folklore of Wales podcast, we travel back to Victorian Merthyr Tydfil and one of the strangest industrial ghost stories.

In 1881, a "remarkable account" emerged from Cyfarthfa, once one of the great industrial powerhouses of Wales. A witness claimed that, after the works had fallen silent, the huge wheels began to turn, the machinery sprang into motion and the sounds of production filled the darkness.

There were no workers. No obvious source of power. Just the sounds of a working ironworks where the machinery should have been still.

And the story doesn't end there. Another local witness claimed to have heard the same mysterious sounds, while an elderly woman offered her own explanation involving the Crawshay family and their deep attachment to the works.

Was this a supernatural haunting, an echo of Cyfarthfa's industrial past, or something more easily explained? And what does it mean for a place to become haunted not by a ghostly figure, but by the work itself?

Expect Victorian ghost stories, industrial folklore, Cyfarthfa Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil, supernatural encounters, the Crawshay dynasty and one very strange tale of machinery that seemingly refused to stay silent.

Tune in now... if you dare. 👻

Until next time, nos da!

Ghosts and Folklore of Wales is a monthly podcast exploring Welsh ghost stories, folklore, strange history and forgotten accounts drawn from books, newspapers, archives and personal experiences.

Hosted by Mark Rees, a Welsh journalist and author of books including Ghosts of Wales and Paranormal Wales, each episode looks at the uncanny stories people recorded across Wales and beyond - from rural legends and Victorian sightings to odd reports that never quite settled into explanation.

New episodes four weeks.

If you’d like to support the show, you can buy me a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/markrees

Or buy a book, full list here: https://markreesonline.com/books/

YouTube Cultural Adventures:

https://www.youtube.com/@markrees

Website: https://markreesonline.com

Get in touch: https://markreesonline.com/contact/

Social media:

• Facebook
• Twitter X
• Instagram
• Bluesky
• Threads
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• Mastodon

Enjoyed the episode? Follow the podcast so you don’t miss the next Welsh ghost story and sign up to the newsletter.

Why were fairies said to steal healthy babies? What happened to the children they left behind? And could the fairy folk return at the end of your life... to steal the dead as well?

In this episode of the Ghosts and Folklore of Wales podcast, I explore one of the strangest beliefs in Celtic folklore. Alongside the familiar tales of changelings and stolen children, we'll uncover an extraordinary tradition claiming that fairies also carried away the dying, leaving one of their own behind to be buried instead.

Along the way, we'll discover the simple charms once believed to protect children from the fairy folk, compare traditions from Wales, Scotland, England and Ireland, and ask why these stories survived for so many generations.

If fairies could steal babies, why would they return at the end of someone's life to do the same again?

Coming up: Welsh folklore, fairy lore, changelings, Celtic traditions, supernatural beliefs and some truly remarkable stories from Britain and Ireland.

Tune in now... if you dare! 👻

Until next time, nos da x

Ghosts and Folklore of Wales is a monthly podcast exploring Welsh ghost stories, folklore, strange history and forgotten accounts drawn from books, newspapers, archives and personal experiences.

Hosted by Mark Rees, a Welsh journalist and author of books including Ghosts of Wales and Paranormal Wales, each episode looks at the uncanny stories people recorded across Wales and beyond - from rural legends and Victorian sightings to odd reports that never quite settled into explanation.

New episodes four weeks.

If you’d like to support the show, you can buy me a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/markrees

Or buy a book, full list here: https://markreesonline.com/books/

YouTube adventures:

https://www.youtube.com/@markrees

Website: https://markreesonline.com

Get in touch: https://markreesonline.com/contact/

Social media:

• Facebook
• Twitter X
• Instagram
• Bluesky
• Threads
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• Mastodon

Enjoyed the episode? Follow the podcast so you don’t miss the next Welsh ghost story and sign up to the newsletter.

Did a ghost haunt the grounds of Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant? Why was a man in a top hat seen walking a Monmouthshire hillside? Can a thorn bush really be haunted? And who was the Woman in White said to appear near Penallt?

In this episode of the Ghosts and Folklore of Wales podcast, I return to Monmouthshire to revisit accounts collected in the 1960s by archaeologist Stephen Clarke in his book Ghosts of Monmouth.

These are not polished ghost stories, but newspaper accounts, local recollections and odd reports gathered from across the county - from pleasure grounds above Monmouth where a top-hatted figure appears as a possible death omen, to Penallt, where a Woman in White is said to retrace the story of her own death in a vanished millpond.

We also encounter one of the more unusual entries in the archive: a hillside thorn bush linked to a tragic story, where walkers reportedly heard the sound of a crying baby coming from the branches.

Alongside these are further fragments from rural Monmouthshire in the early 20th century - apparitions, death omens, strange sightings in daylight, and personal accounts passed down through one family and recorded decades later.

There’s no neat explanation tying them together. Just a series of unsettling reports from a county where people kept noticing things they couldn’t quite account for.

Tune in now... if you dare. 👻

Ghosts and Folklore of Wales is a monthly podcast exploring Welsh ghost stories, folklore, strange history and forgotten accounts drawn from books, newspapers, archives and personal experiences.

Hosted by Mark Rees, a Welsh journalist and author of books including Ghosts of Wales and Paranormal Wales, each episode looks at the uncanny stories people recorded across Wales and beyond - from rural legends and Victorian sightings to odd reports that never quite settled into explanation.

New episodes four weeks.

If you’d like to support the show, you can buy me a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/markrees

Or buy a book, full list here: https://markreesonline.com/books/

YouTube adventures:

https://www.youtube.com/@markrees

Website: https://markreesonline.com

Get in touch: https://markreesonline.com/contact/

Social media:

• Facebook
• Twitter X
• Instagram
• Bluesky
• Threads
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• Mastodon

Enjoyed the episode? Follow the podcast so you don’t miss the next Welsh ghost story and sign up to the newsletter.