Johnny the Ghost of Bargoed.

by Andrew Dexter.
(Wales UK)

My family and lived at in large property called '' Gladstone villa'' in the former mining town of Bargoed in the South Wales valleys.

They were my parents and my maternal grandparents staying at this property throughout the 1970's.
My mother said that strange things began to occur soon after I was born in the August of 1969 and that it started in the attic.
My family were down stairs when they heard a noise like someone jumping down from the attic onto the landing, when my family went to see what was going on they saw that the hatch to the attic was moved!
It eventually occupied itself in the main bedroom which was my grandparents room and when I was old enough I began to experience it for myself.
Mostly every evening when we would all be down stairs watching TV we would hear things that simply defied rational explanation like regular footsteps walking around in the bedroom.
We would go upstairs to try to catch it out but when we got there we could find nothing that could be accounted for it.
A family friend who would come to see us mostly every night didn't believe my grandmother when she was told that the place was haunted and I still remember her going into the main bedroom, checking it out and she said that it was vibration from the traffic outside that was causing it.
He opinion was soon to change when she actually experienced it for her self, and it was then that she suggested to the family that a medium should come to the Gladstone villa.
When he arrived he asked the family a few questions and when he started to get ready he began to challenge the spirit by knocking on the ceiling to get a reaction, the spirit promptly knocked back at him!
He later when into a trance to try and make contact but he failed to get a name but he later confirmed the obvious that there was indeed a presence there and it was in fact an earthbound spirit.
A priest was also called to the property and he said a few prayers and blessed the rooms and it was quiet for a few short months, but it did return with a vengeance, this time it started to show itself.
I still remember the time, it was in the day, my mother just went over to the sofa to get something and she looked to her left and I saw the expression on her face, it was one of confusion, she later told me that she saw an old man looking into the main room from the hall way, an elderly man with white hair, I didn't see it as the door was wide open blocking my view of the hall.
We also experienced some miner poltergeist activity, I remember electrical cables being pulled and one day my grandfather coming into the main room from upstairs with a broken bottle, he said it was thrown towards him as he entered that bedroom.
There were also other sightings and incidents, like when we had my grandfathers work mate come for a visit, it was all very quiet and then all of a sudden there was a very loud bang from upstairs, so loud that my grandfathers friend ducked his head, thinking that it was going to come through, it frightened me so much that I ran to my mother!
Another occasion we saw the lights going on and off and so was the TV, we were in the bedroom at the time!
It got so frightening that we slept down stairs with the lights on!
We had the ghost for so long that my grandmother gave it a name, she called him Johnny, sometimes my grandfather would mock it by shouting ''Johnny oh'', just to get a reaction, but nothing would happen.
We left Gladstone villa in June 1978 when two local business men bought the property and it was eventually converted into a hotel and the named was changed to ''Redz parc hotel''
I had my 40th birthday there in August 2009 for old times sake and the staff told me of their own experiences before I even told them who I was.
The bar lady told me that there have been sightings in room five, and footsteps have also been heard, Johnny the Ghost is still there!
My family and I still remember our time at Gladstone villa and we occasionally still talk about our experiences, but we wouldn't want to go through all that again.
What I have said here is the truth, and I wouldn't say any of this if I couldn't back it up.
I challenge any skeptic to stay a night or two at redz parc hotel, they will most certainly question their belief system.