Johnny the ghost

by Andrew Dexter
(Wales, uk.)

During the 1960's my family moved into a large property called 'gladstone villa' in the former mining town of 'Bargoed' which is in the south wales valleys.There was my grandparents, mr and mrs Higgs and their only daughter caroline, who is my mother. My mother got married to my dad in april 1968 but they stayed with my grandparents at gladstone villa. I was born in the august of 1969 and shortly after thats when strange things started to happen! I was still a baby when it all started but my mother told me when I was older that the phenomema started quietly in the attic. She told me that they heard a sound what sounded like someone had jumped from the attic onto the landing! When they went to see what it was they found that the hatch to the attic had been moved! whatever it was had eventually occupied itself in the main bedroom which was my grandparents room! We would hear reguler noises coming from upstairs that simply defied rational explanation like footsteps and other noises like the sound of furniture moving and the occasional loud bang! When we would go up to investigate we could find absolutely nothing that could simply be accounted for it! It would mainly occur in the evenings when we were all down stairs watching tv, and when it started one of us would turn the tv down to hear it more clearly! A family friend mrs france who would visit us most evenings was very sceptical at first when my grandmother told her that the place was haunted, she said it was the vibration coming from the traffic outside, but her belief system was soon to be challenged when it happened as she was there one night, the lights went off and on and we all knew it was no electrical fault and then mrs france knew! She got a local medium she knew to come to gladstone villa and when he arrived he asked a few questions at first. When he finally began he challenged the spirit to perform by knocking a sweeping brush on the ceiling, and sure enough the spirit responded promptly by knocking back! The medium also went into a trance but could get no name but later confirmed that there was indeed a

presence in the house! Another time a priest arrived at gladstone villa to pray and also blessed the place, and ofr a few short months it was peaceful and quiet, we thought it had gone, but it returned! this time it decided to show itself. One evening we were all watching tv when my mother just so happened to look towards the doorway and saw the figure of a monk, my grandparents and I see it at the time but later my mother described it to us, with typical brown habit complete with hood and she said she didnt see his face.years later when I was doing some research on the welsh town of bargoed I found out the place has quite a history, not only was it well known for its mining industry but there was a monestry dating back to the 17th century, and it still stands as one of the oldest buildings in the town of Bargoed,its now called the R.A.F.A it can be found on the interntet, this place too is said to be haunted and explains how my mother saw the monk. We had the ghost from 1969 to the summer of 1978 when we finally left gladstone villa, long enough for my grandmother to give the ghost a nick name, she called him 'Johnny' All the time I was there as a child growing up in the 1970's I never once ever saw it, but we all certainly heard it often enough. We were so frightened by it that we slept downstairs,..with the lights on all night! Gladstone villa was eventually turned into a hotel and is now called 'redz parc hotel' I had my 40th birthday there for old times sake, and the staff was the first ones to mention the ghost before me, then I told them of my experiences there, and they told me there have been sightings in room 5, which was my grandparents room! What I have said here is the actual truth and for those who dont believe me I defy them to stay the there, ask for room 5, redz parc hotel, Bargoed can be found on the internet and you can book on line. My family and I still remember our experiences there and would not want to go through it again!