Ghosts of Wales: Accounts from the Victorian Archives

Ghosts of Wales: Accounts from the Victorian Archives gathers more than 50 reported cases from Wales between 1837 and 1901, drawing on the period’s newspapers and archival records. The collection shows how ghost stories entered public life during the Victorian era, when accounts of apparitions and séances could become headline news.

The reports range from a two-headed phantom and a spectral locomotive to chilling prophecies, alleged hauntings and stories that prompted families to fear for their safety. Some accounts were linked to disturbances at work, including miners reportedly abandoning their jobs, while others invite suspicion as clever hoaxes. Together, these testimonies present Victorian Wales through its press narratives, local anxieties and competing attempts to explain the uncanny.