The Dark Tower
Throughout my childhood the
Welsh Cambrian coast has always been a favourite destination for family
holidays. Many happy hours have been spent enjoying the seaside, either through
camping on family holidays or day trips on a nice sunny day during the summer.
The Welsh Mountains are still
a favourite destination of mine, as I explore the many various locations that
the Welsh countryside has to offer, whether it is on lonely mountain ridge or
moorland that is very rarely visited by the average visitor to this beautiful,
but mysterious country, or a day at the seaside taking in the sea air.
During my late teens I would
often spend a weekend up around the little village of Harlech with either
friends or family. We would spend the day exploring the area around the region
and the evenings in local pubs enjoying the hospitality of the local residents
and holiday makers, walking from the campsite to the Queens Head at the bottom
of Harlech, we would then venture up to The Castle hotel at the top in front of
the actual castle. Before returning to the campsite, the night would end at the
Red Lion, a small quaint old pub right at the very top of Harlech.
Harlech castle has to have
one of the most perfect positions for a castle, it’s every schoolboys vision of
what a castle should be, perched magnificently on a high crag of rock overlooking
the Cambrian bay, with the deep blue ocean in front and the dark welsh
mountains behind it, large drum towers built of dark grey stone on every
corner, topped with flags fluttering in the wind. The castle dominates the
local surroundings in every direction.
These cold grey towers are linked
by high stone battlements. Below the battlements are 
the first defence lines of
the castle, these lower battlements are perched on the western side on top of precipice
cliffs that dropdown to what was seven hundred years ago the coastal waters.
Down the southern end of the cliffs a serious of stone steps have been cut into
the rock, the steps defended by a wall on the outer side lead down to what was
a small harbour for ships supplying the castle from the sea. Its massive gate house
facing the only weak point of the castle towers over the small village of
Harlech.
The castle is straight out of
a child’s story book telling of days gone by. Tales of knights and fair
maidens, sieges and battles dominate the history of Harlech right up to the end
of the English civil war during the mid 1600s.
On the approach to Harlech from
the north as the coast road turns the corner giving a clear view along the
coast, a cold dark grey structure appears against the sky as a dark silhouette
perched on a precipice of rock above the Cambrian coast. Snowdon to the north,
Rhiniogs to the east and the sea to the west only the south had a manageable
approach along the coastal plain. Seen against the early morning bright sky its
silhouette dark and brooding makes the heart shudder at the sight of this
magnificent 
monument. One could imagine the castles at their peak with hoards
of knights on the battlements hurling arrows, spears and rocks at the army
attacking them. The castle would have seen throughout its history its fair
share of death destruction and misery.
As a child visiting the
castle every tower had to be climbed and every tunnel had to be explored.
Never in all the visits to
the castle have I ever experienced anything but pure fascination and joy at
what the castle has to offer, accept once!!
I was about eighteen years
old and enjoying one of those normal enjoyable bank holidays we had so much fun
on in my late teens. A couple of friends had joined my brothers and I on a trip
camping in the fields below the castle. We had a thoroughly great night the
night before spending the evenings at the local pubs. The next day, not having
a lot to do we decided to wonder around the old castle. Entering the castle
from the gatehouse over the wooden bridge we all split up to explore the
castle. Having visited the castle many times before and not really that
bothered about climbing hundred of stone steps up to the top of the towers I
made my way over to the western side of the castle overlooking the sea. Sitting
on a wooden bench and enjoying the warm sun making my face tingle and body
relaxed, I was more than happy to take in the beautiful surroundings and views
across the ocean.
After a while and now feeling
a little warm I strolled back into the shade of the castle. I then walked over
to the drum tower on the south that overlooks out towards the sea. The strange
thing was the castle appeared at this point deserted; I looked for the others
and assumed they were elsewhere in the castle. The drum tower on this corner is
roofless and devoid of all floors and furniture. In a nut shell, derelict.
It was a beautiful day
without a breath of wind and I felt absolutely relaxed by the afternoon sun and
feeling quite hot.
On entering the tower the
first thing that hit me was the darkness, looking up I could not see the sky, I
knew this wasn’t right because the tower was roofless. It was a strange
darkness, a darkness you could see through but not see anything that you knew
should be there, a world of living nightmares, which you can’t wake up from.
Cold, I felt
so cold, a coldness that makes you that rigid you can’t even shiver. A cold
that leaves your lungs gasping for air, but there is no air to gasp, a cold
that makes your skin feel that it is being torn from your flesh. I was routed
to the spot, I tried to shout but nothing came out, I tried to move but my arms
and legs felt they no longer belonged to me. The only feeling I had was fear,
the only part of the body I could move was my eyes. Looking around to try and
make sense of what was going on I could only make out strange dark shapes
against the walls. A crushing feeling of fear was now pressing down on me as if
it was trying to drive me down into the very earth I was standing on. One
thought alone now erupted in my head. I had to escape, get out of that tower,
whatever it was I was feeling I knew it was a feeling sheer despair and sadness
an emotion of absolute hopelessness. All at once power came back into my arms
and legs and I thrust with all my willpower, my entire body through the
entrance of the tower. The light erupted in my eyes and my lungs screamed for
air. Across the grass on the other side of the castle one of my brothers came
running across as I fell on the floor onto my knees. He reached down and I
could see his mouth moving but could hear no sound. Then as my senses returned
I heard him say “For God’s sake what has happened.” I was as white as a sheet
the blood had drained from my entire face, the hair on back of my neck was
rigid.
I explained to him what I had
experienced and to his credit he took it seriously.
I then said I have to go back
in and see if it what had happened would happen again, it didn’t; the tower was
once again empty and derelict with the sky clearly visible through the top.
What had made me feel absolute terror was now gone.
We left the castle and
carried on with our weekend as if nothing had happened, I had no thought of
trying to relive the moment ever again, and in fact I hardly ever mentioned it
to anyone.
About thirty years or so
later I was spending a week in Harlech at a holiday cottage with my wife and
daughter. It was late September and we had been up Betws-y-Coed doing some
walking along the swallow falls. As a treat and to save us having to cook, we
booked a table at the castle restaurant. Being late autumn with dark evenings
my daughter with the fascination of a child, asked the waitress if the castle
had any ghost stories. The waitress
accounted a story of a lady in white who had lived in the castle hundreds of
years ago. Apparently this lady had either been waiting for her loved one to
return or been separated from him. Anyway in total despair she had thrown
herself off the tower and down on to the rocks below. The lady it is alleged
haunts the tower in great sadness and despair. I quietly asked which tower and
she replied that it was the tower that juts out towards the sea. I had never mentioned the incident I had
experienced to anyone until that day and even now it’s not an experience I still
like to think about.
I have returned to the castle a few times since but I
never again had to endure that strange eerie experience
www.harlech.com
www.walesdirectory.co.uk
www.snowdoniaguide.com
www.harlech-snowdonia.co.uk