Grandcat having extended 'sleepover'!

meritaten

hi NotBothered! What a brilliant idea! I hadn't thought of that. would be just the thing for him. In the summer when it gets too hot I open the outhouse door and he lies on the cool metal toolchest. but I don't want to do that when its raining as the rain would just soak all inside it.
made sure he was in before putting his food down tonight!

I am so excited - DD, DGD and myself are going on a 'Ghost Tour' tomorrow evening! I cant wait.

Here is a link

http://your.caerphilly.gov.uk/llancaiachfawr/events/haunted-llancaiach

another welsh pronounciation lesson for you: clan ky yak Vow er

I have been to Llancaiach Fawr many times, but only in the daytime (my oldest son got married there) and always wanted to 'do' the ghost tour.
On our first visit there we had a bit of a spooky experience, we were in one of the rooms upstairs and it had two doors. The guide was explaining something and everyone heard footsteps from behind the other door. it sounded like heavy shoes (or even clogs) on stone steps and it stopped outside the door. my DD was right next to the door, so she opened it.....................and no-one was there! The guide just sort of smiled and shrugged and one very large man ran out of the room and we didn't see him again!

meritaten

If you aren't interested in Ghost tours then skip to last paragraph for Barnes News.

Woooooooooh - what an experience we had! it was absolutely brilliant!

ok - tour normally starts (so we were told) with a couple of stories out in the garden - but the weather was rather nasty so we went from the visitor centre straight to the Manor. the guide got one lady to knock the knocker to announce ourselves. as we (DD,DGD and myself) entered the Manor we almost got bowled over by a huge gust of wind coming down the narrow stairs to our left. assumed it was a draught - two minutes later the guide says 'but this part of the house has been draughtproofed!' so five of us all piped up 'So what was that draught from the stairs when we came in?' just the first five of us - the others felt nothing. the guide tells us that those stairs don't go anywhere - they have been blocked up! so no doors or windows to cause a draught! wow, what a start to the tour! we all were standing in the pitch dark and everyone heard random bangs and thumps coming from upstairs. we went through to the end of the house to go down into the cellar. I was at the back of the group with DD and DGD, and couldn't concentrate as someone was blowing on the back of my neck. I turned to DGD and whispered 'are you puffing on my neck'? 'No' she says and she is stood at the side of me, so I switch my torch on and there is nobody behind me! the guide shuts up and everyone looks at me.......................then there are metallic taps coming from the other end of the cellar! we go back up the stairs to the Servants Hall. oh boy - the EMF meters are going crazy in there and I think my eyes are playing tricks on me. The air keeps going 'hazy' and 'shifting' and I can 'feel' people behind me and I saw an orb go behind the guide and DGS whispers 'did you see that?' we don't know it then, but DD sees a pair of Boots standing right beside the guide! she is aware of me and DGS whispering so can pinpoint the exact moment.

we then go into the Kitchen and I am standing opposite the doorway to the Servants Hall and keep catching movement in there out of the corner of my eye.
In what used to be the previous owners sitting room the whole group kept seeing orange light passing the window - which looks out onto the orchard and fields............no roads, no footpath nothing! but, in the old days there used to be a path to the barn there!
we go up the main staircase (there are lots of staircases in the manor - mainly narrow ones in the walls).now we are in the Great Hall which doubled up as the local Magistrates court back in Tudor times. some of the group sit on the benches near the back wall - we are sat with one empty bench behind us and two or three benches in front of us. I whisper to DD 'are your feet getting cold?' now bear in mind we have been told that the temperature in the house is fairly constant. I am wearing boots and socks too. as she replies Yes there is a startled yelp from behind us and as we turn to look a curtain covering a doorway suddenly billows out into the room and it gets freezing up to our bums! the people on the back wall hurriedly relocate to the bench behind us! then say its even colder there. The yelp was caused by all three of them feeling the draught of someone passing in front of them to enter the curtain covered doorway! we all do a little experiment feeling the temperature difference at calf hight and higher up - its freezing near our feet and normal above the waist! EMF meters going crazy again! I am not liking this room much! I feel like an intruder.

we leave that room (by the way it has about 5 or 6 doorways in it!)go up another level and enter the 'Armoury'. the EMF meters go off again! guide is talking about how people can hear voices in this room coming from down the hallway in the far bedroom (Matties Room). asks for two volunteers to spend five minutes locked in there! my hand shoots straight up. as we leave the other guide is saying that women don't like the armoury as sometimes they get attacked - and we can hear a commotion as we go down into the far bedroom. the guide is supposed to stay outside the door but she left to go investigate the armoury. me and this young girl are sat in this bedroom and its warm, calm and peaceful. the EMF meter is steady and I know there is no one there.
the others leave the armoury and join us in 'Matties Room'. I report that there has been no activity (in fact I would have happily stayed in there on my own - all night!). then the EMFs go off again and we hear like mutterings coming from the Armoury. and I find out that the 'commotion' was my DGD, as soon as I left the room she had the horrible sensation of being choked! I had taken the precaution of hanging a pentacle pendant from the side of my shoulder bag and she had been standing on that side of me. apparently more than a few women have had that happen to them in THAT room.
We leave that room and go into a smaller bedroom to hear about 'the young boy' apparently he likes to leave with visitors! I don't hear much of what the guide is saying as I have my back to the doorway and I can feel 'movement' behind me! constantly! l keep turning round, then realise that DD is doing the same thing at the same time. Yes, she can sense movement too, and the EMF meter nearest the door keeps spiking but the other one is just static.
we make our way downstairs to go back into the Great Hall and this room is COLD! I find the doorways distracting as we all can hear noises from beyond them, muffled voices, thuds and taps. we then go down main staircase to leave and we can all hear like a tuneless whistle (some of us have heard it off and on all night).

Its been a brilliant tour - far exceeded our expections! I think I may have left out a few details though.
not over yet...................

When we get in the car I can smell this perfume I had been smelling off and on all evening. I ask DD and DGD if they are wearing perfume. Negative - its like a natural scent not modern perfume. like an old fashioned pot pourri. we laugh, wind the windows down and tell 'whomever' to please stay home!

Get back to my house and DD and DGd come in for a cuppa. Barnes greets us at the door and I go into kitchen to make coffee and hot chocolate (OH isn't in he has gone out with the lads from work). DD and DGD go in dining room to chat to me through kitchen hatch and Barnes goes through into living room - then stops dead in his tracks and his head turns from side to side as if he is watching something - we are all staring at Barnes and he suddenly swipes at thin air and runs back into dining room and hides under the table. OH OH! I get out an incense stick and 'smudge' downstairs. Barnes comes out when we all sit down with our drinks and happily goes up on back of settee for a nap! DD thinks 'something' came back with us. When I am alone tomorrow I will cleanse the whole house.

meritaten

Barnes wouldn't leave my side all night! he even came in bathroom with me and didn't use litter tray, just sat by me!
I got up early as I didn't have a good nights sleep (but that was probably because of OH who must have got up half a dozen times!!!! ) and Barnes got up with me. weather was foul, so he hasn't been out today - even for Wales its been tipping it down!
OH got up and went over town, and I smudged the house with a Sandalwood incense stick closely followed by Barnes! he seemed absolutely fascinated!! With me all the way!
made me laugh as I thought of Scooby Doo only I have a CAT!
brave cat I think as he 'protected' me all night............lol.

his_missus

Hi Meri. I don't believe in the afterlife and ghosts but sometimes I catch Scrappy (Blackie did it as well) rolling and leaping about as if he's playing with another cat, makes me wonder if he's playing with the ghost of a cat. Or maybe cats have imaginary friends?


Scrappy's back home with us, much to his disgust I think. We had to prise him away from mum's gas fire (we don't have a fire only radiators) and he spent most of the afternoon staring out at the rain as if to say "It wasn't raining at Grandma's" the little comic!

meritaten

his_missus wrote: »

Hi Meri. I don't believe in the afterlife and ghosts but sometimes I catch Scrappy (Blackie did it as well) rolling and leaping about as if he's playing with another cat, makes me wonder if he's playing with the ghost of a cat. Or maybe cats have imaginary friends?


Scrappy's back home with us, much to his disgust I think. We had to prise him away from mum's gas fire (we don't have a fire only radiators) and he spent most of the afternoon staring out at the rain as if to say "It wasn't raining at Grandma's" the little comic!

That's ok his missus - that's why I said to skip to last paragraph for those unbelievers and not interested!
I think most cat owners will have seen this sort of behaviour in their cat.but, in the time I have owned him, I had never seen him do this - perhaps because I keep the house 'ghost-free'!lol

Well the little sod managed to slip out the French doors yesterday and it was bucketing down! by the time I managed to get his dreamies and coax him in he looked like a drowned rat - he not only got towelled off but 'blowdried' too! he resembles an orange dandelion today!

his_missus

If I tried to blow dry any of my cats, I'd probably end up battered and scratched! My brood really don't like this wet weather at all, they're not venturing out much at all.

meritaten

well, last night I went up to bed and a minute later Barnes joined me. lovely, we had a cuddle and then ..........he started trampling all over me! I couldn't get comfortable and Barnes wasn't helping! going from my front to back and round my head and back to front..........!!! I started feeling a bit annoyed with him - then DUHHHHH! I needed painkillers! I normally take them every morning and only rarely take them at night. but I did need them, as I was in a lot of 'discomfort'.
got up, took painkillers and pottered about for about 25 mins til they 'kicked in'. went back to bed, settled down, Barnes came in and sniffed me - and went out and settled down on the landing! ROFL!
now tell me that animals DONT know when you are pain and need them!

nonnie44

Hi Meri, just catching up with all your ghost hunting and I'm petrified just reading it!! Your one brave lady, I'm much more of a wimp I'm afraid but totally fascinated by it all. So glad that whoever came home with you departed soon after :rotfl:
Poor Barnes, it doesn't sound like he enjoyed their company very much :eek: but how clever of him reminding you about your meds, who says that dogs are more intelligent

meritaten

Nonnie - I just found out they (Llancaiach Fawr), do 'Paranormal Tours'!!!
oh boy, you get to play with not just EMF meters, but DVRs and Spirit boxes and Infra red cameras! its £35 a tour - but I know now what I want - what I Really Really Want for Christmas!
I am NOT brave - to quote the film 'Ghostbusters'.......'I aint afraid of no Ghosts'! they absolutely fascinate me! I was a bit disappointed in Matties room - so was the young lady with me! we were hoping for a bit of 'communication' via the EMF meter! or a full body apparition! now that would be so COOL!
having been a spiritualist for so many years, I am really comfortable with 'Spirits'. and my granddaughters (Atrix's twins) are like Ghost Magnets! they can both see and communicate with spirit. So can DDs daughter - but not so easily as the twins.
The Manor itself is NOT scary - it has a lovely 'homely' feel to it. and although I didn't feel comfortable in the Great Hall it was more because I was female and it felt like a 'Male Domain'.

Barnes still has 'the blow dried' effect - which is making it a bit harder to groom him! but, he LOOKS gorgeous!
I am still looking for a 'shelter' for him for outside - I don't want plastic I want something in natural wood, with a nice raised floor and large door so he can lie inside and watch from his favourite viewpoint. I do wish OHs uncle Bernard was still alive - he would have made me exactly what I want.

nonnie44

Wow!! Ok so now you officially blew me away! Your a spiritualist and it's in the family, you are one very cool lady!

Certainly spoken to a few spiritualists over and years and it definitely helped me when my dad passed away. I know it's not for some people but as I say it really helped me out.

So many questions!!! However I won't annoy you about it, promise lol xx