Talacre is one of the most popular seaside resorts on the North Wales coast. For years, thousands of holidaymakers from all over the British Isles have flocked to the area to take in its many attractions and its wonderful sandy beach. But aside from its many tourist attractions, Talacre beach also has its resident ghost. Over the years people have reported seeing the ghost or spirit of a lighthouse keeper, he is said to haunt the Point of Ayr Lighthouse on Talacre beach.

The History

Point of Ayr is the northern most point of mainland Wales. It is situated immediately to the north of Talacre in Flintshire, at the mouth of the Dee estuary. It is the site of a RSPB nature reserve that is famed for its Sand Pipers, and is part of Gronant and Talacre Dunes. The village is probably most popular for the lighthouse on the nearby beach and the Talacre Beach Caravan Park, a short walk away from the Presthaven Sands holiday park. The lighthouse has been noted for numerous ghostly sightings, people claiming to see a figure wearing old fashioned lighthouse keeper clothes and standing in front of the glass dome on the abandoned lighthouse. The lighthouse is surrounded by water at high tide, but it can be reached easily across a broad, flat beach when the tide is low. The lighthouse has a pronounced 10-15 degree tilt towards the sea if you are facing the lighthouse from its steps, I would presume due to subsidence.

Trinity House constructed the present lighthouse in 1819 after the original lighthouse fell into the sea “It is the oldest lighthouse in Wales, It is 99ft high and when it was lit could be seen 19 miles away. A lighthouse, known officially as Point of Ayr, has stood on the site at Talacre Beach since 1776 and the first lighthouse keeper Edward Price was paid 16 guineas (£16.80) per annum to look after the light. The lighthouse once displayed two lights; the main beam, at 63 feet, shone towards Llandudno, while a secondary beam shone up the River Dee, towards the hamlet of Dawpool on the English  side of the estuary. Whilst in service, the lighthouse was painted with red and white stripes, and had a red lantern housing. It was replaced in 1883 with a metal pile lighthouse, bearing a white light, put up by order of the Corporation of Trinity House. The lighthouse has served many purposes including being a lookout post in wartime.

In 1775 two ships “The Trevor” and the “Non Pareil” ran aground near Talacre in a ferocious storm and over 200 passengers and crew perished together with a cargo of jewels, silks and spices believed to be worth £40,000.
Reports show that “beach ghouls” clubbed survivors to death and robbed their bodies which sent a shockwave through the local maritime community. Today, Talacre lighthouse it is owned by local businessman James McAllister, who bought it at auction in 1983 together with part of the beach and since then its preservation has become his passion.

There has been no shortage of ghost stories associated with this atmospheric 19^th century lighthouse. A man wearing an old fashioned dark worsted lighthouse keepers coat and hat was seen standing on the top platform by the lantern even though the lighthouse was locked and chained and no one could enter

These tall, isolated structures are natural settings for ghost stories. They are far removed from the rest of the population, their keepers could be both dedicated and eccentric, and maritime tales just seem to invite this kind of story. A lighthouse keeper’s life was fraught with danger and loneliness in some of the harshest possible environments. It was not the romantic adventure a lot of people think, it was a hard life.

Sadly, due to advances in technology, lighthouses have become mostly obsolete. Nowadays lighthouses are basically left alone for historical reasons. The only places left where lighthouses have any serious use are places where radio might not work or where the sea conditions change radically. Also, lighthouses do not necessarily have to be haunted to be good for a setting; they can be just as atmospheric on their own. So what is it about lighthouses that seem to make them ideal settings for hauntings? Lighthouses have been around for centuries

Each designed to guide ships safely through hazardous waters. They're beautiful, breathtaking and some of them are haunted. Each has its own history that makes for great ghost stories to be passed down from generation to generation. The lure of the ocean has always been a strong one. It's said that once someone gets a taste for salt water it is difficult to be more than a mile or so away from the sea. Perhaps this is the reason so many lighthouses and seaside inns have more than their fair share of ghosts and spirits. The very remoteness of a lighthouse may be comforting to the spirits of those who lost their lives on rocky reefs in stormy seas. Then again maybe the ghosts of devoted lighthouse keepers prefer to stay on even after death.

Perhaps it's the isolation or the extreme age of many of these magnificent structures. Or perhaps it's because the lighthouse keepers who are often said to be the ones haunting the buildings – lived in solitude for long periods of time, often cut off from other people for weeks, even months at a time. Perhaps this solitude leaves a shadowy imprint of their lives within the stone and mortar of these wind and wave-swept beacons.

There are many versions about the reason or heartbreak that caused Point of Ayr lighthouse at Talacre beach to become haunted. The one version that seems to crop up time and time again is that of a keeper that died of a fever or even typhoid. Visitors have even complained of feeling unwell after a visit to the lighthouse. Another story tells of the lighthouse keeper who died of a broken heart. Personally I believe both versions to be a myth that has evolved over the years, and there is certainly no evidence that it ever happened. I guess, the "hauntings" add to the lore of the lighthouse, this country's coasts are filled with lighthouses and stories of the spirits that haunt them. It is believed that many of the spirits that you come in contact with at a haunted lighthouse are the many souls who died because the lighthouse was not on. Lighthouses were often manned by their keepers and their families.

Because many of them were in isolated locations, being a lighthouse keeper was not something that all people were suited to. Others were happy for the life of solitude, and it is said that many lighthouses are haunted by the keepers themselves, who never moved on from their stations. Some of the apparitions are also thought to be wives or family members. A few good movies and several books have been made about some of the fantastic stories about hauntings in the lighthouses. They are said to be fictional, however, there are many people that will swear they are living proof that these places do have paranormal activity occurring within the fabric of their walls.

Could all of the sightings of the lighthouse keeper be what we call a residual haunting? Possibly repeating itself on some sort of time loop?  Does that ghost not even realise that you are there?  If the answer is yes to any of these, they may be witnessing what is known as a residual haunting.  Some of the most famous hauntings appear to be residual ones.

A residual haunting is a playback of a past event. The apparitions involved are not spirits; they are "recordings" of an event. I believe that this will be the first type of haunting that main stream researchers will recognise and study. There are numerous theories on how these residual hauntings come to be. Video and audio tapes capture sounds and images on a film of special material that has been oxidized or rusted.

Certain building materials, such as slate used in older castles and stone structures and iron nails used in many older buildings, have properties similar to that of the tapes.  When a traumatic event occurs or a time of heightened emotions, these materials record the event for future playback. Everything is made up of energy and energy cannot be destroyed.

The materials store the energy created by these traumatic events and plays them back at a later time. The Tower of London's ghost of Anne Boleyn and the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall are two famous examples of residual hauntings. We are not sure what causes the playback of the events, and it still remains a mystery. Is it the right weather conditions, the witness's energy or sensitivity or some type of energy release? That is the question that we as paranormal investigators are trying to answer. As I said, in a residual haunting, there is no spirit involved. This type of event is not dangerous at all so if you ever have the chance to witness one, do so without fear and enjoy it.

A life-size sculpture of a ghostly figure has now taken up permanent residence at Point of Ayr Lighthouse. The Keeper' was commissioned to represent the stories of ghostly apparitions seen by visitors on Talacre beach - even though it has not been staffed for a century. The sculpture stands at 7ft (2.10m) and is designed to create an impression in more ways than one, according to artist Angela Smith. Using sea creature shapes welded together from hundreds of highly polished stainless steel - making him rust-resistant - The Keeper reflects natural light and gaps between the shapes allows wind to blow through, creating eerie sounds.

Group Medium

This true story falls into the 'I See Dead People' category. I've never really told anyone my experiences until recently. Some of the things I am about to tell you, I realise, are a bit unbelievable. I do not expect you to find this plausible; to be quite honest, before this sequence of events, I would not have believed the story myself. But now I do not doubt the presence of ghosts or spirits….. It's hard for me to explain it, but I will try my best.

It all began when I started to hear the voices and the whispers as a young child. At first, I was certain I was losing my mind. Waking up in the middle of the night to see the full apparition of a woman sitting at the side of my bed, that incident may not sound tremendously frightening, but as a child it seemed as if I were living in a horror film. The next occurrence may very well be the most petrifying; I quietly descended the stairs in the night to get a drink of water from the kitchen, so as not to disturb my family I decided not to switch the lights on. As I drank from the glass my attention was drawn to someone or something standing to my side only a few feet away, an old man was standing hunched over with his hands behind his back standing and staring at me. I tried to remain calm, made a U-turn and returned quickly back up the stairs to the safety of my bed, I eventually fell back to sleep being emotionally exhausted from the experience.

It wasn’t scary or anything, sure it surprised and startled me at first, but it's wasn’t threatening in any way, even as a young child I never frightened easily. The next morning I got up and went to school like I always did, I remembered thinking all day about what had happened and trying to figure out if it had really happened or had it only been a dream, I couldn't get it out of my mind. But the next night brought even more bizarre events when objects in the room began to shift, changing from place to place by an unseen hand, I knew I wasn't mad. It was really happening and someone--something was causing it. I shivered a bit. This was getting really frightening now even for me. Why me? Why do they want to talk to me? Who or what are they? Then I began to see shadows come out of the walls. Stirrings in the murky dark corners of my room with smoky wisps of white mist hanging in the air just out of sight, only to vanish when I turned to view them head on, footsteps, knocking, sounds of objects dropping, soft crying and there was always the whispers. The frustrating part about the whispers was that I couldn't understand anything they would say; I was a little more patient with the gentle whispers outside my door. But, anything that was shouted at me or even the rare occasion that I would hear voices inside of my room, I would try so desperately to understand what they were saying. To this day, I still can't understand what they were trying to say. The old man was a regular visitor to my bedroom at night, I could make out some of his features, cheeks, mouth, and nose, but he never spoke, no expression or movement whatsoever. The only expression was a stone cold stare; he just stared, standing perfectly still. The woman would only appear to me occasionally, unless she came while I slept of course. Whenever I was ill lying in my sick bed this woman would appear to me as if she was nursing me back to health, never speaking, just a slight smile on her face. I found it difficult to confide in anyone, being a child the reply would probably have been 'it was just your imagination'.

They appeared to be getting more and more attached to me as time went on. I couldn't go more than a few nights without experiencing something 'unnatural'. It got to the point where I didn't even take notice of them anymore. Strange had become my normal. Then one night I just snapped and shouted out "Will you just leave me alone and go away" …I never saw or heard them again.

These were just some of the ghostly happenings I experienced over many years as a child living and growing up in a haunted house in Wrexham and because of this when I became an adult I never stopped searching for the answers to the things I had seen and heard. Reading and studying any books I could find on the subject of ghosts, spirits and demons, reading books on the occult and the paranormal in the hope of finding the answer to my question, “Just who were these people”? I found my answer, it was so simple. These disembodied spirits were once just as alive as you and I, but had since passed over. They seek desperately to communicate with the living. I discovered by researching the area that my parents house had been built on the grounds of an old dilapidated farm house that had been demolished after the couple living there had died.

Some will argue there is no such thing as ghosts. I understand those individuals may feel frightened by the thought of phantoms or spirits roaming our world. Or some individuals may just assume that ghosts or spirit entities are a bunch of silly fictional myths that are made up for the amusement of children or to frighten our friends around a camp fire with the stories of haunted houses and the evil spirits that reside in them. However, "seeing is believing," and if I had never seen the things I had seen in my lifetime, perhaps, I too would question their existence.

Spirits have been described as being benevolent, benign, or malevolent. Most spirits fall into the benevolent category. Benevolent spirits seems to want to help or protect in some way while a malevolent spirits will seek to inflict harm, such as scratching. Benign spirits or ghosts are usually indifferent to, or unaware of the living, what we call residual. Having a positive experience and avoiding having bad experiences when contacting spirits, is a matter of preparing to attract the kind of spirits you want to attract, and repelling the kind you don't want. Yet many people unknowingly create an atmosphere and environment that attracts the very opposite of what they want, or else they simply don't give any serious thought to the matter ahead of time. Spirit contact isn't something done on a whim because you're bored or want to challenge yourself with something scary.

……There is something about Talacre Lighthouse . . . perhaps it is the ghost stories . . . but this place has a haunting quality to it. Could the lighthouse really be haunted or is there a less sinister explanation? We were about to find out.

The Investigation

The Group entered the lighthouse around 9:30pm and due to the tide they would remain at the lighthouse for approximately 12 hours.

Because there is no electrical supply to the lighthouse the first thing the group performed was a base line test with their EMF detectors. We then walked around with our K2 meters; this handheld device is a special type of Electromagnetic Field (EMF) detector. An EMF detector locates and tracks energy sources, and picks up on fluctuations in electromagnetic fields in the surrounding environment. Because spirits are comprised of energy, it is believed that when an anomaly is present, it disrupts this electromagnetic field. When you experience a cold spot in a haunted house, it is because whatever spirits are present need to absorb the energy around them in order to manifest either physically or audibly. So the idea is that spirits can actually communicate with the living by disturbing the electromagnetic fields that surround the K2 device. The K2 uses a series of LED lights, green-yellow-orange-red. In previous investigation the K2’s have lit up when spirit activity was present, but only when we asked them questions. On this type of investigation the one thing you need in abundance is patience; you have to sit quietly for long periods of time taking in every sound, allowing your senses to analyse every sound you hear.

A table was set up on the ground floor and a K2 meter was placed on top, within minutes the K2 meter began lighting up through the full spectrum when a group member asked for any spirit in the lighthouse to come forward and make themselves known, the whole event was caught on video camera.

On the second floor the group decided to sit in the dark and stay silent, some sounds and noises had been heard but they couldn’t say for sure that it was anything paranormal. Later, on the same floor level one of the female investigators had her arm pulled by what she described as an unseen hand tugging on her coat sleeve. Orb photos were also caught on digital cameras throughout the lighthouse.

Our group medium brought through a gentleman who gave his name as Samuel Brooks; he described him as being a lighthouse keeper, a heavily built man with a thick dark moustache.

The group decided to ask questions, we established that Samuel was born in Gwespyr in 1791, Samuels’s wife was approximately sixteen years younger than him; he gave her maiden name as Emma Mullan. They had been married at St Cynderyn church and lived together in Llanasa although in his late fifties they had three children, the first a girl they named Mary, describing her as being a very pretty blue eyed blonde girl, the other two were boys, George and Francis who was the youngest child. Samuel used a pony and cart to travel between the lighthouse and his home in Llanasa, his wife apparently also helped with supplying oil to the working lighthouse. Samuel had worked as a coal loader at what we assumed was Mostyn Docks this was before he became a lighthouse keeper. We asked him when and how he had died. He had died of pneumonia around 1870 and was buried at St Mary’s church but unfortunately we didn’t get the village he was buried in. One of the investigators asked him who the monarch was when he was alive, he replied with William. He was then asked who the monarch was when he worked at the lighthouse, he replied with Victoria. Again one of the investigators asked him a question. What was the name of the village close to Llanasa with just three letters in its name? He paused as if thinking, then answered Cwm. We asked if any other spirits visit the lighthouse and he came back with a ‘yes’. We asked who it was and the name he gave was a Richard Hughes who sometimes came back in visitation but only occasionally Samuel disliked this fellow lighthouse keeper immensely, he gave his reasons, we have decided not to publish his reply. A male sensitive within our group had become affected by Richard who was described as being a negative energy. Richard was asked on a number of occasions to take this feeling of negativity off him, which he did eventually.

Strange as this may sound Samuel seemed to become attached or attracted to Andrea one of our female paranormal investigators because when we switched to the Ouija board in the hope of continuing our conversation with him he would only reply if Andrea asks the questions. Andrea’s middle name is Mary; she is also a blonde with blue eyes just like Samuels daughter. We believe Samuel worked at Talacre lighthouse for approximately thirteen years. Samuel was asked if he was aware that some visitors to Talacre beach had seen him standing outside the lantern room on the gantry and he replied ‘yes’ While performing a séance a woman’s voice was heard by some of the team and should have been caught on the camera’s microphone. Andrea asked if he had liked working at the lighthouse. He replied with ‘Yes’ He was asked if he liked what James McAllister had done to the lighthouse? Again he replied ‘Yes.’ She asked him if he liked the metal figure now standing outside at the top of the lighthouse. He replied with a firm and strong ‘No’

The group then moved on to try table tipping but apart from a slight vibration the table didn’t move.

A second session on the Ouija board brought a surprise for two members of our group when three close family members came through. They asked many questions and the answers they received only they would have known. This experience had affected them to such a degree that one of the team became so tearful, emotional and upset they had to leave the lighthouse in order to recover; it was a moving event that most of us that were present would never forget.

With the sun having risen and the tide ebbing again the group left the lighthouse, content with the way the night’s investigation had unfolded. 

Group members attending the Investigation

Andrea Ellis, Kate Lloyd, Amy Matthews, Daniel Mathews, Mike Griffiths, Mike Roberts, Jimmy Ellis.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. James McAllister for allowing our group into Point of Ayr Lighthouse to conduct our investigation.  We would also like to thank Mr. Simon Smith an employee of Talacre Beach Leisure Group for all the assistance he provided during our stay.