Wales UK 2002

The graffiti ghost of Treuddyn

A phenomenon regularly takes place at Penyffordd Farm, the home of the Gower family.

All around the house in Treuddyn, near Mold, graffiti in the form of stains and carvings began materialising on the walls, on the mantelpiece, even imprinted on the lawn.

First, scrawled on the fireplace, the word "tangnefedd" appeared overnight. It is an ancient Welsh word, no longer in use, meaning religious peace. It has since disappeared, to be replaced by a cross which has mysteriously been carved on another wall.

It marked the start of a series of paranormal daubings. Life on the farm began to get very strange three years ago. Rose-Mary Gower's daughter Adrienne saw one night the spectral form of a monk shuffling about at the bottom of her bed.

Rose-Mary herself saw a shadowy figure in the garden. It now appears to share the bedroom of John-Paul, her teenage son, who thinks of him simply as a friend. John-Paul has Downs Syndrome and says he sees this monkish apparition as often as the family cat.

The Gowers call him Brother Adophus - Brother Doli for short. Recently, John-Paul saw Brother Doli in the garden patting Aslan, the family Alsatian that had died and had been buried in the garden.

Brother Doli plays pranks on visitors, appears in photographs, but it's the writing on the wall that has perplexed the Gower family most.

It is all in Welsh, and as they aren't Welsh speakers, they bought a dictionary to translate it. Recently, the words IACHAD (healing) and FFYDD (faith) have been carved into the stone.

"The carvings are amazing - we discovered no evidence of stone chippings or dust!", says Rose-Mary.

Six weeks after Aslan died the Welsh word for dog, "ci", appeared on the kitchen wall. But most of the stains and carvings are in an old hand and are religious. Rose-Mary said: "The words GWEDDI (prayer) and PADERAU (rosary) materialised before our eyes - one minute nothing was visible, the next these words were there.

"When the word CANNWYLL (candle) was photographed the word MYNACH (monk) appeared on the photo but not on the wall!"

They are the very devil to remove (Rose-Mary has tried bleach), but seem to come and go by themselves. They still appear most weeks. And it is not just on Penyffordd Farm itself.

A friend who went to stay found the word "tangnefedd" inside his computer laptop lid when he returned home. A reporter's return train ticket went missing and was found, complete with Celtic graffiti, behind the mantlepiece clock. The word "mynach" has been cut into the lawn and the "millennium" and "2000" also appeared. Watches and clocks of visitors seem to run slow.

The Gowers, and especially Rose-Mary's science-trained husband, became totally intrigued.

A film crew brought along a "sensitive", Elwyn Roberts, who sat down with a piece of paper. Automatic writing sped across the page and the paper was actually embossed with the Welsh word for joy. But Elwyn Roberts also felt he could visualise Brother Doli's dreadful fate. He saw a monk kneeling by a river, his hands raised in self-defence; a swordsman on horseback; the glint of steel; frantic and vain efforts to ward off the blows. He had the strong feeling that Brother Adolphus felt he had died far too young and had appeared to the Gowers because they were "sympathetic".

The year of his death, he said, was 1613. Carved into the lintel of the Gowers' cottage is the date 1610.They contacted a local archivist who couldn't find a nearby monastic settlement. But their home could well have lain on an ancient pilgrim route from the abbey at nearby Valle Crucis.

The early years of the 17th century were also a period of intense hatred between Protestants and Catholics.

But are the Gowers going to evict their ghostly lodger?"

The house has such a warm friendly feeling. Everbody comments on it when they come", says Rose-Mary. The Gowers emphatically deny they are hoaxing; they seem genuinely mystified. And others have witnessed the graffiti appear before their eyes.

Is there any financial gain to spinning out this monkish tale?