Haunted Cardiff Royal Infirmary

Staff talks about eerie visions of an old lady in grey, as well as soldiers who have long departed. Check the link at the end of the article for a video interview with Douglass Bragg, a former plumber and skeptic who talks about his experiences at the infirmary.

THEY are visions that would have driven some to madness.

Imagine staring at a woman on a security camera filming the scene just yards ahead of you.

When you look up there is no-one there. Then the ghostly figure on the camera turns and walks away.

This was just one hair-raising experience of security guards at the iconic Cardiff Royal Infirmary, but there are many more.

The CRI stands in the city centre with stories of more than a century of history and heroism, illness and death in its walls.

It is soon to be partly demolished and reborn as a modern medical centre for the city.

But staff overseeing its later years as a largely abandoned building claim to have seen sights to make your skin crawl.

Douglas Bragg, 74, from Roath, Cardiff, said he doesn’t believe in ghosts but when he worked at the infirmary as a plumber he saw something he can’t explain.

“I had a feeling that someone was behind me,” he said.

“I turned and I saw what I thought at that time was the matron Eileen Reese. She had a grey uniform on with some sort of bonnet. Something was a bit strange about it but I turned back to what I was doing.

“Something made me turn around again and there was nothing there.

“I didn’t think much about it until the following day. I tried to find out where Eileen Reese was and she certainly wasn’t resident at the hospital that day – in fact she was on a week’s holiday. My only explanation to myself was that it was a ghost, but I don’t believe in ghosts.”

Gareth Radcliffe, 61, from Pentwyn, Cardiff, has walked the corridors of the CRI as a security officer for eight years and has heard some haunting tales.

“There are meant to be three ghosts on the main corridor – the soldier of Mametz, the grey lady and another old lady,” he said.

“Rumour has it that you don’t take a drink from the lady in grey, otherwise you’d be dead within a week.

“Every one of us has had different experiences here. I’ve been tapped twice upstairs on various floors and had my ankle grabbed.

“One of the boys – he’s about six foot, a big boy – got knocked over by something that went past him.

“Others have thought there was someone in the office with them, leaning over and throttling another person sat in the chair.

“Of course, they’ve dived in and there’s been nothing there.”

Gareth’s family has a longstanding connection to the building. The Radcliffe Shipping Company gave money for the infirmary chapel to be built and a ward carries their name. His mother later worked as a domestic on the Radcliffe ward.

Gareth added: “My mother died in the infirmary so it doesn’t put me off. The building doesn’t frighten me, I’ll go anywhere. I don’t think she’d let anything happen to me.”

However, other hardened medical professionals have been troubled to the point of calling in an exorcist, Gareth said.

“In pathology, they had an exorcism about eight or nine years ago,” he said. “They work in pathology so they’re not frightened of ghosts, but they called the police in for an exorcism. For them to work in pathology and not to want to go back up there they’ve got to have seen something pretty terrible that really frightened them.”

Father Roy Doxey, who has been vicar of nearby St German’s Church for the past 12 years, said: “A ghost comes back to try to connect to something in its life, or with something it has an affection for. The ones that do come back are mostly benign spirits, they come back for various reasons. As Christians we would want that soul to move on.”

Another security man who has had a disturbing experience is Gareth Owen, 64, from Pontypridd.

“Sometime last year I was monitoring the cameras here and something caught my eye,” he said.

“A figure went into the security office 10 to 12 yards from me. Knowing the security officer was out on patrol I thought it was a bit strange.

“Five or 10 minutes later I saw the figure coming back out of the office.

“According to the camera, that figure passed me but in front of me there was no-one. It was a lady, who wouldn’t have been in the security office in the first place.

“She was dressed very smartly, but I wouldn’t say it was in this era but from quite a few years ago.”

The mysterious woman seen by both Douglas and Gareth Owen could be a former matron, whose portrait used to hang in the infirmary.

Elizabeth Bragg, 70, who worked at CRI between 1988 and 1995 as a clerical officer based in the X-ray, casualty and MRI departments, said: “There was a painting about the size of a chimney breast and it was of a sister in the old-fashioned bonnet, the big long cape and white starched apron.

“She was tending an injured solider and judging from his uniform it was sometime around the Crimea War.

“As you walked in, there was this glorious feeling and she was just our grey lady and anyone who’s seen her I think has had a blessing.

“As long as the infirmary exists she will be there because of the way she cared.”

According to Stephen Harris, director of development at CRI, the painting was a well known oil painting of an army commander and matron at the bedside of soldier.

It was donated to the wounded soldier’s regiment in England on the condition that they renovated it.

Full source: WalesOnline