. Stains and carvings appeared on the walls, some in the shape of crosses and others spelling out words in Welsh. One of the words translated as 'monk'. The Gowers' son, who had Down Syndrome, claimed to see and speak to the spirit of a monk who appeared in the house. One of their daughters, staying at the farm, said she awoke one night to see a hooded figure standing over her baby's cot. You may remember this because the story made national news and Rose-Mary Gower appeared on television to discuss her experiences. Why revisit it now? Presenter Sian Eleri, a Radio 1 DJ, grew up in North Wales and was fascinated by the tale. She sets out here to discover the truth – is this really a tale of the paranormal, or could it have been an elaborate hoax? Eleri speaks to a psychologist who investigated the case at the time, and who shares his archive of recordings and interviews with the Gowers. She speaks to a BBC producer who visited the house in the 1990s and believed he felt a presence; and to Penyffordd's new owner, who thinks the ghost story is nonsense. She also speaks to two of the Gowers' daughters and, in the final episode, meets David and Rose-Mary. Unfortunately, there are no answers. Eleri wonders if David could have used his science background to make the stains appear; she asks if Rose-Mary could have made the whole thing up for attention. But she gets no further than that. And it is all filmed in the BBC Three style, which means the presenter swallows up the screen time. If you cut out the scenes of Eleri tapping away on a laptop, pinning evidence to a corkboard, driving around or){kind=link}
Sian Eleri digs into a famous Welsh ghost story, involving farm owners David and Rose-Mary Gower, but fails to uncover anything new
Everyone loves a ghost story. In the late 1990s, a farmhouse in North Wales gained notoriety as one of the most haunted houses in Britain. English couple Dr David Gower and his wife Rose-Mary moved into Penyffordd Farm in 1997. Soon they were reporting a series of strange and terrifying events, detailed in new documentary Paranormal: The Girl, The Ghost and The Gravestone (BBC Three).
Stains and carvings appeared on the walls, some in the shape of crosses and others spelling out words in Welsh. One of the words translated as “monk”. The Gowers’ son, who had Down Syndrome, claimed to see and speak to the spirit of a monk who appeared in the house. One of their daughters, staying at the farm, said she awoke one night to see a hooded figure standing over her baby’s cot.
You may remember this because the story made national news and Rose-Mary Gower appeared on television to discuss her experiences. Why revisit it now? Presenter Sian Eleri, a Radio 1 DJ, grew up in North Wales and was fascinated by the tale. She sets out here to discover the truth – is this really a tale of the paranormal, or could it have been an elaborate hoax?
Eleri speaks to a psychologist who investigated the case at the time, and who shares his archive of recordings and interviews with the Gowers. She speaks to a BBC producer who visited the house in the 1990s and believed he felt a presence; and to Penyffordd’s new owner, who thinks the ghost story is nonsense. She also speaks to two of the Gowers’ daughters and, in the final episode, meets David and Rose-Mary.