Ghostly talk at Galgorm Castle caught on tape

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Ghostly talk at Galgorm Castle caught on tape
3 March 2009
By Elinor Glynn
Ballymena Times

STORIES of ghostly goings on within the centuries-old walls of Galgorm Castle are nothing new.
In fact, many are almost as aged as the very fabric of the building itself, which dates back to 1618.

The most famous of these centres on a Dr. Colville who bought the estate about 300 years ago.

Reputed to have sold his soul to the devil for a pile of gold, his ghost is supposed to still haunt the Castle.

It is said, too, that doom will befall anyone who tries to take down his portrait which still hangs in the entrance hall.

The fact that it is still in place, may say it all for 'true believers' of the spirit world's existence, but there are others who require proof.

Enter the team from Northern Ireland's Greatest Haunts programme which, for the past six weeks, has put some of the province's most haunted buildings under the spotlight for BBC-1 NI.

Although drawn to Galgorm Castle by the story of Dr Colville, they - and viewers of the programme, which was aired last Wednesday night - got much more than they bargained for - not least the audible whisperings, thought to be those of a long-dead servant girl.

COCO Television teamed up with Paranormal Investigator/TV Presenter Andy Mathews, International Clairvoyant Medium Marion Goodfellow and the Northern Ireland Paranormal Society (N.I.P.S.) to discover just how haunted Galgorm Castle really is.

Their main aim - to deliver new scientific research and experimentation never before seen on TV to gather evidence for and against the existence of ghosts at locations of historical interest where people have had first hand experiences of the unexplained.

Viewers watched last Wednesday evening as the team used a blend of clairvoyance, historical research and an arsenal of high tech equipment in their ghostbusting experiment within the Castle.

And they seemed to succeed, apparently capturing on tape for the first time the voice of a Castle servant.

General manager at the Estate, Gary Henry told The Times: "They approached us in the middle of last year about doing the programme and were particularly interested in trying to speak to Dr Colville.

"When they started filming, they actually ended up speaking to a girl, a servant, and they also saw lights moving across a room and captured bits and pieces on camera. They certainly had a lot of machines and electrical equipment with them.

"Although they didn't get speaking to Dr Colville, the programme was very good," said Gary, who admitted he was unsurprised by its outcome.

"Dr Colville is our historical ghost but I've heard quite a number of stories over the years about ghostly servants in the castle."