Tracks to the beyond and the echoes of platforms past
From mysterious figures, strange sounds, echoing footsteps, temperature changes, whispered voices to phantom trains, ghostly staff and objects being moved, our railway stations have enabled many a spooky story to be told since the early 19th century.
Wales and the borderlands have long been a land of oral storytelling, and supernatural stories are a part of the broader tradition in collecting and preserving tales of our shared culture and folklore.
The rise of the railways also coincided with a surge in spiritualism, the gothic and ghost stories. Trains, railways and their buildings were seen a symbol of modernity disrupting ancient landscapes and long-standing communities and their sense of place. They represent a liminal space of neither here nor there due to their transitionary function, spaces between life and death, past and future and known and unknowns and make ideal spaces for stories - real or not - to emerge.
With academic and community partners, we are mapping spooky stories across our network as preserving these cultural traditions, understanding our shared cultural heritage and folklore and revealing cultural layers to the physical infrastructure and landscape opens a whole new way of exploring the past and present and telling the story of our heritage.
For our Railway 200 Halloween special; we’ve looked at lots of different sources to bring together a list of the most reported haunted railways stations in Wales and borders.
If anyone has any stories they are willing to share, please get in touch via Contact us
The top 20 most reported haunted railway stations are:
- Cardiff Central
- Llandudno Junction
- Bangor
- Caerphilly
- Barmouth
- Llanelli
- Shrewsbury
- Machynlleth
- Abergavenny
- Penarth
- Holyhead
- Conwy
- Hereford
- Bettws-y-Coed
- Aberystwyth
- Porthmadog
- Rhyl
- Blaenau Ffestiniog
- Chester
- Talyllyn
