Castel-A-Mare

Castel-A-Mare, scene of a spectacular haunting in the early twentieth century, was a three-story residence located in rural Devon, near Torkay, England. Suspecting a haunting situation, in 1917 the owner cooperated with a group of Spiritualists in an investigation of the house. A female medium was engaged and Violet Tweedale (1862-1936), a Spiritualist writer, included in the investigation party. The account left by Tweedale provides the primary surviving record of the haunting.

The investigation occurred during two sessions with the medium who entered a trance state and was seemingly possessed by the entities who were haunting the building. In the first session, a violent male entity seemed to be the person manifesting through the medium. He delivered a series of expletives and attacked one of the party, drawing blood. However, little information was received. At the second sitting, a female entity appeared, and from her a story emerged a multiple murder. It appeared that a male house guest, a doctor, went berserk and killed the master of the house and strangled his maid. During the second session, when the murderer initially manifested himself, he was driven away with an exorcism. Then the maid appeared and reenacted a drama as if having just found her dead master and then being killed herself.

Following the session, Tweedale checked the name of the master with local records but found no record of any murders. It was speculated that possibly the doctor murderer had written the death certificate and had listed the death as natural. He could have said that the maid had merely moved on. If such is the case, however, it does not explain the continued haunting by the murderer's spirit.

In 1920, Castel-A-Mare was dismantled and the land turned into a garden.

Sources:

Chard, Judy. Devon Mysteries. Bodmin: Bossiney Books, 1979.

Tweedale, Violet. Ghosts I Have Seen. London: Herbert Jenkins, n.d.