Heads or Tails Tuesday - Halloween

Today's Heads or Tails Tuesday theme is Halloween. So I'd like to bring you a spooky tale from the Gower Peninsula, close to my home. It's the curious tale of a demon husband, which emanates from the abandoned hamlet of Llanelen.

The earliest written records of this story appear in letters written in 1691, just a few years after the events occurred. Most people think of hauntings as being caused by dead people. However, this particular haunting was apparently caused by the apparition of a living person. A local landowner and parliamentarian, Lieutenant Colonel Bowen, owned most of the landed property in and around the hamlet of Llanelen. Bowen was exiled to Ireland, as a result of his dissipated life of wine, women and song. Whilst he was away, his Llanelen household was visited by a terrifying phenomenon.

The haunting began with numerous loud crashes and bangs, which reverberated around the house. Then, one night, Colonel Bowen himself appeared to materialise in his wife's bedroom, demanding to get into bed with her. Mrs. Bowen knew the entity was not her husband, so she refused, which infuriated the apparition. Fortunately, it did not come any closer. As she prayed, the intruder vanished. But from that night onwards, the whole household was tormented by an ungodly haunting.

Shrieks, groans and what was described as "the noise of whirlwind" permeated the residence. Mrs Bowen was horrified to see the outline of something otherwise invisible, occupying her bed. She said the sight was accompanied by a revolting odour "of a carcase some-while dead". She also described how her bedroom filled with "a thick smoak smelling like sulphur". The invisible entity also took great delight in pinching and slapping Mrs. Bowen and her household staff, leaving them battered and bruised. Whilst these events occurred, Lt Col Bowen's eerie doppelganger manifested on many occasions, taunting everyone in the house.

Despite his indiscretions, Mrs. Bowen pleaded for her husband to return, terrified by the haunting. Lt. Col. Bowen returned for a while, but the haunting continued, with the Lt. Col. apparently witnessing his own apparition. The Bowen family had enough of their uninvited guest, and fled to Ireland, abandoning their house forever.

Ironically, the unpleasant entity may have done the Bowen household a great favour. Not long afterwards, a terrible tragedy struck Llanelen, and permanently wiped out the whole community. Nothing now remains of the hamlet, save one or two small piles of rubble.