Royal Castle Hotel

Much of the reputed paranormal activity is said to occur in the autumn. The sound of a coach and horses, seemingly as if to come through the foyer where the original entrance was located, has been heard at 2am. Poltergeist-like activity and men duelling in the courtyard have also been reported here.

Update 2/2/24: Employee Danielle Frensham provided some additional details on the ghosts here. Of the phantom coach, she writes, "It was a dark and treacherous night back in 1688, and Prince William of Orange and his wife Mary were on their way to stay at The Royal Castle. As the storm raged on, William could not make it as far as Dartmouth, and instead ended up finding shelter in nearby Torbay. Mary, however, battled through the elements in her coach and horses, arriving at 2am on the dot. The approach of the stagecoach, the clattering of hooves on the cobbles and an occasional whinny can still be heard in the courtyard around Autumn time, along with 2 chimes from an invisible clock when 2am rolls around." She also talks of 'The Widow in the Window': "It is said that there is the figure of a lady who haunts our main dining room [and] sits in the window overlooking the river, watching the boats go by and waiting for her husband to return from the war. Alas, he will never come back, and so her soul can never rest. This same lady has been seen in recent years by various staff members innocently carrying out duties in the dining room after dark, and although she isn’t known to be malevolent, we’ve had salt and pepper pots flying around and a bust down the hall was cracked in two after barely missing a guest." Danielle also notes that "Rooms on the third floor are treated very respectfully by our Housekeepers, as strange things tend to happen between rooms 20 and 24, and the corridors that lead to them. The origin of this is young girl very sadly meeting her untimely death in one of those rooms, long ago before the layout stands as it is today. She was 6 years old, blonde and mischievous, but unfortunately succumbed to an illness before modern medicine ever could have saved her. She is a playful spirit, who often throws cushions off beds while our Housekeepers are servicing rooms, but always listens when told sternly 'we are very busy today, please stop.'"

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