Paranormal Lockdown UK 1.7 "Margam Castle" Review

This sprawling castle located in Port Talbot, Wales, boasts a history of over 4,000 years occupation, was the brainchild of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbott in 1840.  Though it is named a castle it is more a Tudor style Gothic mansion, which borrowed from the lead and stone of the nearby Abbey roof, founded in 1147 becoming occupied by Cistercian monks.  Associated with a curse surrounding the land as the supplies were used from here.  Ancient tribes buried their dead here.  The curse was said to be a result of the abbey's parts being used and befell the family with the son, Theodore falling from his horse and dying.  daughter, Emily owned the house until her death and made it into the glamorous place that it was.  Upon her death it passed to her nephew and was sold in 1941.

Known hauntings include dark shadow figures on the grounds and inside the castle, shadow figures on the stairs and the upper bedrooms.  As well as a negative presence throughout.  This was documented by a Scottish soldier in World War II as allied troops were sequestered there and they all reported seeing a glowing orange light on two consecutive nights.  What was exciting was that after their stint of investigation at the abbey, ruins, Nick, Rob and Katrina all saw an orange glow in one of the windows upon their return, which was captured by Rob's camera.

Katrina said she could feel the dark energy within the castle but that the abbey had a different feeling to it.  It was spiritual, there was a presence but it wasn't dark as it was inside the castle.  When they were exploring the grounds outside, Nick joked how if he lived here he would run around naked.  The deer were naked and he didn't understand why humans have to wear clothes!  Yeah okay Nick we get the picture!! Ha.  Animals have their own skin but they have their fur too as part of their 'clothing'.

At the staircase they heard loud banging coming from upstairs and also footsteps in the upstairs bedroom, but nothing was captured on camera.  A face has also been reported by people overlooking the balcony by the stairs.  Nick felt uneasy going up the stairs as he felt he would fall.  In the master bedroom where Christopher used to sleep and was later used by Emily, Katrina swore she saw an old woman getting out of a chair by the window where Emily used to sit, but again nothing was caught on film.

In the side bedroom where the soldiers were billeted, Nick used the Geoport and "help us" came through on it.  Not sure what that was an allusion to, but over the past eps this season, it's a phrase that has occurred frequently during their investigations.  Footsteps were heard on the stairs and after asking questions, Katrina asked for a number and "811" came through.  Referring to the year most likely to be around 1200 and the monastic era.  There wasn't any indication of who they were communicating with.  Nick spent night one sleeping on the stairs, a little dangerous so if he rolled over a bit too much from the camera angle at least, it seemed as if he could've fallen down, or could have been pushed off the cot bed.  He heard some banging sounds like a door closing and that was all.  Katrina slept in the bedroom.

Nick woke again to the sound of banging and heck he even forget to fix his hair like he usually does!  Then again he hasn't done much of that this series!!  Makes a change or maybe it's a Brit thing!  Ha.  When outside, they had a voice coming through saying "monks here."  The activity was more prevalent inside the house than the grounds.  They set up an experiment where the light was seen using a black box, allowing them to see through spectrums of light not visible to the naked eye.  The stick camera and Katrina also used a thermal camera.  Nothing visibly was captured but Emily and Theodore came through on the Geoport.

On night three, they used a still camera set to take photos at five second intervals, facing the stairs, as well as lasers.  A 3D mapping camera was used so that any images would be projected on the wall if anything appeared, but noting did.  Seems the ghosts were scared to show themselves.  Nick asked if they could see him and a voice replied, "yes."  On the Geoport they heard "it's Emily."  Thus confirmation they were communicating with her, even if no one else.  Katrina said she heard something outside and left the room for the balcony, but nothing was captured.  Wonder if anything did come through on the 3D mapping or not.  Guess they would've showed it if it did, but leaving the equipment and going off wasn't that good an idea, especially as they all went, since the noise could have been a distraction. Also there was an orb that flies through the left side of the light on Rob's camera and comes out the other end.

Oh and the bat, mustn't forget the bat that flew into them and Nick said the place was full of giant bats!

With a few hours remaining they checked their audio and the stills from the camera to show James the historian.  Katrina was intrigued by the voices saying "not enough" and "can't get enough" and asked him about it.  He replied that during Emily's lifetime the estate was worth £16 million and that was in 1918, however it was sold for a meagre amount.  Nick found a shadow figure was captured on one of the still images as in the next shot it disappears and it clearly looked like a head and shoulders.  They thought this could've been an elemental as they shift into other shapes and creatures.

Actually when you look at it close up it does look creepy!

With so much history surrounding the castle, it was difficult to distinguish who or what they were dealing with and Katrina explained how history seems to be converging in the castle, as the land dates back 4,000 years, so there are so many spirits surrounding it.