The Castle of Good Hope. And Ghosts

The Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town, South Africa was built in the 17th century by the Dutch East India Company. It’s the country’s oldest colonial building, originally serving as a replenishment station for ships passing the treacherous waters of the Cape.

The first reported paranormal occurrence was when the apparition of a tall gentleman was seen in 1915 on one of the castles’ ramparts. The man wasn’t seen again until 1947, when he was seen on a regular basis over a two week period. He would be seen jumping off the side of one of the castle walls, and walking between the bastions Leerdam and Oranje.

One of the most popular stories associated with the Castle is of the former governor Pieter Gysbert van Noodt. He died on 23 April 1728, the same day he had sentenced to death seven soldiers who were caught attempting to desert the military. It’s believed one of the soldiers placed a curse on him and demanded he came to watch the execution, which he didn’t. Later that day, Van Noodt was found dead slouched over his desk with a look of terror on his face.

Another famous haunting is of the Lady in Grey. She has been witnessed running through the castle holding her face and crying hysterically. However, since a woman’s body was found during recent excavations her ghost hasn’t been reported.

Sometime in the 1700’s, a soldier was found hanging from the bell rope in the bell tower, which overlooks the entrance to the castle. After his death, the bell tower was sealed off however; to this day the bell has been known to strike off its own accord. There’s also the ghost of a black dog who has been known to pounce on unsuspecting visitors, then simply vanish into thin air.

It has been said that Lady Anne’s five year residence at the Cape was too short to warrant her haunting the place. However, the quantity of writing and drawings that she produced, to record her stay, shows that she found the Cape fascinating. It was probably a high point in her life, especially as she had quite recently married her younger husband.

She had the chance to travel in the interior, which was wilder then, and she recorded the herds of antelope such as bontebok, and other animals, which she saw on her journeys. As a matter of fact, records show that lions were common even near Cape Town at least as late as 1801, while Lady Anne resided there. Improvements in firearms during the early nineteenth century made lion hunting much safer, and led to the extinction of the local race of lions about forty years later. Leopards are still found in mountain ranges even within sight of Cape Town, and wild elephants are still found in the Eastern Province of the Cape.

A large black hound also haunts the castle, leaping at visitors but vanishing at the last instant. In the Buren bastion, lights are switched on and off without human assistance. Near the guard room, the voices of an unseen man and woman have been heard arguing. Upon investigation, only a shapeless figure was seen. The ringing of an electric bell in the guard room is connected with a suicide in the earlier part of the twentieth century.