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| Hoax photo that has gone viral |
Sadly, it’s also one that will be recognised by anyone familiar with the dozens of pictures of fake ghosts circulating online.
The picture, claiming to prove the existence of the ghost of a young woman who has haunted Llanelly House since the 19th century, was shown to staff at Llanelli library by a “visibly excited” man.
But it wasn’t long before they spotted its uncanny resemblance to similar pictures found on the web.
Library regional manager Mark Jewell said: “The elderly gentleman came in and showed us the photograph which had been taken by his friend outside Llanelly House.
“He was in a state of excitement. He thought we would be interested in the photograph and showed it to quite a few of the staff.
“Staff have now carried out some research and found what appears to be the same image on the internet.
“It seems the gentleman may have been the victim of a hoax, as he appeared to be very genuine and excited about this.”
At first the woman in the picture was thought to be Mira Turner, a servant in the 19th century who, according to legend, haunts the house. She was buried on August 9, 1851, aged 22 – 160 years to the day the hoax picture was taken.
A spokesman for Carmarthenshire council said: “Legend has it that Mira Turner has haunted Llanelly House since killing herself by taking poison.
“She took a quantity of laudanum after stories began circulating linking her and the married butler, Charles Howell.
Llanelly House
“Sadly, Mira protested her innocence to the end.”
Different stories have circulated surrounding the exact circumstances of her death – some historians say she fell down the stairs whilst suffering the effects of the poison, others say she jumped out of the window.
Burial records for the parish show that Mira was listed as being buried on August 9,1851.
Her body lies in an unmarked grave in a nearby church but her spirit has supposedly been seen countless times in Llanelly House according to William and Benita Afan Rees from the Llanelli Historical Society.
“Different stories have been recounted over the years by people who have seen the ghost, but the most fascinating one was told by the daughter of a lady who was responsible for cleaning Llanelly House during the 1960s,” said Mr Rees.
“The daughter and her friend were waiting for the mother to finish cleaning the downstairs rooms and they wandered upstairs and got lost in the maze of rooms.
“Feeling frightened and about to panic the two young girls, who were about nine or ten years old, saw what looked like a young women in dark clothes beckoning to them to follow her.
“The frightened young girls followed the figure that disappeared into one of the rooms. “The girls found themselves at the top of the flight of stairs and ran down to explain what had happened.
“The mother told them not to worry – they must have seen the ghost of Llanelly House.”
If real, the identity of the woman in the doctored photograph remains a mystery.
But it seems her image has become a popular internet hoax. She has been pictured in front of the Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco, in Stonehenge and as far afield as Malaysia.”
Mr Jewell added: “Even though it appears the image in this photograph is not genuine, it has renewed interest in the story of the Llanelly House ghost and brought attention to the restoration work going on both there and at the library." - walesonline
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THE GHOST OF MIRA TURNER
The story of the ghost that haunts Llanelly House is well documented and describes how a young servant girl who was made pregnant by the master of the house killed herself because she feared the shame that would be brought on her and her family. One story describes how she threw herself down the stairs whilst the other story relates how she threw herself from an upstairs window falling to the courtyard below.
Different stories have been recounted over the years by people who have seen the ghost, but the most fascinating one was told by the daughter of a lady who was responsible for cleaning Llanelly House during the 1960s. The daughter and her friend were waiting for the mother to finish cleaning the downstairs rooms and they wandered upstairs and got lost in the maze of rooms. Feeling frightened and about to panic the two young girls who were about nine or ten years old, saw what looked like a young women in dark clothes beckoning to them to follow her.
The frightened young girls followed the figure that disappeared into one of the rooms. The girls found themselves at the top of the flight of stairs and ran down to explain what had happened. The mother told them not to worry they must have seen the ghost of Llanelly House.
This was an intriguing story and all the more so when the UK Census details of 1851 show that a young servant girl called Mira Turner who had been born in Reading, Berkshire, was working as a housemaid for the Chambers family. At that time Llanelly House was divided into two parts with William Chambers Senior, his son William Chambers Junior, his wife and children living in one part and Doctor Thomas Bedlington Cook, his wife and four children living in the other part. One of the doctor’s children was also another doctor, John Kirkhouse Cook aged 37 and unmarried.
Looking through records of burials for the parish of Llanelli, Mira Turner was listed as being buried on 9 August 1851 aged 22 years. At first it was thought that Mira might have died through natural causes or one of the diseases that were prevalent at the time. Llanelli Registry Office provided a death certificate for her which revealed that she had committed suicide by taking Laudanum whilst temporarily insane. The coroner was William Bonville of Bryn Towy, near Carmarthen and the Registrar was David Arthur Davies of Llanelli.
It was common practise in the 1800s for girls who became pregnant out of wedlock to be considered insane or immoral and would have been ostracised by society.
Many young women were placed in mental institutions, or forced to seek shelter in a workhouse having no means of support because they would have lost their job. Many girls, like Mira, could not cope with this situation and killed themselves rather than face the wrath of society.
It is intriguing to consider how Mira was able to obtain the laudanum, which is not a drug that would have been readily available to a servant girl. Did one of the doctors provide the laudanum? Laudanum would have made her feel drowsy. Did she fall down the stairs or fall out of the window because the drug made her unsteady? Was she given the laudanum deliberately and was she pushed or thrown down the stairs or through the window to make it look like suicide?
It would have been unthinkable in those days for the ‘gentleman’ responsible to face up to his responsibility and his family would have ensured that no blame was attached to him. - llanelli-history.co.uk
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