Meet ghostbuster Gwynedd, who has been helping the haunted for decades

A ghostbuster from Gwynedd has opened up about his career exorcising North Wales demons.

Retired Bala publisher and Llandderfel County Councilor Alvin Edwards helps people troubled by ghosts, ghouls and other things that go bump in the night.

A 79-year-old Welsh-speaking grandfather says he is sensitive to ghosts and notices them as soon as he walks into a haunted building.

Dismissing the idea that ghosts are only found in creepy old houses, cemeteries and castle dungeons, he says you’re likely to encounter them anywhere from a modern council house to a chip shop.

Alvin began honing his psychic skills about 40 years ago after his first ghostly encounter while helping to clear a house in Bali with his wife, Elinor, and another man.

The Gwynedd councilor of Llandderfell described this strange encounter.

“We went to this old five-bedroom house in Bala to clear the house, a man I met who lived in the house told me there was something wrong.

“But I understood as soon as I walked in. I felt something strange in the house.

“It was cold, the wind blew on my neck, the hair on my neck and arms started to stand up on my arms.

“We heard a loud bang from the upstairs room and it continued but there was nothing there, then the temperature changed but there was no heating and we kept smelling a really weird smell.

“There was a spiritual energy there. I knew.”

After his first experience, he met a famous psychic from Pen Llyn named Alvin Roberts, who took him under his wing.

“I went everywhere with Alvin, to places where people had problems with alcohol.

“Alvin saw right away that I was psychic and he helped me develop my abilities so that I could then go out and help people.

“He showed me how to make contact with the spirit world, hypnotized me four or five times, taught me how to enter a deep trance and channel the spirit through my body.”

“I can really feel the spirits taking over my body, I can see them right there, with your third eye you can see them as easily as daytime, just standing there.

“But today I can control them whether I want them there or not.

“Everyone has a spirit guide who can help you develop your psychic abilities, mine is a high priest from Greece a couple of thousand years ago named Darkon.

“One evening I asked Alvin, ‘I’d like to meet my spirit guide,’ and was amazed when suddenly a very large dark-skinned man was standing next to him.

“I spoke to him in English and Welsh and then the Greek words came into my head. Although we spoke a different language, we could communicate.

“He remembered many words, and then he said aloud another name that sounded like Appolonio, then I remembered how my mother had said that a woman had been rescued from the sea in a shipwreck at Pen Llyn, which had a Greek name, and spoke about our ancestor.”

Alvin says he uses his spirit guide to help when he visits homes as an exorcist.

“I’ll get a call to report that someone is scared or disturbed by ghostly goings-on in their home

“Ghosts are often attracted to people who don’t know they’re psychic, but they’re also attracted to people who are depressed,” he said.

“It’s not always a spirit problem, but I know right away if it is.

Sometimes there’s nothing there at all, but if there usually is, there’ll be a story of things like doors opening and closing by themselves, or rooms getting hot and cold, lights flickering on and off, and smells, sometimes it’s a nice sweet smell, sometimes it’s something terrible.”

When he first arrives at a haunted house, Alvin always starts his exorcism with a drink!

“I go to the house and we have a cup of tea, first I get a feel for the place and the people, then I ask my spirit guide to make sure nothing happens to hurt anyone, and I go into a deep trance.

“Before, I only saw what was happening in the spirit world, I was lost deep in it, and the spirits took me over, their voices and actions echoed through me.

“Once I sent a monk, I saw a monastery, I saw flames, it was being burned, and there was a massacre, I heard the name of one of the monks and saw him being hanged.

“I actually felt him suffocate, it was horrible so I stopped doing it, it was probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever experienced.

“Now I use a different trance where I can see what is happening in the spirit world and in this world at the same time. I have more control.”

He continued: “The spirits tell me what happened to them, I usually get their names right, usually a name, in any case, they’ll tell me if they’ve been in a car accident or died suddenly.

“Suddenly dead are those who don’t always realize they’re dead, they’re in a dark place, they can’t move on, but I help them move on.

“When they are gone, the house looks completely different, but in some places I sometimes have to go for a long time, from 18 months to two years, because when one spirit leaves, another appears, usually it is someone in the house, someone’s energy to which they are attracted.”

Alvin advises anyone troubled by spirits to know that they can always ask their spirit guide to protect them.

“You can always tell them to give up,” he said.

“Just ask your spirit guide for protection and help, just talk to yourself and the guide will hear you.

“Ghosts know they can contact some people more easily than others, but you can always block them.”

Speaking about the skepticism he faced, Alvin said: “Yes, it’s a job to get people to understand, it’s very real for a lot of people.

“Some people are afraid to talk about ghosts because they think people will think they’re bloody crazy, it’s a challenge to make people understand.

“I have seen the wife seeing spirits and the husband being skeptical and he thinks the wife is losing the plot.

“Ghosts can appear anywhere, not just in old houses, they’re just as likely to be found in a modern council house or a chip shop, they’re everywhere and anywhere.”

For those interested in learning more about the spirit world, Elwyn has written two books, one called Ysbridion (The Spirits) and the other Byd Yr Ysbridion (The Spirit World).

Alvin worked for the Welsh publishing company Barddas for around 30 years, as well as the Welsh Bookshop in Bala. He is married to Elinor and has two children and three grandchildren.