The Castle of Good Hope

The Castle Of Good Hope (Goede Hoop)

Building of the castle began in 1666 and was occupied in 1674. It is one of South Africa’s largest and oldest colonial buildings. The moat around the castle would fill with water from the sea at high tide. Inside the castle there are cells with a Donker Gat or black hole where there is a windowless dungeon that served as a torture chamber. During the winter floods, the water reputedly rose three foot within a minute, drowning some of the convicts that were chained to the walls. Slaves, outlaws and rebellious natives were executed within the castle for trying to escape.

The Dungeon inside the castle where prisoners drowned

Of course the castle is full of paranormal activity. A figure standing 6foot 5inches tall was seen in the battlements in 1915 and was reported again over a period of weeks in 1947. Witnesses claimed they saw the figure leap over the battlements, walking between Leerdam and Oranje bastions and leaning over the parapet looking into Darling Street. More frequently, unexplainable footsteps have been heard in the same area believed to be the steps of a guard who hung himself from the bell rope hundreds of years before and occasionally still rings the castle bell.

A large black hound reputedly haunts the castle grounds and lunges at passing people then disappears at the last second. Lights switch themselves on and off in the Buren bastion and disembodied voices of a man and woman arguing have been heard near the guard room.

In 1729, seven soldiers were unfairly and illegally condemned to death, by governor Pieter Gypsbert Van Noodt, for desertion. Just before the execution, one of those soldiers stood on the gallows and called Van Noodt to justice. That same day, Van Noodt was found dead in a chair. His apparition has been seen and heard swearing at passers by.

Another haunt for Van Noodt is the house Rust-en-vreugd, (Rest and Gladness), on Buitenkant Street. The house’s ancient past rivals that of the castle. It is reputedly the most haunted house in Cape Town and is linked to the castle by a secret passage way. The ghost of a woman has been seen looking out the upstairs window, next to a ghostly cot, watching for her seafaring lover. On the ground floor of the house, a woman has been seen wearing a long dress, floating of the floor and tapping people on the shoulder with an invisible hand. Her footsteps can also be heard.

Lady Anne Barnard is the most romantic ghost of the castle where she resided in the late eighteenth century as the colony’s first lady. She made the large hall of the kat residence into a beautiful ballroom where here transparent ghost is said to be seen when parties are being held in honor of important people.

Lady Anne Barnard who resided at the castle

When the relativity secluded Dolphin pool was restored from her own drawings and descriptions, people started to report more sightings of her. It was reported that Lady Anne bathed nude in the pool.