The Haunting of Les Mourains:
The Angry Wife of Castel

Guernsey folklore is packed with ghosts, strange lights, and things that go bump in stormy lanes, but every now and then a story hits closer to the bone. The haunting of Les Mourains, in the parish of Castel, isn’t just a tale of creaking corridors. It’s a story about promises, inheritance, marriage… and what happens when a vow made at a deathbed is broken.

💍 A Promise Made… and Broken

In the mid-to-late 18th century, the family living at Les Mourains was prosperous. The mistress of the house—wearer of silk dresses and manager of servants—died in childbirth. As she lay dying, she made her husband promise he would never remarry. He promised.

And then, in good time, he broke that promise. He took a second wife, and the household carried on—until the silk began to rustle.

👗 The Return of the First Wife

The haunting at Les Mourains is unlike the usual “White Lady” who wanders cliffs looking tragic. This ghost was not sad—she was furious. Servants reported the unmistakable sound of silk sweeping along the corridor floors. That rustle belonged to the true mistress of the house come back to enforce her promise.

💰 Why She Came Back

The legend becomes more compelling when you look beneath the ghost story. Her anger had roots:

• She had secured a solemn vow.
• She had two sons whose inheritance was at stake.
• A second wife threatened her children’s position.

According to one version of the legend, she made her husband vow not to remarry “while the gorse is in bloom.” She wasn’t naïve—she knew gorse blooms nearly all year in the Channel Islands. She trapped him in a promise she expected him to keep forever.

🏚️ Wind, Stone, and the Sound of Silk

Les Mourains Reimagined

Les Mourains survives—altered, renovated, adapted. Datestones around the property tell the story of the Ozanne family, marked with initials like IOZ and dates ranging through the 1700s. Guernsey’s west coast is built for ghost stories; high winds batter granite houses, and old chimneys hum. But whether the sound was silk or storm doesn’t really matter. The family believed it was her.

🚪 Banished to a Cupboard

Eventually, the haunting became intolerable. A rector was called. The solution was shockingly practical: the rector banished her into a cupboard, which was then boarded up. But the story says sounds still came from behind the boards—trapped wind, rodents, or an angry wife pacing her narrow prison? No one knows.