Edmund Jones, the eighteenth century collector of Welsh apparitions, was a dissenting minister, and alongside his ghosts, fairies and hellhounds he recorded visits from angels. Two of them are from Carmarthenshire.
David Thomas lived at a place called the Pantau, between the towns of Carmarthen and Laugharne. He was, Jones says, a gifted brother who sometimes preached. One night, praying alone in a room set apart from his house, he was suddenly surrounded by a great light that swallowed the light of his candle, and in it he saw a band of angels, like children, very beautiful in bright clothing, singing in Welsh: "Pa hyd? Pa hyd? Dychwelwch feibion Adda! Pa hyd yr erlidiwch y Cristnogion duwiol?" How long, how long? Return, ye sons of Adam! How long will ye persecute the godly Christians? They went, came back, went again, and the light faded until his candle could be seen again on the table.
Rees David, a man of more than common piety, lived near Whitland. When he was dying, several religious people in the room said that they and the dying man heard angels singing. The singing came nearer and nearer as the end approached, and after he died they heard the pleasant, incomparable singing move gradually away until it was out of hearing. Wirt Sikes retold both accounts in 1880.
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