For years, the students and professors of Aberystwyth University have been referring to the school as 'Welsh Hogwarts'. The building was originally designed to be a luxury Victorian hotel, but with its dramatic, gothic spires and turrets, the building can easily resemble a real life Hogwarts. 

And if the Welsh Hogwarts was not interesting enough, well, how about a real-life Professor Snape? That's right. Henry Lloyd Snape (1861-1933) taught Chemistry at the Aberystwyth University back in the day. He was even appointed Chair of Chemistry in 1888, which is basically the muggle-version of a Potions Master. Unlike the strict Potions Professor, we all know from Hogwarts, Henry Looys Snape was described as an “energetic, keen and devoted” person, who was both serious about science but also committed to literature.

Even though JK Rowling claims that Severus Snape was inspired by her own childhood Chemistry teacher, John Nettleship, who taught Rowling at Wyedean School near Chepstow, South Wales, she could have been inspired by HL Snape from Aberystwyth. Rowling herself suggests the unusual name “Snape” comes from a Suffolk village of the same name. Either way, we love the idea of a real-life Snape roaming the hallways of the old University.

“You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. . . I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.” - Severus Snape, The Philosophers' Stone. 

To top it all off, the University's look and Potions Master is not all that is magical or mysterious about the place. According to the book The College by the Sea (1928), students recall both characters and events that might come straight out of fiction. Another student mentions the college ghost, haunting the hallways of the University with its “blood-curdling cries”.

So what do you think? Could Aberystwyth University be a real-life Welsh Hogwarts and do you think JK Rowling could have been inspired by the school and its Potions Master HL Snape? Don't be afraid to share your opinion in the comments