Haunted Britain and Ireland

by Derek Acorah

  The River Inn Lounge Bar, 38 Shipquay Street, Londonderry, Co. Londonderry BT48 6DW; Tel:028 7137 1965

  Springhill House

  Springhill House, overlooking the hills of Sperrin, is a pretty seventeenth-century Plantation home. It was formerly home to ten generations of the Lenox-Conyngham family and today can offer walled gardens, parkland, a fine library, a caravan site, a significant costume collection and Northern Ireland’s best-documented ghost.

  Past caretakers and curators have reported a variety of paranormal phenomena at the house, including a rocking chair which starts rocking on its own and mysterious footsteps mounting the stairs, crossing the landing and stopping at the door of the old night nursery.

  The ghost has been seen on several occasions. She is a tall lady in a black dress with her black hair tied up in a bun. She is believed to be Olivia Irving, the second wife of George Lenox-Conyngham (1752–1816), who died by his own hand – or possibly hers – in the Blue Room after being very depressed for several months.

  During World War II American soldiers who were billeted at the house reported loud banging in the night and came to the conclusion that the noise came from a child’s cot in the night nursery. They asked for it to be removed to Armagh and the banging stopped for a while. Now it can still be heard at times, not only in the night nursery but also in other parts of the house.

  Springhill House, 20 Springhill Road, Moneymore, Magherafelt, Co. Londonderry BT45 7NQ; Tel:028 8674 8210; Fax:028 8674 8210; Website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk.

  Open March–September weekends and Bank Holidays; July–August Monday–Wednesday and Friday–Sunday.

  There is an education centre at the house and waymarked paths throughout the grounds. The converted barn may be hired for functions.

  The Workhouse Museum, Londonderry

  The Workhouse Museum, Londonderry, comprises the central building, dormitories and master’s quarters of the town’s former workhouse. It was built in the later 1830s and opened on 10 March 1840, with room for 800 inmates. Following the closure of the workhouses in the twentieth century it became a hospital. It is now a museum presenting exhibitions about the town’s role in the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War and in the Great Famine, when between 1845 and 1849 around 12,000 people a year emigrated from Ireland via the port of Londonderry.

  The most famous ghost at the former workhouse is the Blue Guardian. Hers is a tragic story. She was responsible for the welfare of the children at the workhouse and if they broke the rules she would lock them in an isolated cupboard at the top of the house until they learned their lesson. One day she heard that her sister was seriously ill and left the workhouse for several days to take care of her. It was not until she was preparing to return that she remembered that two children were locked in the cupboard. By the time she opened the door they were both dead. She was so overcome with horror at what she had done that she herself died shortly afterwards. Now her ghost haunts the workhouse, wailing with grief and shame. Many people visit the museum these days, but there is still a melancholy air on the upper floors and few people care to linger alone in the corridors.

  The Workhouse Museum,23 Glendermott Road, Waterside, Londonderry BT48 6BG; Tel: 028 7131 8328; Email: museums@derrycity.gov.uk.Open Monday–Thursday and Saturday. Self-guided tours are available.

  REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

  Charles Fort, Co. Cork

  Charleville Forest Castle, Co. Offaly

  Dun an Oir (or Fort Del Oro), Co. Kerry

  Huntington Castle, Co. Carlow

  Killakee House, Dublin

  Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin

  Kinnitty Castle, Co. Offaly

  Lake Hotel, Killarney

  Leap Castle, Co. Offaly

  Malahide Castle, Co. Dublin

  McCarthy’s Bar, Fethard

  Renvyle House Hotel, Co. Galway

  St Michan’s Church, Dublin

  Thoor Ballylee, Co. Galway

  Both the north and the south of Ireland hold a special magic for me and when travelling there, I always feel that in some way I am going home. Maybe this is because my mother’s family roots lie in the beautiful countryside around Galway, or maybe it is the plethora of spiritually active locations that draws me. All I know is that Ireland is one of the very few places on this earth where I feel totally at peace.

  Ireland is well known for the beauty of its landscape, but when the mist descends in the Celtic twilight this land of legend and mystery feels alive with supernatural energy. As a psychic investigator, I have been privileged to visit some amazing sites. But I have also experienced the terrible effects of clan rivalry – amply demonstrated during my visit to Leap Castle, home to the powerful O’Carroll family.

  I hope that the suggested locations in this chapter will help the reader dip a toe into the bottomless ocean of possibilities contained within the shores of the Emerald Isle.

  Charles Fort

  The British built Charles Fort on the east side of the Bandon River estuary in Kinsale, Cork, in the late seventeenth century, after their defeat of the Spanish and Irish forces. One of Europe’s best-preserved forts, it encloses some 12 cliff-top acres and has five bastions and two surviving brick sentry boxes. Charles Fort remained garrisoned by the British until 1922.

  A terrible family tragedy lies behind the ghost stories associated with this star-shaped fort. Soon after the fort was completed, Colonel Warrender, who was a strict disciplinarian, became its commanding officer. His beautiful daughter Wilful fell in love with and married Sir Trevor Ashurst, an officer at the fort. At sunset on their wedding day the married couple went for a walk along the battlements and Wilful noticed some beautiful flowers growing on the rocks beneath. A sentry agreed to climb down and get the flowers on the condition that her husband took his place on duty. Sir Trevor agreed, donned the sentry’s coat, took his pistol and entered the sentry box while the sentry climbed down to collect the flowers.

  Unfortunately, after an exhausting day Sir Trevor fell asleep just as Colonel Warrender began his routine inspection of the fort’s sentry boxes. Furious to find a sentry sleeping on duty, the Colonel grabbed his pistol and shot the man through the heart. As Sir Trevor fell to the ground his coat fell open and the Colonel discovered his terrible mistake. When Wilful learned about the tragedy she let out a scream of anguish and threw herself from the battlements to her death. Consumed with grief, the Colonel placed a pistol against his own head and shot his brains out.

  It is thought that three tragic deaths on a day marked out for happiness have left their timeless mark on this fascinating coastal fort. The ghost of Wilful in her wedding dress, known as the ‘White Lady of Kinsale’ to locals, is said to drift around the battlements and stairs in eternal anguish. She is described as beautiful but pale and her eyes are always fixed helplessly on some object in the distance. Soldiers used to talk with fear about her passing right through locked doors.

  Charles Fort, near Kinsale, Co. Cork; Tel:+353 (0)21 477 2263; Fax +353 (0)21 477 4347.

  Opening times: mid-March–October daily 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; November– mid-March weekends 10 a.m.–5 p.m., weekdays by arrangement. Guided tours available.

  Charleville Forest Castle

  Charleville Forest Castle, near Tullamore in County Offally, was built between 1798 and 1812 by Charles William Bury (1764–1835), the first Earl of Charleville, and designed by Francis Johnston. Built in the Gothic revival style, it is a testimony to the sheer extravagance of the Charleville family. The family’s inability to control their spending eventually led to periods of intermittent occupancy and the castle was all but abandoned in the 1960s. It had almost become a part of ‘Vanishing Ireland’ until a Charitable Trust was formed to help with its restoration.

  It was during the restoration that reports of haunting began, and sightings have been so frequent since then that the castle has recently been called ‘Ireland’s spookiest castle’. Visitors are sometimes woken in the early hours of the morning by the laughing
of children as if they are playing a game of hide and seek – but no children are present in the castle at the time. The ghosts of both Charles William Bury and Francis Johnston, amongst others, have also been seen here.

  Perhaps the best known and most poignant of all the ghosts is that of a little girl wearing a blue chiffon dress. She has been seen often on the great winding staircase, her blue dress shimmering in the darkness. She is said to be the ghost of a girl named Harriet who tragically plunged to her death when she was sliding down the balustrade. Many people, walking down the staircase where the death occurred, have felt a cold draught pass them by, and others have seen her ghostly form skipping in front of them.

  In recent years the castle has also been visited by many paranormal investigation groups from all around the world. It’s a spectacular place and, despite (or because of!) the number of ghosts that roam its corridors, you leave it with a sense of sheer wonder.

  Charleville Forest Castle, Tullamore, Co. Offaly; Tel: +353 (0)5 062 1279; Website: www.charlevillecastle.com.

  Open daily 12 p.m.–6 p.m.

  The Castle is also available for weddings, seminars, photo-shoots, filming onsite and other special events.

  Dun an Oir (or Fort Del Oro)

  The promontory fort of Fort Del Oro or Dun an Oir, as it is known in Gaelic, lies on the west side of Smerwick Harbour in the Dingle Peninsula in the extreme south west of Ireland. In the sixteenth century Dingle became an important port for trading and had strong links with Spain. On 15 July 1579, Charles V of Spain sent an expeditionary force to Dingle under the leadership of James Fitzmaurice-Fitzgerald, a cousin of Dingle’s powerful overlord, Gerat, the sixteenth Earl of Desmond. Almost as soon as he landed Fitzgerald was ambushed and killed by the Burkes of Limerick. Although the Earl of Desmond had promised to help his kinsmen when they arrived at Dingle he was afraid to anger Queen Elizabeth I so he sent word to her forces about the threat from Spain. The Spanish left Dingle and sailed round the coast until they landed at Ferriters Cove. Once on land they built the Fort Del Oro as their base for operations against England.

  On 11 November 1580 the fort was besieged by an English force led by Lord Grey. Once again the garrison hoped for assistance from the Earl of Desmond and once again none was forthcoming. Realizing that the situation was hopeless, the Spanish set down their arms. Even though the Spanish had surrendered, the English troops slaughtered them all, women and children too, in cold blood and left their corpses in heaps to rot away on land or to be washed away by the sea.

  This site is now much overgrown, but a number of features survive to bear witness to its bloody past and many believe it is haunted. A local farmer recently claimed to have seen three skeletons floating out to sea, while another man said that he counted 12 skulls bobbing in the water. To this day around the time of the anniversary of the massacre locals living near Fort Del Oro report hearing agonized voices speaking in Spanish and crying out in pain and fear. Others say they can still smell the horrific stench of rotting flesh wafting on the breeze.

  Dun An Oir, Ballyferriter, Dingle, Co Kerry; Tel:+353 (0)66 915 1188.

  Huntington Castle

  Huntington Castle in Clonegal, County Carlow, was built in 1625 by the First Lord Esmonde, replacing an earlier stronghold that had been built in the fifteenth century on the site of an ancient monastery. For the past two hundred years it has been home to the Durdin-Robertson family. Now open to the public, one of its best-known attractions is the 600-year-old Yew Walk, one of the few features to survive from the days of the monastery.

  Branches form a long and sinister tunnel in the Yew Walk and on occasion the ghosts of monks have been seen walking up and down in silent conversation or contemplation. Also in the gardens is the restless spirit of Ailish O’Flaherty, the first wife of Lord Esmonde. She has been seen standing by the ‘spy bush’ combing her hair in the moonlight and sobbing in grief. According to local lore she would stand at that bush whenever her husband and son went off to the wars, anxiously awaiting their return.

  It’s not just the gardens that are said to be haunted but the castle itself. A spectral soldier thought to have lived in the seventeenth century during Cromwell’s rebellion has been heard knocking on the door. In life he disguised himself in the uniform of the opposition in order to spy on the enemy, but tragically his comrades didn’t recognise him and shot him through the grille of the door where his ghostly face is now sometimes seen.

  The spirit of Bishop Leslie of Limerick, who stayed at the castle when he retired in the eighteenth century, is thought to haunt the ‘Four Poster Room’. Guests have woken at night to see his face staring down at them. The Bishop’s face also appears in a portrait of a Spanish Flower Girl, frightening guests through the years.

  Another spirit that lingers in Huntington is said to be that of Barbara St Lege (1748–1820), who married into the family. She adored Huntington and is often seen walking the corridors with her keys jangling as she goes. Sometimes she is followed by her maidservant, Honor Byrne, who pauses to polish door-handles with her hair.

  Huntington Castle and Gardens, Clonegal, Co. Carlow; Tel: +353 (0)54 77552.

  Open daily June– August 2 p.m.–5.30 p.m.

  Killakee House

  Killakee House, a well-preserved eighteenth-century farm house in Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, was bought in 1968 by artist Margaret O’Brien and her husband. The house had been derelict since the 1940s and the couple intended to turn it into an arts centre.

  Workmen renovating the building were troubled by mysterious sightings of a large black cat that could speak, alleged to be the size of a large ferocious dog. Mrs O’Brien dismissed the stories as ‘nonsense’, but soon changed her mind when she apparently saw the creature herself, squatting on the flagstones of the hallway just glaring at her. All the doors of the house had been locked both before and after its sudden appearance and disappearance.

  One of the workmen, Tom McAssey, was working with two other men when he suddenly felt icy cold and a locked door swung wide open. The men panicked and slammed the door shut but it opened again. A hideous black cat with blazing red eyes was seen crouching and growling outside. McAssey said the cat spoke to him, saying ‘Leave this door open.’

  Mrs O’Brien had the building exorcised and things quietened down for around a year. But then, in October 1969, a group of actors staying at the arts centre decided to hold a séance for a joke. The séance seems to have ‘opened the door’ to other disturbances, such as the appearance of two ghostly nun-like figures. A local medium suggested that they might be the unhappy spirits of two eighteenth-century women who had assisted or protested against satanic cat-worshipping rituals held during meetings of the notorious Hellfire Club. (The Hellfire Club was an exclusive English club that met irregularly from 1746 to around 1763, run by Sir Francis Dashwood.)

  Today, a cosy restaurant occupies the old house, but reminders still exist of its sinister past. Some visitors to the house have reported feeling uneasy, as if they are being watched by an invisible presence. In particular there is Tom McAssey’s terrifying portrait, The Black Cat of Killakee, which gazes down from one of the walls with its bloodshot eyes and chilling, almost human, features.

  Killakee Country House, Killakee Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16; Tel:+353 (0)1 493 2917/2645; Fax +353 (0)1 493 2645.

  Open Tuesday–Saturday 12.30 p.m.–2 p.m., 6.30 p.m.–10.30 p.m., Sunday 12.30 p.m.–2 p.m.

  Kilmainham Gaol

  Built in 1792, the vast and eerie Kilmainham Gaol is Ireland’s most famous disused prison. It held many famous Nationalists and Republicans, including members of the Society of United Irishmen (1798), Young Irelanders (1840s), Fenians and land agitators, Parnell and Davitt. The leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were executed here. The prison was closed in 1924 and stood empty for many years before a dedicated band of volunteers set about its restoration in the early 1960s. Now open to the public, the jail offers a fascinating insight into the history of Irish Republicanism and imp
risonment.

  With such a colourful and often gruesome history, it is inevitable that Kilmainham Gaol is rumoured to have numerous ghosts. It was during the restoration that strange and unusual happenings were first reported. A man painting in the dungeon area of the prison was blasted against a wall by a huge gust of wind and afterwards refused ever to work in the gaol again. Another volunteer decorating the ‘1916 Corridor’ heard plodding footsteps behind him but when he turned around, even though the footsteps continued past him, he was astonished to find no one else in the corridor.

  Today, tours are offered of this dark, historical structure that stands as a reminder of the troubles in Ireland. Visitors have been known to pause terrified on the threshold, refusing to go one step further. Others have reported feeling an evil and fearsome presence around the balcony of the chapel.

  Kilmainham Gaol and Museum, Inchicore Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8; Tel: +353 (0)1 453 5984; Fax +353 (0)1 453 2037.

  Open April–September 9.30 a.m.–5 p.m. daily; October–March Monday– Saturday 9.30 a.m.–4 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

  A visit to the Gaol includes a guided tour and an exhibition.

  Kinnitty Castle

  The Gothic Revival Kinnitty Castle, located in the heart of Ireland in County Offally, has a long and troubled history. The first stronghold built on the site was destroyed and rebuilt by the Normans around 1213 and the castle then changed owners a number of times until 1811, when Lady Catherine Hutchinson, wife of Thomas Bernard, commissioned the present castle. Although burned down by the Republicans in 1922, the castle was restored and has since been transformed into a magnificent and wonderfully atmospheric hotel with dark corridors and sweeping staircases, all decorated in keeping with the castle’s romantic olde-worlde style. Still in existence in the beautiful and extensive grounds are the remains of an Augustinian Abbey and an ancient Celtic High Cross, carved with biblical scenes.