Kilmainham Jail Ghosts

Bee

Anyone ever research Kilmianham Jail?

There are many areas in it that are well worth investigating.

My favourite are the "daylight" apparitions.

In fact some visitors have taken them to be actors recreating scenes from the jails past.

Any experience info etc?

Bee

malico

No PRAI investigation has taken place there. I may call them at some stage and try to arrange a night of it.

Any contact details?

Thomas from Presence

Dude its spelt 'Gaol'!

I live across from the 'Gaol' and I've often heard of 'bad feelings' in there but the place is made of limestone and is designed to be miserable and as such there is always a cool draft and a sense of general eerie-ness.

I would be suspicous that because it is such an obvious place for ghosts to haunt that its histroy would be psychologically subconsciously suggestive to the imagination.

I know a family who lived there uneventfully for years without sighting anything paranormal. There are stories of apparitions in other parts of Kilmainham however.

Bee

I know a family who lived there uneventfully for years without sighting anything paranormal.

And I know of a family that never realised the reclusive old lady who frequently walked past their house didn't actually exist in a corporeal way..but thats another story.

Apologies about using the word Jail instead of Gaol...

You highlight a very valid point about sensory surroundings influencing on a subconscious level ones expectations of the paranormal.

I always found tales and experiences of apparitions in mundane circumstances much more interesting than so called spooky haunted houses late at night!

Bee

P.S. the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham has some interesting spots....

Draupnir

Read a story written by the old caretaker who lived in Kilmainham Gaol in a book I have on Haunted UK and Ireland. He told some really weird stories about former prisoners ghosts and the lights in the chapel coming on by themselves three and four times a night.

Best thing about his story was the final quote in it from him, which went:

"I never felt afraid in the cells, the feelings there and the ghosts of former prisoners never worried me, the guards however, now that was a different story altogether".

Thomas from Presence

As I say I live quite near the Gaol and my family have been part of the street furniture here for some time. Anyway the house I live in was inhabited by my Grandmother a LONG time ago and revealed this to be Da (her son) the first time he took to see the house.

When she was here she had some tough personal thing going down and always used to say that the ghost of an English soldier comforted her. She was pretty rational and devoutly Catholic too so I never took her claims without consideration. I love reading about the paranormal but I find that 99% of the time I am resolutely sceptical but the other 1% I remain ambivalent.

Anyway the area around the Gaol in ye olde times was the monastery of St. Maignean and then, later, of the Knights Hospitaller St. John. It was the camp of the Gaelic at the battle of Clontarf. This area, as far as Island Bridge, has been proven to be a major Viking Burial ground too.

The knights hospitallers were fecked out with the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII and the Royal Hospital was built (under Charles II I think) as a retirement home of sorts for those soldiers who had served the crown.

There is a substantial ancient graveyard in the grounds known as Bully's Acre where Robert Emmet may well have been interred. The graveyard was one of the few places where Catholic's were allowed bury teir dead in the City.

It is a decidedly eerie place and features an ancient carved stone that is believed to be the shaft of a high cross.

There is a spring dedicated to St. John across the road.

Given Christianity's tendency to usurp sites of pagan importance I am suspicous that the area may have been of some former sacred pagan importance (standing celtic inscribed stone, sacred spring, Viking Graves).

And then they put a building that embodied the most insically potent aspects of evil in the middle of this.

If Ghostbusters I & II can teach us anything its that if there were some funky stuff to go down, Kilmainham is the spot for it.




PS

...And theres some funky Ley line thing going on here too of which I don't know a whole lot about.

nicelives

Originally posted by Thomas from Presence
There is a substantial ancient graveyard in the grounds known as Bully's Acre where Robert Emmet may well have been interred. The graveyard was one of the few places where Catholic's were allowed bury teir dead in the City.

It is a decidedly eerie place and features an ancient carved stone that is believed to be the shaft of a high cross.

There is a spring dedicated to St. John across the road.

Hiya Thomas,
found the topic very interesting. I must live fairly near you as Bully's acre is the view from the front upstairs window and access to St.John's well has been opened up again in our back garden.

There used to be a massive pilgrimage every year on St.John's Day but the brit's cracked down and covered over the well as they felt it was getting out of their control.

Now there's a small group of women who come round to the house every year to collect some of the water on St.John's Day to keep the pilgrimage alive. St.John's day was used as a focal point for a protest about 3 years ago to save historic Kilmainham in light of the Rowntree Development. You're right, there's definitely spirits in this part of Kilmainham

Thomas from Presence

access to St.John's well has been opened up again in our back garden

No way! Thats great to hear. Do you know that the original granite shrine of the well is in the Car Park of James Street church?

You probably know my name-sake dad (or at least saw his posters about the place last June...). He's involved in the various campaigns for the Mill in Kilmainham and of course the abomination to be built on the Rowntrees site.

I'd be fairly interested to see if there is any pre-christian, non-viking data on our area. I would theorise that there are too many ancient religous sites in one area for it to be anything less than sacred in pagan times.

Fiona_W

I've read of a few accounts while doing some research of my own.

Apparently there was a painter that was hired and while working an unusually strong wind blew him up against the side of the gaol. He finally was able to get away and was shaking by the end of it, having decided that it was a supernatural encounter. He refused to ever work at or visit there ever again.

In another instance in the 1960s they were attempting to do some renovations. The man working there was in the '1916 corridor' and said he heard footsteps down the hall that turned and approached him. He figured it was one of his colleagues and turned to greet them only to see nothing yet the trudging footsteps continued down the hallway.

Finally, there are many children who will stop and refuse to go further. One tourguide who was "sensitive" to paranormal encounters said that there was a dark presence looming on the chapel's balcony.

That's all of got for you at the moment -- hope it was helpful

Riamfada

Wow a six year old thread?! Im sorry but this has to be included before this thread goes any further.

Fiona whats your source? Do you work there?

Fiona_W

No, I wish I worked there. But I was doing some research and found it on http://www.paranormalghost.com/haunted_ireland.htm. There seem to be a lot of websites reporting paranormal activity but I'd definitely have to do some more digging and see for myself before I'm sold.

vampire of kilmainham

My father worked in the gaol during the restoration in the 60s and he had a ghostley encounter in the east wing of the prison when he heard footsteps which he described sounded like the sound of soldiers marching along the stone floor and walking up the steps then coming to a halt he ran over to the patriots pub which was the welcome inn at the time and told some of the other workers who had gone ahead of him for a pint he was really shaken by the encounter and they bought him a large whiskey i think he had a few more as well after that sadley he is long since passed away since that i was around 8yrs old then but i can rember him telling the story as clear now as back then and my mother often spoke of it over the years too.

Major Lovechild

Bee wrote: »

And I know of a family that never realised the reclusive old lady who frequently walked past their house didn't actually exist in a corporeal way..but thats another story.

Ah Bee... come back to us and explain that one if you can.
Don't have me to fetch a medium!

Oryx

Six years since that post was made, and I havent seen Bee around, ever, so I think its unlikely!

Riamfada

mega old thread is old

Major Lovechild

Maybe it's haunted.

maccored

Major Lovechild wrote: »

Maybe it's haunted.

lets go through the checklist required for things to be haunted:

1) Old - Check

yep, it must be then.

Riamfada

maccored wrote: »

lets go through the checklist required for things to be haunted:

1) Old - Check

yep, it must be then.

you forgot

2) Scarylooking

maccored

aye, but I havent worked out how to distinguish if an old thread is scary looking

Major Lovechild

I reckon we should get a medium.

Oryx

maccored wrote: »

aye, but I havent worked out how to distinguish if an old thread is scary looking

Its when a mod comes in, goes BOO! to you all, and digs a hole and gives the thread a decent burial.