Paranormal locations

ladybirdirl

Evening all,

I've only done 1 formal investigation here but for those of you who have done more I've a few questions

a)what's your favourite place

b)does it concur with having a powerful experience there or is it just a 'good vibe' feeling

c) what have your most powerful experiences been

d) anywhere you would not go to again - through fear,disinterest etc

Would love to hear your views

Ladybird:)

Stoner

I liked charleville and Ross castle the best, was disappointed with the physical size of leap castle.

I'd have no issues going back anywhere TBH.

littlebug

I've never been on an investigation and I've never had any definite paranormal experiences so I'm not really answering your question

There is only one place in the world that makes me feel uncomfortable enough to want want to go back there and that's the house my grandmother used to live in. As children (linking to your other thread) we used to call it "the house of sadness" for no reason other than it had an incredibly sad air about it and we always got the heebie jeebies there. We could never explain it. My grandmother and unlce moved about 20 years ago and their new house was a much happier place. I think I went back to the old house once since they left and I hope I never have to again (another uncle still lives there). Even the thought of it now is giving me shivers down my spine and I have no idea why.

No supposed haunted location be it castle/ graveyard etc have ever given me the same feeling

Explanations on a postcard to.....

pretty-in-pink

I wanna do dublins ghost tour

hiorta

Littlebug
Assuming your feelings from this place to be accurate, why not try to bring release to any soul who may be 'trapped' there?
Even if you do not know of them, the event(s) causing such immense sadness may still be in effect.

Sit quietly and ask of the Higher Power (according to your own understanding) to allow whatever help that can be brought to bear to bring peace. You do not need to actually go there.

The energy may be a remnant of some dreadful event, but no harm will be done either way.

Poltergoose

Not came across any place yet that I would'nt go back to, but am hoping to find such a place.I think if you have an experience somewhere it can only encourage you to go back and try and get more answers to whatever may have happened to you, otherwise you spend your life thinking was it all part of your imagination.
I've been to plenty of old places around Ireland and the UK, some with stories of hauntings and others with none.It's places without any history of paranormal occurances that i've found the most interesting as when something happens in these locations you can rule out suggestion and expectency as reasons for your experience if you have any.
My top spots i've been are Ballyhannon Castle (clare) no history of ghosts though I would disagree, Kinnitty Castle, Edinburgh Vaults, Ardgillan Castle (the woods around the castle especially), Foulksrath Castle (Kilkenny).
Places I thought had little if any include Ross Castle (cavan) nothing there at all I think, Leap Castle and Charleville Castle (though I intend to go back for a second look).
Anyway like you the scariest place I've ever been was a house my family and I lived in when I was young, real bad place and everyone of us had some sort of experience.Love to go back now though and see what it's like.

stevenmu

I'm a big fan of Charleville Castle, partly just because it's just such a cool, lovely looking castle in it's own right . And sitting up in the tower on a nice sunny day is really an experience. But there's a lovely feel to the place too, even when it's 'active', there's a nice tranquil feel to the place, which might be a little odd considering I think it has bit of a violent history. I think I almost look at it like a child, and how cool a place it would be to live in as a kid, how much fun it would be to go running up and down the stairs and corridors, sneaking up onto the roof and getting lost in the forest. From a paranormal point of view, it could be to do with the child who died there, but I think it's more likely my own inner child wanting to run around a cool castle (I can hear the collective minds of everyone I've gone there with going "Ah, that explains a lot").

Oddly, there's only one place in there that I don't actually like, there's a room to the right at the top of the stairs where all the valuable antique pieces tend to be kept. I just really don't like the feel of it. I'd never really thought about it before now, I'd always just put it down to the fact that it's full of old fragile valuable things, and it's usually either locked or we make it off-limits when we go down. But thinking about it now, it almost feels like the kind of room I'd only be brought into when I was trouble. Don't know if that makes any sense to anyone who knows about the place ?

stormkeeper

stevenmu wrote:

I'm a big fan of Charleville Castle, partly just because it's just such a cool, lovely looking castle in it's own right . And sitting up in the tower on a nice sunny day is really an experience. But there's a lovely feel to the place too, even when it's 'active', there's a nice tranquil feel to the place, which might be a little odd considering I think it has bit of a violent history. I think I almost look at it like a child, and how cool a place it would be to live in as a kid, how much fun it would be to go running up and down the stairs and corridors, sneaking up onto the roof and getting lost in the forest. From a paranormal point of view, it could be to do with the child who died there, but I think it's more likely my own inner child wanting to run around a cool castle (I can hear the collective minds of everyone I've gone there with going "Ah, that explains a lot").

Ah, bless. Well, it's no secret that Charleville is a favourite place of mine, even though unlike many of you, I have to work there, although I have to say it's a labour of love! But yeah, it's fun running about the castle, and I tend to do it as well, although I'm usually going from one place to another with purpose, although my inner child does tend to like me run about too. But yeah, there was more than one child residing at the castle, so it's understandable that one's inner child would be on the loose!

Oddly, there's only one place in there that I don't actually like, there's a room to the right at the top of the stairs where all the valuable antique pieces tend to be kept. I just really don't like the feel of it. I'd never really thought about it before now, I'd always just put it down to the fact that it's full of old fragile valuable things, and it's usually either locked or we make it off-limits when we go down. But thinking about it now, it almost feels like the kind of room I'd only be brought into when I was trouble. Don't know if that makes any sense to anyone who knows about the place ?

I think I understand... if I recall the layout of the place, it was some kind of drawing room, or something like that before... I think your inner child associates that place with the kind of place you'd be brought to if you were in trouble... but yeah, it was usually locked when we went down. It was the artist's green room at Castlepalooza, so again, off-limits.


Another place I liked was Maes Artro, and although it's gone now, and I only went once.. it made such an impression on me... that place is seriously active! When I get back to London, I'll reupload the pics to the new website...

Poltergoose

Agree Charleville is a really cool place.I really did'nt get to see enough of it when I was there and had maybe such high expectency when I got there that nothing would suffice, though I did get on camera the sound of somebody walking on Harriots staircase right beside me when there was nobody around.The sound came out perfect when I viewed it later and gobsmacked a few sceptics I know.Actually its my best evidence so far,and got a few really good orbs on video on Harriots staircase.
Those anyone know of places around or near Dublin worth going to.Also would anyone know if Smithstown Castle in Clare is haunted?

MooseJam

Why all the interest in castles ? if ghosts do exist they are just as likely to be in houses, is it just the case thats its a big old building with a spooky vibe

stevenmu

There's three main reasons I can think of off the top of my head. One is that they tend to be a lot older than houses (will have had more people living/dying in them). Two is that they tend to be much bigger so a bigger group can go in without people tripping over each other. Three, they tend to not be lived in so people are more free to roam around place equiptment without disturbing a family going about their daily lives. So it's more for practical reasons than paranormal ones, but there is possibly a paranormal benefit too.

(edit: Oh, with castles I'm including the the old abanonded big houses that often get mentioned here too)

bronte

Have to agree with littlebug.........my grandparents house is quite creepy.

It's quite isolated and lonely and I have to say I would have trouble staying there on my own.

I haven't ever seen anything but when my grandfather died the back door kept opening of its own accord, even after being shut tightly.

My grandmother died a few years later, and since then there's been an atmoshpere about the place or something.

Part of me would love to see something to confirm my suspicions!

Poltergoose

MooseJam wrote:

Why all the interest in castles ? if ghosts do exist they are just as likely to be in houses, is it just the case thats its a big old building with a spooky vibe

As stevenmu said ,you cant just wander in to someones house switch off all the lights and start looking for ghosts.I pretty much do investigations on my own with the a little help from my girlfriend and a few half interested mates and the only place available to us are castles that let you book them for a night.It's simply not possible to get a private house or to stand on O'Connell street and do it, thought this would be obvious.

6th

I've been to a few homes now and there is a huge difference between going to a castle and someones house. Something about dealing with real people in real situations just really hits at you. I had to go to a house recently and what was going on even made me a little uneasy. I have to wait until I am finished with that place before I can post about it though.

feelio

Hi all, I have visitied a few places.Leap & Kinnity are two poplar places i visited with Leap Castle being an interested place to go.Unforunately, it was a day tour by owner Sean Ryan.Lots of orbs on camera.Same with Kinnity.But I also visited a place called Plas Teg, Mold, outside of Wrexham & it was such an errie place with lots of history, murder, done seances at halloween couple years ago & it's 1 place i would definetly recommend to ye guys!:)

dib

6th wrote:

I've been to a few homes now and there is a huge difference between going to a castle and someones house. Something about dealing with real people in real situations just really hits at you. I had to go to a house recently and what was going on even made me a little uneasy. I have to wait until I am finished with that place before I can post about it though.

Looking forward to reading about that.

mesa1

if anyone is thinking about going to america anytime then visit the willard libary and the waverly hills sanatorium. have a freind who did an investigation to the waverly hills some interesting stuff from tha place.
the old borough in swords should be haunted because it was originallya school which i heard was haunted maybe some of u have been into the old borough next time take a look around

Bee

Clonegal (Huntington)Castle is the best of them all. if you can get the Rt Honorable Lady Olivia Robertson in good form you are in for a treat like you never experienced before


http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2003/06/15/story141479215.asp

By Stephen Price
The tiny village of Clonegal nestles in a picturesque valley, deep in the lush, rolling countryside where counties Carlow, Wexford and Wicklow meet.
Crossing the arched bridge over the River Derry is like stepping into a film-set for idyllic rural Ireland, circa 1940. Window boxes bursting with flowers adorn the stone facades of the pretty Victorian buildings.

Osborne's pub, a former coach inn, presents a genuine old-time wooden frontage, not an ersatz version of the kind now rampant in Dublin. You almost expect to see a whistling boy in a cloth cap pushing a black bicycle loaded with Hovis bread down the single, spotless street. Not for nothing is this area sometimes called "the Switzerland of Ireland".

Set back from Clonegal village, up a long avenue of tall lime trees, stands Huntington Castle. One of the finest examples of Jacobean architecture in Ireland, it dates from 1625, and looks like a castle ought to look, complete with crenellations and an adjacent ruined abbey, covered in wild roses.

When the sun shines,the feeling of having stepped back in time into a romantic idyll is complete. The dreamlike atmosphere of harmony and tranquillity beguiles you into thinking that nothing bad could ever happen in such a beautiful place.

But on just such a glorious day in 1992, on Tuesday, June 21 to be precise, I found myself standing in front of Huntington Castle, arguing with a BBC presenter who refused point-blank to set foot in the building. "I'm not going in there," he said.

"It's satanic, what they're up to. It's evil, I'm telling you. I can't go in!"

His stance posed rather a problem for me. A BBC producer at the time, I had driven for five hours to record a radio documentary about "what they were up to" in the depths of Huntington Castle on the summer solstice, which falls again next Saturday.

The programme was scheduled to go out the following week. We had to start taping, and soon, or else no programme - an utterly unthinkable scenario in BBC terms.

"I'm afraid for my soul," the presenter said, sitting down on the lawn, and obstinately declining to budge.

Professional and then personal blackmail failed to shift him. Not even the potential wrath of the BBC, a force any sensible person would embrace Satan seven times over to avoid, proved an effective threat.

No power on earth, and particularly no power not of this earth, was going to force the man to do his work.

I had no choice but to abandon him, and enter Huntington alone, with a microphone. As I passed through the back door, I wondered if my presenter perhaps had grounds for his behaviour.

The first thing I saw was a dr ied alligator head nailed to the wall. Then I saw the old rifles, the swords. A coat of chain mail hung casually, as if the wearer had arrived five minutes before me. I debated whether to don it, or even bring it out to my terror-struck colleague as a final inducement, before pressing onward.

The dark wooden hallway seemed to have changed little since 1625. I followed a set of stone steps down into the dungeon, where I encountered the source of my companion's mortal dread - a small, elderly lady called Olivia Robertson.

Nearly dazzled by the profuse decor of zodiac symbols, statues, paintings, coloured cloth, masks and brass church furniture, I picked my way carefully through the robed men and women sitting on the floor.

Robertson sat before an ornate altar with an Egyptian goddess at the centre, as she led her congregation through a ritual to celebrate nothing more menacing than the longest day of the year.

Far from having my soul consumed by the assembled hosts of hell, I found myself enchanted and amused as she read from her self-penned invocations.

By her side, resplendent in a blue robe and Egyptian head-dress, stood her older brother, Lawrence, who has since passed away. A beautiful young woman in a chiffon dress assisted with the ceremony.

The serene, dreamlike ambience complemented that of outside, and the sense of reverence was like that of a normal church service, only a bit more cheerful (an atmosphere which increased markedly when the clapper of Olivia's hand-bell flew off in midswing.) Robertson has been running her own religion, The Fellowship of Isis, from the temple in her castle basement since 1976.

The flock, which is "democratic, multi-cultural and multi-racial" currently stands at some 22,000 souls in ninety-six countries. Members "love the Goddess", and "help her actively in the manifestation of Her divine plan".

The Fellowship is so democratic that you don't even have to renounce your own religion to join. In fact, the manifesto generously states that "The good in all faiths is honoured (and) the God is also venerated".

To declare my own position, I'm a solid second-generation atheist, who believes that there is much about ourselves and our universe that we do not understand. I view religion of any sort as one of many useful tools for exploring the great unknown, as well as a highly-effective means of social organisation. So I've no axe to grind with anybody on the subject - it's all the same to me.

Nor am I a new-age tree-hugger. Far from it. I only wear sandals when on hol iday and I recycle my wine bottles to ease my conscience having emptied so many.

But, after that first visit, the happy, hallucinogenic atmosphere of Huntington has stayed with me. That day - the heat, the castle, the scenery, Robertson's humour and what can only be described as a good vibe - prevailed. It was like being on really good drugs, without having taken any. I still tell all my friends about Clonegal, because it is unique.

I have returned since, to make more programmes, and now I've used the ready-made excuse of the summer solstice to visit Hun tington again.

"The most popular dungeon in Ireland", is how Robertson, now a sprightly 86, describes her temple. Fondness is certainly universal in Clonegal, where nothing but good is said about her, despite local membership of her religion remaining somewhat low. Like my addled presenter,they have no real ideawhat she gets up to, but unlike him, regard her activities as benign, or at worst, harmless.

Isis was an Egyptian deity venerated for over three thousand years. She was akin to Mary in the ancient scheme of things. Like Mary, Robertson points out that Isis was also called The Seat of Wisdom, Queen of Heaven and Star of the Sea.

The Isis myth represents motherhood, and earthly fertility. Isis showed men how to sow crops, and was also worshipped by the Greeks and Romans, even as far east as Persia - or Iraq. She is usually depicted as a woman with wings.

`I don't like it when women are influenced by patriarchy," Robertson explains. "You know, who is more attractive, how many men can I get.There's no room for competitiveness in the Fellowship. I try to persuade all the priestesses that it doesn't matter if they're old or fat, they are all equally honoured. I think Bridget Jones was utterly pathetic."

And she's off on a related tangent,telling the story of how Hugh Grant recently attended a party at the castle. Robertson didn't know who he was, and asked him what he did for a living. "I'm an actor," he was forced to explain.

She then recalls how Mick Jagger once turned up and asked for her autograph, after which she left him wandering in the garden's ancient yew walk.

Van Morrison also came for a look. "He liked me, because I left him alone." Sounds like him, alright.

Robertson's father, a town planner, inherited Huntington during the Civil War. `

`It was like something from an Enid Blyton adventure," is how she recalls the move to the castle at the age of eight, from the rather more prosaic surroundings of Reigate, in Surrey.

"There were no tarmac roads, and only one car in the village. The IRA had occupied the castle, and treated it very well, although they locked the cook in the dungeon, and court-martialled the butler."

The butler survived to enthrall Olivia, her brother and her sister with ghost stories about their new home.That slightly thrilling environment - combined with the genuine shock of the poverty she saw around her - seems to have primed Olivia for the path she chose.

A further portent was perhaps her father's befriending of AE Russell and WB Yeats, both of whom she met as a child. Yeats even asked her father to design his famous tombstone, and there are aesthetic echoes of the poet's mystical Order of the Golden Dawn in the general appearance of the Fellowship today.

Still, they were innocent years. "I didn't know the facts of life until I was seventeen. My sister had to draw in the dust with a stick, to show me." Robertson returned to England during the Second World War to do her duty on the Home Front, and afterwards worked as a playgroup leader in the Dublin slums. "The poverty was unspeakable. Everyone was so thin, had bad teeth and wore wretched clothes."

In the early sixties, Robertson and her brother, by then a Church of England minister, ran a welfare scheme for the poor of Clonegal, earning the opprobrium of some neighbours for distributing money toTravellers.

But the sixties were also a time of spiritual awakening - it was "heaven to be young". Drugs were not on the agenda, however, rather a constant diet of seminars in London and Clonegal, about every conceivable form of alternative religiosity.

Robertson regards three powerful visions, in 1946, 1952 and 2000 as certain proof of the existence of the goddess. "I don't see things often, but when they happen, they really do," she avers. When I put it to her that working with children - making up stories, dressing up and acting out games - may have also helped equip her as a religious leader, she laughs and agrees. After all, what is a church, if not theatre?

In a country where religion has been no laughing matter, Robertson's ability to poke fun at herself is highly refreshing. Alternative types can be pretty humourless, and although many members, especially in America and Germany, take the fellowship very seriously, Robertson delights in telling me about the time Huntington was filmed by the Discover y Channel for a s er ies on haunted castles.

The producers used lashings of that dangerous ingredient known as "artistic licence", leading one member to object that "sacrifices are bad for our image".

An English admirer re-cently bombarded her with endless letters, some written on the back of menus from the psychiatric hospital he was attending. "If you're going to go mad, do it in England," she advises sagely. "The food seems excellent."

She becomes serious, however, when describing her religious impulse, and the benefit she sees in all faiths.

"People are made to feel fools for engaging in spiritual expression. I had my visions, but was embarrassed for years, especially as a Protestant. But I don't believe I am exceptional, I get many letters from people who say they have visions, but have been afraid to admit it.

"Science only deals with the five senses; the jolly bits get left out. When young people express themselves, their parents get worried and take them to the doctor. We should all have our own religions, if we want to. Priests and ministers often tell me they're glad I believe in something, as they know many of their own people don't believe in God at all."

With 21,000 members on her books, Robertson must be doing something right. When I first met her, the fellowship numbered seven thousand.Trebling in size in a decade is no mean feat in these godless times, especially since the fellowship is way too relaxed to proselytise, believing people will find them, if they are meant to.

Next Saturday, far from stealing souls for Satan, Robertson will doubtless be raising them instead, in a human and entertaining way.

Due to pressure of numbers,the fellowship now limits celebration attendance to members. Still, anyone can join, whenever they want, and in typical Isis fashion, there's no pressure whatsoever: "there are no vows required, or commitments to secrecy". And, just to be clear on that important point again: "the Rites exclude any form of sacrifice". So you'll be safe enough, even if you're a BBC presenter. See for yourself at www.thefellowshipofisis.com

iamhunted

i tend to prefer private houses for investigations - i think too many people concentrate on castles. all land is old so it doesnt matter if theres a house, a ruins or a castle on it - they all have the same chance of being haunted, if age is something that defines if somewhere is haunted or not.

I think more people should look further than the standard 5 or 6 irish castles and find new places.

iamhunted

Poltergoose wrote:

As stevenmu said ,you cant just wander in to someones house switch off all the lights and start looking for ghosts.I pretty much do investigations on my own with the a little help from my girlfriend and a few half interested mates and the only place available to us are castles that let you book them for a night.It's simply not possible to get a private house or to stand on O'Connell street and do it, thought this would be obvious.

I believe it is possible - join up with a local group (or make one) and let people know what you do. - EDIT .. actually watch this space - Leinster Paranormal are setting up a group in Dublin.

feelio

Guys, did ye hear of lisheen in Co.Sligo.Ghosthunters from the us done an investigation there - it's on youtube - check it out!

blythe

Castles hold a lot of history, each and ecery stone could tell a tale of its own.
Houses are the same but not around as long-bad and good events get recorded into the atmosphere in the house. Recently I was supposed to stay with friends for the week in their house just outside Leitrim but was there two days and could not take the oppressive feel of the house any more. It was so claustraphobic- even though the house was twice as big as my own. I got such bad feelings, couldn't sleep. I am not easily scared but I spent the night petrified- had to make up a tall-tale and scarper. I know for a fact that my friends never had any bad times there, they are a happy go lucky bunch but God only knows what happened thete before them. Would love to delve into it some more but could never let them know what I was doing as they are not the type to be interested or impressed. You should all keep up with the investigations, good on you all!;)