On Corks 96fm this morning, they were talking about Hollyhill again

CorkMan

About the supposed haunting up Hollyhill in the northside of Cork City. Basically, ya man who lived there before the present holders didn't experience anything.

Though he stated on the show that he went up there recently and experienced paintings coming off the walls, tables being levitated and a temperature that was ice-cold, alternating between warm and ice-cold every 5 minutes. Appearantly the head fella of the City council saw the exact same happenings.

I am not sure though.

Milly33

mmmm I would love to visit there to find out...Did they say then why all of a sudden it started happening to this family...

maccored

if such things were really happening, surely someone would have it on video?

CorkMan

maccored wrote: »

if such things were really happening, surely someone would have it on video?

Well what would stop people from claiming that it is all made up then? Look at what they can do in the movies.

MrMojoRisin

CorkMan wrote: »

About the supposed haunting up Hollyhill in the northside of Cork City. Basically, ya man who lived there before the present holders didn't experience anything.

Though he stated on the show that he went up there recently and experienced paintings coming off the walls, tables being levitated and a temperature that was ice-cold, alternating between warm and ice-cold every 5 minutes. Apparently the head fella of the City council saw the exact same happenings.

I am not sure though.

But I heard they brought in a shaman named Paul O' Halloran who exorcised the place back in March - every single room. Apparently he sent all the restless spirits 'into the light' and what have you. Himself, the family and a few staff from 96fm stayed the whole night for it and witnessed the whole elaborate ceremony.

So how is this happening again, even if at all? On yer man's own account, I'd be dubious, but if there's a fella from the senior management of the City Council saying he saw weird happenings as well, I would wonder..

Is there anyone occupying the house at present, or is it still boarded up?

Milly33

I dont really listen to 96fm anymore because tis failry shocking but as far as I know there is no one staying there at the moment.

I sent an enquiry into 96 to see perhaps if they wanted to prove that it was either little white lies or to see if something really was happening up there, suggesting they should let a group including me of course spend a weekend up there and see...Have heard nought since

maccored

CorkMan wrote: »

Well what would stop people from claiming that it is all made up then? Look at what they can do in the movies.

no, it wouldnt stop anyone claiming the video was fake but its a tad bit sus that no-ones actually tried to record it on film regardless.

pavcro10

Where is this place exactly, this kind of stuff facinates me.

MrMojoRisin

pavcro10 wrote: »

Where is this place exactly, this kind of stuff facinates me.

I've been informed it's on the end of a terrace in the Hollywood Estate in Hollyhill.

I was talking to a member of an investigation team in the Cork area whose sister knows the couple - Ritchie and Laura - personally and she told her they were definitely not the type of people to fabricate a story like this. They weren't/aren't seeking attention, money, or a new house. In fact, I heard they had worked laboriously on re-decorating and furnishing the 'haunted house' and it was/is conveniently near to their son's school.

In fairness, it'd be absurd for a heavily pregnant mother (Laura) and her family to work on creating a story like this about ghosts in their house, before taking it into the public arena and causing such subsequent disruption. Apparently there were gangs of feckers camped outside the house night after night throwing hand-made missiles and stones at it. I think they broke at least one window and managed to break a fuse box installed outside the place. They had the guards up there and all.

Then there were people attempting to break into the house using crowbars to steal the family's belongings (this was after they had fled and had left most of their possessions behind). Neighbours complained that they were afraid to park their cars outside their houses for fear they would be vandalised, and there were parents who were too frightened to walk their children to school in the mornings because of having to pass the assembly of thugs planted outside the allegedly haunted house.

I mean, come on - would you bring all this rubbish on yourself voluntarily? I actually think it was the previous owner of the house (who had lived there happily for 20-odd years, and who had witnessed some of the more recent, present-day phenomena - apparently he had photos of 'orbs' and the table levitating, which isn't the best form of evidence, tbh) who had called Neil Prendeville first and that it took a lot of coaxing to get Laura to come on air to tell her side of the story.

I also heard that if the family do decide to re-enter the house and they're subjected to injuries of any kind (arising from objects being thrown or levitated, etc, like before apparently), the Corporation will be held accountable for the damage incurred.

MrMojoRisin

Milly33 wrote: »

mmmm I would love to visit there to find out...Did they say then why all of a sudden it started happening to this family...

When the man who had lived there for 20-odd years decided to move out and return it to the Corporation's ownership, the house was boarded up for about two years and left idle. However, during this time, an interchangeable cast of various characters (including drunks, junkies, and those lacking fixed abodes otherwise) occupied the house. Apparently some of those types had been conducting seances and using ouija boards inside the house - that's what neighbours reported anyway.

Fast-forward a year or two and the new family move in. I know that Laura told Prendeville that they hadn't noticed anything noticeably unusual at all until at least several months into their tenure there, e.g. objects such as keys would be placed on one surface and would re-appear in a completely different room. Even so, they attributed those incidents to their imaginations and continued life as normal.

I think they only took matters seriously when their son Kyle (who's 5 or 6 y.o.) began to complain he was seeing the eyes of a man watching him in his bedroom at night, and when Kyle was physically flung across his room at least twice. He refused to sleep there anymore, opting to sleep in his parents' bed instead.

Then there were evenings when they would all be sat downstairs watching TV and they would hear footsteps upstairs, despite no-one being there. Things escalated further when they were in their kitchen with a neighbour one day and a cupboard door swung open by itself, hurling a plate at Ritchie's head and missing him by a couple of inches. It was around this time that they became frightened, which was around August 2009. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Things like this start small and subtly.

caseyann

Is this the house where the family have moved out of and the council wont house them somewhere else,because they cant prove it?

MrMojoRisin

caseyann wrote: »

Is this the house where the family have moved out of and the council wont house them somewhere else,because they cant prove it?

Well, gee, I dunno - whaddya think?

How many other families do you know of in the Cork area at the mo' who won't go back into a council house because they believe the place is haunted??

Mind you, they could all start using that story from now on to get themselves transferred to houses elsewhere. I can understand why the Corporation won't re-house the family in Hollyhill on the basis of "it's haunted" because it could open the chancer floodgates.

oceanman

MrMojoRisin wrote: »

Well, gee, I dunno - whaddya think?

How many other families do you know of in the Cork area at the mo' who won't go back into a council house because they believe the place is haunted??

Mind you, they could all start using that story from now on to get themselves transferred to houses elsewhere. I can understand why the Corporation won't re-house the family in Hollyhill on the basis of "it's haunted" because it could open the chancer floodgates.

thats a bit harsh...dont you think!

MrMojoRisin

oceanman wrote: »

thats a bit harsh...dont you think!

Which part? The part where I admonished caseyann for mixing up the Hollyhill hoo-ha with another possible (and probably currently non-existent) case in Cork?

Or the part where I said that council house dwellers would hijack the "My house is haunted - move me please" story if the Corporation agrees to re-house Richie, Laura and Kyle?

Well, sometimes the truth hurts.

I do believe that Richie and Laura's case is genuine and I sympathise with them, but I don't think they'll get their transfer. I heard that this is in spite of submitting testimonies to the Corporation from witnesses to the unusual incidents - including neighbours, that bloke Adrian (the fella who had once lived there unperturbed for 20-odd years), family, friends, members of the City Council, a local councillor named David McCarthy, a priest from the area, etc. Some of the former have also written letters to the Corporation in an effort to persuade them to change their minds. All to no avail, by the sounds of it.

MrMojoRisin

The latest with that house is that some paranormal investigators in Cork are trying to get in there but the City Council won't let them. I don't know who they are because I only know of two investigation groups operating in the area and AFAIK they haven't been trying to get into that house lately.

Anyway apparently Laura and Richie are at their wits end. Four of the family are staying in one bedroom in Laura's mother's house because they have nowhere else to go. Sometimes there are six of them in the one room when they have relatives visiting.

Laura and the family went back to the 'haunted' house last week to have a look around and they found their mattress ripped to shreds. Apparently you can only get into the house if you have a key because it's completely barricaded otherwise.

Whatever that bloke Paul O' Halloran (the exorcist/shaman) did before seemingly has not worked at all.

maccored

cant the family just let the investigators in without the council knowing?

MrMojoRisin

maccored wrote: »

cant the family just let the investigators in without the council knowing?

They could, but the City Council has ownership of the house (now that the family no longer occupy it) and the investigators would then be prosecuted for trespassing if word got back to the Council about it. I mean, the house is in a terrace with occupied houses on each side of it and opposite it as well - plenty of witnesses and potential snitches.

The investigators and the family could take a chance with it, but it's possible that neither party want to take the risk. The paranormal investigators probably don't want to conduct an investigation unlawfully (and especially since they're only newly established - a few months only), and the family are already in a tug-of-war situation with both the City Council and the housing corporation.

Tbh, I don't see what good a paranormal investigation group can do. It has already been established that weird stuff went on there - why else would a father and mother choose to sleep in one bedroom with two kids in the mother's mother's house for the last seven months instead of sensibly going home? All a paranormal investigation group is useful for is finding out what's up in a place and try to record some activity. But that doesn't resolve the issue itself, so their input isn't of any more use.

caseyann

MrMojoRisin wrote: »

They could, but the City Council has ownership of the house (now that the family no longer occupy it) and the investigators would then be prosecuted for trespassing if word got back to the Council about it. I mean, the house is in a terrace with occupied houses on each side of it and opposite it as well - plenty of witnesses and potential snitches.

The investigators and the family could take a chance with it, but it's possible that neither party want to take the risk. The paranormal investigators probably don't want to conduct an investigation unlawfully (and especially since they're only newly established - a few months only), and the family are already in a tug-of-war situation with both the City Council and the housing corporation.

Tbh, I don't see what good a paranormal investigation group can do. It has already been established that weird stuff went on there - why else would a father and mother choose to sleep in one bedroom with two kids in the mother's mother's house for the last seven months instead of sensibly going home? All a paranormal investigation group is useful for is finding out what's up in a place and try to record some activity. But that doesn't resolve the issue itself, so their input isn't of any more use.

I reckon they stick two of their own top people in the house for a week or two,and see if they come out green

charlemont

of all the squatters, drinkers and hard drug takers who had been frequenting the house before the couple moved in, its more than likely at least one of them is dead by now.. so i do think this is the problem, some guy possibly died while on heroin, therefore he may not be in the state to fully realise he has passed over or else he holds aggression towards the house..

maccored

i think we'd really need to know exactly what the story is before we'd know if its paranormal or not. theres many, many reasons why people might stay in a parents or parents in law house rather than their own house other than paranormal reasons.

weeda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y61HGTtyj_A

weeda

These links are oldish but information I've found that are relevent.
http://www.studentsmart.ie/blog/2010/03/family-quits-cork-home-over-poltergeist/

weeda

http://www.idevelop.ie/blogs/news_cork_haunted_house.php

bipedalhumanoid

*Checks Watch*
*Taps Watch*
*Checks Watch Again*

Yep still 2010.

*Shakes Head*

MrMojoRisin

maccored wrote: »

i think we'd really need to know exactly what the story is before we'd know if its paranormal or not. theres many, many reasons why people might stay in a parents or parents in law house rather than their own house other than paranormal reasons.

Such as?

Everything in their former house was working fine and the place had been decorated nicely. All mod cons. Its location was also convenient because of its proximity to their son's school.

I'm trying here, but I can't seem to think of any mundane reasons why they would choose to live with the woman's mother.

MrMojoRisin

bipedalhumanoid wrote: »

*Checks Watch*
*Taps Watch*
*Checks Watch Again*

Yep still 2010.

*Shakes Head*

Thanks for sharing your passion for horology studies with us.

bipedalhumanoid

MrMojoRisin wrote: »

Thanks for sharing your passion for horology studies with us.

hmmm... no actually I just thought I might have been transported to a medieval time where superstitious, paranormal beliefs were rife. Because that wasn't the case, I have to conclude that many people commenting here have been badly let down by the education system. It's very sad.

Riamfada

bipedalhumanoid wrote: »

hmmm... no actually I just thought I might have been transported to a medieval time where superstitious, paranormal beliefs were rife. Because that wasn't the case, I have to conclude that many people commenting here have been badly let down by the education system. It's very sad.

Good for you.

MrMojoRisin

bipedalhumanoid wrote: »

hmmm... no actually I just thought I might have been transported to a medieval time where superstitious, paranormal beliefs were rife.

Gee, you don't say! I never, ever would have guessed what you meant if you hadn't kindly clarified your stance for me!

Isn't it funny how you think you might have been transported to the medieval-time Paranormal forum, of all places? Of all the forums to end up at, you ended up here. That time machine of yours is amazing!

bipedalhumanoid wrote: »

Because that wasn't the case, I have to conclude that many people commenting here have been badly let down by the education system. It's very sad.

I know, sure it's a terrible tragedy. Why don't you submit your concerns about our neglect by the education system to Minister Mary Coughlan?

maccored

MrMojoRisin wrote: »

Such as?

Everything in their former house was working fine and the place had been decorated nicely. All mod cons. Its location was also convenient because of its proximity to their son's school.

I'm trying here, but I can't seem to think of any mundane reasons why they would choose to live with the woman's mother.

they may want out of the house for other reasons, they mightnt like the neighbourhood, there could be damp, the place mightnt be what they want - theres many reasons why they mightnt want to stay in the house. it doesnt have to be paranormal. I dont know the people, and I dont know where they live so I cant rule out the zillion other reasons there may well be for them not wanting to live in that house.

MrMojoRisin

maccored wrote: »

they may want out of the house for other reasons, they mightnt like the neighbourhood,

Well, they're only staying up the road a bit from there with the mother and, believe me, the neighbourhoods are all similar in that particular area. If you've been there, you'll know what I mean.

maccored wrote: »

there could be damp, the place mightnt be what they want - theres many reasons why they mightnt want to stay in the house. it doesnt have to be paranormal. I dont know the people, and I dont know where they live so I cant rule out the zillion other reasons there may well be for them not wanting to live in that house.

But of all the bloody excuses for not wanting to stay in your house, you'd go and tell the Corporation that you can't live there because it's "haunted"? Come on, I know some people can be simple (or creative ), but that would be very far down the list for genuinely plausible excuses in order to get yourself a transfer. AFAIK, there have never been any reported cases of people being transferred because of an alleged haunting in this country, so why would anyone bother flogging a dead horse like that?

And why have over a dozen people - including a priest, employees from the City Council and a local Councillor - bothered to submit written testimonies, detailing what they witnessed inside the house, to the housing corporation? Why would they stick their necks out? They have their own minds and can make their own decisions. That's another thing I don't get.

maccored

what i dont understand is if stuff happens so often, then why it isnt video'd. If they got enough on video and audio, then even if the council wouldnt listen, then the press would - except there'd be something to back up the claims.

This is not happening, so I assume these things DONT happen as regularly as we're being led to believe, which in itself leads to suspicions on what the real issues are.

MrMojoRisin

maccored wrote: »

what i dont understand is if stuff happens so often, then why it isnt video'd. If they got enough on video and audio, then even if the council wouldnt listen, then the press would - except there'd be something to back up the claims.

This is not happening, so I assume these things DONT happen as regularly as we're being led to believe, which in itself leads to suspicions on what the real issues are.

I don't think aural evidence would be much good for a situation like this one because it seems to be more visually-based.

I agree that video is obviously the best way to capture any so-called phenomena. I just think that people on the lower end of the socio-economic scale sometimes can't afford to buy video cameras - that might explain why there have only been photographs of what happened in the house, which isn't any good. Or maybe they can't be bothered to buy video cameras. I don't know. Then again, I'm sure a member of 96fm could have easily lent them a camcorder to capture something.

maccored

which leads back to the question of why they dont let a group in there so do the video capture for them. feck the council.

personally i think if this was genuine - these people really did feel they had a paranormal thing going on and they felt the council didnt believe them, then they would have tried to capture something on video by now, one way or another, or at least let in a group who would have the gear.

MrMojoRisin

maccored wrote: »

which leads back to the question of why they dont let a group in there so do the video capture for them. feck the council.

personally i think if this was genuine - these people really did feel they had a paranormal thing going on and they felt the council didnt believe them, then they would have tried to capture something on video by now, one way or another, or at least let in a group who would have the gear.

Richie and Laura do want to let in a paranormal investigation group - they're very eager for that group I mentioned to enter the house and capture video evidence. The City Council are all for it - it's the goddamn housing corporation that won't budge.

I think the parents would have caught some of the activity on video themselves already if, 1) they had had a camcorder, and 2) they hadn't been so scared sh*tless to do the logical thing (video the activity there and then if they had the means to do so).

So that group could take a chance and enter - and possibly face the wrath of the law - but that's entirely up to them.

maccored

theres no reason why the couple cant invite a group of people over to their house, and while they're there, do an investigation. the corporation cant stop residents inviting guests over, nor can they dictate what the guests can or cannot do.

MrMojoRisin

maccored wrote: »

theres no reason why the couple cant invite a group of people over to their house, and while they're there, do an investigation. the corporation cant stop residents inviting guests over, nor can they dictate what the guests can or cannot do.

Actually there is a reason why they can't do that - the housing corporation own the house now, not Richie and Laura. They can go into it and have a look around, but they can't exactly hold informal paranormal investigation soirees with 'friends'. The house belongs to the corporation, so they call the shots now.

Another thing I meant to say about the absence of video evidence on the part of the family was that they said they simply thought they were imagining the activity for all those months. They dismissed it as the workings of their imaginations until it really escalated, and when that happened, they freaked out royally.

maccored

they cant move back even if they wanted to?

If the corporation has taken over the house, then they must have put forward reasons for doing so. If the couple abandoned the house completely, then they've lost out.

I dont understand how its at a stage where the couple cant live in the house regardless of the poltergiest. If thats the case then they'll have a problem with the corporation letting them live there no matter if theres an apparent ghost of not.

Wouldnt that tend to point to the corporation having its own reasons for not letting them back there?

MrMojoRisin

maccored wrote: »

they cant move back even if they wanted to?

Yes, they can if they want to.

maccored wrote: »

If the corporation has taken over the house, then they must have put forward reasons for doing so. If the couple abandoned the house completely, then they've lost out.

The reason is simple - the house is unoccupied, which leads to the corporation automatically re-claiming ownership of the property.

maccored wrote: »

I dont understand how its at a stage where the couple cant live in the house regardless of the poltergiest. If thats the case then they'll have a problem with the corporation letting them live there no matter if theres an apparent ghost of not.

Obviously the family view the situation differently. To the best of my knowledge, they had no issue with living there for the first six months or so.

maccored wrote: »

Wouldnt that tend to point to the corporation having its own reasons for not letting them back there?

Again, nobody is living in the house, so its ownership is automatically transferred back to the corporation. It's the same protocol in any case where a house suddenly becomes unoccupied.

maccored

then the simple answer is reoccupy the house and invite over a team of investigators and try to catch things on video with the investigators as witnesses.

That would give the whole thing a bit more credibility. If they dont want to do something to at least back up their claims, then you have to wonder.

MrMojoRisin

maccored wrote: »

then the simple answer is reoccupy the house and invite over a team of investigators and try to catch things on video with the investigators as witnesses.

That would give the whole thing a bit more credibility. If they dont want to do something to at least back up their claims, then you have to wonder.

Yeah, that's the obvious thing to do, and I'd love to see their claims either quashed or substantiated. But that's up to them.