Cork City Gaol.

andyseadog

Hi guys, i visited the above Cork City Gaol today with my girlfriend. i done a quick search of this forum but there doesn't appear to be any threads on it.

long story short anyway, took a photo inside one of the cells, there was perfect lighting in the cells, when i took the photo a black shape/ cloud appeared across a part of the photo. it really doesn't appear to be a shadow or lighting effect from looking at it, i'm a bit weary of it. i'm waiting for her to email me accross the photo so i can post it here.

my question being, is the Gaol supposed to be haunted? and if so by anythone in particular? any info would be great

gbee

Yes, it is haunted ~ but losing sensitivity.

No very famous ghost but the gaol was a city in itself, births, marriages, deaths. It became the womens' gaol and the republican's gaol.

People used to be sent there with the instructions that the convicted be fed and receive medical attention and a 'warm' bed.

At periods it was a vicious place but hangings would have been at the gallows green by Shandon.

The stories of the Cork City Gaol needs to be tempered with the fact that it moved around and changed roles, one of the more notorious gaols where hangings took place, was the "old" womens' gaol, now a wall of UCC ~ now that's haunted.

MrMojoRisin

Yeah, the organisers of the annual World Ghost Convention that's held in the jail say that the place is haunted. They hold that convention in the jail because it's 'haunted'.

Well, I've been to the place a few times now and I didn't see or experience anything out of the ordinary.

However, I have heard stories from others about the place. My cousin was telling me that her friend's mother once saw a massive angel on the roof of the building in the late '80s (before the jail was converted into a heritage centre).

Another of her friends said she was walking on a remote part of the grounds one day and heard voices that she couldn't source.

The manager of Cork City Gaol, Elizabeth Kearns, has often said there's a resident ghost lady there who's dressed in a green shawl. She said she has seen the ghost, as have visitors to the jail.

There's more about the jail's reportedly strange goings-on in this video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-150385387459120234 (begins 33 mins, 40 seconds in).

and here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-peS6H5ZKbQ

Isolt

Does the ghost convention still run every year? How do you get tickets for it or is it just open to investigators and journalists etc?

gbee

Every year, I see their link is not working right now, but they had an on-line presence.

maccored

no offence OP, but how do you make the jump to a shadow being a ghost rather than the million of other things it more than likely could be? Can you attach the photo?

MrMojoRisin

Isolt wrote: »

Does the ghost convention still run every year? How do you get tickets for it or is it just open to investigators and journalists etc?

Yeah, sure the 10th convention took place at Halloween. It's been running every year since 2001.

Anyone can attend the thing. The tickets are usually sold at Pro Musica music shop on Oliver Plunkett Street up to about three weeks before the convention takes place.

andyseadog

andyseadog

anyone have any views??

MrMojoRisin

It just looks like a bit of a shadow to me, tbh. Did you have the camera flash on (or did it go on automatically) when you were taking the photo?

Maybe the shadow of something directly outside the jail cell (a door, another person passing by, the stairwell) was captured in the shot?

Did you happen to take a photo of the exact same space beforehand or afterwards at all? Also, was the camera lens clear and unsullied at the time of taking the pic?

gbee

Strange thing is when you first posted this picture I saw NOTHING :eek:

maccored

that looks like shadowing on the right handside

dee12_7

Just thought id share a story about my experience in the Gaol.I was at that gaol loads of times and nothing strange has ever happened but earlier this yr I went with a friend and something odd happened,although it may be innocent enough and I didnt realise it.We went in and were given those headphones and cassettes and it was all ok til we got into the main part downstairs.As soon as we went into the first open cells,my audio thing started to sound like the batteries were dying.I ignored it but it quickly got worse so I went back to reception to sort it out.The man at reception went off and came back with a massive packet of unopened batteries and changed them on front of me and then asked me to check if its ok.I did and it was all fine so off I went.
As soon as I got back to the cell though,the exact same thing happened.The voice on the cassette went from being fine to slowing down and down to the point where the words were dragging out.I left it for a bit but it just carried on like that so I returned to reception and explained it again.He gave me a new cassette and new batteries asked me to check if it was ok.I did and it was fine so off I went again but when I got back to the cells,the voice slowed down dramatically again.I didnt want to go back to reception again so I carried on but I kept having to stop in case the batteries ran out completely on me.I dont know what caused that to happen.It may be innocent enough but it freaked me out a bit to be honest!

MrMojoRisin

It's weird for that to happen more than once for sure, and especially to happen with two different cassette players.

I took that tour with the cassette player and headphones before, so I know what you're on about. I didn't have any problems with the battery life in my own player at the time though. I did think that they should update the players - at least just give people CD players playing the jail's spoken-word history at this stage. This is 2012 after all.

I wonder if other tour-goers experienced similar issues to yours?

I never experienced anything paranormal inside the jail, but I've heard strange stories about the place from people I know. One girl said she was taking a tour of the jail in the daytime a few years ago and she strayed off to an out-of-bounds part of the jail to the left of the interior stone steps outside (facing away from the road). She said she could hear people's voices coming from some cells, yet she was certain nobody was there. She couldn't see anyone.

I heard another story about a lit candle being seen from a window within the jail - from the Shandon direction - late at night, years before the jail became a heritage centre. On one occasion, the guy called the guards to report it, who investigated things further and found no evidence of unlawful entry or human intrusion.

dee12_7

We didnt go on the tour.It was early enough in the morning and it was really quiet so we just got the headphones and cassettes and headed off ourselves.

NIMAN

Considering there is no such things as ghosts, I'd say its simply something else.

dee12_7

Maybe you're right Niman.Maybe it was something innocent but maybe it was something more.I dont know.That's why I shared my experience!

Sephiroth_dude

NIMAN wrote: »

Considering there is no such things as ghosts, I'd say its simply something else.

:rolleyes:

gbee

NIMAN wrote: »

Considering there is no such things as ghosts, I'd say its simply something else.

Dear Sir,
We've looked at your application for our vacant PR position and we regret to inform you that you were not successful.
Personnel Manager
Cork City Gaol.

MrMojoRisin

Infraction issued to NIMAN for blatant breach of Charter.

MrMojoRisin

dee12_7 wrote: »

We didnt go on the tour.It was early enough in the morning and it was really quiet so we just got the headphones and cassettes and headed off ourselves.

Oh, I see. So a staff member didn't hand you the cassette player and headphones to begin with?

When we were there before, a member of staff charged us about €7 and then gave us the players and headphones to venture off around the jail by ourselves for the 'personal audio tour', as it were.

The tapes pretty much 'guided' us from one cell, or part of the jail, to another. It felt a bit like partaking in a silent disco, ha, ha, because I'd see the other two lads milling around the place, visibly concentrating on what the tapes were saying and, like myself, saying nothing. That was about as weird as it got for us, I'm afraid.

dee12_7

When we went in the guy at reception asked us if we wanted a guided tour or if we preferred to use the audio cassette so we chose the cassettes.

dee12_7

It was pretty quiet,like I said, but I saw the odd few people wandering around also with cassettes but none of them looked confused or anything so I dont think they were experiencing anything unusual.Well not when I saw them anyway!

MrMojoRisin

You should email the jail (contact info HERE), addressing the manager Elizabeth Kearns, and tell her about the experience you recounted on here. She might have something interesting to say in response, and I'm sure she'd be interested in the story, what with her own ghostly experiences in the jail over the years and that Ghost Convention being held there every year.

There's a video here that goes into detail about the spooky reputation of the jail actually (33 minutes, 39 seconds in): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-150385387459120234

maccored

NIMAN wrote: »

Considering there is no such things as ghosts, I'd say its simply something else.

nice one. fancy sharing your research that lead you to that conclusion?

dee12_7

Yeah cool,I think ill do that.She might also tell me if that type of thing has happened to anyone else before.Thanks a million for the info!