Spooky Tales - haunted Killarney

Halloween can trace its history to Ireland – the tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.

| By Sean Moriarty Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31 – a Bank Holiday Monday in 2022. If you happen to be visiting Killarney at this time – or indeed anytime – these are the must-visit (or maybe best avoided!) haunted sites in the area.

MUCKROSS ABBEY

In the Refectory of Muckross Abbey, where the Monks dined and where visitors were shown hospitality, there was a big fireplace from which welcoming heat radiated. When the Abbey was unoccupied during the mid-18th century, the recess of this great fire-

Check your rear view mirrors when you drive past Derrycunnihy Church.

Spooky Tales from Killarney

place became the bed of a man known as John Drake who, from around 1750, lived amid the ruins. He was said to be under 40 years of age, refined in nature and 'scholarly' in appearance. He never discussed his past, his plans or his reasons for adopting this unusual abode. He built himself a bed made from pieces of old coffin boards and placed some straw on them as a sort of mattress. He windproofed the nearby window with earth and rubbish. This was his chosen residence for at least 11 years. He never asked for alms and was never known to eat in any dwelling other than his own. He had enough money to buy some food and indeed was known to give a halfpenny and his prayers to any person who seemed more destitute than himself. The kindly Muckross people treated him with great respect and never invaded his privacy. It was assumed that John would live out his life in the Abbey and that his mortal remains would be interred in the adjoining graveyard. But these expectations did not come to pass. One day in late Springtime's, John was nowhere to be seen. Just as suddenly as he had arrived to the Abbey he had now disappeared. His 'bed' lay unruffled but nothing else remained. John had gone quietly into the dark night and was never again seen in Muckross or heard of elsewhere. The mystery of the unusual life of John Drake in Muckross remains just that – a mystery of a quiet and gentle man who ar-

Bram Stoker's Dracula was based on places he visited including Ross Castle and people he met in Killarney.

rived unannounced and departed without trace. (Story courtesy of former Town Mayor Michael Gleeson)

ROSS CASTLE

This 15th century castle on the shores of Lough Lein (and just a ten-minute walk from the town centre) was built by the O’Donoghue clan, who successfully defended against Oliver Cromwell’s invading army until 1652 when it fell to the invaders’ hands. An old story says that Ross Castle would only succumb to invasion when a ship swam upon the lake, and this may have led the MacCarthy Mors to believe that he was invincible. Legend has it that O’Donoghue still exists under the waters of Lough Leane. On May 1 every seven years he rises from the lake on a magnificent white horse and circles the lake.

THE LAKE HOTEL

The founder of Muckross Abbey, Donal McCarthy Mor, likes to keep watch on Ross Castle and the Abbey from the comfort of the Lake Hotel. McCarthy was a ruthless warrior and has been seen in the hotel’s Devil’s Punchbowl Bar, in the hotel, looking out over Lough Leane. It is also reported that a young girl has been seen walking the corridors of the 18th century hotel. An attempt to make contact with her through a psychic was not successful. Seemingly she speaks in an ancient Irish dialect and cannot be understood. Could she be the same girl that appears sporadically in other areas of the National Park?

DERRYCUNNIHY CHURCH

On the Moll’s Gap road, deep in the heart of the National Park sits Derrycunnihy Church. It was built in the 1870s on the lands of the Earl of Kenmare, and consecrated in 1874. The church was damaged by fire in the 1950s and finally closed in 1960. It is now home to a colony of bats, a parliament of owls… and maybe something more sinister. Local legend says that many years ago a girl died there when she was knocked off her bicycle outside the church on her way home. ‘The girl in white’ is said to be still trying to make her way home. She sits in the back seat of passing cars and can only be seen in the rear view mirror – only the driver can see her and only when she is looking into the mirror at the same time. As soon as the car passes her house she disappears from view!

THE CAHERNANE HOTEL

This historic hotel on the lake shore is the perfect place to act as a base for haunted Halloween activities. As part of its residential Halloween package, the historic Cahernane House hosts nights of storytelling over the Halloween weekend with Eddie Lenihan, one of the few traditional seanchaís still working in Ireland. Eddie tells the residents ancient myths and legends of Irish folklore as well as some of the Irish fairy stories which he has collected from old people over the years. Irish fairy stories form a prominent part of his huge repertoire, but there are historical tales too, stories of notable figures such as the banshee, devil stories, accounts of saints, of monsters, ogres, giants and ghosts. Some of the stories are not for the faint-hearted and were collected from his years of research and by walking the tracks and trails of forgotten Ireland where solitary hawthorn bushes mark the sacred meeting places of the fairies.

KILLARNEY PUMPKIN FARM

Situated on the outskirts of Killarney Town you will find Killarney Pumpkin Farm, nestled in the quiet hills of Headford, the ideal place to celebrate Halloween. Venture through the rambling vines of the farm’s Pumpkin Patch – search for the perfect pumpkin and soak up the atmosphere with treats, tricks and creatures galore, There’s pixies, spooks, adventure and more…

DRACULA

It is widely accepted that Bram Stoker, the creator of the blood sucking vampire Dracula, drew inspiration after visits to disused monasteries, ancient castles and atmospheric ruins in the Killarney area. During the late 1800s he was seen frequenting the ruins of Ross and Flesk castles late at night.