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| The Front of the Castle |
Leap Castle is purportedly the most haunted castle in Ireland.
Here’s some of why.
In the mid 1500’s, the O’Carroll’s squabbled non-stop about succession to the leadership of the clan. Squabbled is a bit light, considering they murdered each other and others with some regularity. The first ghost is said to be that of Thaddeus, Teige’s brother. Teige didn’t care much for the way Thaddeus held his mass in the Chapel, so he did him in with a knife in the back. People reported sudden flashes of light from those top windows, even when the castle was vacant and in ruin.
Thaddeus’ death was just a drop in the bloody bucket. During renovation in the 1920’s, workmen discovered truck loads of bones. The bodies had been dropped through what’s called the oubliette (the forgetting) onto spikes positioned to puncture the lungs. These deaths were not swift. There’s more, but you get the idea.
If any castle has ghosts, Leap Castle does. And these ghosts deserve to be ticked off. I just didn’t want them to be ticked off at me. I’m only half Irish.
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| Greeting at the door. |
When I climbed the narrow winding stairs into the Bloody Chapel, nothing unusual happened. Once in the Chapel, I took pictures and sat at the dusty table to have a good look into the shadowy corners. Sunlight filtered through gothic windows without panes but with swags of spidery filaments. Beauty outside. Ghosts inside?
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| Inside Death. Outside Freedom |
It wasn’t until I’d returned to the lower rooms of the castle that I noticed my backpack was missing its metal pull. I found that pull in the bottom of my bag (kind of mysterious, since the bag was still zipped closed) and reattached it. It was hard to do, and I needed to pry open the clasp with knife edge to slip it back into place. That pull never came off again. It’s still on my bag, but in the Bloody Tower it came off. Ghosts? Poppycock?
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| With Sean Ryan, the latest owner, after my “ghostly” experience. |
Next week: More of Leap’s Ghostly Tales
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My first Campaign using MailChimp made me sweat as much as a submission does. Why is that? And why did it take me twenty minutes to figure out how to do it? I think it’s because my head’s not wired like a programmer’s. I need some re-wiring if I’m to tackle this social media seriously. I am not a savvy social media person. My bad. Beam me up, Scottie.
However, I did send my email with my first Special Offer to my subscribers, and several have already taken advantage of it. That’s very exciting to me because I had no idea what to expect.
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Quote for the week:
“People who are trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off–why should I?” Bob Marley
Are you ready to tour a haunted castle? Want to be a part of my new mailing list? Did you like Bob Marley’s humor? I thought it fit the mood of today’s post.
Touring a haunted castle sounds fascinating. I think it is crazy about your backpack- definitely fishy. Sounds like there is the potential for a lot of ghost s there. Did you seen any hints of ghosts in any of your pictures?
~Jess
Wow, that bit about your backpack, so cool and so spooky!
Also, I love that picture in the middle. The one of the window with the light shining in. It's kind of.. enchanting.
Alexa
thessalexa.blogspot.com
verbositybookreviews.wordpress.com
How exciting! Leap Castle…when I got to Ireland one day, I'll make note of that. ๐
How exciting! Leap Castle…when I got to Ireland one day, I'll make note of that. ๐
If you make it to the O'Sullivan castle say hi to my family ghosts. Give them some Guinness and bread and they'll invite you to stay.
I'd like to visit that castle! That was pretty weird about your zipper pull. But if it was a ghost who did it, it was nice of him/her to put the pull in your back pack so you could find it! ๐
Cue Twilight Zone music.
That looks like a wonderful trip, even with the ghosts. ๐
I know what you mean about the newsletter.
*shakes head* I'm STILL figuring mine out.
I would love to visit Leap Castle, but in the daytime. Not so sure about visiting it in the night.
So cool! They may have visited this castle on Ghost Hunters International. It seems familiar…but they visited a LOT of castles on the few seasons that show was on the air! I liked it…but they eventually crashed themselves because they added a cast member who went a little too far…there was an episode involving bloodletting and one of the other cast members publicly spoke out against it and next thing you know, the Ghost Hunters producers canceled International.
I'd visit Leap Castle in the day. In the night… not so much. There's some scary stuff in that place.
Hey Lee!!
Yay and gosh, I have arrived! I can imagine how anxious you've been waiting for my comment.
Nothing like a haunted castle. Your ghostly tale gives me shivers up my spine. Of course, being in lil' ol' England, I'm used to ghosts. Bet you could see right through my comment.
I'm sure Bob Marley had a ghostly brother named Jacob who did a great cover version of Chain Reaction by Diana Ross, with a little help from the Boo Gees, sorry, Bee Gees.
As always, your starstruckest fan,
Gary ๐
I enjoy tours of haunted places. I thought I signed up for your newsletter, but I did not receive anything unless I signed up after your first newsletter. I was so nervous the first few times I sent one. I wanted to keep proofreading and it was hard finding the next and submit buttons. It's become a lot easier, thank goodness.
Truckloads of bones??? #shivers But to be truthful, it all makes me curious. And if I were a tween in the area with a few friends who wanted to dare each other… (Love that doorknocker!)
What a ghostly tale. Castles are such interesting places to visit, full of history and stories to tell. Glad you enjoyed your trip, I have never been to Ireland.
What fun! I mean, not the death and gore, but the visit. I'm a total sucker for ghost stories…not sure why. Probably because it makes me want to envision the lives of those who passed before.
I absolutely LOOOVE haunted castles. Leap castle is now on my list of places to visit.
Hi Lee – such an interesting place to have visited … with so much history – I'm sure the ghosts are still there – after their endings I wouldn't leave til I'd had my pound of flesh and more scaring the living daylights out of everyone!
How wonderful to have met Mr Ryan – he looks like he'd be a wonderful character … Lovely photos too …
Cheers Hilary
I love ghostly things… and an awesome Castle in Ireland sounds absolutely creeepy.
Sounds like a great tour. Thanks for sharing your adventure with us! ๐
I would love to tour a castle, haunted or otherwise! Photo heaven. We actually have three castles nearby. One is Bishop's Castle, built by hand by one man over years and years. I'm hoping to take the kids there before summer is up since he might be losing it. Then we have Glen Eyre by Garden of the Gods and Miramont Castle in Manitou Springs. Odd, eh? Miramont is supposed to be haunted. I'm not sure about Glen Eyre.
Spooky! I hope it inspire some writing. ๐
Something will have to. ๐
I love ghosts (ness I see them!) ๐ X
I'd rather not see them, but the stories I can take, too.
Sean could easily pass for a ghost himself :)))
Sean is an interesting character.
Hey Lee, I'm sure this castle will turn up in a ghostly story some time in the future. Your bag clasp? Go figure. Loving reading about your travels. ๐
Thanks, Denise. I'm hoping I can find a use for that setting. I'll have to start writing about ghosts I guess.
1. Castle is cool. 2. I'm fighting with mail chimp now to get a mailing list going. Mail chimp is winning.
Well, don't give up.
Love that Bob Marley quote. Mailchimp. Like you, I have a mailing list and in all these years, I've sent out maybe two newsletters. ๐
Now those O'Carroll's were serious people. Couldn't handle the ghosties though.
I'm just going to use this list for announcements and special offers. I'm beginning to dislike newsletters that only rehash what other people have posted.
Oh I love haunted places and that place sounds like it has quite the history. I wonder what did happen to that buckle of yours
I wonder how the O'Carrolls spirits must be in eternal torment.
Leap Castle sounds scaaaaryyy!! We sure don't need anymore "loving" brothers like Thaddeus. Weird about the zipper pull. Ghosties did it! lol
Whenever I need an alibi that's what I say.
I think it would be awesome to tour a haunted castle. I love the doorknocker.
I want one of those for me!
Sounds like an interesting tour. I haven't used mailchimp but use Constant Contact for a weekly email that I send out from work and it is easy to use. I couldn't find the sign up that the guy was pointing to.
I use CC for Friends of Los Gatos Library publicity, but thought I'd try out the chimp for me!
Sounds like a castle sure worth a tour indeed. Ghosts, yeah who needs them lol
Maybe they need us. Euuu. Spooky idea.
Marley's humor sounds more like wisdom. I would love to tour that castle.
Susan Says
When you tour, take some pictures and share them. I'd love to see you standing where I did.
Sounds thrilling! Wishing I could do that some day!
Ireland's about 10 hours away and filled with castles.
Ghosts, castles, and mysteries. A winning combination. Castles fascinate me. I'd love to visit a real one. Some day, maybe.
They do spice up your day. I can only take pastoral strolls and beautiful skylines for so long before I have to climb into a stone castle.
And I remember what the Bob Marley quote is all about.
Is Leap Castle featuring in one of your ghost stories as a setting? Be cool to write out Thaddeus and Teige's story.
I'm sure it will be a setting in the future. It's quite the perfect place for horrible deeds and ghostly sightings.
The castle tour sounds like it was a lot of fun and a bit mysterious. Just the architecture of castles is amazing to me.
It's rather Gothic in appearance now, but that's a later reconstruction by people called Darbys.
You're right, I caught the other one!
What a great place to visit. Castles are so awesome.
Yes. Sorry about that. Twitchy fingers, I guess.
Great story about that castle. Nice!
Not really nice. Really horrid, I'd say, but with an enduring darkness that pulls at you and makes you want to enter.
That is definitely a spooky experience! I'd love to visit a haunted castle. The picture of the window is eerie with it's green tinged light.
The light was especially interesting. Some special ghostly effects? Wonder.
Wow, that was one spooky experience (the backpack). I'm with Dianne: those were not nice people. It made me shudder to think of such gory deaths in the oubliette.
I knew about the murders, but I didn't know about the number of them.
I agree with Catherine. Mailchimp does get easier the more you practice. The current owner looks like quite the character! One day I'd like to do a tour of castles in the UK.
Sean Ryan is a character. If you read more of this series, you'll see him in action.
Haha, great tale and I do love that creepy door decoration. Mailchimp does get easier. Just keep practicing it.
Thanks, Catherine. I'm sure I'll work through it. Glad to hear you like it.
Dropping people down the oubliette to slowly die on spikes? These were some nasty people! Love the story about the backpack.
I wonder if the O'Carroll's changed their name in more modern times? Have to investigate that.
What kind of vibe that place must have with all those gory deaths. Yipes!
Bad vibes in every stone, but the world outside is absolutely beautiful. What a contrast.
How weird and creepy about your backpack. I'd love to visit an old castle some day.
I'm still waiting to see if that tab pops off again.
Wonderful post about a wonderful place. I'm so pleased you enjoyed your stay in Ireland, I have fond memories of both Northen and The Republic of Ireland.
Yvonne.
I've never been north. Next time.