Do you have any haunted houses near you? There are so many tales about them in Ireland that it’s hard to choose. Here’s one mansion that has such a frightening history people will no longer live in it. People who are still alive, that is...
The spooky story of Loftus Hall on the Hook Head peninsula in County Wexford has been passed from generation to generation. I heard it first when I was a child.
Loftus Hall on the Hook Head peninsula in County Wexford has a reputation for being one of the most haunted houses in Ireland
It was a dark and stormy night and the waves were lashing against the rocks. No sensible person would be out on such a night and the family in Loftus Hall sat in front of the crackling fire playing cards. Suddenly a loud knocking thudded on the front door.
A tall dark stranger stood there, dripping with rain. But, being Irish and friendly, the master of the house invited him in to take supper and shelter (not a good idea, by the way).
Later they continued with the card game and the daughter, who naturally had taken a fancy to this handsome stranger, dropped one of her cards. She reached down to retrieve it and glanced under the table. She shrieked with terror when she saw the cloven hooves of the devil sitting opposite.
Immediately, the fiend shot up into the air and departed through the ceiling. And to this day, there is a circular mark on that area of the plaster that can never be painted over. It always reappears.
Brave people have tried living in Loftus Hall over the decades. Nuns ran a convent there and it was once a hotel but too many unpleasant things happened. It has now been bought by a local man who runs it as a venue for haunted tours.
I’ll have to go and see it one day. Visit if you dare but don’t go alone!
Photo courtesy of The National Library, Dublin but I added a filter to make it more spooky.