Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

Poltergeists have always fascinated me.  There are many theories about poltergeists.  In folklore, a poltergeist is the apparent manifestation of an imperceptible but noisy, disruptive or destructive entity.   Poltergeist means “noisy ghost” in German.  Poltergeist cases differ from regular hauntings in that they are particularly loud and often cause objects to move.  Physical harm to people is also possible in these cases.  One of the most interesting types of poltergeist activity was featured in my favorite novel by Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hillhouse.  The stone-throwing poltergeists are rare and difficult for skeptics to explain. 

Stone-throwing poltergeist phenomena cases date back, at least, to 530 CE when it was recorded that Deacon, King Theodoric of the Ostrogoths’ physician, was besieged by stones. One of the more interesting cases of stone throwing poltergiest activity is the Grottendieck case. In 1903, a Dutch engineer living in Inodonesia, Grottendieck, awoke to a storm of rocks falling through the roof of his hut and hitting him in the head. Of course, this was concerning to Grottendieck who awoke a servant to help him figure out the origins of the rock storm. They explored the outside area around the hut and they found nothing that explained the rocks. Inside, the rocks continued to fall. They also began to change directions and started falling horizontally. Grottendieck was perplexed, but the serving boys was horrified and he ran away into the jungle.

No sooner had the boy fled than the rocks stopped falling. Grottendieck saved several of the stones and went to be. Grottendieck published a story on this incident in the Journal of the Society of Psychical Research. His hypothesis was that the stones had been sent by the ghost of his dead sister who was trying to communicate with him from beyond the grave. Many other researchers disagreed and believed that the rocks were a product of poltergeist activity brought on by the serving boy’s subconscious mind. There was never any consensus on the cause of this strange case and people still conjecture as to what might have causes the strange falling stones.

In 1981, Ward End residents at Thornton Road told police they could not locate the source of stones being thrown that were causing significant damage to windows and roof tiles. The police were called in to investigate.  They staked the properties out and waited.  They stayed overnight.  They used cameras and recording devices, but despite all their work, they couldn’t find any observable source for the rocks that continued to besiege Ward End.   Of course, they couldn’t blame a poltergeist so they reported that the criminal must have used a long distance catapult. 

Like all other poltergeist activity, there is no consensus on what causes the stone throwing incidents in these cases.  Many believe that the stones are thrown by ghosts.  Others believe that the telekinetic powers of certain people in crisis cause these events.  Most believe that the rock throwing must be caused by some brilliant prankster who is capable of raining rocks on neighborhoods with handcrafted catapults’.  Whatever the cause, I imagine in must be terrifying to look out your window and see rocks raining from the sky.

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

Poltergeists have always fascinated me.  There are many theories about poltergeists.  In folklore, a poltergeist is the apparent manifestation of an imperceptible but noisy, disruptive or destructive entity.   Poltergeist means “noisy ghost” in German.  Poltergeist cases differ from regular hauntings in that they are particularly loud and often cause objects to move.  Physical harm to people is also possible in these cases.  One of the most interesting types of poltergeist activity was featured in my favorite novel by Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hillhouse.  The stone-throwing poltergeists are rare and difficult for skeptics to explain. 

Stone-throwing poltergeist phenomena cases date back, at least, to 530 CE when it was recorded that Deacon, King Theodoric of the Ostrogoths’ physician, was besieged by stones. One of the more interesting cases of stone throwing poltergiest activity is the Grottendieck case. In 1903, a Dutch engineer living in Inodonesia, Grottendieck, awoke to a storm of rocks falling through the roof of his hut and hitting him in the head. Of course, this was concerning to Grottendieck who awoke a servant to help him figure out the origins of the rock storm. They explored the outside area around the hut and they found nothing that explained the rocks. Inside, the rocks continued to fall. They also began to change directions and started falling horizontally. Grottendieck was perplexed, but the serving boys was horrified and he ran away into the jungle.

No sooner had the boy fled than the rocks stopped falling. Grottendieck saved several of the stones and went to be. Grottendieck published a story on this incident in the Journal of the Society of Psychical Research. His hypothesis was that the stones had been sent by the ghost of his dead sister who was trying to communicate with him from beyond the grave. Many other researchers disagreed and believed that the rocks were a product of poltergeist activity brought on by the serving boy’s subconscious mind. There was never any consensus on the cause of this strange case and people still conjecture as to what might have causes the strange falling stones.

In 1981, Ward End residents at Thornton Road told police they could not locate the source of stones being thrown that were causing significant damage to windows and roof tiles. The police were called in to investigate.  They staked the properties out and waited.  They stayed overnight.  They used cameras and recording devices, but despite all their work, they couldn’t find any observable source for the rocks that continued to besiege Ward End.   Of course, they couldn’t blame a poltergeist so they reported that the criminal must have used a long distance catapult. 

Like all other poltergeist activity, there is no consensus on what causes the stone throwing incidents in these cases.  Many believe that the stones are thrown by ghosts.  Others believe that the telekinetic powers of certain people in crisis cause these events.  Most believe that the rock throwing must be caused by some brilliant prankster who is capable of raining rocks on neighborhoods with handcrafted catapults’.  Whatever the cause, I imagine in must be terrifying to look out your window and see rocks raining from the sky.

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

When we began our journey to Ireland, I chose to stay at Carraigin (as it is listed on VRBO) Castle because it was beautiful and had plenty of space for my family to spread out into.  I would be lying if I wasn’t also beguiled by the idea of Tina, the woman who brings full Irish breakfasts and dinners to the castle at our request.  I dug through the internet and found no records of any tragedies occurring at this castle and there were no ghost stories that I could find.  This didn’t bother me much since I knew I would find other stories to occupy my time.

Yesterday, I met David.  David is an Irish Fisherman who knows the waters of Lough Corrib as well as I know my own office.  I wasn’t particularly looking forward to his tour of Lough Corrib (The lake the castle sits on) because I don’t care for fishing.  I was pulled out onto the water against my will.  I was really looking forward to Tina and her dinner and had no interest in any activity that took me away from it.  David was wonderful, however.  As he took us out onto the water he told us the history of Corrib.  He showed us islands with stone rings (Dolmen) dating back thousands of years before Christ.  He told us myths and legends and old stories about the Lough and its people.  He told us fairy tales and ghost stories and history.  I could hardly keep up with it all.  Finally,  I gave up and just listened and looked and decided I would ask him to come back and take a notebook next time.

What I do remember clearly, was his telling of the history and ghosts of Cargin Castle.  He even pointed us to a small, self published book in the library of Cargin Castle where I could find its history written.  The book he guided me to was called “A Beauty Most Rare” and its history seemed to contradict much of the history I found online about the castle.  First, according to online sources the castle was just a manor house of no military significance.  According to Michael Carol, Castle Cargin was built by “the Norman DeBurgos in the late 13th century.  It was a strategic fortress, along with Annaghkeen Castle in defendint the Manor of Headford from incursions across Lough Corrib (or Lough Orbsen as it was then known) by the dispossessed O’Flaherty clan.”  The castle was of military and strategic use and was more than a country house.  Carol sites Oscar Wilde’s father’s histories of the region (William Wilde) in his bibliography as well Christopher Murphy.    According to Carol, De Burgo installed another Norman family, the Gaynards, as tenants of the castle and woods in Cargin and Clydagh.  In this turbulent period of Irish history, raids and counter-raids to and fro across the lake made life at the castle and in the area a turbulent one.  The Gaynard family which was considered an Old English family was tossed out of the castle by Cromwell supporters  in the 1650s and the house was passed to the New English Staunton family.  The Stauntons stripped the castle of stone and abadoned it.  They used the stone to build a Georgian Manor house and the castle was left to decay.   In the 1970’s the castle was restored to what it is today.

The book told several stories associated with the castle and I will retell two of them.  One came from Thomas Egan:

“The Normans who lived in Cargin Castle were very friendly with those of Annaghkeen who were bitter enemies of the soldiers of Cong.

One day a small band of Cong soldiers came to Annaghkeen and seeing a man working in a field, they cut off his hands and legs and killed him.

When the soldiers in Annaghkeen Castle heard of this outrage, they sough help from the soldiers in Cargin and together marched to Cong.  A great battle was fought on the plain of Maigh Tuireadh in which many men from both sides were killed.

Neither of the parties were satisfied and they fought another more bloody battle a few hundred yards from Cargin Castle beside Lough Corrib.  The Cargin and Annaghkeen soldiers were victorious although very few of either army returned home.

At the place where that terrible battle took place there is a small hill, supposed to have been formed by the heap of slain soldiers who were buried there.  The hill is now covered by the trees of the Clydagh Woods.”

I will save the second tale of bloodshed from Cargin Castle for the second part of this post.  There is too much for one blog post.    But I will end today’s post with the name of the ghost David said haunts the castle.  He calls her Elizabeth and I think we have had a few run ins with her since we have been here.  She kept my oldest son up quite a bit one night and she had fun with us and the light switches on another night.

If you would like to stay at the castle, you can find it on VRBO.

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

When we began our journey to Ireland, I chose to stay at Carraigin (as it is listed on VRBO) Castle because it was beautiful and had plenty of space for my family to spread out into.  I would be lying if I wasn’t also beguiled by the idea of Tina, the woman who brings full Irish breakfasts and dinners to the castle at our request.  I dug through the internet and found no records of any tragedies occurring at this castle and there were no ghost stories that I could find.  This didn’t bother me much since I knew I would find other stories to occupy my time.

Yesterday, I met David.  David is an Irish Fisherman who knows the waters of Lough Corrib as well as I know my own office.  I wasn’t particularly looking forward to his tour of Lough Corrib (The lake the castle sits on) because I don’t care for fishing.  I was pulled out onto the water against my will.  I was really looking forward to Tina and her dinner and had no interest in any activity that took me away from it.  David was wonderful, however.  As he took us out onto the water he told us the history of Corrib.  He showed us islands with stone rings (Dolmen) dating back thousands of years before Christ.  He told us myths and legends and old stories about the Lough and its people.  He told us fairy tales and ghost stories and history.  I could hardly keep up with it all.  Finally,  I gave up and just listened and looked and decided I would ask him to come back and take a notebook next time.

What I do remember clearly, was his telling of the history and ghosts of Cargin Castle.  He even pointed us to a small, self published book in the library of Cargin Castle where I could find its history written.  The book he guided me to was called “A Beauty Most Rare” and its history seemed to contradict much of the history I found online about the castle.  First, according to online sources the castle was just a manor house of no military significance.  According to Michael Carol, Castle Cargin was built by “the Norman DeBurgos in the late 13th century.  It was a strategic fortress, along with Annaghkeen Castle in defendint the Manor of Headford from incursions across Lough Corrib (or Lough Orbsen as it was then known) by the dispossessed O’Flaherty clan.”  The castle was of military and strategic use and was more than a country house.  Carol sites Oscar Wilde’s father’s histories of the region (William Wilde) in his bibliography as well Christopher Murphy.    According to Carol, De Burgo installed another Norman family, the Gaynards, as tenants of the castle and woods in Cargin and Clydagh.  In this turbulent period of Irish history, raids and counter-raids to and fro across the lake made life at the castle and in the area a turbulent one.  The Gaynard family which was considered an Old English family was tossed out of the castle by Cromwell supporters  in the 1650s and the house was passed to the New English Staunton family.  The Stauntons stripped the castle of stone and abadoned it.  They used the stone to build a Georgian Manor house and the castle was left to decay.   In the 1970’s the castle was restored to what it is today.

The book told several stories associated with the castle and I will retell two of them.  One came from Thomas Egan:

“The Normans who lived in Cargin Castle were very friendly with those of Annaghkeen who were bitter enemies of the soldiers of Cong.

One day a small band of Cong soldiers came to Annaghkeen and seeing a man working in a field, they cut off his hands and legs and killed him.

When the soldiers in Annaghkeen Castle heard of this outrage, they sough help from the soldiers in Cargin and together marched to Cong.  A great battle was fought on the plain of Maigh Tuireadh in which many men from both sides were killed.

Neither of the parties were satisfied and they fought another more bloody battle a few hundred yards from Cargin Castle beside Lough Corrib.  The Cargin and Annaghkeen soldiers were victorious although very few of either army returned home.

At the place where that terrible battle took place there is a small hill, supposed to have been formed by the heap of slain soldiers who were buried there.  The hill is now covered by the trees of the Clydagh Woods.”

I will save the second tale of bloodshed from Cargin Castle for the second part of this post.  There is too much for one blog post.    But I will end today’s post with the name of the ghost David said haunts the castle.  He calls her Elizabeth and I think we have had a few run ins with her since we have been here.  She kept my oldest son up quite a bit one night and she had fun with us and the light switches on another night.

If you would like to stay at the castle, you can find it on VRBO.

Reposted from Ghost Stories and Haunted Places | Go to Original Post

Somewhere between Headford and Tuam in County Galway, Ireland on a lonely road lives the remains of Castle Hackett.  There isn’t much left of this castle.  It has been mostly reclaimed by the earth.  Ivy covers its stone walls and you have to pass through an archway of ivy to enter the castle. In many of the photos I took of the location, it is hard to tell if I was taking pictures of the woods or a castle.  Once you walk up a small, winding staircase you emerge onto what was once the second story of this once formidable tower house.  The second story feels as much like a quiet glen as a castle.  Trees have taken root in the stone and dirt and moss cover the floor.  Bits of the castle peak through the branches of trees, flowers and Ivy.  There is nothing left of the third and fourth floors.  You can look up and see the remains of fireplaces, but time has reclaimed all else.  Castle Hackett looks more like a fairy fortress now than a human one and that is appropriate as the castle is steeped in old fairy legends.

According to Irish legend,  the hill of Knockma that stands behind Castle Hackett is the home of the Sidhe and the fairy King Finvarra.  The fairy city  is built somewhere in the hill of Knockma.   In the 17th century the Kirwan family built Castle Hackett by the doorway to the fairy kingdom and haunting stories have been part of the stones of the castle ever since.  One morning a Kirwan lord described meeting a dark rider on a steed made of fire on his morning ride.  The man gave the Kirwan Lord answers to all his questions and helped him bet on the races.  Luck always followed the Kirwan family after this which was usually attributed to the fairy magic.   They prospered and their horses never lost in the races.  Sadly, in 1912 Colonel Denis Kirwin Bernard inherited the Castle Hackett estate and the castle was burnt in Irish Civil war.  The Colonel was a very unpopular man due to his stance in the civil war and although he was buried on Knockma Hill his grave was desecrated by locals.

Castle Hackett is said to be haunted still by the fairy king and all his subjects.  Local lore says that he kidnaps young women and carries them away to be his lovers.   Anyone who has visited Castle Hackett could believe this to be true as the castle is as close to a fairy kingdom as I have ever seen.