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Ghosts, Folklore and Paranormal Places of Dublin

Waiting Lady

Location: Balbriggan (County Dublin) - Ardgillan Castle, bridge in garden over railway known as The Lady's Stairs
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 October (recurring)
Further Comments: This phantom woman is said to be waiting for her husband to return. He was a keen swimmer, but drowned one night, leaving the woman on the bridge awaiting his return. One version of the story says that whoever sees the ghost on Halloween will be picked up and thrown into the ocean.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2011-05-01   Last updated: 2011-05-01   ID: #10423

A strange green cat.

A strange green cat.

Green Cat

Location: Balbriggan (County Dublin) - Exact location not known
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: A phantom cat, green in colour, was reported to haunt this town.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2011-04-27   Last updated: 2011-04-27   ID: #10310

Yellow Eyed Dog

Location: Balbriggan (County Dublin) - Unidentified estate road
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Circa Christmas 2021
Further Comments: A witness watched a large black dog with yellow eyes cover eighteen metres in just three strides. Over the following two months the witness lost two members of their family.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2022-10-29   Last updated: 2022-10-29   ID: #14689

Nun

Location: Blanchardstown (County Dublin) - Former monastery converted into a home
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late nineteenth or early twentieth century
Further Comments: A servant was said to have encountered a phantom nun within this house. Footsteps would also be heard, while doors would open themselves at night.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2011-04-28   Last updated: 2011-04-28   ID: #10377

Coach and Four

Location: Clondalkin (County Dublin) - Newlands House, currently part of the Newlands Golf Club
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Newlands was once owned by Arthur Wolfe, Chief Justice of Ireland; the ghostly coach is said to follow the route it once took, taking Arthur's body away from his home.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-04-12   Last updated: 2005-04-12   ID: #6107

Mr Cobbe

Location: Donabate (County Dublin) - Newbridge House and park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghostly Mr Cobbe drives his coach drawn by six headless horses close to the park. One version of the story says he is no longer seen, but the phantom's presence is marked by the sound of a gate opening and shutting.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2024-05-14   Last updated: 2024-05-14   ID: #15374

Monk

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Private residence, Manor Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s and 1990s
Further Comments: A former occupant who grew up in the house said that one family member had seen a monk while the witness herself had seen her own doppelganger. Other strange activities included banging, voices, footsteps, cold spots and the smell of tobacco.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2012-05-20   Last updated: 2012-05-20   ID: #10889

Depression

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Property close to Waterloo Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early / mid Twentieth century?
Further Comments: Elliot O'Donnell mentions that a property around this area was supposed to be haunted and cause depression in anyone who stayed in a particular room.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2018-05-10   Last updated: 2018-05-10   ID: #12821

Chained Hound

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Pussy's Leap, Templeogue area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Early / mid twentieth century
Further Comments: The large black canine which walked his area created the sound of jangling chains with each step it took.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-04-12   Last updated: 2005-04-12   ID: #6094

Little Boy

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Rathfarnham Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Frequenting the gate house area, this young lad is thought to have been murdered in the area. The castle is also haunted by a dog, which gave his life trying to save his master who had fallen into an ice covered pond.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-04-12   Last updated: 2005-04-12   ID: #6103

Lock Keeper

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Rathmines Bridge, Portobello Harbour
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1861
Further Comments: The hostile phantom of a former lock keeper has been blamed for the deaths of seven people over the years - it takes the form of a blinding light which causes disorientation in witnesses, resulting in them falling into the waters below and drowning.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-04-13   Last updated: 2005-04-13   ID: #6116

Woman with Stick

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Residence in Walkinstown Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2004
Further Comments: The Irish Examiner reported that the Quinn's family house was haunted by an elderly woman. The phantom, moving around with the aid of a stick, was said to have been photographed.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2010-08-03   Last updated: 2010-08-03   ID: #9941

Rathfarnham's Dog

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - River Dodder close to Ely's Arch, Rathfarnham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A dog that died while trying to save its master at Rathfarnham Castle took to haunting this area.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2022-09-19   Last updated: 2022-09-19   ID: #14633

Headless Horseman

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Roper's Rest, leading to Love Lane
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Winter (recurring)
Further Comments: This decapitated figure rides along the road once darkness falls, and is thought to be an ill omen for any witness, or one of their family.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-04-12   Last updated: 2022-09-19   ID: #6097

Man in Tweeds

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Sean Kavanaghs public house, aka The Gravediggers, Glasnevin
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Man in 1970s, dog unknown
Further Comments: An elderly man dressed in an old fashioned set of tweeds was said to occasionally sit near the bar. A ghostly dog was also seen just outside the inn.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2011-05-01   Last updated: 2021-08-17   ID: #10428

An old postcard showing the Shelbourne hotel in Dublin.

An old postcard showing the Shelbourne hotel in Dublin.

Mary Masters

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Shelbourne hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century onwards
Further Comments: Medium Sybil Leek said that she had met this young girl in Room 526, and that the youngster was looking for someone named Sophie. In 2015, the hotel claimed that guests would flee one particular room in terror.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-04-02   Last updated: 2005-04-02   ID: #6022

Giggling

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Smock Alley Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010s
Further Comments: The site of a GhostEire investigation, the phenomenon reported here include childish giggling, mysterious footsteps, and the smell of tobacco smoke.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2024-05-14   Last updated: 2024-05-14   ID: #15373

Lepers

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - St Audoen's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s?
Further Comments: The church is said to be the haunt of lepers. The area outside the church is home to a green lady, reputed to be Darkey Kelly, executed for killing her unborn child (or five men).

Source: Published Media
First added: 2011-05-01   Last updated: 2011-05-01   ID: #10419

Whispers

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - St Michan's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The vault under this church contains thirty mummified bodies - people who have listened carefully in the room claim to have heard loud whispering.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-06-08   Last updated: 2005-06-08   ID: #6326

An old postcard showing Dublin's St Patrick's Cathedral.

An old postcard showing Dublin's St Patrick's Cathedral.

Boyd's Dog

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - St Patrick's Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Dog unknown, clergyman circa 1896
Further Comments: The ghost of a Newfoundland dog sometimes appears at the memorial of John McNeill Boyd - Boyd died rescuing sailors at risk of drowning, and his dog was said to have waited at his master's grave until the day it died. The incorporeal pet is also reported at Glasnevin Cemetery. A phantom clergyman was reported in Lady's Chapel, with one witness recognising the figure as a former resident.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2005-04-13   Last updated: 2005-04-13   ID: #6117

Butcher

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - 118 Summerhill (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1966
Further Comments: Unease spread amongst workmen in the process of demolishing the house after they spotted a spectral butcher moving around the rooms. The ghost had previously been reported in two other houses along the road which had already been knocked down.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-04-12   Last updated: 2005-04-12   ID: #6082

Woman

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - 13 Henrietta Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Now thought to have been exorcised, this phantom woman wearing old fashioned clothing was seen by neighbours looking in through the window.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2005-04-02   Last updated: 2005-04-02   ID: #6044

Footsteps

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - 7 and 8 Hendrick Street (demolished 1963)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: Starting in the 1920s, and lasting for a period of around thirty years, occupants in number 7 reported hearing shoeless footsteps which traversed the rooms and corridors. Number 8 was haunted by a man seen standing by the fireplace.

Source: Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2005-04-12   Last updated: 2005-04-12   ID: #6086

Shadows

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Applerock Studios
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010s
Further Comments: Investigated by GhostEire, the site located in a former red light district is home to shadowy people and an unidentified voice picked up on recording equipment.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2022-07-31   Last updated: 2022-07-31   ID: #14584

Shaking

Location: Dublin (County Dublin) - Ardee House (demolished mid twentieth century)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Early twentieth century?
Further Comments: A bedroom in this property was considered particularly haunted, with occupants being violently shaken awake.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2022-09-19   Last updated: 2022-09-19   ID: #14640

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