Horse and Rider
Location: Athlone (County Westmeath) - Clonfinlough Stone
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Stone still present
Further Comments: This stone is carved with scenes which could depict an ancient battle. One legend says that at certain times of the year a horseman manifests and gallops around it. Another story states that a man named Michael will one day find two pots of gold under the stone.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2011-04-30
Last updated: 2011-04-30
ID: #10389
Blue Lady
Location: Athlone (County Westmeath) - Portlick Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The blue lady is said to have been seen a few times (although the dates are not stated) moving around close to the staircase of the castle. A phantom prisoner is also said to haunt the basement.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2020-04-09
Last updated: 2020-04-09
ID: #13658
Jacky Dalton
Location: Clonmellon (County Westmeath) - Killua Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: With wild yellow hair, Jacky's ghost still moves around the castle at night. Jacky was a land steward to Sir Benjamin Chapman, though he turned to drink and finally suicide after his employer's death.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2005-04-02
Last updated: 2005-04-02
ID: #6041
Small Man in Red
Location: Delvin (County Westmeath) - Area around Killough
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1908
Further Comments: A little man dressed in red was spotted by children around the area, mysteriously vanishing from the sight of some of the witnesses while remaining visible to others. The local press at the time claimed the entity could have been an escaped monkey, although other people suspected a leprechaun.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2019-03-16
Last updated: 2019-03-16
ID: #13108
Blacksmith
Location: Delvin (County Westmeath) - Castle Inn (no longer operational)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Haunted by an old blacksmith, the smell of pipe tobacco would often be detected in the inn, even though no smokers would be present (stories which remained after the inn closed). One story claimed the ghost of the smith watched his own funeral procession from the inn as it travelled along the road outside.
Source:
Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2024-05-11
Last updated: 2024-05-11
ID: #15361
Hidden Cave
Location: Delvin (County Westmeath) - Unknown hill in the area, (off the road to Ballinlough?)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A secret entrance on the hill leads to a hidden cave which contains treasure, so the story goes.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2019-03-16
Last updated: 2019-03-16
ID: #13109
Cavalry
Location: Kilbeg (County Westmeath) - Hill in the area
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Cavalrymen sleep upon their horses under this hill. It is said that firing a gun, which is also hidden within the hill, will wake them.
Source:
Needs Review
First added: 2011-04-28
Last updated: 2011-04-28
ID: #10364
Rochfort's Blood
Location: Kilbride (County Westmeath) - Dunboden Park Manor House
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 1797 onwards
Further Comments: Lieutenant Commander Robert Rochfort was murdered on the doorstep of his home, possibly in retaliation after executing an innocent man. The bloodstain on the doorstep was said to be impossible to remove.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2022-06-19
Last updated: 2022-06-19
ID: #14528
Robert Rochfort
Location: Kilbride (County Westmeath) - Roads around Dunboden Park, and Lough Ennell
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1797
Further Comments: After being murdered at his home, Lieutenant Commander Robert Rochfort took to haunting the roads around his former home. A priest by the name of Father Timothy Shanley encountered the ghost, and after a brief but fierce battle that included holy water and brimstone, Rochfort was banished into Lough Ennell.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2022-06-19
Last updated: 2022-06-19
ID: #14529
A ghostly figure in the grass.
White Lady
Location: Killucan (County Westmeath) - Knock Shee Ban hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The hill was once thought to be haunted by either a woman in white or a fairy.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2019-03-16
Last updated: 2019-03-16
ID: #13110
Frightful Beast
Location: Lough Ree (County Westmeath) - Waters of the lake
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Circa 800 AD and twentieth century
Further Comments: One very old story says that a swimmer was torn to pieces by a monster after trying to leave a small island in this body of water. A creature was seen in 1954 by several people while out fishing. One of the witnesses, Georgina Carberry, suffered nightmares weeks after the event. Possibly because of this sighting, Captain Lionel Leslie set out to capture the beast using explosives in the first instance and a long net in the second, but with no success. In 1959, two English fishermen claimed their boat had been pulled around the lough by a creature (they escaped by cutting their fishing line) and in 1960 three clergymen observed a serpent-like beast. More recently, it has been speculated that the lake is home to a giant eel.
Source:
Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2005-04-11
Last updated: 2023-05-22
ID: #6071
Stone Thrower
Location: Muckanagh (County Westmeath) - Unknown property and nearby bridge
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1939
Further Comments: Despite being warned by neighbours, a man took sand and stones from a nearby pit which contained the bodies of soldiers and used the material in his garden. The following day, the stones he had removed were thrown at his house by unseen hands. A holy man was summoned and banished the spirit underneath a nearby bridge.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2012-04-08
Last updated: 2012-04-08
ID: #10831
Prisoners
Location: Mullingar (County Westmeath) - Arts Centre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post 1998
Further Comments: The prison that once stood on this site had a violent past, and ghosthunters have suggested that this is the source of the strange occurrences reported in the arts centre. Footsteps echo in empty places, doors open and close unaided, and a man (who can only be seen by some people) spotted in the auditorium.
Source:
Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2022-06-19
Last updated: 2022-06-19
ID: #14527
Face
Location: Mullingar (County Westmeath) - House along Mount Street (currently Golden Hill restaurant)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Post 1846
Further Comments: A ghostly face would be seen gazing from a window, looking towards the site where Brian Seery was hanged for assault - a crime it would later transpire Seery did not commit. The window is now blocked off. Another version of the story says the window turned black to prevent the hanging from being watched.
Source:
Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2022-06-19
Last updated: 2022-06-19
ID: #14525
Rail Employee
Location: Mullingar (County Westmeath) - Scoutail Bridge (bridge over railway line)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local story says that the bridge is haunted by a former station employee killed in an accident.
Source:
Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2022-06-19
Last updated: 2022-06-19
ID: #14532
Scarecrow
Location: Mullingar (County Westmeath) - St Bridget's Ward at St Loman's Hospital
Type: Other
Date / Time: December 2014
Further Comments: A photograph published by the local press that showed a strange face looking out from a window was later identified as a scarecrow left in the room by previous visitors.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2022-06-19
Last updated: 2022-06-19
ID: #14530
Healing Well
Location: Mullingar (County Westmeath) - St Bridget's Well, Ash Road
Type: Legend
Date / Time: 01 May - 09 May (recurring)
Further Comments: It was once believed that drinking from the well for these nine consecutive days in May would result in any disease being cured.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2022-06-19
Last updated: 2022-06-19
ID: #14526
Opening Doors
Location: Mullingar (County Westmeath) - Westmeath Examiner Newspaper Offices
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These offices are supposed to be home to figures spotted in empty rooms and doors which open and close unaided.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2022-06-19
Last updated: 2022-06-19
ID: #14531
Knocking
Location: Not known (County Westmeath) - Emo House (now demolished)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Likely nineteenth century
Further Comments: John Seymour wrote of Emo House in this county being haunted by knocking on the front door and the periodic opening and closing of doors.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2011-04-28
Last updated: 2011-04-28
ID: #10378
Guaire
Location: Rathwire (County Westmeath) - Hillfort
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Hillfort still present
Further Comments: The warrior and chieftain Guaire is reputed to be buried under this hillfort, guarded by a savage hound that will let no one near the body.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2008-05-09
Last updated: 2008-05-09
ID: #8556
Giant black bird.
Steeple of Fire
Location: Rosdalla (County Westmeath) - Exact location not known
Type: Other
Date / Time: 30 April, 1054 or 1055
Further Comments: A great steeple of fire manifested in the skies over Rosdalla, remaining for some nine hours. Unidentified black birds emerged from it, swooping down and picking up small animals, dropping them from a great height. One of these birds was huge and plucked an oak tree from the ground. The birds eventually flew off and the tower vanished. Some have said that the event was actually one of the earliest tornadoes documented in Europe.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2011-10-30
Last updated: 2011-10-30
ID: #10634
Butler
Location: Tullynally (County Westmeath) - Tullynally Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The butler fell in love with one of the castle's cooks but was rejected. He later hanged himself, though has been seen since, walking around the castle and its grounds. One witness saw a thirty year old Victorian woman standing in a guest room.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2005-04-02
Last updated: 2005-04-02
ID: #6036
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