The Paranormal Database

A fairy playing the bagpipes, surrounded by glowing lights.

Bagpipes

Location: Athgreany - Stone circle, aka Piper's Stones
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Stone still present
Further Comments: Played by the fairy folk, the sound of bagpipes could once be heard emerging from the stones. A tree in the centre of the stone circle is considered to belong to the fairies.

Hempenstall

Location: Aughavannagh - Youth Hostel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Hempenstall was a hangman who stood just over two metres tall, killed shortly after the 1798 rebellion by a group out to revenge their fallen friends. His massive frame is still said to silently appear around the area.

Wishing Stone

Location: Avoca - Motto Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: If a person can walk around the stone three times without thinking of a goat, their wish is granted!

Falling Boxes

Location: Bray - Domino's Pizza restaurant
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2016
Further Comments: The local press reported that lights would flicker, empty boxes fell to the floor and strange noises were heard from the rear of the shop.

An old postcard of Lover's Leap rock in the Dargle Valley.

Unfaithful Girl

Location: Bray - Lover's Leap rock, Dargle Valley
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 23 June (or Midsummer Eve) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The female ghost which appears here once a year is said to be that of a woman who cheated on her boyfriend. He died of grief, and the woman sat in mourning over his grave continuously for several days before taking her life on the rock, leaping into the river below.

Nelly

Location: Glen of Imaal - Coolmoney House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The slim teenager in a white dress which haunts this property on army land had the nickname Nelly. Stories claimed Nelly to be a murdered servant.

An old postcard showing Glendalough Monastery ruins.

Kathleen

Location: Glendalough - Monastery ruins
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: This woman in a red dress is said to have been killed by Saint Kevin, who whipped the woman with nettles and pushed her into a lake. Her form is said to have appeared on several photographs taken in the area.

Dancing Dead

Location: Kilbaylet Lower - Ancient stones
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: One story claimed a woman watched phantoms of local people dancing on these stones late one night.

Poacher

Location: Kilruddery - Area near Deerpark
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sound of footsteps followed by a heavy fall is said to indicate the spot where a poacher died; having been shot a short distance away, the man staggered a short distance away before falling.

Rain Stone

Location: Lough Nahanagan - Stone by the waters
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A rock here could cause sudden rainfall if hit with a stick. If the person who struck the rock apologised, the skies would quickly clear. The lough itself is the traditional home of a water horse.

Circular Creature

Location: Lower Lough Bray - Waters of the lake
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 03 June 1963
Further Comments: Two friends watching the Lough spotted a large, dark grey circular body rise from the lake, almost four metres in circumference. The head, positioned slightly away from the body, stood ninety centimetres out of the water.

Pooka

Location: Poulaphouca Reservoir - Beneath the waters
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Pre-1944
Further Comments: This valley may have been home to a pooka before being flooded to create the reservoir.

A ghostly black dog along the roadside.

Incorporeal Hound

Location: Redcross - Country lane in the area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: 1952
Further Comments: A woman walking home tried to pat a black dog which appeared and padded along beside her. Her hand passed straight through the creature, and it vanished a few moments later.

Digging

Location: Redcross - Exact location not known
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: August 1997
Further Comments: A white light moved around two teenage boys as they crossed a field at night. As the light faded, the boys could see the apparition of a woman, wearing an old fashioned white dress, digging in the ground with her hands.

Red Mist

Location: Wicklow - Wicklow Gaol
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: February 2010
Further Comments: A team of ghost hunters photographed red mist as they investigated this site. Previous visitors have encountered a female in dark clothes and heard a young boy crying in a former schoolroom.

Headless Woman

Location: Wicklow - Wicklow Head Lighthouse
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: A local legend says that, during the mid-nineteenth century, this woman was decapitated with a scythe after a jealous former boyfriend became overly upset when he discovered her engagement to another. The entity is said to haunt the staircase and, according to one story, once seen by a party of six people staying at the building.