If you’re looking for something spooky to do this Halloween period, this is definitely the scariest place in Ireland.
Seriously.
Loftus Hall is located on the Hook peninsula in Co. Wexford and is known as ‘the most haunted house in Ireland’.
The large, eerie mansion house is said to have been haunted by the devil and by the ghost of a young woman.
Our skin is already crawling.
The history of Loftus Hall
The Redmond family built the original house in 1350 during the time of the Black Death and The Hall became the property of the Loftus family in the 1650s.
The building that is left today was heavily renovated in 1870 and 1879 by the 4th Marquess of Ely.
It was in 1917 that it was bought by the Sisters of Providence and it was turned into a convent and a school for young girls who would be interested in joining the order.
In 1983 it was switched ownership again and was purchased by Michael Deveraux who reopened it as ‘Loftus Hall Hotel’ but it closed in the early 1990s and was owned by the family until 2011.
It is now owned by the Quigley family from Carrig on Bannow.
What is the haunted story behind the mansion?
The paranormal activities are believed to have occurred in Loftus Hall in 1666 when Charles Totthenham was minding the home while the Loftus family were away on business.
He stayed in the house with his second wife and daughter from his first marriage, Anne. It is believed that during a storm, a ship arrived at the Hook Peninsula not far from the mansion and a young man turned up.
It is said that one night Anne and the mysterious man were playing games in the card room and it was when Anne leaned over to pick up a card she seen the man had a ‘cloven foot’.
The man is said to have gone through the roof and left behind a large hole. After the incident Anne became mentally unstable and the family would look her away in her favourite room.
She refused to eat or drink and would sit by the window each day, waiting for the strange man to return. Anne did so until she died in the room known as the Tapestry Room, in 1675.
It is believed that the hole in the ceiling caused by the man could never be fully repaired and looks different to the rest and that the cloven hoof man returned and caused poltergeist activity around the house.
Father Thomas Broaders performed an exorcism on the house years ago, but it is still said to be haunted by Anne who has been spotted several times on tours of the house since it opened to the public in 2011.
Is it all real?
Many documentaries have been made on the mysterious acts in Loftus Hall over the years including an investigation by US paranormal TV show, ‘Ghost Adventures’ in August 2014.
And many people who have taken the tour and stayed over night in the eerie house have reported noises and seeing things out of the ordinary.
Eek!
Tours and creepy overnight stays
Loftus Hall have a lot of different tours on offer.
If you’re not faint of heart they have ‘paranormal lockdowns’ which is a special tour at night where guests stay on site from 8.30pm until 3.30am and experience some terrifying events through paranormal investigations.
I haven’t been myself but I know friends who have and will never go back again they were that scared.
The lockdown tour costs €75 per person, but it would definitely give you one hell of a scare.
For more information on the ‘most haunted house in Ireland’, you can check out the website here.
Would you be brave enough to try the paranormal lockdown?
header images: LoftusHallIreland/Instagram
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