Carlow related ghost stories and legends

iamhunted

For the last KCLR 96fms The UnExplained show this week, we'd like to talk about local Carlow ghost stories - personal ones especailly.

If you have anything you'd like to mention, stick it in here and we'll give you a shout out on Thursday night

niall3r

There is always the weedy stories, those are always good for a scare.

In all seriousness, the youth centre on green lane is meant to be haunted from when it was a TB clinic or something like that.

iamhunted

i had heard that before alright, though ive never heard anything specific about it. Must give mr purcel the historian a shout to see if he has anything about the place

aynon

im pretty sure homebase have a ghost. i was walking around it there for the last couple of nights, stuff coming off the shelf by itself, or the "help" button being pressed, when noone is near it. not scary, just annoying tho.

byhookorbycrook

castle is haunted.

iamhunted

ive often heard of carlow castle being haunted by winos but not much else :pac:

For the record, The UnExplained has finished its six week stint on KCLR. At least KCLR can say it hosted irelands first dedicated paranormal show on commercial radio. podcasts are up on http://www.radiocrackle.com

road_high

Isn't there some story of Shankill castle in Paulstown where the gates would always be open at the end of the driveway regardless of the gardener locking them, or something to that effect

KateF

Yes, I've heard that. Something about a woman putting a curse on the grounds hundreds of years ago. Forget the full story. But the gates never close, I think they were even cemented shut once or something and they just bend and won't join

iamhunted

we covered Shankill on the last UnExplained show. its on podcast at http://www.radiocrackle.com .

purplekitty

the superquinn shopping center is supposed to be the most haunted place in carlow.

i was behind the scenes when they were filming it in March, kind of like "most haunted meets... i dunno, something kinda crappy and irish".

DANNY22XX

purplekitty wrote: »

the superquinn shopping center is supposed to be the most haunted place in carlow.

i was behind the scenes when they were filming it in March, kind of like "most haunted meets... i dunno, something kinda crappy and irish".

hahahahaha we will look out for that one,,,,lol:D

iamhunted

whats was it for? TV?

Super-Rush

why is the 'Haunted Hill' called the Haunted Hill?

iamhunted

ive never heard of the haunted hill - is that in carlow?

Super-Rush

You know the hill leading up to the turn off for Tinryland on the Wexford road? I've always heard it called 'The Haunted Hill' I feel a bit embarrassed now because i never asked why.

tombull82

same as the bann ri(i think thats the correct name) woods in leighlin. They are supposed to be haunted also or so i believe. I cant remember if its supposed to be a young woman or the ban se.

iamhunted

ive heard stories of the top flat in the tower flats at graigue lights being haunted. trying to find out more presently.

Super-Rush

I've been trying to find out info on The Haunted Hill but no one seems to know why its called that. I'm going to try and contact Willie White from the Nationalist and see does he know.

iamhunted

mick purcell as well might be a man to contact. I used to have his number but since i got a new phone, ive misplaced it.

Stevecw

From todays Nationalist:

Fright night for teen as he sees ‘ghost’ in cinema
Last Updated Nov 2009
by Brendan Lawrence

A TEENAGER ran screaming from Carlow Cineplex after he claimed a ghost appeared in the seat next to him. The lad had been sitting with two friends in screen three, when the mysterious figure of an old man wearing a hat suddenly materialised beside him.

The terrified teen was met by Derek Delaney from The Swan, who had just left the new Michael Jackson film at around 11pm. The youth, who Derek described as “absolutely terrified”, was standing in the foyer of the cinema looking - as Derek described it - “completely shook”.

“I was looking at the chap and I was saying to myself, ‘What’s your man on?’ He was really white and he had got some fright, whatever had happened to him. He was about 15 or 16,” added Derek.

Derek then recalls the young man summoning a passing staff member and telling him what had happened. “He told the member of staff that he had been sitting in screen three with a couple of his friends when, out of nowhere, the figure of an old man wearing a hat appeared beside him. He said that they were the only lads on that row. He was really scared - I’ve never seen the chap in my life before, but he was terrified.

“The staff member then pulled him over towards me and told him not to be saying that when people were coming down the stairs. He also told him that it wasn’t the first time that people had said that, and that some of the female staff were too scared to go in there,” added Derek. Carlow’s own ghostbuster, Cormac Strain from Leinster Paranormal, who has carried out investigations in neighbouring Carlow Shopping Centre, taking readings and staying overnight there, says that in the past he has made recordings that he just can’t explain.

“We have got recordings from that centre that just don’t make sense,” said Cormac. “It wouldn’t be completely unreasonable to think that there might be something going on. Upstairs in the centre, people have reported that they have felt watched and paranoid. Now, there are huge aerials on top of the roof that send out huge amounts of electromagnetic waves, and when the brain is hit with that it does cause paranoia and fear. But elsewhere we found no reason for things that were happening. “We recorded in a room - there were three of us in the room - and we never heard anything. When we played back the tape, we heard laughing. I can’t explain that,” added Cormac.

When contacted by The Nationalist, the management of the cinema had no comment to make about the alleged ghostly capers within their walls.

http://www.carlow-nationalist.ie/tabId/511/itemId/6819/Fright-night-for-teen-as-he-sees-ghost-in-cinema.aspx

iamhunted

jeeze, that cormac strain fella. ghost hunter indeed!

I did hear he was an absolute genius though that fella.

DANNY22XX

Yep he gets everywere alright,,,lol

Intresting story all the same and i only heard today thats not the first report about screen 3

iamhunted

I heard about it before today, but I think its too near halloween to be taken seriously

Circlian

The Tower in Graigue I believe you refer to was built by Rowan McCombe:

http://www.igp-web.com/carlow/Rowan_McCombe.htm

pinkfloyd34

the old cattle mart where fairgreen is now was supposed to be haunted and the railway track going up to the burrin river at the back of the eire og, i think there was a 3 cornered field there or something like that or a fairy fort, i wouldnt mess with one of them, and superquinn, i know someone who worked there and heard noises when no-one was there at night, spooky or what

SIX PACK

I'll tell ye a good 1 McFit gym on barrack st Has a leak in the shower room since mick turned the former bowling alley into a Gym it doesn't matter what tiler comes in the leak always comes back. A fella poisoned himself with rat bait 3 yrs ago and died in the shower room while the place was been renovated. So the owner reckons this guys spirit still Lingers in the building(probably trapped). because things do be moved around etc when he opens each morning...

iamhunted

@ pinkfloyd34 - Ive heard stories about superquinn as well, but it's hard to say as all Ive heard is kinda hearsay.

@ SIX PACK - thats interesting. I bet it's not paranormal though. Probably havent worked out where the leak is originating from.

SIX PACK

Well if your team would be interested in doing a a Siance like they do on Most Haunted im sure the Owner would welcome it, because he has spent thousands trying to fix the leak in mens shower room he has even had to construct a new 1 in a different location + their is another guy who comes into the gym who has very high Physhic Abilities who picked up on the spirit also.

iamhunted

check your PM. I did mention though, we don't take it for granted anywhere is haunted as we'd really need to experience whats going on firsthand or pick up enough interesting info from an investigation to even think about the idea. You'd be surprised how many ghosts can be bad plumbing.

Circlian

The Burrin car track is said to be haunted.

Before the 80's residential areas were built in the Closh/Askea area, the land was agricultural from JKL onwards out the Wexford Road. The fields of three framers joined on a corner marked by the old pump (still there) at the top of Staplestown Road at Closh near Askea BNS/GNS. During the 80's/90's the car track (which was really a muddy/dirt lane for tractors) ran from the Burrin river bank up towards John Sweeney Park, down through the field that separated John Sweeney Park from Dereen Heights (where the Irish school stands I believe) and down the side of Askea Lawns, which was at this section a tree lined corridor, and then in the time it was all farm land, the car track turned right, between Askea Lawns and Mount Leinster Park and followed out towards the Tullow Road.

Many many years ago, (decades or centuries ago, it's not clear), it is said that a wanderer was seen on the river bank by a farmer from the other side of the river. It is not clear if the farmer gave the man fair warning to leave, as he was tresspassing, but it is said that the farmer shot this man who fell to the ground. It is said that the man dragged himself all the way down the car track towards to get tto the main road, but didn't make it to the turn past Askea Lawns. He died there on the track.

During the 90's 11 of the 64 houses in Askea Lawns were noted with the County Council of having complaints about hauntings. A couple of the homes in that residential area were tormented by a dark shadowy figure that walked through walls and was often seen in the hallways and landings.

Some of the local teenagers at the time did experiment with the Ouija boards, but whether this channelled the spirit of the man who was killed there or opened a doorway to the otherside and enticed another entity, nobody knows.

The Presentation College is built on what seems to be a mound and is often said by kids that it was because it was built on a famine pit. Whether there is any truth on this or not, the care taker there during the 90's, Paddy Farrell, was said to have admitted to seeing spirits inside the school building itself.

Also, the section of the rail bridge that overlooks the Staplestown road is also the familiar grounds of a womanly figure that looks down upon the road at dusk/nightfall.

iamhunted

thats interesting - thanks for that.