I like a good ghost story. When I’m traveling, one of my favorite things to do is to take a ghost tour of whatever town I happen to be in. I also enjoy putting places in their historical context and imagining what they would have been like at different points in their history. Combined with an interest in the functioning of medieval architecture, this has occasionally resulted in my standing in the middle of a field pointing at a pile of random stones and waxing lyrically about how this priory/tomb/castle was an integral part of the landscape and society in the dim mists of the past.
Sometimes, I might even be pointing at the right jumble of rocks.
Given these proclivities, I was looking forward to a recent visit to Leap Castle in County Offaly, Ireland. The main structure is a Norman tower house castle, which had been expanded by the inhabitants over a 600-year period. Squat, square tower houses like this one dot the landscape of Ireland, but I had never actually been inside one.
To sweeten the deal, Leap Castle is advertised as one of the most haunted buildings in Ireland with ghosts all over the place. Multiple ghost-hunting groups and different podcasts and series about hauntings have focused there. On the website, there is a list of the various ghosts. Some are linked to specific historical events, like the alleged massacre in the chapel in 1532 where a feud over leadership of the clan left one brother dead at the hands of another. Other ghosts seem to be the free-floating (pun!) stories that attach themselves to anywhere that feels old or eerie. There’s a lady dressed in red carrying a dagger. Why? Who knows, maybe she was an abused prisoner at some point? Then, there are the two girls that are seen playing in the castle and heard laughing in the stairwell. Don’t tell Stephen King!
Heading to Leap Castle, I had expectations. Ireland has some very good restorations of medieval castles. Ormand Castle is a great example of a thoughtful and carefully targeted restoration to a specific period of time. Kilkenny Castle has been renovated to show the splendour of the Stewart Kings of Great Britain. Leap Castle is privately owned and the owner has been slowly restoring it for years, so I expected to see a thoughtful restoration and hear lengthy explanations of mortar, keystone use, and wall treatments.
I did not expect to see ghosts. I keep looking, but no matter where I go, my skeptical aura seems to repel them or something. However, I did expect to be regaled with carefully rehearsed and emotive stories of hauntings.
I expected too much.
Full disclosure: the owner, who is the primary guide, was not there, and we were given our orientation to the castle by a neighbour who told us that she had heard the stories and introductions to the castle many times. She began by asking what we were interested in. “History, architecture, and ghosts” was our answer. She gave a general summary of the history of the castle – when it was built, which clans had claimed it, and who inhabited it after the clans – with an emphasis on the oubliette, the hole into which prisoners were thrown to die and be forgotten. A few probing questions to draw her out resulted in apologies that the owner wasn’t around.
Then she turned to the ghosts. She pointed out areas where specific ghosts had been seen. The Governess is sometimes seen walking right there and giving people a stern look. There’s a monk in grey that walks across the grounds in front of the castle. She looked at us expectantly. We looked at her expectantly.
At that point, we were turned loose to wander on our own. This was the highlight for me! I circled up the narrow, circular stairs imagining the servants running up and down and trying to pass each other carrying supplies and removing laundry, empty bottles, and platters. I spent enough time in the guardrobe, staring at the medieval toilet, for my companions to give me strange looks. I gazed out through the tower windows at the valley below, imagining the local lord watching for incursions or rebellion. The intent behind the restoration was not as clear as I had hoped. Furnishings and construction methods wandered across centuries, but the strong bones of the tower house peaked through enough for my history-fueled imagination.
However, I left dissatisfied. Not because of what I had experienced, but because I went in with high expectations.
If you are planning a trip to Leap Castle, I would suggest watching some of the ghost-hunting videos available online from various different groups beforehand to get an idea of the ghost stories along with creepy music and earnest “experts”. To get a sense of why such an imposing and solid tower was necessary, you may also want to do some independent reading or listening to Fin Dwyer’s Irish History Podcast, especially the episodes about the Norman invasion.
In general, I would recommend a stop at Leap Castle if you are in the area and have an hour or two. But maybe put it lower on the agenda, and include it if you have some extra time after visiting some other historical sites.
