For our major (summer) project, our group decided to make an interactive tour of a haunted castle. There are three castles in central Ireland which are supposedly on electromagnetic ley lines (energy lines that link mysterious sites, like the pyramids and stonehenge) and create a "vortex of energy." So our mission today was to look at each castle and decide on one for the project.
Our contact at the castles/"tour guide for the day" was Xandra, a high priestess and celebrity psychic. She was dressed in a spider-web/goth outfit and you could see a hump growing behind her head. She brought along her "spiritual son," an American who kept flirting with us and doing random/unfunny things - like out of nowhere, showing us he's double jointed.
First castle: Kinnity Castle, a gorgeous little castle/hotel that does weddings. Xandra supposedly works there to arrange spiritual/paranormal visits, but no one seemed to recognize her. That's when we knew it would be an interesting day.
Behind the castle is the old abbey, which they've turned into a banquet hall.
We talked with a worker who is friendly with the ghost monk that haunts the place. Apparently, he likes weddings. Nice gimmick, huh? She spent about 15 minutes describing him, how they met and the encounters - I really believed her! I wonder what she sees.
Next stop was a stone circle near the stables. I was saddened to find out that it was built fairly recently, to attract more tourists. Xandra holds a festival there on the solstice with drink and dance and a fire. Sometimes it turns into a "shagfest" (her words - I think I'll avoid the festival). Later on she explained that the festival is held on the Monday or Tuesday nearest the solstice to book cheap rooms. I was expecting a bit more authentisticity in her witch lifestyle.
After Kinnity Castle, we headed toward a pub to grab a sandwhich and talk more about ghosts. It was such an awkward conversation. By that time, we realized very little of what Xandra said was truthful/believable, and therefore wouldn't be used in our project. ((She also dipped her finger in the dipping sauce, and licked it off! She ate the whole container!))
Then we followed Xandra and her spiritual son to the next castle, Leap Castle (which took an hour, because they got lost).
Leap Castle was really cool. The owner, who lives in both the castle and the RV out front, is Sean Ryan, a well-known Irish musician (tin whistle). He's slowly restoring the castle, so only the first two floors are done. The third floor is where the church used to be, and its just empty now. Ryan told us about the history and his experience with the ghosts. The ghosts don't bother him much, even though he says they have started "poking his daughter."
While we were on the Leap tour, Xandra was outside trying to speak Dutch to some other tourists and get chocolate out of them. It was about 5pm and we were getting tired. We told Xandra we were going back to Dublin and we split ways.
Then we headed toward Charleville Castle, hoping we might seem more professional without a witch escort.
Baron Richard, decendent of the original family and now volunteer at the castle, showed us around the place and told us stories of the Knights Templar, secret passageways and symbols found in the architecture.
His stories about the castle seemed to last forever, but at least he showed us the haunted staircase. In the mid 1800s, an eight year old slide down the banister and fell three stories to her death. Her ghost still plays around the steps, and in the 1990s, even stopped a young child from going upstairs.
Because the castle is half in ruins, it's even spookier than usual. The staircase walls are peeling and the rooms upstairs are covered with torn wallpaper bits.
At the end of the tour, Richard walked us outside and kept telling us stories of the castle. ((Jane Austen's movie - the one about her - has some scenes shot at the castle.)) He must really like talking, because he kept taking out old documents from the trunk of his car and reading them to us. Line by line. As we slowly made our way to the car, he kept followed us, asking questions while we drove off.
What a long day.
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