Iris
June 10th, 2008, 12:41 PM
Hey everyone. I thought I’d make a post about a couple of haunted places I’ve been researching these last couple of weeks. You guys might get a kick out of them.
http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/7302/mac704lgecu0.jpg
The first place is Leap Castle in Ireland. I’m sure many of you will have heard of Leap. It is said to be the most haunted castle in Europe. (and we have lots of them, lol!) Located in County Offaly, Republic of Ireland, Leap Castle was the home of the O’Carroll family, who seem to have been a particularly bloodthirsty and unpleasant group of people. The story goes that Teige ‘one-eye’ O’Carroll murdered his brother, a priest, in what is now known as The Bloody Chapel in the castle, killing him in the middle of saying mass. Locals report seeing the chapel light up with an ethereal light at odd times during the night.
There is also the Oubliette, a deep, dark room where the O’Carrolls put people ‘to forget about them’. (TY to Hoggle of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth for that info :lol: ) the only entrance to the oubliette was a long, vertical drop, at the bottom of which was a spike (or spikes). If a person unfortunate enough to find themselves in the oubliette did NOT die from the impact of landing on the spikes, they were one of the unlucky ones. The would be left to die from starvation and dehydration, surrounded by the bones and decomposed corpses of the O’Carroll’s previous victims. Supposedly, while renovating the castle in the 1900s, workman needed three wheelbarrows to carry out all the human bones that had amassed in the Oubliette over the centuries. :shaker:
There is also the ‘elemental’ that is said to haunt the castle; a ‘primitive spirit’ that apparently looks half-human and half-animal, and smells ‘like a decomposing corpse’ The elemental is said to be wild, unpredictable and malicious.
TAPS have investigated here, and also British show Most Haunted.
I am not sure how haunted Highgate cemetery in London really is, but it is absolutely magnificent, and I thought you all might enjoy some pictures. It was the location of the supposed ‘Highgate Vampire’ during the 70s (but from what I have read of that story, it seems to be mainly media hysteria). The Western cemetery, opened in 1839, is just amazing…I didn’t realise we had cemeteries like this in England, but it is every bit as impressive as the ‘cities of the dead’ you find in New Orleans, for example.
Here are some amazing pictures:
The entrance to the ‘Egyptian Avenue’ in the West cemetery:
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3189/800pxegyptianavenuehighou2.jpg
The ‘Circle of Lebanon’, a collection of twenty ‘sunken tombs’ in the West cemetery:
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/4494/highcemeterycirclejd5.jpg
More pictures can be found here.
http://www.highgatecemetery.net/gallery3.html
Oh, and I’m also fascinated (and terrified) by the Axe Murder house in Villisca, Iowa. I first saw this on ‘Scariest Places on Earth’ and it scared the crap out of me then, and still does now.
In 1912, in the small town of Villisca, Iowa, 8 people were murdered as they slept. The entire Moore family, as well as two houseguests (The Stillinger children, friends of the Moore children) were killed with an axe by an unknown assailant, who is believed to have somehow hidden inside the house for an unknown period of time, and waited till the family were asleep before emerging from his hiding place to kill them as they slept. I think that’s what scares me most about this story…the fact that he must have been hidden in that house the whole time, waiting…planning the attack. What kind of person must this have been?!!
Again the house has been investigated by paranormal teams many times, and the current owners of the house allow people to stay overnight to see what they can capture. Apparently most of the activity happens at about 2am, when a train goes past near to the house. It is thought that the assailant used the cover of a train going past to mask the sounds of his attack.
(Although this does beg the question; have the train schedules really not changed in nearly 100 years?! 0_o)
Anyway, since I heard this story, I always check every room of my house each time I come in. Apparently, you can never be too careful :shaker:
http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/7302/mac704lgecu0.jpg
The first place is Leap Castle in Ireland. I’m sure many of you will have heard of Leap. It is said to be the most haunted castle in Europe. (and we have lots of them, lol!) Located in County Offaly, Republic of Ireland, Leap Castle was the home of the O’Carroll family, who seem to have been a particularly bloodthirsty and unpleasant group of people. The story goes that Teige ‘one-eye’ O’Carroll murdered his brother, a priest, in what is now known as The Bloody Chapel in the castle, killing him in the middle of saying mass. Locals report seeing the chapel light up with an ethereal light at odd times during the night.
There is also the Oubliette, a deep, dark room where the O’Carrolls put people ‘to forget about them’. (TY to Hoggle of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth for that info :lol: ) the only entrance to the oubliette was a long, vertical drop, at the bottom of which was a spike (or spikes). If a person unfortunate enough to find themselves in the oubliette did NOT die from the impact of landing on the spikes, they were one of the unlucky ones. The would be left to die from starvation and dehydration, surrounded by the bones and decomposed corpses of the O’Carroll’s previous victims. Supposedly, while renovating the castle in the 1900s, workman needed three wheelbarrows to carry out all the human bones that had amassed in the Oubliette over the centuries. :shaker:
There is also the ‘elemental’ that is said to haunt the castle; a ‘primitive spirit’ that apparently looks half-human and half-animal, and smells ‘like a decomposing corpse’ The elemental is said to be wild, unpredictable and malicious.
TAPS have investigated here, and also British show Most Haunted.
I am not sure how haunted Highgate cemetery in London really is, but it is absolutely magnificent, and I thought you all might enjoy some pictures. It was the location of the supposed ‘Highgate Vampire’ during the 70s (but from what I have read of that story, it seems to be mainly media hysteria). The Western cemetery, opened in 1839, is just amazing…I didn’t realise we had cemeteries like this in England, but it is every bit as impressive as the ‘cities of the dead’ you find in New Orleans, for example.
Here are some amazing pictures:
The entrance to the ‘Egyptian Avenue’ in the West cemetery:
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3189/800pxegyptianavenuehighou2.jpg
The ‘Circle of Lebanon’, a collection of twenty ‘sunken tombs’ in the West cemetery:
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/4494/highcemeterycirclejd5.jpg
More pictures can be found here.
http://www.highgatecemetery.net/gallery3.html
Oh, and I’m also fascinated (and terrified) by the Axe Murder house in Villisca, Iowa. I first saw this on ‘Scariest Places on Earth’ and it scared the crap out of me then, and still does now.
In 1912, in the small town of Villisca, Iowa, 8 people were murdered as they slept. The entire Moore family, as well as two houseguests (The Stillinger children, friends of the Moore children) were killed with an axe by an unknown assailant, who is believed to have somehow hidden inside the house for an unknown period of time, and waited till the family were asleep before emerging from his hiding place to kill them as they slept. I think that’s what scares me most about this story…the fact that he must have been hidden in that house the whole time, waiting…planning the attack. What kind of person must this have been?!!
Again the house has been investigated by paranormal teams many times, and the current owners of the house allow people to stay overnight to see what they can capture. Apparently most of the activity happens at about 2am, when a train goes past near to the house. It is thought that the assailant used the cover of a train going past to mask the sounds of his attack.
(Although this does beg the question; have the train schedules really not changed in nearly 100 years?! 0_o)
Anyway, since I heard this story, I always check every room of my house each time I come in. Apparently, you can never be too careful :shaker: