Haunted Places in Tullamore, Ireland

I live in a rural setting and being from Ireland, as you might expect, there are a good proportion of old houses and castles dating back many hundreds of years. These properties are scattered throughout the island of Ireland, and inevitably, have a rich and varied history embedded in each brick and stone.

I choose to bring you to Charleville Castle, near the town of Tullamore, the county town of Offaly in central Ireland. Tullamore is a busy, bustling area, only about an hour from Dublin. Charleville Castle, not far from the town center, and yet on its own in a still and isolated manner, an island almost amongst the modern day buildings and construction. This 'island' is in fact an ancient forest of oak trees which far pre-date the construction of the castle. The castle itself dates from the early 1800's and so would not rank amongst the oldest in Ireland. It does however, boast a strange and varied history.

It was built by the first Earl of Charleville, Charles Bury between 1798 and 1812, and an extravagant undertaking it was. Opulent carvings, ornate staircases and cavernous rooms testify to that. So extravagant indeed, that for periods it has been left uninhabited as the costs of maintaining such a castle have proved too much for some of the previous occupiers. Indeed, by the 1960's it had virtually been abandoned and left to decay. Happily, restoration has been taking place through the new ownership, and the former glories of the castle and estate are once again becoming apparent again. The current owners, however, testify that the title of 'Ireland's spookiest castle' is indeed a correct one.

As they have been restoring the castle, they tell of the sounds of children playing late at night or in the early hours, visitations by 2 elderly Englishman on a guest who was staying a few years ago, who could hear them talking clearly and yet could not see them. The lights that flicker or turn on and off for no obvious reason, electrical devices, such as the radio, turning on and off with no one close by, the specters of Charles Bury and the castle designer, Francis Johnston have been reported. But the one incident that most affects me is the tale of the girl in the blue dress, whose spirit has been supposedly seen wandering the great winding staircase in the castle. Parts of this area have undergone development, but a lot of it is still in disrepair.

The girl, Harriet Bury, eight years old and daughter of Charles Bury reputedly fell to her death from that staircase during the nineteenth century while sliding on the bannister.She sadly lost her balance and fell to the floor below, killed instantly. Many people tell of a cold feeling on that stairwell, and her ghost has been reported several times. Occasionally a little boy is also seen playing on the stairs. The current owners little boy, apparently went wandering one day, as three old boys and girls can worryingly do sometimes and when the discovered he was missing immediately went to check the stairwell, whose railings and steps were in poor repair and not to be ascended. They feared he had done so, but mercifully they found him at the bottom of the stairwell safe and well, and told his family how the little boy and girl looked after him. There were no guests in the castle, and the family assume this was the girl and boy spirits whom had been reported over the years.

Other tales of druids and sacrifices, predating the castle building, but taking place in the area where it was built also add to the general spookiness of the place. I have been there twice, both on bright sunny days, but it seemed grey and forbidding around there, maybe thats a preconception made real, I don't know.
Charleville Castle has featured on Living TV's Most Haunted and also Fox Channels, Spookiest Places on Earth. Its spectral residents are, on the whole, friendly and do not threaten people in the way that other places ghosts may do. As a footnote,outside of the castle the ancient oak forest is also home to a gigantic, ancient oak tree, called King Oak. Apparently, the legend says that when a large branch falls from the tree, a resident of the castle will pass away.

In May 1963, a bolt of lightning hit the tree during a severe thunderstorm, and a large branch was severed from it. Two weeks later the last of the line of Burys who owned the castle Colonel Charles Bury, died. Coincidence, probably, but it will always make an interesting tale for those who are believers in the supernatural.
There is no doubt that the older a place of residence gets, the more the tales and stories grow from that longevity. People who knew the facts first hand, get older and die, and the history that is passed down gets embellished and changes its form.

Charleville Castle can be visited by appointment, and I recommend that if you are on vacation in Ireland, do a tour of Ireland's most haunted places, and put this place high on your agenda.