Haunted Irish Castle!
An Eerie Greeter!
A haunted medieval castle?
In the Irish countryside?
And we can stay there as guests for the night?
How could we resist??
Foulksrath Castle
We found Foulksrath Castle listed in HostelWorld as the oldest hostel in Ireland, located just 8 miles from the town of Kilkenny. Pictures of the 16th century Norman House Tower in the gloom and green of Ireland’s fields had us hooked.
Learning that a BBC television team of British Ghost hunters visited the hostel and sent back a report to say that “their machines recorded the best ghostly sounds of any place they visited in Ireland” was a bonus! We booked in for two nights.
On our arrival, we approached the silent castle grounds searching for signs of life. Timid knocks on the wooden fortress walls only echoed in the foggy mist. If the cab we’d ridden in hadn’t already headed back to town (without even a good-bye glance), we might have turned around right there.
Medieval Walls
Soon the door opened and our caretaker led us to the studio where we were offered a room in the High Tower if we wished, or the already occupied dorm on the lower floor (and closer to escape).
The Studio
The Tower Room
Climbing the narrow steps, we could feel the dampness and chill breathing from the cold stones under our feet. Our room looked out over fields of rainbows and it was hard to imagine unkind spirits sharing this space.
Rainbows!
Dinner was by candlelight downstairs in a space where we expected to be joined by Knights of the Round Table at any moment. Stories of the area and its haunts filled the room and more than one traveler left the room with wide eyes.
Dining Room
Our stay?
Well, we were told by a frequent castle visitor, “The spirits here won’t bother you if you are a good soul. And only good souls or souls that are lost are drawn here to Foulksrath.”
We must have made the cut!
TweetTags: castle, Foulksrath, Ghosts, haunted, Ireland
Ghosts, Ireland, Kilkenny | whatboundaries October 21, 2009 | 
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