Happy Hallowe’en ? Have you heard about Loftus Hall? – The most haunted house in Ireland….
Legend has it that one dark stormy evening, a ship unexpectedly arrived at the Hook Peninsula, where the mansion is located. A young man was welcomed into the mansion. Anne, the daughter of the house, and the young man became very close. One night, the family and mysterious man were in the Game Room playing cards. In the game, each player received 3 cards apart from Anne who was only dealt 2 by the mystery man. A butler serving the family at the table was just about to question the man when Anne bent down to pick another card from the floor which she must have dropped. It is said that when Anne bent over to pick up the card, she looked beneath the table to see that the mysterious man had a cloven foot. Completely stunned, Anne jumped up and exclaimed to the man ‘you have a cloven foot!’ and with that, the man leapt out of his seat and flew up through the roof, leaving behind a large hole in the ceiling, never to be seen again.
Soon afterwards, Anne became mentally ill. It is believed that the family were ashamed of Anne and locked her away in her favourite room; where she would be happy, yet out of everyone’s view; which was known as the Tapestry Room. She refused food and drink, and sat with her knees under her chin, looking out the Tapestry Room window across the sea to where Dunmore East is today, waiting for her mysterious stranger to return until she died in the Tapestry Room in 1775. It is said that when she died, they could not straighten her body, as her muscles had seized, and she was buried in the same sitting position in which she had died.
Rumour has it that the hole could never be properly repaired, and it is alleged that even to this day, there is still a certain part of the ceiling which is slightly different from the rest.
This is an eerie place and one that our guests love to visit!
You can find out more about it here: https://www.loftushall.ie/
