Leap Castle

Leap Castle is a fitting name for the most haunted place in Ireland. Throughout its history, it has seen fratricidal warring, murders, massacres, and disappearances. It is overrun with a variety of phantoms. In the early 20th century a dungeon was discovered filled with hundreds of skeletons. A bit later three standing skeletons were found behind a wall. The owner at the time had them replaced, exactly as they were, reasoning that his ancestors must have had a good reason for doing so in the first place. Those who have visited have had terrifying and dreadful experiences. They were left in such distressed and upsetting states that they have sworn never to set foot in the castle again.

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The most famous apparition in the castle, is that of “It,” a true monster, a most diabolic creature. Indescribable, but immense and hairy, it jumps from the wall to terrify those who have the misfortune of getting too close.

Then, in the 1920s, the IRA entered the fold, as if it wasn’t bad enough at the castle already. One night the terrorists bombed the empty castle; it burned for quite some time. Ever since, the castle has been uninhabited.

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I visited the castle some twenty years ago. A warm and welcoming Irish musician, a great star, Sean Ryan, who stayed in the servants’ quarters, had purchased the land and invited me to come at my leisure. I asked to stay alone in one of the underground passages. I sat on the floor of beaten earth in a poorly illuminated vaulted room. I felt myself overcome, besieged not by a ghost, but by a horrible, menacing, negative energy that gave me goosebumps. Fortunately, the occult protections I had sought and demanded protected me and helped me avoid further unpleasantness, but it was a striking and violent experience. At the end of my stay, I gave Sean my diagnosis. It wasn’t ghosts that were responsible for the negative energy at this site, but I reassured him that the energy was diminishing. In fact, it had lost most of its power, and would eventually disappear completely.

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I saw Ryan’s daughter, a delightful and charming girl of 4 or 5 years. I watched her for some time and told Ryan that she has a light in her, and this light was responsible for wiping and clearing the negative energy from the place.

“It’s curious what you say,” he replied softly, “we had her baptized in the chapel of the castle, under the attic where a priest had been killed by his brother while saying the Mass. There were no longer any windows, and that day the wind was particularly violent. However, not a single candle moved throughout the whole ceremony, the flames remained upright the whole time. We took that as a good sign.”

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I returned to the castle a few years ago with my grandson Tigran, a great connoisseur of ghosts. Sean Ryan had rebuilt the ruins and was now living in the castle itself. He received us with his usual hospitality. Of course there were still a few ghosts running about here or there, but “It” had completely disappeared.


by  Prince Michael of Greece