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Darkey Kelly: The Green Lady of the Liberties

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Was she a Witch or Serial Killer with connection to the Hellfire Club that her legends paint her to be? What was the true story behind Darkey Kelley, said to haunt Dublin as the Green Lady of the Liberties.

In the twisting lanes of Dublin’s Liberties, there is a tale whispered even now on misty nights. At the bottom of the 40 steps leading to St. Audoen’s Church, an apparition sometimes appears of a woman shrouded in green light, her form wreathed in fog. She drifts silently before vanishing into the old stone wall as if swallowed by time itself. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Ireland

Locals call her The Green Lady. Many believe she is the restless spirit of one of Dublin’s most infamous figures: Darkey Kelly.

The Life and Death of Darkey Kelly

Dorcas “Darkey” Kelly lived in 18th-century Dublin, an innkeeper and madam who ran the Maiden Tower brothel near Fishamble Street. A pub on Fishamble Street, near where her brothel once stood, is named Darkey Kelly’s.

The tavern was said to attract the city’s most powerful men, including members of the notorious Hellfire Club, a society of Dublin’s elite who indulged in blasphemy, debauchery, and whispers of occult rituals. Among her patrons was Simon Luttrell, the Sheriff of Dublin and a reputed Hellfire Club member who had the nickname “King of Hell”.

According to legend, Darkey and Luttrell were once close, perhaps even lovers, until a bitter feud erupted between them. Some stories claim she accused Luttrell of fathering her child, a scandal that threatened his reputation. Others say she discovered something dark about the club’s rituals — something she was never meant to know. Whatever the truth, Luttrell turned on her, accusing her of witchcraft and infanticide.

In 1760, Darkey Kelly was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death of killing the shoemaker John Dowling by partial hanging and burning at the stake at Gallows Road, now called Baggot Street. She was publicly burned at the stake on St. Stephen’s Green on January 7th. 

An account described her execution like this:

She was placed on a stool something more than two feet high, and, a chain being placed under her arms, the rope around her neck was made fast to two spikes, which, being driven through a post against which she stood, when her devotions were ended, the stool was taken from under her, and she was soon strangled. When she had hung about fifteen minutes, the rope was burnt, and she sunk till the chain supported her, forcing her hands up to a level with her face, and the flame being furious, she was soon consumed. ~ Edward Cave, 1773

Legends After her Death

After her death, her prostitute friends collected, or rather stole her remains, and held a wake for her on Copper Alley, however, the 13 women were arrested for disorder and sent to Newgate Prison for it. 

Newgate Prison

There were many legends and stories about her burning. For posterity, people believed that she was in fact burned at the stake as a witch, not on a murder charge. Witnesses said she screamed curses as the flames rose, vowing vengeance on those who condemned her. 

Another legend was that she became pregnant with the child of Dublin’s Sheriff Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton, a member of the Hellfire Club and probable client of Kelly’s Maiden Tower. She demanded financial support from him. He responded by accusing her of witchcraft and of having killed their baby in a Satanic ritual. The body was never found. Darkey was then burnt at the stake.

A 1788 account in the World newspaper claims that her brothel was investigated by the authorities and that investigators then found the corpses of five men hidden in the vaults. One of them was thought to be Surgeon Tuckey’s son, who went missing and had never been found.

However, this does not appear in any contemporary account of her trial and execution and appears to be a later embellishment. So how accurate this investigation was, is rather dubious.

The Hellfire Connection

Darkey Kelly’s ties to the Hellfire Club deepen her legend and has perhaps even overshadowed it. The infamous group met in the Dublin Mountains at Montpelier Hill, a site already steeped in dark lore. It is said that Darkey supplied women for the club’s meetings, unaware of the darker rituals that took place there. Some tales even claim she witnessed a summoning gone wrong like that she saw the Devil himself.

Read the whole story about the Hellfire Club in Dublin: The Hellfire Club on Montpelier Hill and The Killakee Dower House in Dublin and the haunted mysteries connected to the club.

Whether she was a victim of vengeance, a scapegoat for the sins of powerful men, or something more sinister, the truth remains shrouded in shadow. The Hellfire Club’s reputation for corruption and cruelty only strengthens the belief that Darkey Kelly’s fate was one of betrayal and injustice.

Montpelier Hill: Here from the hunting lodge at Montpelier Hill in Dublin, where the Hellfire Club had meetings and many of the stories of dark rituals and the likes comes from. //Source: Joe King/Wikimedia

Was the father of her alleged child one of the members of the Hellfire Club? Darkey had contested a trial on the grounds that she was pregnant. After it was found that she was not with child by a jury of midwives, she was sentenced in January 1761. Had she even been pregnant? Perhaps the two parts of Dublin’s darker history have merged because of the mysterious and dark aspects?

The Haunting of the 40 Steps

Centuries later, her ghost is said to linger near St. Audoen’s Church, close to where she once lived. Those who have seen her describe a woman in tattered skirts glowing faintly green, her face both sorrowful and fierce. She appears at the bottom of the ancient stone steps, drifting upward before fading into the wall itself.

She is also said to have been seen walking down Fishamble Street towards Copper Alley. 

For some, she is a tragic spirit  who was wronged, burned, and forgotten as a human where another legendary figure took her place. The additional torture for her execution were certainly not something a man would go through for the same crime as he would only be hanged until death. For others, she is a reminder of the cruelty that hides behind respectability and power. Either way, her story lives on, whispered through the cobbled streets of the Liberties.

When the fog thickens and the church bells toll midnight, take care walking near the 40 steps. The Green Lady might be waiting there, her eyes glowing faintly in the dark, keeping watch over the city that condemned her.

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References:

Darkey Kelly – Wikipedia

Dublin’s most-haunted – the city’s five most famous ghost stories | Irish Independent

Darkey Kelly: Witch, Killer or Ghost? | Fringe Rebels

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The Limping Ghost of Fossesholm

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After tragedy struck Birthe Svendsdatter, she threw herself from the window and ended up with a limp and a brain injury. Called Halte-Birthe because of her limp, she is said to haunt Fossesholm Manor to this day. 

At Fossesholm Manor in Vestfossen, Buskerud, love is said to have left a wound that time itself could not heal. This was the main estate of the Foss estate , which was united in 1541–1548 by the lord of Akershus, Peder Hanssøn Litle , to gain control over the profitable sawmilling business in the area.

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When night settles over the old estate and the trees cast long, trembling shadows across the empty buildings, some claim that a figure still moves behind the upstairs windows. She limps. She waits. And she remembers.

Fossesholm: It is said that a limping ghost of a girl who used to live at Fossesholm manor in Vestfossen is haunting it. //Source: Wikimedia

A Broken Promise

In the mid eighteenth century, Birthe Svendsdatter lived a life of privilege as the daughter of a wealthy family. Or was she? Some say that she was actually a servant girl at Fossesholm in the 18th century. And if not, she certainly became one after her tragedy. 

Her future should have been secure, but her heart led her elsewhere. To a German officer in some versions of the legend that her parents didn’t think was good enough to marry. She secretly held her own wedding in the forest, a place between Lier and Røyken. 

But the ending wasn’t a happy ever after though. What happened is not known. Was she tormented by her parents who when they learned about the wedding, made her life a misery? Was she betrayed by the man she loved and carrying his child, Birthe saw no escape from her shame and despair. In a moment of desperation, she threw herself from a second floor window at Fossesholm Manor.

Death did not claim her that night.

Instead, Birthe survived with terrible consequences. The fall left her permanently crippled. She lost both her sanity and the child she carried. What was meant to be an ending became a fate many would consider worse than death.

Legend has it that after the brain damage, she could not count beyond three. People are said to have teased her by asking how many chickens there were on the farm. To this, Birthe is said to have replied “one, two, three in a heap”. It is said that she was treated with great respect by the manor house, but was unpopular among the other servants because she had been asked to gossip if someone was not doing their job.

The Ghost from the Tapestry: One of the motifs shows a lady standing bent forward and pointing at the chickens and turkeys that are tripping around her. The lady’s name was Birthe and was called hen-Birthe or lame-Birthe. She is supposed to be haunting the manor house.

After this, her husband also leaves her and travels back to Germany. Once home in Germany, he feels guilty, sits down to write a letter and the rescuer is again Cappelen at Fossesholm. He writes to Cappelen and asks if he can use Birthe on the estate. We will never know what Cappelen sends in response to Germany, but Cappelen builds a small house a short distance out towards Lake Eikeren where Birthe can move in. Birthe does not want that, she wants to live with Cappelen and his wife at Fossesholm. 

A Life Reduced to Shadows

At the time, Fossesholm was owned by Gabriel Cappelen, who took pity on Birthe and allowed her to remain on the estate. Some say that he was the one who stepped in and convinced the priest to marry the two lovers. 

Despite her background and wealth, her life was reduced to that of a servant. The renowned artist Eric Gustav Tunmarch was commissioned to paint her, and the image still hangs on the manor walls today.

In the artwork, Halte Birthe appears bent and broken, dressed in servant’s clothing, feeding the farm’s chickens and turkeys. This despite the fact that she owned chests filled with fine dresses she would never wear again. It is a portrait not of dignity, but of quiet humiliation and loss.

Birthe died at 64 in 1788, recorded in church books as a pauper. But many believe her story did not end there.

The Window on the Second Floor

Locals whisper that Birthe never truly left Fossesholm. Late at night, when the manor stands silent and abandoned, witnesses claim to see a figure in the second floor window. A woman who moves unevenly, forever marked by her fall. This is where she leapt. This is where her life was broken.

Some say her ghost is drawn back to that window again and again, trapped in the moment when love failed her and despair took hold. A reminder that not all ghosts are born from violent death. Some are created by lives that were allowed to continue, long after they should have ended.

At Fossesholm, Birthe Svendsdatter is remembered not as the woman she was, but as the limping ghost she may still be.

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References:

FLERE GJENFERD SOM OGSÅ VILLE VÆRE MED – Issuu 

«Halte-Birthe» Eller «Hønse-Birthe» Fra Vestfossen – Sagnfigur Og Historisk Skikkelse – Historier.no

Fossesholm 

Sagn, spøkelseshistorier og dystre skjebner

Fossesholm

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The Aufhocker: The Heavy Vampiric Spirit of Germany

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Feeling like a sudden and invisible burden, the life force of wary travellers were long subjected to the terror of the Aufhocker. A creature between the vampire, werewolf and goblin spirits, the legend of the empty road were long haunted by something heavy. 

Across the old forests of central Europe, travelers once spoke of a terror that stalked lonely paths after dusk. In German folklore this entity is known as the aufhocker, a creature of fear and fatigue. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Germany

The name aufhocker comes from German words meaning “to squat upon” or “to climb upon.” It is sometimes known as a Huckauf as well. Although the term appears in various regional traditions, the aufhocker’s most chilling aspect is its similarity to vampire lore. This is not the vampire that drinks blood from the neck. It is a predator that feeds on life force through relentless pursuit and physical contact.

A Footstep Followed

In folktales, the creature often appears at night along forest paths, river crossings, and isolated roads. A lone traveler walking home late in the dark might see nothing until a presence is suddenly at their shoulder. The aufhocker does not simply appear in view. It arrives with footsteps that echo the traveler’s own steps, as though it steps into the world by attaching itself to a living person.

Once it has latched on, it stays on the victim’s back. Physical weight, relentless pressure, increasing fear. Some descriptions say the creature physically climbs upon the victim and refuses to move, resting its full weight on the traveler. Others depict it as invisible yet oppressive, like someone riding piggyback only the victim can feel.

The Statue in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony: “Junge, lat die Appels stahn,/ süs packet deck dei Huckup an / Dei Huckup is en starken Wicht,/ hölt mit dei Stehldeifs bös Gericht.” (Boy, stop stealing apples,/ otherwise the thief will catch you,/ the thief is a strong imp,/ who will hold a wicked court against a thief like you.)

The result is the same. The victim becomes exhausted, panicked, and unable to escape. In some stories the victim falls or collapses from fatigue. In others, the pressure fractures resolve and spirit, leaving the person in a state of lasting terror or sickness. The person perched on the wanderer remains seated until the wanderer is released by the oncoming light, a prayer, or the ringing of bells.

The Werewolf Link

But what exactly is the Aufhocker, what does it look like? Some claim it is more like a shapeshifting goblin, a werewolf type of creature. It is also sometimes seen as a gigantic demonic dog. These characteristics are similar to that of the Black Dog in British folklore and the Kludde in Belgian tradition. Sometimes, the creatures are also said to be a black horse, luring people on their backs before throwing them in a swamp or water. 

Prevalent in mid-western Germany, the Rhineland, and adjacent Dutch and Flemish regions, the Aufhocker legend reflects localized beliefs tied to historical werewolf trials from the 16th century, where such back-riding behaviors may have substituted earlier spirit-riding traditions. 

In western Germany, the Aufhocker merges with the werewolf to form the Stüpp, a dangerous monster that leaps at people and has them carry it around until the victim dies of exhaustion. So, could it be more of a werewolf than a vampire adjecent legend then? 

The Vampiric Creature

Other variations of the legend would claim it is much closer to our modern understanding of the vampire. The parallels with vampire tradition become clear when the aufhocker is viewed as a hunter of life rather than a consumer of blood. Where the classical vampire drains the physical body, the aufhocker drains strength, breath, and will. It attaches itself as parasitic shadow. It thrives in darkness rather than daylight. 

Descriptions vary by region, but the theme remains constant. Some variations describe the creature as a shapeshifter or phantom form, while others combine it with local vampire traditions where the undead go out at night to feed and that it appears to travelers as a corpse they approach to examine. When the lonesome traveller is closes enough, it latches onto its prey. 

Other Vampiric Creature from German Folklore:In German folklore, a Nachzehrer, literally a creature that consumes from the afterlife in German, is a type of Wiedergänger (revenant), which was believed to be able to drag the living after it into death, either through malice or through the desire to be closer to its loved ones through various means. A nachzehrer was thought to be able to drain their victim’s life-force remotely. This could involve devouring their own funeral shrouds and clothing – thought to be a very common sign of a nachzehrer. Many would claim that the Aufhocker is some sort of Wiederganger.

Scholars interpret the Aufhocker as a regional variant of broader European back-riding spirits such as the more vampiric Mare for instanve. Although the werewolf stories really took off in the 16th century, there have been tales about the heavy weight of something dragging you down like an Aufhocker since the twelfth century. 

And in some version it is just that, a spirit, bodiless and invisible to the naked eye of the wary traveller. 

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References:

Aufhocker – Wikipedia

http://centre-for-english-traditional-heritage.org/TraditionToday4/TT4_SmithJ_Dobbies.pdf

Der Aufhocker – Arbeitskreis für Vergleichende Mythologie e. V.

Nachzehrer – Wikipedia

Wiedergänger – Wikipedia

Aufhocker – Wikipedia 

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Davy Byrne’s Pub: The Ghost of James Joyce Still Raising a Glass

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Said to appear in the mirror of his favorite place for a pint in Dublin, the ghost of James Joyce is rumored to still linger in Davy Byrne’s Pub. 

In the heart of Dublin’s literary quarter stands one of the city’s most famous pubs, Davy Byrne’s, where polished wood, gleaming mirrors and a literary history draws people from near and far. Some even say that some stay after their death. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Ireland

For more than 125 years, this elegant public house has been a gathering place for writers, rebels, and thinkers. Yet behind its warm glow and literary fame lingers a story of something spectral. They say that James Joyce himself, the master of Dublin’s soul, never truly left the place that helped make him immortal.

Source

A Pub of Poets and Patriots

First opened in 1889, Davy Byrne’s Pub quickly became a cornerstone of Dublin’s social life. The upstairs rooms were once used for clandestine Republican meetings, with none other than Michael Collins himself said to have gathered here in secret during Ireland’s struggle for independence. The pub became a crossroads of revolution and intellect, where whispers of rebellion mixed with the smoke of pipes and the clink of glasses.

But while politics left its mark on these walls, literature would make the pub eternal. James Joyce, who frequented the establishment in the early 1900s, captured its spirit in his masterpiece Ulysses, where Leopold Bloom famously orders a gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of burgundy at Davy Byrne’s. That passage ensured that the pub’s name would live forever, etched into the pages of one of the greatest novels ever written. Joyce also mentioned the pub in the short story “Counterparts” in Dubliners as a bar visited by the office clerk protagonist named Farrington following an altercation with his senior at the office.

The Writer Who Never Left

Book fans travel long distances to visit the place and The pub is particularly popular on Bloomsday, an annual 16 June celebration of both the book and James Joyce.

Regulars and staff will tell you that Joyce still lingers here. His image, they say, appears in the bar’s ornate mirrors, watching quietly from the corner as if observing his characters come to life once more. Some claim that his reflection moves independently, tilting its head or raising a glass, even when no one is standing nearby.

The Ghost of a Writer: James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce[a]; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist movement and is regarded among the most influential and important writers of the 20th century.

A few have even reported hearing the faint scratch of a pen on paper, or the ghostly murmur of a man reciting words from memory. Whether it is the echo of Joyce’s creative spirit or a trick of the mind, no one can say for certain.

Between Literature and the Beyond

For some, it makes perfect sense that Joyce would haunt Davy Byrne’s. The pub was his muse, a place that embodied Dublin’s wit, melancholy, and vitality. Perhaps his spirit simply returns to where the city felt most alive to him. Or perhaps he lingers to see if his words are still spoken, if readers and wanderers still come to trace the path of Ulysses.

Today, Davy Byrne’s remains one of the most beloved pubs in Dublin, where tourists and locals alike gather to taste a pint and a slice of literary history. Yet those who know its story may pause before the mirrors, half-expecting to glimpse a familiar figure in a dark coat and round spectacles smiling faintly back.

If you do, raise your glass. It might just be that James Joyce has come back for one last drink in the pub he never could forge

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References:

Davy Byrne’s pub – Wikipedia

History – Davy Byrnes

The 10 most haunted pubs in Dublin | The Irish Post

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The Tragic Ghost of the Maid Haunting Visnes Hotel

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A maid who once worked at the hotel allegedly took her own life at the old Visnes Hotel, deep in the Norwegian fjords. Now it is said she is lingering in the afterlife in the old rooms she once worked in.

Visnes Hotel stands quietly on the edge of Stryn, its Swiss style facade looking out over the dramatic landscapes of western Norway. Surrounded by fjords, mountains, and deep history, the hotel is known today for its charm, warmth, and long tradition of hospitality. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway

But what is it about the haunted rumors that seem to follow the hotel, even after several rebrandings and renovations? It is said that behind its carefully preserved rooms and peaceful gardens, a far darker story is said to linger.

Haunted Hotel: Visnes Hotel in Stryn, Norway. Wooden hotel built in 1850. It is said to be haunted by a maid who took her own life in the hotel. // Source: Jorid Martinsen/Wikimedia

A Hotel Built on Long Memory

The story of Visnes began in 1850, when Anton Visnes opened his farmhouse to travelers passing through the region. Over the decades, the property slowly evolved, until his son Arne formally transformed it into a hotel in 1887. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from haunted hotels

Since then, Visnes Hotel has remained in operation, carrying the marks of many eras within its walls. The large courtyard, the old barn, and the historic interiors give the building a sense of deep continuity, as though the past never truly left.

It is perhaps this unbroken history that has allowed one restless spirit to remain behind.

Stryn: DXR/Wikimedia

The Maid Who Never Left

Local legend speaks of a young maid who once worked at Visnes during its early hotel years. Both her life and death carries almost no details and proof, and little is known about both her and the legends she left behind.

She was said to be hardworking and quiet, spending long days tending to guests, cleaning rooms, and moving silently through the halls. 

Over time, sorrow settled over her. Some say she fell in love with someone she could never have, while others believe she was overwhelmed by isolation and hardship. What is agreed upon is that her life ended tragically when she took her own life within the hotel grounds.

Her death was quietly buried in time, but her presence, according to many, was not.

Signs of a Restless Spirit

Guests and staff have reported unexplained footsteps in empty corridors late at night, doors that open and close on their own, and a feeling of being watched when no one else is nearby. Some claim to have seen the faint outline of a young woman in old fashioned clothing near the rooms once reserved for staff. 

There have been reports of strange knocking sounds in the walls as well as the sound of someone crying, although the rooms and corridors are empty. Others describe soft sounds, like someone tidying or moving furniture, long after the building has gone still.

The old barn on the property, now being restored, is also said to carry an uneasy atmosphere. Workers have spoken of sudden cold air, strange noises, and the sense that someone is standing just out of sight.

A Gentle but Lingering Presence

Unlike many ghost stories filled with terror, the spirit of Visnes Hotel is often described as sad rather than threatening. She is believed to be bound to the place where she lived and worked, repeating the quiet routines of a life that ended too soon. Some say she appears most often to those who are alone, as if drawn to familiar loneliness.

Today, guests come to Visnes Hotel for its history, beauty, and tranquility. But as night falls and the halls grow silent, some believe the young maid still walks softly through the building, unable to leave the place that defined her life and her death.

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References:

Visnes Hotel – Historisk hotell i Stryn 

Visnes hotel | Kulturminnefondet 

Forbruker, Reiseliv | Tør du sove her?

Skremmende overnattingssteder Norge rundt – steinkjer24.no 

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The Black Church: Where the Devil Waits in Dublin

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A church with the sinister name The Black Church in Dublin has a legend that claims if you follow the ritual, you will be able to summon the devil. 

In the quiet streets of Dublin 7, where old stone and shadow mingle, there stands a building that has said to hold the power to summon the devil. Surprising enough, it is a former church and chapel. 

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St Mary’s Chapel of Ease, better known as The Black Church, is built of dark calp limestone that seems to drink in the light. When it rains the limestone takes on a dark hue when getting wet, hence the name it was given. Once a place of worship, it now serves as offices, yet few locals can walk past it after dark without glancing over their shoulder. The reason is simple: the devil is said to dwell here.

Source

The Church of Shadows

Built in 1830, protestant chapel, The Black Church was designed to serve parishioners who lived too far from St Mary’s on Marlborough Street. It even has a mention in James Joyce’s Ulysses. Over the years, however, its eerie appearance earned it a far darker reputation. The rough, blackened stone gave the building a funereal air, and as the decades passed, stories began to grow about strange whispers, cold drafts, and the feeling of being watched even in daylight.

Source

When the church was deconsecrated in the 1960s, many claimed it was not just falling attendance that led to its closure, but something more sinister. Some even said that during its final service, the candles flickered violently and the air turned ice cold as if something within the walls had awoken.

Summoning the Devil

Every haunting has its ritual, and The Black Church has three. Locals whisper that there are only three ways to summon the devil himself.

  • One version says you must run around the church three times at midnight, your footsteps echoing on the empty street.
  • Another insists you must walk around it in reverse exactly thirteen times without looking away from the building.
  • The final, and perhaps most blasphemous, claims that if you stand before its door and recite the Our Father backwards, the devil will appear before you.

No one admits to trying all three. Some say a student once dared to, only to vanish without a trace, his friends finding his shoes by the entrance the next morning.

A Warning in Stone

Though time has softened its purpose, The Black Church remains one of Dublin’s most enduring legends. Whether or not the devil ever walked its grounds, its stones hold a strange gravity that draws the curious and the foolish alike.

If you ever find yourself near St Mary’s Place on a still night, take care. You may feel tempted to test the legend, to run around its walls or whisper a forbidden prayer. But remember the warnings of the locals and those who call upon the darkness at The Black Church may find that it answers.

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The Nordic Grave Dwelling Haugbúi Draugr (ᛏᚱᛅᚢᚴᛦ)

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An ancient ghost coming from the depths of graves across the nordic countries, the Haugbúi Draugr could be both dangerous and even deadly. Not merely a specter, but the rotten flesh of the dead, the ghosts are remembered as The Walking Dead of the North.

The draugr is not a distant spirit or a whisper in the dark, but the body itself, risen from the grave, swollen with death and driven by hatred, envy, or an unbroken will.

To the Viking mind, death did not always end a person’s power. A strong, malicious, or deeply wronged individual might carry their force beyond the grave. And even after the vikings are long gone, the stories of the draugr haunting the lands remain. 

The Norse Draug: The word draug itself is derived from the Old Norse word draugr , which originally could mean the ghost of any deceased person. The draugen was originally a dead person, either living in a mound (in Old Norse called haugbúi ) or going out to haunt the living. They were corporal ghosts.  // Illustration: Kim Diaz Holm

The Living Corpse of the Draugr

Unlike ghosts made of mist or memory, the draugr is corporeal. It has weight, strength, and substance. It can leave footprints in snow, crush bones with its grip, and wrestle the living like a man made of cold iron. In many stories, the draugr guards its burial mound or the land it once owned, attacking anyone foolish enough to trespass.

Haugbúi Draugr: In the Bronze and Iron age, people of power were often buried inside huge mound dwellings or tumuli. This led people to believe that the hills were haunted, and that these corporal ghosts resided inside of them. Although the Haugbúi is rather a type of draugr, it’s used as an umbrella term to separate it from the Norwegian Sea Draug. // Image: Osberghaugen / by Karl Ragnar Gjertsen.

Descriptions vary, but certain traits return again and again. Draugrs are often bloated and dark, their skin stretched tight by decay. They reek of death, a thick, sour stench that announces their presence before they are seen. Their eyes may glow with an unnatural light, or stare blankly from faces frozen in rage.

Some draugrs grow in size and strength after death, becoming far more powerful than they were in life. Others can change shape, slipping into the form of animals or mist, or riding the night winds to terrorize farms and villages. The draugr’s motivation was primarily envy and greed. 

Glámr and the curse of the draugr

One of the most famous draugrs appears in Grettis saga. Glámr was a shepherd whose arrogance and defiance marked him even before death. When he died under cursed circumstances, he rose again, haunting the countryside, killing livestock, and driving men mad with fear. Glámr’s draugr is not merely violent, but malevolent, spreading despair wherever he goes.

The Icelandic Draugr Types: The Draugr tale evolved differently in the nordic countries. In Iceland, the closest draugr ghost after the viking age and the saga era would be the Skotta or Mori. They also fall under the Old Norse Mythology of a Fylgja, that were supernatural spirits that followed or latched onto people. But the tales of the Fylga evolved and when we read about Skotta, they were not like totem animals or someone coming with your prophecy like in the old sagas. Icelandic ghosts are often described as being not like apparitions, but in real flesh that interacted with the living, like the nordic Draugr. And when we read about Skotta, the female version, she was highly dangerous and also deadly. // An illustration to the Icelandic legend of the Skeleton in Hólar Church (Beinagrindin í Hólakirkju). From Icelandic Legends : Collected by Jón Arnason, illustrated by Jules Worms.

When the hero Grettir finally defeats Glámr, it requires enormous physical strength and courage. Even then, the victory is incomplete. With his final breath, Glámr curses Grettir, ensuring that the shadow of the draugr follows him for the rest of his life. This reflects a core belief in draugr lore: even destroyed, the dead can still leave scars.

A second death

In Norse belief, killing a draugr was rarely simple. Weapons alone were often useless. To end its reign, the animated corpse had to suffer a second death. This might involve beheading the body, burning it, or destroying it so completely that nothing remained to rise again. Burial mounds were opened, corpses pinned down, and ashes scattered to the wind.

The main indication that a deceased person will become a draugr is that the corpse is not horizontal and is found standing upright, or in a sitting position, indicating that the dead might return. Breaking the draugr’s posture is a necessary or helpful step in destroying the draugr.

The Sea Draugr of Norway: Originally, the word draugr simply meant ghosts, and there are stories about them across Scandinavia since before the Viking area. This ghost is not the same creature as the draugr of the Viking sagas, the corporal ghost even though they share a name. The sea draug belongs to coastal Norwegian folklore and is shaped by centuries of fear, loss, and respect for the unforgiving ocean, especially along the coast of western Norway stretching up to the north, the draug is almost always a ghost from the sea. Read More: The Sea Draug: The Ghostly Fisherman of the Norwegian Coast

Heavy stones were placed on graves. Bodies were buried with care, or weighted down, to ensure they stayed where they belonged. The most effective means of preventing the return of the dead was believed to be a corpse door, a special door through which the corpse was carried feet-first with people surrounding it so that the corpse couldn’t see where it was going. The door was then bricked up to prevent a return.

The Mound Dwelling Ghost Across the North

The draugr is not confined to one land. Variants appear across the Nordic world, from Iceland to Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Each region shaped the creature slightly differently, but the core idea remained the same. The dead could walk. The past could rise up and harm the present.

The Nynorsk terminology, which often differs from the Bokmål usage by being more closely related to Old Norse, still defines the draug primarily as a revenant. Ola Raknes could therefore define a vampire as a “Blodsugar-draug” in his English-Norwegian dictionary .

Today, draugrs are often portrayed as Norse zombies or vampiric undead in games, films, and novels, mostly because of their slowness in movement and how sometimes, their form and fate could sometimes be contagious and they could make the living one of them. 

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References:

draug – Lille norske leksikon

Draug

Draugr – Wikipedia

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The Haunting of Hendrick Street: Dublin’s Most Cursed Corner

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In the dark Hendrick Street in Dublin, there once were two houses said to be some of the most haunted ones in town. Occupied by at least six ghosts, some say they still linger in their old street. 

In Smithfield, Dublin, once stood a narrow, unassuming street that locals long avoided after dark. Not much was known about the street between the corn and cattle market of the city. Hendrick Street, now mostly vanished from the map, was for generations whispered about as Dublin’s most haunted street where more than one house had a haunted story.

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Though the old Dutch Billys houses from the 1730s were demolished in the 1960s, the ground where numbers 7 and 8 once stood is said to remain restless and was the worst location for the haunting going on in the street. The stories claim that no fewer than six spirits are bound to this cursed patch of land, forever replaying the tragedies that once unfolded behind its doors.

The Six Ghosts of Hendrick Street

The haunting of Hendrick Street began long before the bulldozers came. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the area was densely packed with tenements, where poverty, sickness, and despair clung to the air like a fog. Numbers 7 and 8 were said to be especially ill-fated. This is said to have especially been from the 1920s and leading up to the house’s demolitions. 

By the turn of the 20th century, Hendrick Street’s reputation had darkened beyond repair. Residents spoke of six distinct apparitions that haunted the adjoining houses. 

Tenants rarely stayed long, claiming to hear knocking on the walls at night, furniture moving by itself, and cold hands brushing against their faces in the dark. It was especially inside number 7 and 8 in the street that people were bothered by ghosts.

The Dark History of Number 7

One story in particular tells about a family who moved into number 7. An old house where many people had lived and died. It isn’t really specified exactly when this family moved in, but it is more likely to be from the early to mid 20th century. When they arrived they were warned to not go downstairs after dark. Apparently a woman had died in the house and was heard walking up and down the stairs from midnight to the clock struck five, every night. 

The father of the house came home one evening and couldn’t unlock the door. He heard someone coming running down the stairs inside and the door flew open. But when he looked inside, there was no one there, and he only felt the sensation of a cold wind passing him by. 

The Ghost by the Fireplace in Number 8

In the neighboring house there was an elderly couple living once. According to the story, they hated each other in life, but seemed to be unable to part in the afterlife. After the man, a horrid mad according to the rumours passed, he remained in the house to haunt his wife. 

She hated him so much, she was glad he had died. But one night he came back to shout at her. He was also said to have been lingering by the fireplace. Because of his torment even beyond death, she eventually said to have gotten an exorcism. 

Both number 7 and 8 were said to have been demolished as far back as 1953 because of the poor state of them. 

Hendrick Street No. 15-19

Not only were the two houses on the street said to be haunted, but so were the buildings right across from them as well. It used to be an industrial block that has now turned into a retail outlet. 

According to the rumours, there was a young girl said to haunt the building and would appear in front of people. People walking by would report about seeing faces in the windows of the building when no one was supposed to be inside. 

Dublin’s Forgotten Haunting

Today, Hendrick Street is little more than a memory, yet its ghostly reputation has never faded. In its place, The Hendrick Smithfield Hotel has been built in its place. Although the hotel acknowledges the streets’ haunted history, there isn’t really much to go on in terms of newer ghost stories. It is however still a stop on many ghost tours in the city.  

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References:

Historyeye | Hendrick Street: a slightly unloved Dublin street

The Paranormal Database – Dublin

7 & 8 Hendrick Street, Dublin | Explore Haunted Ireland 

15-19 Hendrick Street | Explore Haunted Ireland

Ukategorisert

The Richmond Vampire and its Mausoleum in Hollywood Cemetery

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In the pre-civil war Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the mausoleum of W.W Pool is said to be the grave of The Richmond Vampire. A more recent urban legend is now also connected with The Church Hill Tunnel collapse. 

In Richmond’s historic Hollywood Cemetery, where Confederate generals, U.S. presidents, and thousands of the city’s dead lie beneath elaborate monuments and crumbling headstones, whispers persist of a vampire lurking among the graves. 

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The origins of this legend from Richmond, Virginia, trace back to a real, grim disaster in 1925 — and an even older mausoleum said to house something inhuman that still draw people wanting to check out the alleged vampire lair. 

Vampire Mausoleum: William Wortham Pool’s grave in Hollywood Cemetery is thought to be the vampire lair of the Richmond Vampire. //Source: Wikimedia

The Legend of W.W. Pool Mausoleum

Local legend held that W.W. Pool was no ordinary Richmond citizen. Some versions of the tale claimed Pool was an 18th-century Englishman exiled for vampirism, or a practitioner of the dark arts who had achieved unnatural longevity. His tomb, marked with ominous Masonic symbols and resting in one of Richmond’s oldest graveyards, was said to house either Pool himself or the ancient vampire from the tunnel.

Locals nicknamed the creature “The Richmond Vampire” or “The Hollywood Vampire,” and it became a fixture of local ghost tours and urban legend lore. At first the lore centered just around the grave of this mystic man with only initials inscribed at his tomb. WW, looking almost like fangs. There were also the Masonic and Egyptian elements to the grave, making it stand out. People also thought it was strange that for a grave for a man who died in 1922, it was strange that it had 1913 inscribed. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from haunted cemeteries

According to one of the stories, a broken glass was found inside the locked and sealed mausoleum. The question was, where did the famed Richmond Vampire go?

Hollywood Cemetery: Variations of the story grew into legend and it has become to be that W.W.Poole is a vampire that haunts Hollywood. Whether the sources mean just the cemetery or if the legend has reached Hollywood, LA yet is not mentioned. Some say he only comes out when there is no moon.

Who was W. W. Pool?

But who really was the man inside the mausoleum? In real life, his name was William Wortham Pool and lived 721 28th St, in Woodland Heights and worked as an accountant. He was in fact not in exile from England, but born in Mississippi and lived seemingly a normal and quiet life. 

He had built the tomb for his wife, Alice who died after an illness in 1913 and as an accountant, he chose to just use his initials, as you paid by the letter. William died and joined her in their mausoleum in 1922 when he died of pneumonia at the age of 75. 

Perhaps for those looking into the story a bit more, it would have ended there, but instead the vampire lore grew. As the Hollywood Cemetery is adjacent to the Virginia Commonwealth University, the story became popular from the 1960s and especially from the 1980s when it grew almost a cult-like group around the mausoleum, and in the end, another tragedy from the town would merge with the story. 

Since 2001, the story of the vampire has been told together with the collapse of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad’s Church Hill Tunnel under the neighborhood in the east called Church Hill and is rarely told without. 

The Church Hill Tunnel Collapse

On October 2, 1925, disaster struck as a work crew attempted to reopen the long-abandoned Church Hill Tunnel, a 4,000-foot passage beneath Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood. They had problems with the tunnels since they started in 1871. The soul was soft and slippery and buildings above it would tilt or sink. Sometimes workers are said to have just vanished. 

During excavation, a section of the tunnel collapsed, burying several workers alive in a sudden, suffocating wave of rock, soil, and debris. A section above the work train collapsed, entombing engineer Tom Mason together with around two or three hundred laborers.

According to legend, when they were building the tunnel, they awakened something evil that lived there and was the reason for the tunnel crashing. 

Church Hill Tunnel: The inside of the eastern entrance to the Church Hill tunnel in Richmond, Virginia, in 1981. The tunnel collapsed in 1925, and is sealed off at this end by the wall visible in the distance. // Source: Wiki

In the chaos that followed, rescuers and onlookers reportedly saw something horrifying: a blood-covered, grotesque figure with jagged teeth and hanging skin, emerging from the rubble, crouching as if feeding over the victims. The creature — with exposed flesh and sharp, animalistic features — allegedly fled from the tunnel, making its way toward Hollywood Cemetery.

Witnesses claimed it disappeared into the Mausoleum of W.W. Pool, a real tomb located within the cemetery, dating back to 1913. This bizarre incident quickly fueled rumors that a vampire had been awakened by the cave-in.

When this version merged with the existing vampire story is uncertain, but some say it was from the start. Historians and folklorists largely attribute the origin of the vampire tale to the tragic story of Benjamin F. Mosby, a 28-year-old railroad worker caught in the tunnel collapse. He had been shoveling coal into the firebox of a steam locomotive of a work train with no shirt on when the cave-in occurred and the boiler ruptured. Mosby, suffering from severe burns and catastrophic injuries, staggered from the wreckage — his flesh hanging from his bones, blood covering his body — and reportedly died shortly afterward at a Grace Hospital. He was buried at Hollywood Cemetery.

The day laborers Richard Lewis and “H. Smith”, Engine 231 and the ten flatcars remain buried inside the tunnel of misery.

Church Hill Tunnel: This is a picture of the western end of the tunnel. It is completely closed off, unlike the eastern end, and there has been speculation that it deserves better upkeep. Over the years, it has been somewhat forgotten and is now overgrown with weeds and tall grasses

Witnesses in the panic and gloom of the disaster likely misinterpreted the ghastly appearance of Mosby’s mortally wounded body as something supernatural. Over time, as Richmond’s storytelling traditions took hold, Mosby’s tragic death merged with older vampire folklore, birthing the legend of the Richmond Vampire.

Yet despite rational explanations and lack of primary sources, the myth persists and contemporary records only state that Mosby died without any of the other details. If not him, what was the thing they say lurked in the tunnels? To this day, people claim strange sightings around Hollywood Cemetery, eerie noises near the Pool Mausoleum, and spectral figures wandering the grounds at night.

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References:

https://web.archive.org/web/20220523135807/https://www.wtvr.com/2013/10/31/holmberg-how-a-vampire-came-to-haunt-a-richmond-cemetery/

https://web.archive.org/web/20230415234115/https://richmondmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/richmonds-reputed-nosferatu/

William Wortham Pool – Wikipedia

Church Hill Tunnel – Wikipedia

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The Headless Ghosts Haunting Dublin Castle

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Said to be haunted by headless prisoners who tried to capture Dublin Castle, this storied building has shadows lingering in the corners. 

Few places in Ireland carry as much history, blood, and shadow as Dublin Castle, or Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath, in the midst of the city. And if we are to believe the rumours, it is also said to house a few ghosts. 

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Built on the site of a Viking fortress and later serving as the seat of British power in Ireland for over 700 years, the castle has seen centuries of political intrigue, imprisonment, executions, and rebellion. With such a dark and turbulent past, you would definitely believe that it could be haunted, but the truth is, that it’s not often that Dublin Castle makes it on the top most haunted castles in Ireland.

The Headless Haunting of Dublin Castle

There are however a few ghost stories here as well though. The most chilling tales speak of the headless spirits of men who tried to storm the fortress long ago. What the battle and time someone tried to storm it is not really mentioned, but there are plenty of battles and sieges that have tried to take control over the castle.

According to this ghost legend, the prisoners of the attack were executed swiftly and without mercy, their remains were buried within the castle grounds. Locals and visitors alike claim that the headless dead have never truly left. Their spectral forms are said to wander the grounds in silence.

The Haunted Upper Yard

The Upper Yard is often spoken of as one of the most unsettling areas here as this was the location of the original medieval castle that stood before a huge fire burned it to the ground in the 1600s. Some visitors have described the uneasy feeling of being watched, while others claim to have glimpsed fleeting apparitions disappearing into the ancient stonework. 

There is also a building in the upper yard that is said to be haunted where the original motte-and-bailey castle was. Details are vague about the specific, but some think the haunting is a woman who is mourning her lover she lost in one of the many battles fought on this land. 

Other Ghost Stories

One particular haunting experience was told through Spiritedisle’ about a Garda sergeant who was stationed at Dublin Castle in the 1950s. One night the light went out by itself when he was alone in the dormitory. Then he heard something like coal being shoveled into the fire in the kitchen and went to check that he was truly alone. When entering, the room was empty, there was no coal in the fire and the shovel hadn’t moved at all. 

Today, Dublin Castle stands as a celebrated historical site and a major tourist attraction. Yet beneath the surface of grandeur and state occasions lingers the weight of all who suffered and died there and are perhaps even haunting it to this day. 

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Dublin Castle | Explore Haunted Ireland

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An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.

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