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The Haunted Shelbourne Hotel and the Ghost of Mary Masters

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According to staff members and guests, paranormal investigators and even celebrities, the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin is haunted. Legend has it that a young cholera victim called Mary Masters has been haunting the place for centuries. 

On the grand curve of St. Stephen’s Green stands The Shelbourne Hotel, a place of elegance, history, and lingering whispers of a ghostly presence. Beneath its crystal chandeliers and polished marble lies nearly two centuries of a mystery. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Ireland

Since opening its doors in 1824, the Shelbourne has welcomed royalty, revolutionaries, poets, and presidents. Among its most enduring guests is one who never left, a little ghost known as Mary Masters.

Shelbourne Hotel: Joseph Mischyshyn / Dublin – Shellbourne Hotel / CC BY-SA 2.0

A Hotel of Grandeur and Ghosts

The Shelbourne Hotel was designed to embody luxury and sophistication, its Georgian façade a testament to Dublin’s golden age. Inside, generations of visitors have come seeking comfort and refinement. Martin Burke from Tupperary bought three of the townhouses on St. Stephen’s Green, wanting to make the grand hotel. 

The Haunted Hotel: Image from 1885 of Shelbourne Hotel.

It is said that one room, in particular, has a reputation that chills even the most skeptical guests: Room 526. Staff and visitors alike have spoken of eerie occurrences like lights flickering, taps turning on by themselves, and the distinct feeling of being watched. The culprit, they say, is a child.

The Haunted Shelbourne Hotel

The story of the haunting came to prominence in 1965 when famed American paranormal investigator Hans Holzer and British psychic Sybil Leek visited The Shelbourne. They were on a tour to explore some of the most haunted places in Dublin. The hotel had already become notorious among staff for unexplainable events, and Holzer was invited to investigate. And if the haunting was a well known thing before they arrived, it certainly became notorious after.

Paranormal Investigators: Sybil Leek (née Fawcett; 22 February 1917 – 26 October 1982) was an English witch, astrologer, occult author and self-proclaimed psychic. She was called Britain’s most famous witch by the BBC. Hans Holzer (26 January 1920 – 26 April 2009) wrote more than 120 books on supernatural and occult and hosted a television show, Ghost Hunter.

How they investigated the hotel and got their information, was not necessarily through historical records. During a séance held in Room 526, or 256 by some accounts, Leek made contact with a spirit who identified herself as Mary Masters.

Read More: Check out all haunted hotels around the world

The first night, Sybil invited the ghost child into her room, and felt a small child climb into her bed, although she couldn’t see anything. She also claimed to have felt a woolly material brush against her cheek and right arm. When she woke up the next morning, her arm was numb, almost as someone had laid upon it. 

The next evening, Sybil went into a trance and had a full conversation with the child that she was unable to remember when she came too. According to Leek, the girl said she was seven years old, named Mary Masters and had died in the building in the 18th century, before the hotel as we know it was completed. According to them, the little girl seemed to be ill. She described herself as lonely and frightened, unable to find her mother. She was also looking for her big sister, Sophie. The room grew cold during the session, and witnesses claimed they heard the faint sound of a child crying near the window.

Encounters with the Spirit of Mary

Since that famous investigation, countless guests have claimed to experience something strange in the hotel. Some report hearing soft footsteps padding across the carpet in the dead of night. Others have woken to the sensation of a small hand touching their cheek. Maids have spoken of seeing the shadow of a little girl reflected in mirrors or vanishing behind curtains.

The encounter is not really isolated to this one room though, as hotel staff have reported seeing her around the hotel, like in the basement and wine cellar when they are stocking wine, or doing laundry. 

Even the celebrity and actress Lily Collins shared publicly about her ghostly encounter when she stayed at the Shelbourne Hotel when she was interviewed on Jimmy Fallon. As she was sleeping in room 255 she felt a presence by her bed and a giggle before doors started slamming and a rush of air flew past her. When asking about it, the hotel staff told her about Mary Masters. 

Lily Collins and her Ghost Experience: Worth noting though, is that Lily Collins is a firm believer in ghosts, as she also claimed to have experienced the ghost of Ted Bundy’s victim when she was filming his biopic, “Extremely Wicked”. Here, she started to wake up at 3:05 am every night in preproduction. “I started being woken up by flashes of images, like the aftermath of a struggle,” she said

Documenting the Haunting at Shelbourne Hotel

In an RTÉ documentary about the staff working at the historical hotel, that seems to be from 2014/2015, management at the palatial hotel admitted that on several occasions, terrified guests had run out of the eerie room screaming in panic.

The hotel managers even gave a staff member orders to stay in the room overnight as there were so many reports about activity, at least 2-3 times per week over a period of six months. The staff member didn’t particularly believe it all, but were convinced when the taps in the bathroom turned as the guests had complained about. 

Uncovering the Mystery of Mary Masters

The ground on which the Shelbourne stands has seen centuries of Dublin’s transformation. Before the hotel was built, this area of St. Stephen’s Green was lined with Georgian townhouses, one of which may have been the Masters’ family home. Early tenants in the 1600 and 1700s built simple two-storey houses, with much of it undeveloped on the 1728 map. By the time of John Roque’s map in 1756, the pace of building had accelerated rapidly.

But who was Mary Masters? The little girl said to haunt the hotel? According to most sources, they claim she used to live in one of the three townhouses that was before the hotel.

According to the paranormal researches in 65, Mary Masters had died in 1846, and was one of the children growing up in the houses that stood on the ground before they were made into the hotel. This is strange to say though, as the hotel was founded in 1824 by Martin Burke. Apparently, Sybil Leek got the year in one of her trances. 

So, it’s rather unlikely that was the year she died. It did get a new owner and was renovated in 1865 by William Jury, Charles Cotton and Christian Goodman, but the building was used as a hotel all the while. 

And as in the retelling from Lily Collins and the staff, they told that Mary had actually died of cholera in 1791 and that little  Mary must have been around 7 years old. This is the year that has been passed around most perhaps, as it seems to fit more with the narrative of the buildings. Although, there have been no traces of any family named Masters or a girl named Mary who lived in one of the three town houses. 

But was there cholera in Ireland in 1791? It is believed that Cholera were introduced to Ireland from India, probably through British troops. The epidemic in Ireland was in the 1830s, and killed 50 000 people. It is said that the illness started in India in 1817. So this story is also rather improbable. 

While skeptics dismiss the tale as hotel folklore, the stories persist. Modern visitors still ask for Room 526, curious or brave enough to see if the stories are true. Some leave convinced they felt something unseen, while others depart with nothing more than a chill that refuses to fade.

According to investigators, most of the supposed haunting has turned out to be banging noises from plumbing, bad wiring that increases the electromagnetic field that has turned out makes people paranoid and seeing things. There are also scratching noises in the attic that have turned out to be mice and rats. But as always, there are some points that are still left unanswered.

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References:

Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, Ireland | Haunted Rooms®

Actress Lily Collins haunted by Dublin hotel ghost | Irish Independent

Ghost of young girl haunts Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel, claim guests and staff

Epidemics in Ireland – A Short History – The Irish Story 

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Room 407 and the Gentle Ghost of Fleischer’s Hotel

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As the first hostess of the hotel in Voss, Norway, the ghost of Magdalene at the historic and majestic Fleischier’s Hotel is said to linger inside of Room 407. 

Fleischer’s Hotel stands proudly beside the lake at Voss, a grand wooden hotel steeped in family history and tradition right by the train station. The hotel was built in the Swiss style. This style of building was popular in Norway from about 1850-1910 and is inspired by the architecture of the Alps.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway

For generations, guests have spoken in hushed tones about one particular room. Room 407 with a grand view over the water Vossvangen is built around, is said to be occupied, even when no name is written in the ledger. According to long held legend, this is where the spirit of the hotel’s very first hostess still resides.

Fleischer’s Hotel: The hotel by Evangervegen road (E16) in Voss, Norway is thought to be haunted by the ghost of one of the founders.// Photo

Magdalene Fleischer’s Unfinished Watch

The ghost is believed to be Magdalene Fleischer herself, the woman who helped shape Fleischer’s the hotel that is still running by her rules it seems. 

Her full name was Magdalene Margrethe von Schlanbusch (1839-1915),  married to Fredrik Lyth Ørum Fleischer (1834-1906) who founded the hotel after they sold the family owned church to Voss.

The two ran the hotel from 1864 to 1906. Magdalene was Fleischer’s savior when the husband thought all was lost when the new building burned down in 1888, only 13 days after it opened. Magdalene had single-handedly insured the existing hotel and the new building during construction, without her husband’s knowledge. The hotel was rebuilt the next year and is still standing. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from haunted hotels

Witnesses describe seeing a female figure dressed in black, moving silently through Room 407 or standing near the bed. Why exactly this room, sources never claim to have an answer to. Others speak of sudden cold drafts that pass through the room without warning, and chandeliers that flicker and glow for no earthly reason.

Despite these unsettling signs, Magdalene is not considered a malevolent presence. Quite the opposite. Staff and guests alike describe her as protective and deeply concerned with the well being of those who stay at the hotel. It is said she refuses to leave because her sense of duty to the guests never truly ended.

A Touch in the Night

One of the most striking accounts comes from a guest who claimed to have awakened during the night to feel a gentle hand patting her cheek. When she opened her eyes, the room was empty, yet the sense of comfort lingered. There was no fear, only the impression of being cared for, as if checked on by a devoted hostess making her rounds.

Hotel staff have their own stories. An employee once claimed that flickering lights appeared when Magdalene seemed displeased, particularly if she felt the service provided to guests was lacking. In these moments, the lights were not threatening but insistent, a quiet reminder that standards must be upheld.

– Guests who have stayed here for several nights have on several occasions come down to the reception and said that they no longer want to stay in room 407. They have had the feeling that someone was watching them, said Butler, Michael Pedersen. He also claimed to have felt or heard someone walking in the hallways. 

Magdalene Fleischer

– I heard lots of women’s voices from inside the toilet, as if they were talking to each other. I got a little scared, and hurried on, but had to go back to take a look. Still, I didn’t dare open the door to look. I was completely in shock. I knew there couldn’t possibly be anyone there, because the door to the hallway was locked. I rushed out and locked it behind me! Source

Also the descendants of the alleged ghosts, comes with a few ghost stories of her own. Asta Maria Fleischer Tønjum, the great granddaughter, worked all her life at the hotel as well. 

– Not so many years ago, a regular male guest stopped by the reception and reported an incident in room 407. This was passed on to me, and I called the man, who told me that a lady had appeared in the room. She had come over to his bed and stood there for a while before she dissolved and disappeared. The lady had a black, unbuttoned blouse and buttoned boots. The man had not been scared, because he felt that the lady was kind-hearted and was there to look after him. When he heard the story about Magdalene, he thought that the woman who appeared to him could well be her, says Asta Marie. Source

A Spirit Bound by Care

Unlike many haunted hotels where spirits are tied to tragedy or unrest, Fleischer’s tells a different kind of ghost story. As her descendants claim, she was a warm and kind lady in life as she seems to have been in her afterlife as well. Magdalene Fleischer is said to remain out of love and responsibility rather than sorrow. 

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References:

Magic Magasin – Det spøker på Fleischers Hotel

Fleischer’s Hotel – Wikipedia

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Teresa Prieto The Witch of Jove and Spain’s First Vampire Case

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Teresa Prieto, known as the Witch of Jove, has captivated the imaginations of many through the centuries as the first recorded case of a vampire in Spain that reached the court. What was she? A witch? A vampire? Or was she one of many innocent women accused of something supernatural.

Long before the vampire became a figure of Gothic fiction, the fear of blood drinking witches already haunted the villages of medieval Spain. One of the earliest recorded cases emerged in the late fifteenth century in the coastal settlements around Gijón in Asturias. There, a woman named Teresa Prieto became the center of one of the strangest accusations in Spanish history. To her neighbors she was not simply a witch. She was believed to be a creature that slipped into homes at night and drank the blood of children.

Read More: Check out all ghostly stories and legends from Spain

The case of Teresa Prieto, later known as “the Witch of Jove” or “the Vampire of Xove,” sits at the crossroads between folklore and historical reality. It reveals how medieval fears of night demons, witchcraft, and vampirism could merge into a single terrifying accusation.

Gijón City: It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. This is also where the first recorded vampire court case in Spain happened.

Night Visitor of the Village

In the late 1400s the area of Jove, today called Xove, was not the modern district of Gijón known today. It consisted of small scattered villages connected by narrow paths and surrounded by forests and fields. Oral traditions and superstition shaped daily life. Local healers lived on the margins of society, gathering herbs from the woods to make remedies and potions.

The Asturian Guaxa: The Guaxa is said to be an old and thin woman-like entity, ugly and covered in warts. She is said to have a single sharp tooth she stalks her prey with. She sneaks into people’s homes in the middle of the night and feeds on them with her one sharp tooth. Children are preferred, but also young women and handsome men are in danger. She doesn’t kill them at once, nor does she transform her victims to one of her own. She slowly kills them, draining their life, bit by bit. In Asturia, people can say “It looks like the Guaxa has swallowed you,” when people have lost a lot of weight, as the Guaxa slowly over time drained people’s lives. Although this is a very Asturian legend, the case of Teresa Prieto was called a Strix or Estrige.

Within this environment strange rumors began to circulate.

Parents claimed that something entered their homes during the night. The intruder moved silently while families slept and approached the beds of children. When morning came, some children were found dead. According to the stories told by villagers, the bodies bore two small marks on the neck, signs that their blood had been sucked during the night.

Fear quickly turned toward a human suspect. The villagers accused Teresa Prieto.

The Shadow of the Strix

The accusations against Prieto did not arise in isolation. At the end of the fifteenth century European folklore still carried strong beliefs in striges or strigias, monstrous female beings said to prey on infants. These creatures were described as winged women with the claws and beaks of birds of prey who drank the blood of children to use in magical brews.

Such beliefs had deep roots in classical mythology and medieval superstition. The Roman strix and the Greek lamia were both imagined as female night predators who attacked infants. In medieval Europe these creatures slowly merged with the idea of witches. A woman accused of sorcery could easily be accused of vampiric acts as well.

The Strix: The strix (plural striges or strixes), in the mythology of classical antiquity, was a bird of ill omen, the product of metamorphosis, that fed on human flesh and blood. It also referred to witches and related malevolent folkloric beings. The strix is described as a large-headed bird with transfixed eyes, rapacious beak, greyish white wings. In Romanian, strigăt means “scream” and strigoaică is the name of the Romanian feminine vampire while strigoi is the Romanian male vampire. Albanian folklore tells of the shtriga, and Slavic of the strzyga/stryha.

In the isolated communities of Asturias, the old legends were still alive. When children died unexpectedly, the ancient explanation returned. A blood drinking witch must be responsible.

Accusation and Trial

Around 1480, Teresa Prieto was formally denounced by her neighbors. She was accused of being a striga, a night witch who entered homes and drained the blood of children. The case reached the attention of the Spanish Inquisition, which opened proceedings against her.

The accusations described her as a woman who wandered through villages at night and entered houses secretly, harming Christians and sucking blood from children. In essence, the first documented case of vampirism in Spain, although the lore behind the blood sucking entity looked a little bit different than the modern version. 

She was turned in to Juan de Acebal, at the time a prosecutor and litigant who would lead the first Asturian case in the renewed Tribunal of the Inquisition, which had just been re-established in the kingdom of Castile, precisely on All Souls’ Day in 1478.

Prieto was arrested and subjected to interrogation and torture. She was bound hand and foot, twisting and turning on her back, and she was forced to drink liters of water continuously for at least an hour. Despite the ordeal she maintained her innocence and never confessed to the crimes attributed to her.

Torture: Water cure was among the forms of torture used by the Spanish Inquisition. Before pouring the water, torturers often inserted an iron prong (known as the bostezo) into a victim’s mouth to keep it open, as well as a strip of linen (known as the toca) on which the victim would choke and suffocate while swallowing the water.

The tribunal or the Bachelor Brecianos, eventually condemned her to death by hanging. There, it was ordered that she be taken “on horseback, riding a donkey, her hands and feet bound with an esparto rope around her neck,” publicly and shamefully before the townspeople, to the stone gallows where the witch or sorceress of Gijón would be hanged and her flesh burned to ashes.

Yet the case did not end in the way many witch trials did.

Escape From the Gallows

Before the sentence was carried out, Teresa Prieto appealed the verdict. As she stated in her protest, when she was arrested she was not informed of the charges or anything else; she had not been told who had denounced her; the accuser turned out to be the only witness and, aside from contradicting himself, was a personal enemy of hers, which should legally disqualify his testimony; furthermore, she had not been provided with the required legal representation, and the lieutenant corregidor had acted against her unjustly and contrary to the laws of the kingdom. She also emphasized that she had been subjected to torture without cause or reason and was summoned repeatedly without any new evidence or proof appearing. To conclude her plea, she stressed that by appearing before the court she demonstrated her good faith and should be able to atone for any possible crime.

The Court Case Files: (PARES, Portal de Archivos Españoles)

The appeal succeeded. Instead of execution she was imprisoned while the case continued. Her conduct during the proceedings appears to have influenced the authorities, and eventually the sentence was overturned.

In November of 1500 she was released from prison and allowed to return to Asturias as a free woman. Neither party was ordered to pay costs, but Teresa requested a written copy of the sentence and the return of the property and assets that had been confiscated from her.

In the end the supposed vampire of Jove was never proven to be anything more than a victim of fear and rumor.

The Birth of a Spanish Vampire Legend

Even though Teresa Prieto survived the trial, her reputation never disappeared. Folklore continued to describe her as a vampire witch who crept into houses at night to feed on children. Later historians and folklorists such as Julio Caro Baroja and Juan Uría Ríu recorded the story as one of the earliest examples of vampiric belief in Spain.

The witch of Jove belongs to a darker chapter of European folklore. She stands at the boundary between legend and historical record. A woman once accused of slipping through the night to drink the blood of children. A case where ancient fears of witches, demons, and vampires converged in the life of a single unfortunate person.

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References:

Mito y realidad de Teresa Prieto, la bruja de Jove

Un zumbido mortal. Theresa Prieto, la vampira de Jove | El Comercio: Diario de Asturias

https://citaclio.blogspot.com/2022/11/teresa-prieto-la-asturiana-condenada.html

Strix (mythology) – Wikipedia

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Utne Hotel and the Watchful Spirit of “Mor Utne”

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In one of the oldest hotels in Norway in the serene Hardangerfjord, Mother Utne is said to still be running things. After working 70 years at Hotel Utne, management at the hotel claims that she is still the one in charge. 

On the quiet shores of the Hardangerfjord stands Utne Hotel, one of Norway’s oldest wooden hotels and has been in operation since 1722. Here they serve the famed Hardanger cider and the national dish Fårikål, with their ghost stories. Its rooms are filled with antiques, its walls layered with centuries of hospitality and human presence. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway

Among the portraits and heirlooms, one figure holds particular power over the building. Her painted gaze follows guests from the wall, calm yet unyielding. She is known simply as Mor Utne. And many believe she never truly left.

Hotell Utne: The old hotel is said to be haunted by the matroness, called mother Utne. // photo was taken by Jarle Vines. © 2009 Jarle Vines, some rights reserved.

The Woman Who Became the Hotel

Mor Utne was the hotel’s hostess for more than seventy years in the mid-19th century. Generations of travelers passed through under her watchful eye, and the hotel’s routines and traditions became inseparable from her presence. She knew every room, every floorboard, every sound the old building could make. When she finally died, the hotel continued on. But those who live and work there insist that something essential remains behind.

Mother Utne:Torbjørg Johannesdatter Utne (1812-1903) was a well known figure at the hotel, even after she was widowed in 1882, and left the business to her son, Svein Utne. Her portrait was done by Eilif Pettersen.

Her portrait still hangs on the wall, and beneath it stands her favourite rocking chair in the fireplace lounge. It is her chair alone. Guests avoid sitting in it, even when the hotel is full and no other seats remain. During renovations, workers left the chair untouched, some out of respect, others out of an unspoken unease they could not quite explain.

Still, she seems to be a rather helpful ghost, returning objects to what she deems the right place, and the staff claims that she exudes a warmth when her presence enters a room. 

Signs of a Quiet Guardian

Staff and guests alike have reported strange happenings throughout the hotel. Lamps are said to switch on and off without reason. Doors open and close on their own, slow and deliberate, as if guided by an unseen hand. Figures are sensed rather than seen, a presence felt just behind the shoulder or at the edge of a corridor.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from haunted hotels

These events are rarely frightening. Instead, they carry a feeling of supervision, as though the hotel is being quietly inspected. Many believe this is Mor Utne, still tending to her duties, ensuring that everything remains as it should be.

The Girl From the Ghost Room

According to local legend though, Mother Utne is not the only one said to be haunting the hotel. Room 15 is often called the Ghost Room, and that strange things keeps happening there. Could it be that Mother Utne is making her presence known in this particular room, or could it be that there is another ghost roaming the hotel as well. 

It is said that an 18 year old girl once jumped from the window and died and there is in fact her, not Mother Utne haunting this part of the hotel. But although we know quite a bit about Mother Utne as an actual figure, this tale seems to be lost in history and is now merely a legend. 

A Presence That Endures

Unlike many haunted places, Utne Hotel is not known for terror or violence. Its haunting is subtle and intimate. Mor Utne is said to watch, not to warn. She is not bound by tragedy but by devotion. After a lifetime spent caring for the hotel and its guests, perhaps she simply could not let go.

Those who stay the night often speak of restful sleep mixed with an odd awareness, as if someone is nearby, listening. Some wake convinced they have been gently checked on, though no one ever enters their room.

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Følte at noen forsøkte å dytte dem ut mens de vasket vinduet

Utne Hotell

Torbjørg Utne – hotelleier – Store norske leksikon

Det uforklarlige

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Brogans Bar: The Secret Passage to the Past

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Said to house both piles of Guinness, the Brogan’s Bar in Dublin is also said to house a few ghosts. Visitors and staff have long talked about the strange things that go down at the pub after the final call has been rung. 

On the busy stretch of Dame Street, tucked beside the historic Olympia Theatre, stands Brogans Bar, a place where Dublin’s laughter mingles with whispers from centuries past and a few ghosts lingering according to the tales. 

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Long before it became known by its present name, it was called Leonards, and even then it held a reputation as one of the city’s oldest and most characterful taverns. It also served like The Viking Inn, one of the first gay bars in Dublin. 

The bar is said to have the largest collection of Guinness memorabilia outside of the brewery. Within its low ceilings and time-worn beams, stories of politics, rebellion, and revelry have soaked into the walls like spilled whiskey. Michael Collins himself is said to have been a regular, plotting the future of Ireland over a quiet pint. Yet not all of Brogans’ visitors have been so easily seen.

The Haunted Brogan’s Bar

Those who close up after the final rounds have long reported strange happenings in the shadows of the bar. Soft footsteps echo across the wooden floors when no one else is there. Being next door from the notoriously haunted Olympia Theatre has also fueled the rumours of this building  having ghost of their own. 

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Like with the theatre, the haunting in this bar is said to be a bit vague, although prominent. Glasses rattle as if disturbed by invisible hands. On one unsettling occasion, a door was smashed open with such force that staff believed an intruder had entered, only to find the pub empty and still. There are also reported about mysterious footsteps after closing time.

So what could be haunting the Brogan’s? Could it have something to do about the alleged secret tunnels underneath the building? The pub lies directly opposite the ancient entrance to Dublin Castle. Beneath Brogans, according to local legend, lies a secret passageway that once ran directly under Dame Street and into the heart of Dublin Castle. No one knows exactly when it was built, or for what purpose, but many believe it was used for discreet meetings, smuggling, or escape during troubled times. 

Today, the entrance is said to be sealed, though some claim to feel cold drafts rising from the cellar floor and hear faint voices murmuring below. Perhaps the passage is not as closed as it seems. When the lights dim and the street outside grows quiet, Brogans Bar stands as a reminder that Dublin’s history is never truly buried. 

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Top 11 Haunted Dublin Pubs Full Of Spirits! | Spooky Isles

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The Watchful Spirits of Bårdshaug Manor

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The old manor house at Bårdshaug in Norway is said to be haunted by some mysterious women that sometimes appear in the house, now operating as a hotel. Who are these female spirits lingering, and what do they want?

It is often said that every respectable manor and old house comes with a ghost of its own, 30 minutes from Trondheim city in Norway. At Bårdshaug Manor in Orkanger, that saying seems to hold true. The elegant estate, built in 1860, once served as the home of Christian Thams, a remarkable figure in Norwegian history known as an architect, minister, landowner, and consul. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway

Today the manor house from 1860 operates as a hotel, but many believe it has never truly been left unguarded.

Source

The History of the Manor House

Bårdshaug Gård was originally built in 1860, but it was only after Christian Thams took over the property in 1890 that the farm was transformed into a larger manor house. The architecture at Bårdshaug Herregård is characterized by an interesting interplay of different styles, from Norse to Louis-seize style. The interior design features elements from all over the world.

Christian Marius Thams (1867–1948) was a Norwegian architect and industrial entrepreneur . He was involved in a number of areas within industrial construction and trade, in Norway and abroad. In Africa he was involved in business operations within the harsh colonial government. Towards the workers in Norway he was conservative and patriarchal. Thams rejected all demands from the unions which he tried to break.

Christian Thams, who was an important industrialist and entrepreneur. Thams was not only known for his work with industrial development and export, but also for his connections with princes, royalty, and working people. 

He met his future wife, the Dutch-born Baroness Sarah Sybille Francoise Atoinette Elènore Baronesse de Spengler , while studying in Switzerland. They married in 1886 when he was 19 and she was 18. Baroness de Spengler was an artistic and modern woman with an interest in singing and theatre, and she played a central role in the many cultural events held at Bårdshaug Manor. She was known for her involvement in art and culture, and her presence was an important element in the social life of the estate.

Two Ladies Who Never Left

Strange things happen inside of this hotel. The staff talk about doors locking themselves and seeing the shape of people inside of the old rooms. 

Over the years, guests have shared quiet but persistent reports of two female figures appearing within the manor. Their identities remain unknown, yet they are spoken of with familiarity rather than fear. One of the most intriguing stories comes from children who have claimed to speak with a woman dressed in a red gown in the cellar. These encounters are described as calm and natural, as if the presence was entirely at ease with being seen.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Haunted Hotels

Staff members at Bårdshaug Manor tend to agree that the spirits mean no harm. Instead, they believe the women are bound to the house out of loyalty and care, lingering to watch over the building and those who pass through it. Their appearances are not accompanied by threats or violence, only a sense of being quietly observed.

A Place Acknowledged by the Dead

The manor’s reputation has reached beyond local whispers and many paranormal researchers have tried to find the answers to the legends. The well known Norwegian television series Åndenes Makt (The Power of Spirits) has also paid a visit to Bårdshaug, drawn by the long standing tales of unexplained activity and lingering presences. While no definitive answers were given, the visit only strengthened the belief that something remains behind the walls of the old estate.

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Det uforklarlige

Spøkelser, gjenferd og spesielle energier: Dører som låser seg selv og konturer av folk i rommene – avisa-st.no

Bårdshaug Herregård

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The Beautiful Queen Lamia Who Became a Vampire Monster Ghost Stories

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The Lamia was a feared bloodsucking monster that worked as the boogeyman of ancient Greece. Many will say that her tale has helped shape the vampire legends in Europe, but before that, she was said to have been the beautiful Queen of Libya. 

Among the many monstrous figures that haunt ancient mythology, few have cast as long and disturbing a shadow as Lamia. Her story begins not with a demon but with a woman. In early Greek tradition Lamia was remembered as a beautiful queen of Libya, a mortal ruler whose fate became entangled with the gods. Over time her legend transformed from tragedy into horror. The grieving mother of myth became a night wandering predator associated with witches, vampires, and the devouring of children.

The evolution of Lamia’s legend is one of the clearest examples of how a mythological figure can slowly change across centuries, absorbing fears about motherhood, sexuality, death, and the supernatural.

Fragments of a floor mosaic from 1213 in “San Giovanni Evangelista (Ravenna), Italy.

The Queen of Libya Turned Monstrous

The earliest sources describe Lamia as the daughter of Belus, king of ancient Libya stretching across North Africa. Ancient writers often emphasized her beauty. That beauty drew the attention of Zeus, the king of the gods, who took Lamia as his lover. Their relationship produced children. The Greek lyric poet, Stesichorus also said that she was a daughter of Poseidon and mother of the sea monsters Scylla and Acheilus, the Shark. 

The tragedy that shaped Lamia’s transformation came from Hera, Zeus’s jealous wife. According to the most widely repeated version of the myth, Hera punished Lamia by destroying or stealing her children. Some accounts say Hera killed them outright. Others claim Lamia herself was driven mad and killed them under Hera’s influence. In every version the result is the same. Lamia lost her children and was left to suffer with the memory.

The Real Queen of Libya: Diodorus Siculus (fl. 1st century BC) gave a de-mythologized account of Lamia as a queen of Libya who ordered her soldiers to snatch children from their mothers and kill them, and whose beauty gave way to bestial appearance due to her savageness. The queen, as related by Diodorus, was born in a cave. // Image: “Lamia” from “The History of Four-footed Beasts” (1607).

Grief twisted into obsession and Lamia began stealing the children of other mothers. She crept into houses at night, snatching infants from their cradles and devouring them. The myth explains this as a cruel attempt to make other women experience the same loss she had suffered.

The transformation did not stop there. The once beautiful queen was said to have changed into something monstrous. Later descriptions gave her the body of a woman above the waist and a serpent below, or portrayed her with a grotesque face and terrible jaws suited for devouring children.

Hera prevented her from closing her eyes so she would never escape the vision of her lost children. Zeus eventually took pity on her suffering and granted her an unusual ability. Lamia could remove her eyes from their sockets and replace them later, allowing herself moments of rest from the constant grief.

This strange detail would later contribute to Lamia’s reputation as a creature of dark magic and prophecy. Some traditions even described her as possessing the “mark of a Sibyl”, a gift of supernatural sight.

From Monster to Night Demon Vampire

By the classical period the name Lamia had already begun to change meaning and became part of Hellenistic folklore. Greek writers started using the word not only for the individual queen but also for a whole class of creatures known as lamiai (λάμιαι). These beings were night demons who haunted lonely places, caves, and the edges of cities.

Parents frightened disobedient children with warnings that Lamia would come for them in the dark. Ancient authors such as Diodorus and Horace mention this practice, suggesting the creature had already become a kind of mythic bogey figure in the ancient world.

Descriptions of lamiai also grew increasingly vampiric. Later stories from the first century depict them as succubus phasmas or ghosts, seducing young men before draining their blood or devouring their flesh. Some sources portray them as shapeshifters who appeared as beautiful women before revealing monstrous forms.

This is also when she started appearing in classical literature and lore with the Empusa, demons working for Hecate. They were companions of the goddess Hekate which followed her to earth from the depths of the underworld.

As a monster the Lamia transformed into something ugly. Lamia had the tail of a serpent in place of legs. The ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus simply describes her as having a distorted or disfigured face. They were also associated with caves and damp places. In more modern Greek folktales, the Lamia is said to live in remote houses, also having magical powers like a witch.

Lamia and Lilith

Lamia’s story also developed striking parallels with the figure of Lilith from Jewish folklore. Both were portrayed as female night spirits associated with the death of infants and the seduction of men. Lamia may originate from the Mesopotamian demoness Lamashtu.

Lilith, by John Collier

In the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible, the name Lamia was even used to translate the Hebrew word Lilith in the Book of Isaiah. Lamia is used in early translations of the Bible for screech owls and sea monsters. This linguistic overlap reinforced the idea that the two figures represented similar demonic beings.

Later occult traditions strengthened the connection further. Both Lamia and Lilith became associated with female demons who preyed on children, drained blood, and moved through the night as embodiments of uncontrolled desire and vengeance.

The Birth of the Vampire Witch

During late antiquity and the early Middle Ages the word lamia expanded even further in meaning. Christian writers and scholars began using it as a general term for witches or female demons who preyed on humans. By the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the term could refer directly to witches believed to harm children or drink blood.

Lamia (second version, 1909) by John William Waterhouse

The shift shows how Lamia’s myth merged with broader fears about witchcraft and nocturnal spirits. Occult writers and demonologists sometimes used the term lamia for women who had entered pacts with demonic forces. In this way Lamia became linked not only with monsters but with the image of the blood drinking witch, a concept that would echo through later vampire legends.

The creature that once belonged to Greek myth became part of the developing European folklore of the night. Many of the vampiric, witch and demonic legends found around the continent can be traced back to her. 

Even today the core elements of the legend remain intact. Lamia is still remembered as a creature of the night. She is a devourer of children, a seductress of men, and a figure whose tragedy transformed her into something monstrous.

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References:

Lamia – Wikipedia

Lamia – Etymology, Origin & Meaning

Lamia – World History Encyclopedia

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Bull and Castle Pub: The Melancholy Ghost of James Clarence Mangan

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Said to haunt his former childhood home that is now the Bull and Castle Pub in Dublin, the ghost of the melancholic writer James Clarence Mangan is said to linger. 

At the corner of Lord Edward Street, across from Christ Church Cathedral, stands the Bull and Castle Pub that used to be known as The Castle Inn. The building hums with laughter and the clink of glasses, but every so often, when the music dips and the air grows strangely still, a cold presence sweeps through the room. The warmth vanishes, the lights dim ever so slightly, and those who know the story say the poet has returned. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Ireland

James Clarence Mangan, Ireland’s most tormented wordsmith, was born on this very ground in 1803, and some believe his spirit still lingers where his troubled life began.

Source

The Ghost of James Clarence Mangan

Before it was a pub, it was the birthplace of James Clarence Mangan (1803-1849), or Séamus Ó Mangáin as it was in Irish. He was born at number 3 Fishamble Street, the ancient Virus Piscariorum of Dublin, on the first day of May, 1803. It was a pub back then also, but the original building has been torn down and rebuilt. 

He was the son of James Mangan, a former hedge school teacher and native of Shanagolden, County Limerick, and Catherine Smith from Kiltale, County Meath. After marrying Smith, James Mangan took over a grocery business in Dublin owned by the Smith family, eventually becoming bankrupt as a result.

After the famine in 1840, he started to write patriotic poetry and was seen as one of Ireland’s first national poets. The poet was best known for his work Róisín Dubh.

Mangan was both celebrated and cursed. Renowned by literary giants like Yeats and Joyce, he lived as if haunted long before death. A frail and eccentric figure, he was known for his peculiar costume: a long, tattered cloak, tinted green spectacles, and a blond wig that barely masked his gaunt features as well as his witch’s hat and umbrella. 

Beneath that eccentricity hid a soul consumed by melancholy, opium, and drink. His poetry spoke of exile, despair, and doomed longing, and it is said those same feelings have soaked into the very foundations of the Bull and Castle.

After years of despair, he sadly died of cholera in 1849 when he was only 46 and buried in Glasnevin Cemetery. But is he truly gone, or is he still haunting his childhood home?

The Haunted Bull and Castle Pub

Locals whisper that the pub’s strange chills and sudden silences are not tricks of the air but signs of Mangan’s ghost revisiting his birthplace. Some have heard soft mutterings near the back of the bar, as if someone were reciting verse in a voice that carries both sorrow and beauty.

Patrons who stay late often describe a creeping heaviness that settles without warning, a melancholy that drains conversation and leaves only the distant sound of a sigh and the pints empty.

Perhaps the poet is drawn back to where his story began, still searching for peace he never found in life. Or perhaps his verses, so steeped in loss, have tethered him to this world. Either way, the Bull and Castle holds more than good ale and hearty company. Beneath its laughter, the ghost of James Clarence Mangan waits, cloaked in sorrow and memory, drifting once more through the city that both inspired and destroyed him.

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References:

The 10 most haunted pubs in Dublin | The Irish Post

James Clarence Mangan – Wikipedia

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The Haunted Legends of Stenberg Gård, Hoff Church and Toten Legends

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Deep in the farmland of Norway, Toten has a lot of ghost stories lingering on the old farms and buildings. Who were the priests said to haunt the Hoff Church and rectory, and who are the ghosts said to linger at the old Stenberg Manor?

The district of Toten is rich in farmland landlocked east in Norway with old churches, and quiet waterways, and a few ghost stories lurking beneath its peaceful surface that have unsettled locals for generations. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway

Among these tales are three locations bound together by whispers of the supernatural: Stenberg gård, the brook at Bøverbru, and Hoff Church. Each is said to be touched by a presence that refuses to fade.

Haunted Toten: Toten was part of a small kingdom in the early Viking Age and Halvdan Kvitbein was the most famous king who ruled there. The origin of the name is linked to the Old Norse Þótn , which supposedly means “something one likes”.Toten has traditionally been one of Norway’s largest agricultural areas, and the industrial park at Raufoss is one of the largest industrial centers in the inland.

The Ghost of Stenberg Gård

Stenberg (or Steinberg) is a large open-air museum that shows the cultural landscape, building practices and social conditions in Toten in the 19th century. The museum is built around the county manor Stenberg.

County magistrate Lauritz Weidemann (1775-1856) developed Steinberg into a county magistrate’s residence. He took over the farm in 1802 and laid out today’s yard and an almost 30-acre park in the English landscape style. Weidemann was also known as one of the men at Eidsvoll when Norway received its constitution in 1814.

Stenberg Manor, or Gård (farm) is widely believed to be home to Toten’s most famous ghost. The historic farm, known for its cultural significance and well preserved buildings, has long been surrounded by rumors of unexplained activity. people claim to this day that they have experienced a number of unpleasant incidents on the farm. It has been said that the Weidemann family is going again.

Visitors and staff alike have reported strange sounds after dark, shifting shadows in empty rooms, and the unsettling feeling of being observed. Though the identity of the spirit is never clearly agreed upon, local lore insists that something still walks the halls of the old estate, guarding its past or reliving a tragedy long forgotten.

Blind Ola of Bøverbru

Near the brook at Bøverbru, another chilling legend is often told. According to reports shared in Oppland Arbeiderblad, a blind man known as Blind Ola is said to have drowned in the water long ago. 

Since then, swimmers and passersby have described eerie experiences near the stream. Some claim to feel unseen hands pulling at them beneath the surface, while others speak of sudden cold currents and strange sounds rising from the water. The story has made the area a place of caution, especially after dusk.

Whispers Around Hoff Church

Hoff Church in Lena, east Toten is also the subject of debate among those who believe the past never truly rests. Parishioners and visitors have spoken of unexplained noises, shadowy figures, and an uneasy atmosphere within the church grounds. For believers, these phenomena are signs that the dead still linger close to the sacred site, bound by unfinished business or ancient traditions.

In 2009, the legends stirred when the church bells started ringing and the police were called. The priest stopped the bells, but they found no sign that anyone had been there. The bells are controlled by a remote, and when they checked it out, there was no sign of technical faults, although they could never completely rule out that someone had put on an elaborate prank. 

Haunted Church: Hoff church at Østre Toten by Lena, Oppland, Norway. Hoff kirke ved Lena på Østre Toten. //Source: Øyvind Holmstad

But who is haunting the church? Could it have something to do with the old ghost story? At a Christmas party at the widow Bolette Cathrine in Kristiania (Oslo) in the late 1870s in the presence of several witnesses. 

The event is said to have taken place at Hoff rectory “some time ago”. Author and the storyteller, Marie Wexel came to Hoff rectory one Christmas Eve with a lady from Kristiania. At the dinner table, the priest said a few words about a haunted room on the second floor, but the priest reproached her for mentioning it; it could only frighten the guests unnecessarily. The two ladies got up early to go to bed. 

Marie sat down in the armchair instead to read before going to bed as her companion had done. When she had finished, she put the book in her lap to think about what she had read. “As she looked up, she caught sight of a priest in old-fashioned vestments standing just in front of her with a pleading look and pointing in the direction of the cake oven. Then the vision immediately disappeared. She wiped her eyes and thought it was a figment of her imagination, perhaps brought on by what the priest had said. She went to bed, however; but as she extinguished the last candle she saw the same figure standing before the table and bending over it towards her, as he now pointed with the same pleading look towards the cake oven”.

The Haunted Hoff Rectory on a sunny summers day

The next morning she took a lighted candle with her to get a better look at the attic and the stairs. But as she was about to go out the door, it went out. To get it burning again she took a match from a container on the wall and struck it against the firewall. At the same moment as the light was lit, the priest stood before her for the third time, but this time next to the tiled stove and pointing towards the firewall. Terrified, she rushed downstairs and told her host what she had seen. He told her to keep quiet about it. 

Marie Wexelsen: (born 20 September 1832 at Sukkestad in Østre Toten, was a hymn writer and author. Her full name was Inger Marie Lycke Wexelsen. She is best known for the Christmas hymn Jeg er så glad hver julekveld.

But after the service, he and Miss Wexelsen stayed back in the church, where there were painted portraits of a number of Toten priests. He told her to look at them carefully and point out the one who resembled the ghost. After looking at all the pictures carefully, she went back to one of them and said: “If I haven’t seen a fantasy fetus, then he’s there.”

This was the portrait of a priest (“the name should not be mentioned”) who, according to legend, was supposed to have killed a small child he had with his maid; the child’s body was never found. “Late in the Christmas period, the parish priest quietly made an agreement with a bricklayer and another person – probably the churchwarden – to punch a hole in the firewall in the room upstairs in the rectory. And here they found a child’s skeleton, which was buried in complete silence by the priest. And later there was never a “ghost” at the East Toten rectory. Source

The Ghost of The Yellow Hall

One of the rooms in Hoff vicarage was called “The Yellow Hall” and also have a story of the ghost of a former priest lingering. There is a legend connected to this room, which can be read about both in Totenmål and Anna Mål 12 and in The Great Book of Ghosts (Espeland). 

The legend goes that there was a priest who was once a resident of the manor. One evening, as the parish priest was busy with his Sunday sermon, he was said to have seen a figure in a bluish tinge, and he got the feeling that this was someone in deep spiritual distress. The figure led the priest to the yellow hall, where the ghost knelt by a fireplace and appeared to be praying. After the service the next day, the priest recognized the figure in one of the priest pictures in the church. He had the fireplace examined, and there they found the skeleton of a woman. After the skeleton was buried in consecrated ground, the ghost is said to have been seen no more.

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References:

https://www.filmweb.no/filmnytt/de-mest-hjemskte-stedene-i-norge

Stenberg

Stenberg, Stenberg gård | Reporterne flyttet inn på spøkelsesgården

Leter etter spøkelser på Toten

Mystisk klokkeklang – NRK Innlandet – Lokale nyheter, TV og radio

Hoff prestegard (Østre Toten gnr. 94/1) – lokalhistoriewiki.no

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Estries: Vampiric Spirits the Ashkenazi Jewish Folklore

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Although few written sources, the fear of the Estries Vampires from the Jewish community in Europe in the middle ages still lingers. 

Across old European folk traditions there are many stories of night spirits that feed on life rather than blood, of creatures that stalk the living when the stars have risen and the world lies silent. Among these legends is that of the European Jewish Estries folklore from the medieval period.

The Estries vampire is a rather obscure legend for many, even the Jewish community it comes from because of its old and limited text sources discussing it. Unlike the archetypal corpse-vampire that rises from its burial place, the Estries is typically described as a being that moves freely among the living by night and hides by day while drawing life from others.

Origins in Language and Belief

The folk lore and imagery sur­round­ing them has some over­lap with that of Lilith as many succubus and life draining female demons often do. However, there are not many written down sources specifically mentioning the Estries by name. Most of the lore is traced to Sefer Hasidim, a medieval text chron­i­cling Jew­ish life and prac­tices in twelfth and thir­teenth cen­tu­ry Germany.

The Rhineland Jews and their Fears: The Estries legend emerged within the context of the Ashkenazi Hasidic movement in 12th- and 13th-century Germany, a period marked by intense external pressures from the Crusades and the onset of blood libel accusations against Jewish communities. The Hasidei Ashkenaz, or “Pious of Ashkenaz,” arose in the Rhineland following the devastating massacres of 1096 during the First Crusade, which claimed thousands of Jewish lives and instilled widespread trauma and calls for spiritual renewal. // Image: Friedrich Hottenroth – Jewish pogroms in Germany during the First Crusade led by Emich of Leiningen, 1096

The book is attributed to Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg, a descendant from a long line of Northern Italian Kabbalists and mostly writing about members of the Hasidim Ashkenazi, who were descended predominantly from two main families from Northern Italian and France.

The word Estries is derived from the French word for night owl, strix, which is in keeping with the connection between the Hasidim Ashkenazi and the French. In pagan European lore, the owl was seen as mystical, and a lot of old vampiric and magical stories center around the owl. 

Also in ancient times, the Greeks wrote about the striges and strix, a bloodthirsty screech owl. In both traditions the Estries occupies a place between human and demon. It was not simply an animal or a ghost. It was something that walked at night with intent.

Night Visitors

Key passages in Sefer Hasidim detail Estries’ behaviors and vulnerabilities. In Siman 1465, Estries are described as women “created at twilight” who can transform into animals like cats or birds, fly by loosening their hair, and sustain themselves by drinking human blood, particularly from newborns or the ill.

The Law of Parua: The Hasidim Ashkenazi lived a life of rigid self-discipline and self-deprivation. They abided by the law of parua, which requires the marital binding of hair. If a woman appeared with her hair unbound, this was grounds for divorce. The concept of a woman flying with loose hair was therefore a scandalous and horrifying thought for the Jews at this time.

They are said to feed only on the blood of Jewish men and children and can fly when they let their hair down, although her way of feeding and the practicalities about flying with her hair down is a rather vague description. 

Because the Estries was believed to have a daytime life indistinguishable from other villagers, suspicion and fear often spread through communities. People whispered that a neighbor who seemed healthy by day could still be an Estries at night. Her true nature was revealed only in the wearied bodies of others who slept nearby.

Read More: Check also out Alukah: The Vampire of Ancient Text and Folklore 

In Jewish mystical interpretations and cross-cultural retellings, the Estries was sometimes equated with demonic feminine figures who prey on men or children in their sleep. Like the Lilith and other night spirits, she represented both the danger of the unseen and the vulnerability of the sleeping body.

The Legend of Lilith:Lilith is a feminine figure in Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology. According to accounts in the Talmud she is a primordial she-demon. Lilith does not appear in the Hebrew Bible or any other biblical source, although her name is derived from a single word in the Book of Isaiah, the meaning is debated. She first appears in Mandaean and Jewish sources from late antiquity (500 AD onward). In Mesopotamian religion, lilû (Lilith) are a class of demonic spirits, consisting of adolescents who died before they could bear children. In modern day Christianity and Judaism, she is often considered demonic. // Lilith, by John Collier

The Oldest Stories of the Estries

As mentioned, there are only a few stories and sources about the Estries from the middle ages. One of the first and most telling though is how they are introduced in Sefer Hasidim:

“1465 There are women that are called Estries… They were created at sunset before the first Sabbath before creation. As a result of this, they are able to change form. There was one woman who was a Estries and she was very sick and there were two women with her at night; one was sleeping and one was awake. And the sick woman stood up and loosened her hair and she was about to fly and suck the blood of the sleeping woman. And the woman who was awake screamed and woke her friend and they grabbed the sick Estries, and after this she slept. And moreover, if she had been able to grab the other woman, then she, the Estries, would have lived. Since she was not able to hurt the other woman, the Estries died, because she needs to drink the blood of living flesh. The same is true of the werewolf. And since….the Estries need to loosen their hair before they fly, one must adjure her to come with her hair bound so that she cannot go anywhere without permission. And if a Estries is injured or seen by someone, she cannot live unless she eats of the bread and salt of the one who struck her. Then her soul will return to the way it was before.

Cleansing and Protection

Unlike many of the vampiric creatures around the world, Estries were considered undeterred by religious iconography and religious verses and chants. Estries were believed to be able to walk into holy places, and synagogues and sometimes to seek prayer for healing from unsuspecting religious people. Blessing an Estries was considered an evil act, but how did you know, and how did you fight her?.

An Estries can only fly when her hair is loose, and it was believed you could subdue her by tying her hair back. Estries were also thought to be mortal, so it doesn’t take much to hurt them. According to the “Sefer Hasidim,” striking or even looking at an Estries might kill her or at least weaken her. 

When an Estries is hurt, in the stories, most often by being observed in her demonic state and weakened, she can heal herself by consuming bread and salt. while Siman 1467 depicts a more merciful Estries who permits her victim to obtain the bread and salt, sparing her life and highlighting their potential for good. 

The Monsters from the Tower of Babel:According to Rabbi Menahim Zioni, a Kabbalist from the 14th century, Estries, giants, werewolves, dybbukim came from those who had built the Tower of Babel, cursed by God for their hubris. Some say that Estries are the children of Lilith. Others say they were created on the twilight of the sixth day of creation and left unfinished by God and is why they’re able to change form and lack souls.

The most reliable way to kill one is to bury her and shove a stake through her mouth, pinning her to the coffin/dirt. When a broxa or an Estries is being buried, one should notice whether or not her mouth is open; if it is, this is a sure sign that she will continue her vampirish activities for another year according to the Rabbi Eliezer Rokeah. Her mouth must be stopped up with earth, and she will be rendered harmless.

Testament of Solomon and the Ancient Vampires

But how old are the biblical vampires? Are the Estries’s more of a jewish version of the European vampire myth or the other way around. Perhaps it is both? 

The first explicit reference occurs in Late Antiquity and is from the Testament of Solomon. In this book, the story is told of a boy loved by the king. But day by day, the boy grows thinner. When King Solomon asks why, the boy says that each night he is visited by a demon. It takes his money, his food and sucks the life force out of him while sucking on the boy’s thumb. Because of this, King Solomon fashions his famous ring and uses it to enslave the demon.

What name the demon goes under is perhaps of less importance. Estries, Lillith Akuha, there are many names, many leading back to the same figure. A seductive and deadly woman, praying and hunting down the blood of the innocent and the good. 

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References:

Estriess – Wikipedia

https://www.heyalma.com/the-history-of-Estriess-aka-jewish-vampires

(PDF) From Dracula to the Motmindam: The Evolution of the Jewish Vampire

Jewish Magic and Superstition: 3. The Powers of Evil | Internet Sacred Text Archive

https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/469622?lang=bi