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Feltrim Hill: The Hellhound and the Haunted Well

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On the hills where the last wolves in Ireland roamed, ghosts have been spotted on Feltrim Hill, always moving towards the sacred spring that were said to have healing powers. 

Rising quietly over Malahide, Feltrim Hill holds a shadowed place in Ireland’s ancient past. Long before houses dotted the landscape, this was wild country, where wolves roamed freely and whispers of the Otherworld clung to every stone in what was once known as The Hill of the Wolves. The air here feels older, heavier, as though it remembers what the living have long forgotten. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Ireland

It is also reported that Feltrim was the last place in Ireland that wolves were to be found with the last of the species killed here in the 18th century. Hidden among the rolling fields lies a holy well, once dedicated to a Saxon princess said to possess healing powers, although today, most legends are of the haunted kind. 

Feltrim Quarry Gates: Source

Feltrim Hill Quarry and Well

Once, there used to be a historic village called Feltrim Hill. Close to it, it was a sacred spring that they turned into a well and deemed holy. Because of quarrying of the limestone since the 1880s, both the spring and half the hill is gone, but the legends about the place remain. 

As mentioned, there was a Saxon princess who ruled these parts around 689 C.E, and that the well was dedicated to. In ancient times, there used to be 14 beech trees in a line that guided pilgrims to the well where they attended mass. And although the well itself is believed to have been destroyed, the water is still there. In 1947 an archaeological excavation was conducted atop Feltrim Hill uncovering over 500 artifacts including Roman coins and tinned bronze from the 4th century C.E. 

St. Werburgh: Meaning “true city” from c. AD 650 – 3 February 700, was an Anglo-Saxon princess who became the patron saint of the city of Chester in Cheshire. She was the daughter of King Wulfhere of Mercia. Her feast day is 3 February. Following Werburgh’s death, her brother Coenred became king of Mercia. In 708 he decided to move his sister’s remains to a more conspicuous place within the church at Hanbury. When the tomb was opened, her body was found to be miraculously intact. This preservation was taken as a sign of divine favour.

The remains of Fagan’s Castle can also be found on Feltrim Hill. Built in 1427 by the Fagan family, a once powerful Catholic family whose power waned significantly after the Battle of the Boyne and where only small pieces of ruins are still visible. After 1560 Richard Fagan built a manor house at feltrim. His descendants were known as the Fagans of Feltrim.Today, this also lies in ruins, overgrown by woodland.

Some say that the well is still there though, although sealed off from the public by the Feltrim Quarry who owns the land. 

The Hellhound of Feltram Hill

The people of Malahide speak of a hellhound that stalks the slopes after nightfall. Its eyes are said to glow a deep, unnatural red, like embers burning in the dark. Those unfortunate enough to meet its gaze are struck with an overwhelming dread, their hearts pounding as the creature watches silently from the shadows. Some say it is a guardian of the hill, others believe it is a cursed soul condemned to roam for eternity. Its howl, low and mournful, has been heard on stormy nights, echoing across the fields like a warning to stay away.

Picture from the 1930s, showing the holy well, now said to be destroyed and walled up by concrete. Source

But the hellhound is not alone. A phantom horse, pale as fog, is said to gallop across the summit, its hooves making no sound upon the earth. Riders have tried to follow it, only for the apparition to vanish into thin air as it nears the holy well. 

And near that same well, when the mist settles thick upon the ground, the figure of an old woman has been seen struggling up the hill, a heavy bundle on her back. Her face is hidden, her steps slow and deliberate, as she makes her way toward the sacred spring before fading like smoke in the morning light.

Feltrim Hill is a place where the veil between worlds wears thin and where Irish history lurks right behind the fenced off areas. The healing waters may still bless those who come with pure hearts, but the hill also guards darker secrets and Feltrim Hills seemingly looks like one of the most haunted hills around. 

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References:

Dublin: 30 Most Haunted Places To Visit

Feltrim Hill and Well

The Fagans of Feltrim

Feltrim Hill – a place of peace, intrigue and great tradition | Irish Independent

Werburgh – Wikipedia

Murder of fairy changeling and wild dogs with burning eyes… | Irish Independent

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Haunting in Hardtkapelle Wielenbach

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A haunted chapel known as Hardtkapelle Wielenbach can be found in the darkness of the Bavarian forest, surrounded by black hellhounds and a woman in white. This place is of the more unholy sorts. 

Forests in Germany are where the darkness creeps in and where stories about ghosts and ghouls take form. 

In this particular Bavarian forest in the city of Weilheim in Wielenbach, perhaps a mere hour away from Munich, there is a small but still frightening chapel according to the legends that is said to be particularly dark and where the devil himself appeared.

The Haunted Hardtkapelle Wielenbach

The building from the outside of the Hardtkapelle Wielenbach looks innocent enough as the white walls and church tower looks like any other little chapel in these parts. 

Still, there are many young and hopeful visitors who visit each year to get a taste of the haunted place, not necessarily of the godly kind, but perhaps many of them get a little more than they bargained for. Because according to those visiting, they report about being nauseous and being dizzy, some even suffering a panic attack after spending enough time in that place.  

It is said that the Hardtkapelle Wielenbach is surrounded by huge black hellhounds as the dark forces have been plentiful around these parts for centuries. One can wonder if the chapel is really what keeps the evil inside, or if it attracts it all together. You can hear the hellhounds growling in the background between the trees. 

The Haunted Hardtkapelle Wielenbach: The chapel look cozy and innocent at day among the green trees, but when the sun goes down and the trees grows darker, the ghosts come out to play. Gras-Ober/wikimedia

At night a light is always burning at the small chapel when no one is there to light it up. Sometimes a woman in white is suddenly appearing at night close to the chapel. Who she is, friend or foe, is difficult to say. 

The chapel we see today was built as a pilgrimage church in 1865 with the Patroness being Saint Anne, the mother of Mary. It was built on the grounds of a chapel that used to be there but was demolished back in 1250. 

The Devil’s Kick

There have been many reports about this strange place and one of the legends dates back to the time before there ever was a Hardtkapelle Wielenbach there. When this was is unclear as not much of Germany’s history dates back in written form before the 1200s.  

But according to this legend there was a huge fight among the neighboring villagers. Citizens of the town of Weilheim and Haunshofen fought about grazing rights for their animals in the surrounding area and the arguments were getting heated with harsh words being thrown back and forth. 

A man stepped out from the crowd and they say he was the devil in the form of a shepherd who had come to join them. He put a big stone on the ground and yelled out 

“When I kick this stone, this belongs to Haunshofen”

Then he kicked his foot into the ground, creating a hoof-like hole that he disappeared into. 

This stopped the argument and the Hardtkapelle Wielenbach was built around the stone with the hoofprint to protect the evil from it to come out again.

If they really were successful remains to be seen. 

The Devil’s Hole: At the altar at the Hardtkapelle Wielenbach in Bavaria, Germany, you can see the hole the chapel was built around. // Source: Henning Schlottmann//wikimedia

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Hardtkapelle Weilheim

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hardtkapelle-wielenbach

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The Story that Inspired The Hound of the Baskervilles

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Did you know that the famous Arthur Conan Doyle book about Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles was based on a true legend? The legend about the evil Squire Richard Cabell and his hounds are still haunting the moors in Devon.

When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stayed at the Duchy Hotel he heard the story of the evil Squire Richard Cabell that lived in the 1600s around those parts in Devon. This led him to write his famous story: The Hound of the Baskervilles which is the third of the four crime novels written by him about detective Sherlock Holmes. This installment of the detective turned out to be one of the most liked and popular book of Sherlock Holmes.

  • The Hound of the Baskervilles is not the only book that based itself on a true legend. Read here about how a shipwreck in Whitby inspired parts of Dracula in the MoonMausoleum.

The Legend of Richard Cabell

The legend tells of the local Squire that lived in the village of Buckfastleigh in Devon, England with a lot of rumors surrounding him. Richard Cabell lived for the hunt and was notorious for his pack of black hounds that were said to be extremely vicious, as the owner himself. 

Sherlock Holmes: Illustration to The Hound of the Baskervilles.

He is though to be the inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle to the character of Hugo Baskerville in The Hound of the Baskervilles and is remembered by Devon as: “the first of his family to be hounded to death when he hunted an innocent maiden over the moor by night”.

There are many rumours about him as a person and perhaps not all true. Not only did Richard Cabell have a legend about him having sold his soul to the Devil for immortality, but there was also rumours that he murdered his wife, Elizabeth Fowell as the locals wouldn’t put it past him knowing he was an extremely vicious man. 

It is said he accused her of adultery and she tried to flee from him by running away. She was recaptured though and brought back were he murdered her with his hunting knife. This rumoured is to be believed if we ignore the fact that his wife outlived him by 14 years.

In any case if he did or didn’t kill his wife or it was mostly rumours that came from his unpopular political believes, he was described as a monstrous man and he only cared about hunting with his hounds and the other locals shied away from him and his hounds. After he died he was remembered as: Dirty Dick, feared as well as hated by the locals. 

Haunting Hell Hounds

Hell Hounds: Illustration of the black hound in The Hound of the Baskervilles.

On the 5th of July in 1677, Richard Cabell died, but it was not the last the people of Dartmoor saw of him according to the legend. The night of his burial a pack of black hounds like he used to own and hunt with was seen on the moor, howling at his tomb. 

From that night, they were often seen together, the phantom hounds and his ghost, mostly on the anniversary of his death. He would be seen leading the hounds back across the moor. 

“It came with the wind through the silence of the night, a long, deep mutter, then a rising howl, and then the sad moan in which it died away. Again and again it sounded, the whole air throbbing with it, strident, wild and menacing.”
― Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles

The Devon Yeth Hound

In Devon folklore, it is often included a fearsome dog known as the Yeth hound and black hounds or Hell Hounds are often found in European Doom Mythology and used as the base of the mystery in The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The Malcanis Guarding the Fortress

In Akershus Fortress in Oslo, Norway, there are rumours about something strange haunting the former castle. There is a legend of a ghost of a dog haunting the place, called the Malcanis, or Evil Dog as it means.

This is one of the reasons why seeing someone with big black dogs could look so scary for people from Devon. The legend of the Yeth Hound is said to be a headless dog, often thought to be the spirit of an unbaptised child. The black hound that roams through the woods and over the moors at night making wailing noises much like the hounds of Richard Cabell or the mysterious hound we meet in The Hound of the Baskervilles.

To get peace from his ghost, the villagers built a large building on top of Richard Cabell’s tomb to stop him from getting out. It looks almost like a small prison with iron bars. This seems like a dramatic thing to do just because of some rumours.

Even with these measures, people have reported of strange stuff happening around the building as well from the inside. 

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The viking ghosts which still haunt this bloody corner of Devon and 11 other spooky legends you have never heard of

Richard Cabell – Wikipedia

https://web.archive.org/web/20150923184203/http://www.bfronline.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=103&Itemid=9

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The Malcanis Guarding the Fortress

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In Akershus Fortress in Oslo, Norway, there are rumours about something strange haunting the former castle. There is a legend of a ghost of a dog haunting the place, called the Malcanis, or Evil Dog as it means.

In medieval times it was a king’s castle were Akershus fortress in Oslo is today, looking out over the fjords. Under the building of the castle the workers bricked in a living dog. It was a relative normal custom in those days. According to them, they meant that it would bring good luck. Coincidentally, the custom was also meant to warn about accidents.

But when the castle was done around 1299 the “Malacanis” as they called it, “the evil dog” haunts the place, and seemed to be something else than an omen.

Read also: There are many ghost stories about dogs and cats haunting places. Check out The Story that Inspired The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Poltergeist of Greyfriars Kirkyard and The Black Cat of War.

The Dark Hallway

Among its first victims that would feel the wrath of the Malcanis was the commander at the fortress at the time. Around the year 1550 the hallway were the dog was bricked in collapsed.

Unrest crept into the guards at the fortress. “What about the Malcanis? It was right there the collapse happened”, they whispered among themselves when they were standing guard. Everyone knew about the legend about the poor dog that had been bricked up. And reports about people spotting the ghost there was plenty of.

The Ghost Under Jomrutårnet: The ghost of the Malcanis is said to be put to rest in the walls around the Virgin tower when it was bricked up there for good luck. Allegedly a tower difficult to penetrate and many thought it was because of the ghost dog.

A sound was heard in the hallway under the fortress and everyone feared that the castle was under attack. No one was brave enough to investigate the cause of the ruckus. Not even if the intruders was Swedish forces. The Malcanis put fear in the soldiers.

Read Also: This is not the only ghost thought to haunt Akershus Fortress. There is also rumours about the ghost of a former maid that are still lingering inside. Check out The Mantelgeist of the Fortress for the full ghost story.

In the end, commander Peder Hanssøn Litle walked down Mørkegangen (The dark hallway) himself, as the rest of the guards refused because of fear from the ghost dog. With a single torch he closed in on the fallen stones and started investigating the dark hallway and tried to get a sense of what had happened.

From the shadows he saw a dog, red-glowing eyes appeared with fangs and a chain around its neck. He got into a bloody fight with the ghost dog, that didn’t disappeared until Peder threw a torch right at it and it retreated back into the darkness. The commander came crawling out on all four, more dead than alive, stuttering only one word: The Malcanis!

The Bad Omen

The hero commander survived – but around a month later he died after being thrown off the horse. Unrelated perhaps, but rumours about his death started to circulate among the guards. Others that have seen the Malcanisen in the eyes suffered a similar fate, according to legends. Could it be that it was because of this the commander died? And if so, was seeing the dog then the warning or the curse?

Read Also: Check out all of the ghost stories from Norway

It was also spotted a ghost hound in 1550, then called Malcanisten in the same hallway under the Virgin Tower that was built at that time. After a soldier was killed by a horse in 1567 it is said it was observed several times under the same tower, and those who observe it, won’t live the year.

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