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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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