Moon Mausoleum
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A curse of a mermaid is cast upon Newhall House after they murdered her after she stole their wine. Now the water of Killone Lake turn crimson red every 40 […]
A curse of a mermaid is cast upon Newhall House after they murdered her after she stole their wine. Now the water of Killone Lake turn crimson red every 40 years to remind them all.
On the edge of the picturesque Killone Lake, within the Newhall Estate near Ennis, County Clare, stands the haunting ruins of Killone Abbey. Founded in the year 1180 AD by Donal Mor O’Brien, the King of Munster, this ancient abbey once housed the Augustinian nuns dedicated to St. John the Baptist.
However, as the centuries passed, its halls fell silent, and it became abandoned during the tumultuous seventeenth century. In the late 1700s, the Newhall House emerged on the estate’s grounds, incorporating the ruins of the abbey into it.
Read More: Check out all of the ghost stories from Ireland
There have been many things told about this area, and in the graveyard in County Clare, they talked about corpse lights, or so called will of the wisps, hovering in the cemetery as well as by the ruins of the abbey.
But the most told legend from Killone lake and the Newhall House is the story about the haunting from the mermaid that put a curse on the lake.
During this era, the crypt of Killone Abbey had been repurposed to store a prized treasure—fine wine by the O’Brian family that resided in the Newhall House close to the lake.
The locals had told him a lot about a mermaid that lived in the lake. She was wearing a green cloak, sitting on a rock and combing her long and black hair. O’Brian laughed at this, and didn’t care about the local superstitions and the poor people that lived around him. He only cared about his riches, his sport and his fine wine.
A vigilant servant, tasked with guarding this valuable cache of wine in the basement, made a disconcerting discovery: the wine had begun to vanish mysteriously, bottle by bottle. Determined to solve the perplexing riddle, he stood sentinel within the crypt, clutching a knife in anticipation of the thief’s arrival.
As the veil of darkness descended upon Killone Lake, the crypt’s stealthy intruder revealed herself, and the servant’s eyes widened in disbelief. Before him stood none other than the elusive mermaid of Killone Lake.
Enraged by the audacious theft, the servant launched a frenzied attack upon the mermaid, his knife plunging into her repeatedly. Sometimes it is said that it was O’Brian himself that killed her. With each piercing blow, her life force dwindled, and she struggled to escape his vengeful wrath. Bleeding and weakened, the mermaid dragged herself toward the water’s edge, where her strength ultimately failed her, and she succumbed to her injuries.
As the mermaid’s life ebbed away, her blood mingled with the tranquil waters of Killone Lake, transforming its serene surface into a ghastly crimson hue. This macabre spectacle unfolded in the obsidian shroud of night, etching the lake’s eerie transformation into the annals of local legend.
Before dying though, she cursed the family:
Filedhan bhradráin on sruith,
File gan fuil gan feoil,
Gur ba mar sin imtheochas siol mBriain,
Na ndeasacha fiadh as Chilleóin.
As the return of the salmon from the stream,
A return without blood or flesh,
May such be the departure of the O’Briens,
Like ears of wild corn from Killeoin
– The Curse of the Mermaid: A Chilling Legacy
The legacy of the mermaid endures to this day, casting a haunting shadow over Killone Lake. It is foretold that once every forty years or upon the changing of ownership of Newhall Estate, the lake’s waters shall mysteriously turn crimson once more.
The legend about the mermaid has been told many times and made into songs and stories like with The Ballad of Killone. There are many version of the legend as well. Some say that O’Brian actually took her because he found her pretty and kept her imprisoned as she didn’t want to talk or be with him. To make her talk they threw scalding water on her and she cried out her curse.
Whether this phenomenon is the result of iron shale or the lingering curse of the vengeful mermaid, the ruins of Killone Abbey and the enigmatic lake invite brave souls to unlock their secrets and bear witness to the eerie tale that has haunted the land for centuries.
Killone Abbey, Clare, Ireland | Visions Of The Past
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