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copperfaced jack

The spooooooky stories behind 6 Dublin landmarks

There isn’t a landmark in the city without one, to be fair.

HAPPY HALLOWEEEN, ya filthy animals. To celebrate, here are six spooky stories about famous Dublin institutions (as if the place wasn’t scary enough as it is).

1. Copperface Jacks

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Yep, really. Coppers is named after Lord Clonmel, an 18th century ‘hanging judge’ who sentenced many men to death. He lived on Harcourt Street, just a few doors down from where the nightclub now stands, and his windows were regularly broken by angry mobs.

Clonmel was nicknamed Copperfaced Jack due to his red face, rumoured to be brought on by heavy drinking. Think about that the next time you’re up against the Shifting Wall.

2. Connolly Station

704871_4c3acf2f Geograph.ie Geograph.ie

The North Strand area has a grim history – it was bombed by the Germans during WWII, resulting in the deaths of 28 people. Paranormal investigators were called in in 2011 after staff reported ghostly goings-on, and a security guard told them this story:

He was watching the the security cameras late one evening when he saw what he described as a soldier in grey clothes walking along the disused Platform 5. The figure soon disappeared, and the watchman ran immediately to where he had seen it… Nothing was to be found.

3. The Shelbourne Hotel

Shelbourne,-Dublin Wikimedia Wikimedia

The posh hotel is said to be haunted by Mary Masters, a 7-year-old girl who died of cholera there in 1791. Staff members told RTÉ that she likes to make her presence felt:

There was one time here, maybe for a period of about six months, that it would be like two or three times a week in this one specific room that everyone in it would phone down and say that the taps had turned on, the bath was filling and the shower had come on. People would be running and screaming out of the room.

In 2013, actress Lily Collins said she felt a ghostly presence in her room during a stay at the hotel – she claimed to have heard giggling and doors slamming. Spooooky.

4. The Rubrics Building, Trinity College Dublin

The_Rubrics,_Trinity_College_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1585864 Wikimedia Wikimedia

This building is said to be haunted by the ghost of Edward Ford, a Trinity Fellow who lived in House 25. One night in 1734, he got into a disagreement with a group of boisterous students making merry beneath his window – he shot indiscriminately into the crowd and they shot back, fatally wounding him.

There have been many reports since of Ford’s ghost, dressed in “wig, gown, and knee breeches”, walking by the side of the building at nightfall.

5. Darkey Kelly’s pub

darkey Google Maps Google Maps

This pub on Fishamble Street is named for Dorcas Kelly, who in the 18th century ran a brothel nearby.

When the place was investigated by police in 1760, the bodies of five men were discovered in the vaults beneath – Darkey was accused of murder, and partially hung and burned at the stake. Not so nice.

6. Marsh’s Library

Marsh's_Library_-_panoramio Picasa / Wikimedia Picasa / Wikimedia / Wikimedia

Opened in 1707, this beautiful building is the oldest public library in Ireland – so it’s no surprise that it comes with a ghost.

The niece of library founder Archbishop Narcissus March ran off with a sea captain, much to her uncle’s dismay. She wrote him a note asking for forgiveness and hid it in a book, and his ghost wanders the shelves, endlessly searching for it. Shiver.

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