Karen is a Scottish freelance travel and culture writer based in the US. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, National Geographic, BBC, and Condé Nast Traveler.
Karen is a Scottish freelance travel and culture writer based in the US. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, National Geographic, BBC, and Condé Nast Traveler.
Hi, I'm Karen!Karen is a Scottish freelance travel and culture writer based in the US. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, National Geographic, BBC, and Condé Nast Traveler.
Hi, I'm Karen!Karen is a Scottish freelance travel and culture writer based in the US. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, National Geographic, BBC, and Condé Nast Traveler.
Originally from Cork, Dan O’Sullivan has been living in Dublin for the past 20 years, and most evenings you can find him leading guests into the darker depths of Dublin’s haunted history on the Dublin Gravedigger Ghost Tour.
Dan draws on an acting background when delivering his spirited performance on the spooktacular tour. “I genuinely love entertaining people,” he says. “Whether it’s making them scream or making them laugh.”
Guests on the Gravedigger Ghost Tour can expect to be transported “back through Dublin’s dark and gruesome past” on a customized bus, stopping at some of the city’s most haunted sites. Think: St. Audoen’s Church, infamous for its mysterious phantom pig and association with the burning of an accused witch and serial killer; the menacing Kilmainham Gaol; and Bully’s Acres, a millennia-old graveyard that was once a ripe picking zone for local grave robbers.
“But it's not all doom and gloom," Dan says. "There are plenty of laughs along the way.”
As a country steeped in myth and legend, it’s little surprise that stories and sightings of haunted apparitions abound in Ireland. “Even the ancient Romans were aware of the spooky tales of Ireland,” Dan says. “They conquered most of Britain but never invaded here. Perhaps they were too scared?”
As for Dublin itself, the city’s experience during the plague has left an indelible mark, something that the Gravedigger Tour highlights. “It is believed that the Dublin suburb of Tallaght gets its name from the Irish word Tamhlacht, which means 'plague monument,' after some long forgotten prehistoric pestilence,” Dan says. The Black Death, or Bubonic plague, tore through Ireland from 1348 to 1350, and between a quarter and a third of the population are believed to have died. That adds up to a lot of restless souls.
And then there are the grave robbers and body snatchers. “Prior to the Anatomy Act of 1832, medical students often had to use illegal means to get their hands on human cadavers,” Dan says. This, naturally, ushered in the practice of grave robbing.
Finally, he adds, Halloween may have been popularized and commercialized in the US, but it owes its origins to the Gaels. “Halloween was originally a pagan ancient Irish festival called Samhain, meaning 'end of summer.' It originated in Ireland around a thousand years ago, which is why so many Halloween traditions are Irish. For instance, Jack-o-lanterns were originally carved out of turnips. When the Irish emigrated to America, they adapted the tradition and used pumpkins instead.”
While he takes visitors there after dark on the tour, Dan also recommends a daytime visit to Kilmainham Gaol. Closed since 1924, the sprawling jail once held leaders of numerous uprisings and the ghosts of former inmates and wardens are said to haunt the place. Pay special attention to the prison chapel, where 1916 Easter Rising leader Joseph Plunkett married Grace Gifford just hours before his execution by firing squad.
“St. Michan's Church was always a favorite place of mine to bring people visiting Dublin,” Dan says. “An absolute hidden gem, the burial chambers underneath the church have an unique atmosphere due to the limestone walls, which has kept the air dry. Here is where the Sheares brothers, whom we speak about on the tour, are laid to rest, but perhaps most interesting is the body of an 800-year-old Crusader.”
Dan also recommends the Hell Fire Club, located on Montpelier Hill, which has “an extremely dark past.”
Known locally as “the Gravediggers,” the John Kavanagh pub sits right next to the gates of Glasnevin Cemetery; it was indeed where the gravediggers drank. Being beside the cemetery, says Dan, “it’s no surprise that Kavanagh’s is probably the most haunted pub in Dublin. Many times people have seen the ghost of a man sitting at the bar. And other spirits have been seen in the stockroom.”
The Brazen Head, Dublin's oldest pub, was the setting for regular meetings held by rebel leader Robert Emmet with like-minded Irish nationalists. Hanged in 1803, the ghost of Emmet is said to still visit the Brazen Head, taking a seat in his old spot, still watching out for enemies.
If you’re enjoying a pint in the Bull and Castle when the temperature suddenly drops, it may be time to quickly drink up—unless, of course, you’re in the mood for a few ominous verses. The change in temperature is said to herald the arrival of the ghost of poet James Clarence Mangan who died of cholera in 1849.
Dan is not convinced that Dublin is home to any haunted hostelries but if you’d rather not have uninvited visitors disturbing your sleep, give the Shelbourne a wide berth, just to be on the safe side. Built in 1824 on the site of a row of houses, the landmark hotel is rumored to be haunted by one of its original residents, a little girl called Mary Masters who died of cholera in 1791. Guests, including some of the celebrities who make up the 5-star hotel’s frequent clientele, claim to have sensed the presence of Mary Masters on the sixth floor.
Guests are introduced to a number of colorful characters drawn from 400 years of Dublin’s rich and ribald history on Dan’s tour. The first actor to formally announce themselves to the audience is affectionately known as “Plaguey,” whom Dan describes as “a sometimes unreliable narrator who spent some time in the old plague house on the grounds of what is now Trinity College. He may or may not have had the plague, but thankfully is fully vaccinated against Covid-19.”
You can also expect to hear tales of John Clyn, Mr. Fennelly, Dermot O’Hurley, the D’Olocher, John and Henry Sheares, John Francis Byrne, Edward Ford, and those unscrupulous body snatchers, Burke and Hare. But, Dan teases, “I can't tell you too much of their stories because that would be a spoiler. Needless to say, just like the characters in Game of Thrones, many of them come to a very gruesome end.”
