Leap Castle is still haunted by its troubled history of murder and torture. Over 400 years ago, it was the stronghold of the powerful and vicious O’Carroll family. They hired many mercenary soldiers to kill for them and when the soldiers when came back looking for payment, the O’Carrolls murdered them in the castle.
The O’Carrolls had a room in Leap Castle called an Oubliette. This was a small room with no floor that dropped down into a dungeon below. If the O’Carrolls decided to murder you, they would invite you upstairs and, when you were least expecting it, they would push you through the door of the Oubliette. To your horror, you would fall straight down into the dungeon, which was filled with large wooden spikes. There you would lie, impaled on a wooden spike, bleeding to death as the O’Carrolls listened to your tortured screams echoing through the castle.
When workmen were cleaning out Leap Castle in the 1900s, they discovered the hidden Oubliette. Looking down, they were shocked to see hundreds of human skeletons piled on top of each other in the dungeon underneath. It took three full cart loads to remove all of the victims’ bones.
At one time, in Leap Castle, there was a bitter fight between two brothers in the O’Carroll family. One brother, was a warrior and the other was a priest. Tensions between the brothers grew and, one terrible night, the situation erupted in violence. The priest was saying mass in the chapel when his brother suddenly burst in and attacked him.
The priest was stuck through the heart with a sword and died on the altar as his shocked family looked on. The heinous act of brother killing brother was bad enough, but the fact that it happened during a sacred religious ceremony made it a terrible blasphemy against God. Ever since, the room in which the priest died has been known as “The Bloody Chapel” and the castle is believed to be cursed.
A few years ago, a man was standing on the stairs, just outside the Bloody Chapel, when he saw a ghostly apparition, dressed in the robes of a priest. The figure came straight towards him and then suddenly vanished right in front of him.
In 1659, according to local legend, the daughter of the O’Carroll Chieftain fell in love with an Englishman named Darby who was held prisoner in the castle dungeon. She smuggled food to him, and eventually arranged his escape. As she fled with her lover, they were caught by her brother on the staircase. He raised the alarm and Darby promptly plunged his sword through her brother’s body. The lovers then jumped to freedom from the castle battlements. Through the murder of her brother, she became heiress of Leap Castle.
The Ghost of a young girl has also been seen on numerous occasions. She is thought to be the spirit of a daughter of a one-time owner of the
Years later, another young girl was livng in Leap Castle. Her father wanted her to marry the son of a wealthy gentleman but she was in love with a poor boy from a local farm. When her father discovered them together, he killed the boy she loved. One night, while her father was sleeping, she came into his room and killed him. The following day as the girl was standing on the castle battlements, an unseen force pushed her and she fell to her death. It is believed that her ghost roams the castle every night, mourning her lost love.
Recently, a young girl who was visiting the castle saw a girl dressed in old clothes, standing on the staircase. When she asked her parents who the girl was, the ghostly apparition vanished. On another occasion, a woman was taking a walk around the castle’s grounds when she spotted a young girl falling from the castle battlements. The woman screamed when the girl vanished just before she hit the ground.
By the late 19th century, Johanthan and Mildred Darby were living in Leap Castle. Mildred Darby became very interested in the history of the castle and its reputation for being haunted. She began dabbling in the occult, holding black magic rituals in the castle dungeon.
It is said that, during these occult rituals, Mildred Darby accidentally awakened a ferocious elemental demon. One night, she was standing in the Gallery, when she suddenly felt a cold hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw something terrifying standing right behind her. It was a small, hunched figure that looked like it was half human, half beast. It’s face was thin, gaunt and shadowy and it’s eyes seemed to be just hollow black cavities. The horrible smell of the thing reminded her of a rotting corpse.
After Mrs Darby’s experiments in the black arts, Leap Castle has never been the same. It burned down under mysterious circumstances and was kept locked up for almost 70 years. Nowadays, the locals in Offaly avoid Leap Castle after the sun goes down, afraid of the evil that lurks within.
Many visitors to Leap have heard eerie moaning and weeping at night, and lights are seen at the top of the Castle. From across the fields, people would watch the window of the “Bloody Chapel” suddenly light up, as though hundreds of flickering candles were blazing within. Some, who dared walk amongst the ruins, experienced alarming encounters with a lady wearing a billowing red gown.
When Ghost Hunters visited Leap Castle, they saw a ghostly disembodied face wearing a hood like a monk. In the Oubliette, they heard ghostly sounds of voices pleading for help and one of the team claimed he was attacked and knocked to the ground by the elemental demon.
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