True Hauntings

Case 155: Haunted by a Curse - Templemichael Ireland Graveyard

Templemichael Church in County Waterford Ireland has been the scene of a large number of reported paranormal sightings and folktales.

Now, in ruins, it stands as a reminder of the religious upheavals that faced the Irish nation during rebellions and wars centuries ago.

The Church is known to be the site of strange occurrences including sightings of ghost monks, strange large black dogs, and even ropes that appeared across the main road at Templemichael, causing drivers/cyclists to panic but then disappearing.

In this episode of the True hauntings Podcast we are going exploring inside Templemichael to find out it’s secrets and why this site seems to be a portal to so many spooky hauntings.

The devil sure gets around in Ireland and the last thing you want is a family curse that lasts for decades!

Hello True Hauntings Podcast Fans and first time listeners,

As from this episode we no longer have to capable production work that was part of the podcast for the last two years - our beautiful Bonnie, who took the raw material we recorded and made sense of it has needed to move on and become the legend that she deserves to be.

So Anne has taken it upon herself to grab the reigns of producing the podcast from now on.

May God be with her!!!

She is a powerhouse of accepting challenges and is doing her best to keep the quality of the show exactly what our listeners are used to.

Please forgive any blips that might come up over the next month or two as she now adds this craft under her belt of skills.

We thank Bonnie for her selfless giving over the last 24 months from the very moment she came in to save us when we lost our first producer of the podcast she has been a lifesaver!

We also acknowledge the amazing work she has done to get us ever closer to 1 million downloads.

This is STILL OUR MISSION for 2024.

We would love to see True Hauntings get to 1 million downloads by New Years Eve 2024.

Let's do it.

As always -

We hope you enjoy this episode - please leave a review and jump on over to our True Hauntings Fans Facebook page and tell us.

LOVE OUR WORK?

Consider supporting our work by buying us a "cup of coffee" https://www.buymeacoffee.com/anneandrenata

become a Grand Poobah Patreon supporter, and join our inner circle of craziness!

https://www.patreon.com/anneandrenata

Join us on our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/TrueHauntingsPodcast

P.S. If you want more Anne and Renata - catch our PODCAST - Diary of a Ghost Hunter on all the best streaming platforms to find out what our life as female ghost hunters is really like (no Bullsh*t).

Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel as we are wanting to get more views and engagement and check out our travel videos Frightfully Good Misadventures - we re adding new episodes of some of our latest adventures every week.

Also Follow Anne and Renata:

Facebook: @AnneAndRenata

Instagram: @AnneAndRenata

YouTube: @AnneAndRenata

TikTok: @AnneAndRenata

#anneandrenata #ghosts #hauntings #paranormalpodcast #frightfullygood #FrightfullyGood #HauntedHolidays #diaryofaghosthunter #poltergeist #ghostbusters #hauntedireland #templemichaelchurch #hauntedandhistoric #creepghoststories #hauntedcemetery #hauntedirishcemeteries #curses #knightstemplar #thedevil

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Duration:: 56m
Broadcast on:: 05 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently, I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous to your contracts, they said, "What the f*ck are you talking about? You insane Hollywood f*ck!" So to recap, we're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $45 up for three months plus taxes and fees, Promoting for new customers for limited time. Unlimited more than $40 gigabytes per month. Slows, full turns at Mint Mobile.com. True Haunting is a frightfully good production. Temple Michael Church in County Waterford, Ireland has been the scene of a large number of reported paranormal sightings and folktales. Now, in ruins, it stands as a reminder of the religious upheavals that face the Irish nation during rebellions and wars centuries ago. The Church is known to be the site of strange occurrences, including sightings of ghost monks, strange large black dogs, and even ropes that appear across the main road at Temple Michael, causing drivers and cyclists to panic, but then disappearing. Hi, I'm Renata, and I'm Anne, an in-miss episode of the True Haunting's podcast we are going to explore inside Temple Michael to find out its secrets and why this site seems to be a portal to so many spooky hauntings. Anne and Renata have been investigating paranormal occurrences for the past 20 years. They have been at the center of various unexplained phenomena and have witnessed countless ghostly experiences. The duo now turn to high-profile cases that have attracted the eyes of the world. Between the dimensions we see and the dimensions we don't, supernatural forces are at play. Evil lurks within the shadows of our homes, and in the darkest corners of our minds, it follows us like a shadow, forever. This is where nightmares become reality. This is True Haunting's. These were the sensations I experienced at Temple Michael Castle Island in the summer of 1965. My husband and I were taking a few days off, and we'd stopped at the night in yawl. After an early tea, we decided to go for a short run in the car. Our meanderings led us disused graveyard in a small desolate and deserted church. Beyond this derelict building lay the river, with two arms of it meeting at this point. I decided to photograph the castle from the river's edge, and as my husband stood a few yards away appraising the fishing prospects, I turned my back on the river and raised my camera. But I never took that photograph, and this is one of the things I shall regret all my life. Coming into my line of vision through the low-poston gate, through which we ourselves had come, they're now stood a man. His head and the upper portions of his body were clothed in brown cloak or a habit, that reached to just below the knees. Below that, he melted into an indeterminate mist. But it was the look on his face that froze my fingers on the camera trigger. He was pale and thin with deep set eyes. His face wore the most consummate look of evil that I have ever seen. Habit and training forgotten, I stood rooted to the spot with a cold trickle of fear chilling my spine. I could not utter one coherent syllable. I had often wondered what a confrontation between a stout and a rabbit felt like, now I knew. Then my husband called out to me and at that moment, the man vanished. Without speaking, we strolled back over the grass together, and I was miserably conscious that no matter how I hated it, the only way back to the car was through that post-turn gate. Every step I took towards it filled me with loathing, however hard I tried to rationalise. Then, just as we were a few steps from it, my husband broke the silence. Well, what do you know he began? I have the weirdest feeling that, all of a sudden, it seemed very important to me that he didn't put the thoughts into words. Please, please don't say anything, just hurry up. And before he could protest, I broke into an undignified trot, and fled through that crumbling gate down the narrow passage and out into the little path through the churchyard. My heart was thumping in a most peculiar fashion, and hands were cold and clammy, and it seemed to me that the thousand malevolent eyes were watching. Back at the car, I sat down on the grassy bank and my husband flung himself down beside me. He eyed me curiously. You're scared. What on earth has gotten into you? All I was going to say back there was for a second, I wouldn't have been at all surprised to see someone standing in that creepy little gate. I felt like we were being watched. Welcome back to the studio, Anne. Oh, why thank you very much, Renata. Well, wasn't that a trial? That was. That was a very big trial for the grand poo bars who are our patreon supporters. They're going to get a nice little outtake of some, maybe some mishaps that happened in the background there. Yes, yes. Outtakes, lots of outtakes. We had a few issues, but never mind. Those issues were called, and my mouth just did not want to work. Anyway, anywho, we are talking about Temple Michael. And Temple Michael is an area rather than just one building or one spot. It's kind of made up of a couple of different places. And as interesting as I found this place and this information. And you picked it? I picked it. It became terribly awkward to try and find actual historical information about it. So I kept on saying, " Anne, I don't have much, but you know, we'll roll with it." You told me that it had such good history and you were so excited to do it because it had so many... Well, I won't say what they are, but you know, it had good stuff. Yeah, yeah. And if you asked me the question, "Would you go and investigate this place?" I'd go, "Hell yeah." Oh, hell yeah. Because it has a graveyard, which is fabulous as graveyards are. And a church, which is in ruins, and a castle right next door. Oh, ticks all the boxes. There you go. We could spend enough. And it's in Ireland. What more do you want? Absolutely. So I'm going to share with you what I have found and then leave it up to you to tell all the ghost stories associated with it. So we're talking about a church called Temple Michael, which was built in 1823 and it sits on the side of the foundations of an earlier church. Which was built in 1620. And that is a short distance from a small mausoleum and also a castle, which predates all of that. There is thought that the castle dates back to the 12th century. Now that's also in ruins, so the whole places. Yeah. It's ruined. It's ruined. It's ruined. It's not. It's actually just exactly how we like it. We like it ruined, just like that. And the board of first fruits, which I thought, that sounds like something from the gem for us. That show that was on... Or a secret religion? On Netflix with the women in the... They all look the same. What was that called? That show? Are they all wore the... Kardashian? What? No! They wore the things that made them look like nuns. They were, you know, and they were... Remember, this is audio. They can't see your hands, Renata. Words is hard. Do you want me to pause it so you can look up the name of the show? Yes. Okay, I'll pause. All right. The end came up with it. Well, is it Renata? Thank you. The Handmaid's Tale. Handmaid's Tale. There we go. Yes. The board of first fruits. It sounds cult-like. It's disturbing. It was an institution of the Church of Ireland that was established in 1711 by Anne, Queen of Great Britain. That'd be a great person. To build and improve churches and sleephouses in Ireland, so they were throwing money over there to try and build churches, Protestant churches. This was funded by taxes that were collected on clerical incomes, which were in turn funded by tithes. And now what are tithes, Anne? That's money that they had to pay. Yes. So it's like rent or they've got to just scoop a little bit of your income or a lot of your income. If you want to work my land, if you want to live in my houses, you're going to cough it up. And it was one-tenth of all the earnings. Ooh. That's better than our taxes. And now there are some religions that still ask you to keep it tight. Oh, it's religion. Yes, that's right. That's unfortunate, isn't it? Yes. It's situated on a beautiful spot, and you mentioned this in the soundscape, at the meeting place of two rivers, the Glendene River and the Blackwater. Oh, we stated a meeting of two rivers when we were, but that was in Wicklow. You can hear a weird noise in the background. That is my beautiful dog, Max, who is snoring his head off. It's just delightful. Yes. And all of this is in County Waterfeit. And Temple Michael is one of the oldest Christian sites in the country. Now, the Fitzgerald family has a big connection with this place. They built the castle. And some sources say that the castle dates back to the 12th century, and it was a Knights Templar stronghold. Oh. So this castle has towering walls. It's in a strategic location. And it really is a castle that sort of takes you back to the medieval past and the Middle Ages in Ireland and how the Knights Templar were granted bits of land all over the place so they could look after the area and defend the place. So the Knights Templar were given a piece of land by Raymond Fitzwilliam Fitzgerald. Oh, there goes the shoulders over on the Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald? Fitzgerald. Yeah. Fitzwilliam. Yep. And he was known as Lagross, the large. And Raymond was an early Norman invader. And he was among the first of a small band of Norman Knights who landed on the south coast of Ireland following the invasion. He gifted lands to the Knights Templar, including Rincrew, which he founded in 1193 to oversee the River Crossing, and established a preceptor, which I had to look up and go, what's a preceptor. It's a monastery for the Order of the Knights Templar. It must have really sucked to live on that side of Ireland because it was so close to England and then Europe. They could just hop across, whereas on the other side of Ireland they probably didn't cop the raiders as much. Yeah. Yeah. I mean once they got on to Ireland it's not that far to get across. Yes. When they had good roads and. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. Yeah. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. Yeah. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. Yeah. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. Yeah. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. Yeah. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. Yeah. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. Yeah. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. Yeah. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. Yeah. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. Yeah. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. Yeah. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. They were constantly being overtaken by the English. And it was attacked by the Cromwellian army. And that probably led to its destruction. Yeah. They like to knock things down. They do. You can still see details of the original structure. Like the East and the South walls. There's a stairway taking you to the first floor. Or wherever the first floor could have been. And murder holes inside the main door. Oh, not a priest hole. No, murder holes. And also there's a small turret left and some decorations. That's enough for us. Yeah. So there's bits and pieces left for those that are sort of historically and inclined and love that sort of stuff. There's plenty of opportunity for great photography still there. Now the Fitzgeralds lived there and it said that 13 families of them lived in succession. 13. Is that 13 generations or 13 families? Well, 13 families, probably 13 generations. Interesting. Well, I mean, it could maybe not because you, if you had a brother and sister, for example, and they had their families, they may have come. Although it was right up until the 1960s. I think that they still had people there. So it could be. Yeah, anyway. So the last of them was Garrett Fitzgerald. Now when this man died, he was buried at Temple Michael. But the next of his family were buried in Ardmore. Now there's a story about him. I don't know whether you found that. I do. Oh, okay. And Ardmore is a whiskey. Yes. On the Isle of Isle, if I remember correctly. Yeah. So just remember, Garrett Fitzgerald, part of the Fitzgerald family that owned this property for a very, very long time. And you would think that, of course, there would be a activity through that family because of the generations that had been there. But there's also an interesting link to the Fitzgerald and a place that we have been to once and once only, and probably will never be to again. And Fitzgerald's final resting place lies at the nearby 6th century monastic site of Malana Abbey. And his story is linked with the tale of Ireland's most haunted hall. Yes. Loftus Hall. Loftus Hall. Once known as Redmond Hall and now Ladyville House. Ladyville House, my arse. It's not going to shake the name Loftus Hall. Ladyville House. God. Okay, click on. So all they've done is jacked up the prices, made it sound fancy to make sure the ghost hunters don't come because the ghost hunters can't afford to go. Yes. Yeah. There have been a number of moments in its history where there was a lot of, you know, devastation in that particular area. And one of those was at the hands of Sir Walter Rally and the Desmond Rebellion, which occurred around the 1569, 1573 to 83 period. They kind of came through with their allies, the Geraldines, and they sort of, you know, did a lot of shooting, pillaging, stabbing, stabbing, stabbing, stabbing. And all of that stuff. That's very technical. To kind of thwart off the English government coming in and taking over the province. Now, Rally sold Temple Michael along with his other Irish estate to Richard Boyle, the first Earl of Cork, whose son was Robert Boyle, Alchemist, and pivotal figure in modern chemistry. Interesting that the Boyle's were involved in chemistry, were they seeking a cure? Maybe. But they were also linked to the invisible college by the Rosie Krusz, Rosie Krusz, that's as bad as my meandering. Rosie Krusz. Rosie Krusz, yeah. They inherited the lands and it was later acquired by Grace Smith. So I'm just going through the names of people that kind of, you know, owned this place over the years. Then the smiths settled in County Waterford during the Elizabethan era. And in 1683, Richard Smith of Ballet Natre in County Waterford married his second wife, Alice, daughter, and co-hair of Co-hair. Co-hair of Richard, Grace of Ballet Koolain country. Put teeth in Renata. And they had a son named Grace Smith. They did like him, did they? Two. Hey Grace Smith. Descends from the smiths of Ballet Natre. Oh, that was a very loud snore from Mac's right there. Bum-bum-bum. Ballet in 1890, Ballet Natre was inherited by the eldest daughter of Earl Mount Coachell. Lady Harriet Gertrude Isabella Smythe, who in 1872 had married Colonel John Henry Graham, whole Roy. I'm sure people are taking notes right now. And they assume the name Smythe. But what I'm trying to get to is why these families and the names are associated with this place and why you see some of these names on the Headstones at Temple Michael. Okay. Sorry. Lisa, you should be. Why are you apologizing? We have the kind of, like I mentioned, there is a mausoleum there. And it is a mausoleum to the whole Royce Smythe family. So we know the smiths kind of were there before the whole Royce edition. This is the ones I like to call the Holly Royce. Yeah, they're not the whole Royce. And this is where we have some of the myths and legends come in, which I'm not going to mention because you're going to mention them. I will smack you. But we have a family who have a mausoleum there. And the interesting part about it is that many members of the family seem to die on a particular date. They sure do. Which is the 13th. Yep. And you will go in and you'll find that that is marked on a number of the Headstones there. If you feel... Oh, I feel it, Renata. I'll stop. I feel that you may have seen at this place somewhere before it was actually immortalised in a duel, in a movie that was created by Stanley Kubrick called Barry Linden. That's a riveting movie. I've never heard of it. Oh. Roman loves Stanley Kubrick's movies. Now, you've got to be a little bit old to remember this. Oh, it's all stoned. Stanley Kubrick's stuff is really right. It's clockwork orange for those people who might remember. What was the other one with Jack in it? It was another stabby stabby one, wasn't it? Yes. Yes. They used the whole area at Temple Michael Church as a backdrop for this fish clash. A fish clash. They got the fish out and slapped each other. That's how Monty Parthen got inspired to do this. Of 1945 AD, and it's a battle between the Ravens of Munster and the Ravens of the West. Now, like I mentioned, the whole Royd family is buried at this particular spot. You can... What is with Elle? Oh, it works just hard. What's going on? Yep. I don't know. Dehydration. You can find that the mausoleum is there with all of the names and everything. The last Halroyd smith member died in a hunting accident on September the 13th of 1969. Apparently, there's a curse associated with it. Now, I went looking to see whether there were other members of the family that died on that date of the month. And there are, there's quite a few that seem to have died on the 13th of whatever month it was. You imagine being part of that family and as the 13th would arrive, you'd all be very nervous. I'd be sitting at home in my room waiting for the day to just... We all know that that doesn't save you. You've watched the horror movies. The hands will come out by the bed and grab you and pull you down through it. Yes. So, that kind of actually finishes me because even though I thought there's going to be so much more, I had a heck of a bad time trying to find any information. I thought I was going to go into the whole Knights Templar thing. No, nothing. Very little. So, I've bored you with all of the names and I'm going to hand... But those names are now going to be important. Yes, I'm going to hand over to you to talk about the ghosties of this place. All right, so I actually struggled to find information as well because there are no articles or books or stories or anything written about it. So, I had to get creative on how I was going to find information because at this stage you were all excited about the history. And I thought, "All right, well, let's see what I come up with." And I actually enjoyed the chase of finding stories. And what I've come up with are first-hand accounts of people's experiences or saying, "You know, my mother was there and saw this or my grandma witnessed this." And there was one particular source that I'll reveal shortly that was really cute. And I think I've used this source before. But first off, let's acknowledge the soundscape that was psychic phenomena in Ireland, 1972, by Sheila St. Clair, who was a renowned student of Ulster folklore and also paranormal phenomena. So, that wasn't the end of Sheila's story of May 1970. In May 1970, she did go back and I've got a follow-up. I know you're very excited. This actually came from a blog called "Visions of the Past Blog.com." So, Sheila said, "I was uneasy in the church and went outside to look at the old gravestones. As I came around the corner of the church, I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks. My husband, oh, they're still together. That's nice. "Who had been strolling behind me promptly canned into me." "Now, what are you up to?" he demanded. "Shh, listen," I said. Coming from the church was the quiet, but sweetly clear sound of a small church organ being played. It was a voluntary, I knew, well, Yazoo Joy of Man's desiring. Do you know that one, Renata? No. I used to play it all the time in our string trio by Bach, I believe. J.S. would not be impressed. It was being played quietly but determinedly by an unseen organist. "The organ. Can you hear an organ?" I asked. My husband paused for a moment. I thought I heard something just as I came around the corner. But I couldn't tell you what it was. The organ stopped and we both went back into the church. There was no organ or organ pipes, we could see. We heard the sound of voices and saw three other people coming into the churchyard. I went back to the car, but my husband had a few words conversation with one of the men. Sorry, I'm just trying to correct the English as we go. Then he came over to the car. "Describe the sound of that organ again," he said. "Small and sweet," I repeated, "not like a church organ, quite as somehow." He smiled. "Well, we were wrong. There is an organ in that church, but we missed it standing in the corner. It's been there for years and it has a tabletop so that you wouldn't notice it. That man I was speaking to showed me and the notes are still playable and it's got a small, sweet tone. Very pleasant, but not a big noise. Wow. Small organ. But fancy, an organ still being in that church. I find that hard to believe because it's pretty much a shell. Yes. Unless it's some sort of weather. What year is that? 1970, but remember the last of the family was there in '69, maybe. Who knows? Then I thought, "All right, how am I going to find some more information here?" So I dug around and I found yawl online.com, the Facebook page. I found that too. Now, when I say yawl, that is spelled Y-O-U-G-H-A-L. In my head I say yawl, but it's yawl. Now, there was a great article or I don't know what it was. "Do you believe in ghosts by Mike Hackett?" And he tells this story and then people started to comment on it, which I thought was interesting. Let me read you the story. So this is by Mike Hackett. This is not my words. Patio Keith was a salmon fisherman from Newport. Okay, the words again. Oconor, that's a great name, who knew the tides of the river very well and all the moods and variations that it could take with the weather. When the tide was high, the river almost lapped his front door and his salmon yawl would be on a bit of grass beside it. Now I'm not saying salmon yawl, that's salmon yawl, that hill. Y-A-W-L, like shore. Selling a little, or a lot. Shopify helps you do your thing, however you chit-ching. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage to the first real-life store stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage, Shopify is there to help you grow. Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers, with the Internet's best converting checkout. 36% better on average compared to other leading commerce platforms, because businesses that grow, grow with Shopify. Get a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/work. Shopify.com/work. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down. So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a thing. Mint Mobile Unlimited. Premium Wireless. Get 30, 30, get 30, get 30, get 20, 20, get 20, get 20, get 20, get 15, 15, 15, just 15 bucks a month. So, give it a try at Mint Mobile.com/switch. $45 up top for three months plus taxes and fees, promoting for new customers for limited time. Unlimited more than 40 gigabytes per month. Slows. Full turns at Mint Mobile.com. What a fantastic place to live directly across from Balinaklash Key, and that little house at the end of the cul-de-sac, Patty lived alone. Just a small terrier patch was his company. He was so happy. Oh, I bet he was. One Monday morning, Gerald Palfrit, my blind walking partner, and I walked the eight miles, what? Eight miles? To visit poor old Patty, I mean Patty, at his invitation of the previous week after I'd met him in town. While we were there, Tom Dalton, with his grocery van, arrived, and Patty bought bread and ham to treat his visitors. The talk inevitably turned to fishing, as it does, and we remarked on the nets that were stacked up on the kitchen floor. There's a reason for that. I wish I could do an Irish accent. There's a reason for that, said Patty, as he turned back the nets to reveal a dozen big salmon hidden underneath. As no fishing was permitted on a Sunday, we were wondering where they had come from. Nothing like having salmon on the floor, just waiting for Monday. Don't worry, says Patty. I caught them last night. Oh, so you can have them on the Saturday and leave them on the floor tonight? No, no, I love fish. Oh, I wouldn't be sitting there for a cup of tea. Oh, okay. You see, the salmon know when it is Sunday, and they come up the river in big numbers, and that's when I catch them, said Patty. I doubt that he was just codding us, and he was enjoying it. A few weeks after our visit, he was fishing alone down the down river by Temple Michael Castle and Graveyard as dark as approached. The tide was about to turn, and would then assist him in returning up the river back home. Meanwhile, he had time to spare and decided to go ashore to walk up Minister's Hill to Lombard's pub and have a few pints. Oh, that's what you do. He tied the boat below the castle and made his way up beside the graveyard. But then he froze. What happened there? Something white was moving in the darkness between the headstones. There was no noise, just a white apparition floating amongst the graves and crosses. Patty ran the mile up the hill and reached the pub in a breathless state. A few of the regulars turned away from their pints to gaze at this sweaty man in a frightened state. What happened to you? They corest together. Down at Temple Michael Graveyard, there was a ghost moving around between the headstones. Of course, at first, nobody believed him. This is the boy who cried wolf. He's told guns too many times. But he kept it up saying, "You go down and see for yourselves." Then, "Okay, jump into my car," said Billy Dalton, and four men, without Patty, went to see the ghost. Francis, the proprietor, was wondering to himself about how many pints does it take to see a real ghost? Is that a joke? I know, it's a joke. When they reached Temple Michael, it seemed more eerie than usual and they quietly moved amongst the headstones. Suddenly a gasp rang out. There was a large white vision towards the rear wall. It was moving along steadily. Drink or no drink, they could make it out clearly enough. The bravest ventured forth, and he was wondering at this stage if he had rosary beads in his pocket. Then there was a loud... Oh! And a large white donkey made a run for the cake. Almost colliding with the frightened men. A pure white donkey in a graveyard in Ireland in the dead of night. Oh, how many? I know, Christmas solved. How many curses would that bring to you? Patty was relieved to hear about the ghost when they got back, and he managed to have his few pints in the meantime. This story was told by Tom Dalton many years ago, so they're collecting stories. Then that carries on there talking about dead men coming out of graveyards. It has happened a few times. Once when a grave digger was nearing the end of his dig, he got a heart attack and died on the spot. He was removed to the local hospital to be cleaned up for the wake. And the following day, he was brought back to the cemetery to be buried in. So he had the heart attack in the cemetery, got cleaned up and brought back dead as you do. Oh, so there is another one here, but what about the dead man who came about twice? John O'Callaghan was the caretaker of North Abbey Cemetery and lived with his wife, Han, in the lodge just inside the gate. John died one night and was brought to the district hospital to be prepared for his waking. I don't think they mean, yeah, wake up John, I think it's the wake where they all have a drink. He was then brought back to his front room in the lodge for the wake before the removal that evening to the local parish church. The next day, the funeral bringing him home again and then buried in the North Abbey. He had come out twice and gone back twice. You don't have to be, it goes to be in and out of a graveyard. Oh, all right. So this one is Liam Ryan, a popular and reliable sacristan at the parish church on Ash Street in Yawl. While locking the premises late one night, he decided to close the mortuary first. This is like a small church beside the big one and we spoke about this in our last podcast where that church Saint Mary's became a mortuary chapel. So I remembered. So the next one is where the bodies and coffins were kept overnight. It has its own big doors and can be locked separately. On this night, there was a coffin in it. Otherwise, it would have been closed already. He had just blown out the six large candles around the coffin and was alone now in real darkness. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder from behind. Knowing he was alone, he nearly dropped dead with the awful fright that he got. I would have piddled my pants, summoning all his energy to get out the door. He turned around to find a man standing there. A real man? It was Tommy Hannon from Mill Road. He would come late to say a prayer for the deceased and was standing behind the door when Liam arrived in. There were more prayers. There were more than prayers said that night. Yes. And the last tale today tells of a famous character, Billy Swain, taking a shortcut across the North Abbey Cemetery in the dark when he fell into a newly dug grave and couldn't get back up. He started shouting and he was heard by Hannah O'Callaghan, who lived in the graveyard lodge at the gates. She was living alone at the time. Her husband, remember, had died a few months before that. Oh, heart attack, yes. It's boarded around. I love how they do this. God, they're good at telling the aunts. Brave woman that she was, she went up to investigate the awful screeching. Oh, she's brave. I'm impressed. She saw Billy and used a nearby ladder to help him out. He was a real live ghost, as they say here. So, story by Mike Hackett. Now, there was a reply here on the Facebook page from Gish that I heard the story about the man who got a heart attack while digging a grave and being brought out. He was a neighbor of mine. Won't mention his name. Then we have El Nee. I don't know how to say the rest of that. Yes, Michael, a temple Michael is most definitely haunted. My late grandfather saw plenty of ghosts or two down at the yard cellar, something key, in his fishing days too. So, there we have a couple of locals backing up. It's interesting that they've told all these stories which are meant to be ghost stories, but then have living people or true stories attached to them. It's almost like they're trying to explain it away. And if we're talking about a whole lot of fishermen, they would be very superstitious anyway. Oh, yes. So, as you mentioned, the family that was last living there had a tendency to die around the 13th of the month. Now, there is a reason for that. Yes. There is a curse. Curse. I love a good curse. Apparently, during the famine, there was a young peasant woman whose child was very sick. So, she thought she would bring her child to the house at Bally Nattre to seek help, but she was turned away. So, get going. We don't need your problems here. We don't want the sickness. We don't want your sort here. And as she was turned away, she stepped backwards down the 13 steps at the entrance of the house and cursed a generation of the whole road. The whole road? Yes. The whole road's my family with each step. And if you look at the tombstones and you have looked it up, many of the family did die on the 13th of the month. And the last one, he died in a hunting, that's Garrett, died in a hunting accident on the 13th of September in 1969. And I actually have a little bit of a ghost story about him. The Fitzgeralds lived there, 13 families, all of that. The last of them was Garrett. When the man died, he was buried in Temple Michael, but the rest of his family had been buried in Ardemore. The third night after his funeral, his ghost came down to the water's edge and cried, "Garet, Ardem." "Garet, Ardem." I don't know if I'm saying that right and I apologise to all their Irish people. The cry continued for a few nights till at last word was sent to his cousins in Ardemore. The following day, his cousins and two men from their hometown, can't say it, went and this person is saying one of them was their grandfather, went over to Temple Michael graveyard and dug up his coffin and buried it in Ardemore. The cry was never heard after that. Who wanted to be buried with his family? Indeed, now this was taken from a ghost story by John Joe Flemming of Tiknok School. Now, this is a website, it's d-u-c-h-a-s-dot-i-e, where they have saved the stories of Irish school children, or they've got the Irish school children to go and speak to their grandparents and collect the yarns and the stories, and then they've scanned them and uploaded them for you all to see. How gorgeous is that? I know, so I'm trying to work out whether this was a story collected by a child or whether they've created the story. I couldn't really dig down far enough to find that out, but I did find another one, I'll come back to it, but I also found a little bit of a mention to the number 13. There was the 13 steps, the cursing, the dying on the 13th. Now, apparently the number 13 is quite significant to the masons, particularly the Masonic Master. A Masonic Master number and linked to the Knights Templar fateful arrest on Friday the 13th of October in 1307, which is intertwined with the Smythe lineage. So, there is another link to that whole curse thing, and that was probably why they had the 13 steps built there, because it was unlike. Yeah. Now, you also mentioned that there was lots of reports, so we've had the ghostly monk already, and the evil. There is also reports of mysterious, large, black dogs. Yes. And one about ropes that will cross the main road at Temple Mike, they just appear, and it freaks the drivers and the cyclists out, and then they just suddenly disappear, because you think you're going to run into them. So, they're there and then they're gone. I don't know. There is also another one about horses. Well, I'll come up to the Balen, Balen Latre house threshold, and they will hesitate. They'll just sort of dig their heels in and not take another step forward, and then they will bolt away, all of a sudden, at alarming speeds to get away from whatever is there. Now, this information comes from the spooky aisles. We love spooky aisles, spooky aisles.com. Now, this particular writer also mentioned Laylines. Yes. Possibly running through there. They said I've yet to map the area. I found many Layline markers, including St Patrick's Holy Well, which we've been to a couple of times now, the most monastic site of Molana, Temple Michael itself. So, that was an interesting link there as well. All right, now I've got to find these. Oh, my notes are just shocking. I've got bits and pieces of everything in here from here on in. There was a paranormal investigation done there by Cork Supernatural Society. I found this on their Facebook page. All the team reported hearing voices at many stages throughout the investigation. They did an EVP session. They all heard what sounded like two men talking in the sound of a radio. But as I was saying, the location is very close to the water, and we all know how sound can travel across water. Yes. They said some of the team felt very uneasy about being in such an isolated location. But they actually didn't get any EVPs, which I thought was interesting considering they all heard the voices. Then we go back to the schoolbook now. I've got the schoolbook. This is a bit of a story. Temple Michael Castle situated on the River Blackwater about three miles above the all. It goes on about 13 families again. When Cromwell was in Ireland, when the Fitzgeralds heard of his plunderings and robings, they were afraid that he would take the castle by surprise. As his plundering increased throughout the country, they thought it was better to be sure than sorry. Without any delay, they dug a hole about 100 yards from the castle and hid their treasure. Is it still there? Oh, no, no. Let's go metal detect. Then they left the castle. As Cromwell was on his way from Tallow to Yall, he fired on the castle and blew it to ribbons. That's a technical term. About 300 years ago, the three brothers of the Keo family heard about the money being hid there and went in search of it. They dug about three feet in the place in which they thought the money was buried. As they were digging, they heard three roars, which sounded like that of a bull. They were brave and daring and thought to remain digging, but as the roaring still continued and sounded nearer, they got frightened and left the spot immediately when they came home and told the story to people. Right, so that's been collected and they said the informant was Thomas Flaming, age 65 fisherman. Now that we've had Thomas tell another story in there. No, okay. Is that when he finds the gold? The bits as big as they know. Doesn't say anyone's found the gold. Oh, damn it. Oh no, that could be a good thing. Now, I discovered boards. Oh, it's boards. So this is back in the olden days of the internet when people used to post a question and then other people would come in and write things. So this one cracked me up. Does, or dose, D-O-S-E. Does anyone know, you know, this will be explained shortly. How to get from your to Temple Michael castle and what is the best road to take and also is the castle located on private property. Paranormal investigators. Underneath that it says band in brackets with prison access. I don't know what to make of that. Okay. I'm really confused. And they've had a few people reply. I don't know if they've opened up the road along the river again. So washed away and closed down. The gates are open from spring to summer anyway. They go on. It's a really weird place and feels, really feels like it doesn't want to be disturbed. Stories about seeing lights and night. Templers soldiers crossing the river at night. Tragic family histories for the estate family buried there. Molana Abbey along the causeway has always had odd stories associated with it as well. Someone else has piped in Temple. Michael is a really eerie spot. We camped there as scouts one night and scared the bejesus out of ourselves. Even during the day it's really creepy. There are all sorts of ghost stories about happenings around there. Animals behaving strangely psychic sense in evil presences. Of course. So they've read the article by the other person I'd say. They also talk about the peasant woman. The legend I heard was that the peasant woman had brought a sick child. Again, this is all the stuff that's just being regurgitated. There have been stories of horses slowing and struggling to pull heavy loads when passing the main gate and bolting afterwards. Sounding familiar? There's also a talk of American psychic visiting. Okay, here we go. In spring 1966 or 1967, my father was in a car with a few friends driving along the road around midnight on their way to a place nearby. Where they had a telescope set up to observe a lunar eclipse. They saw what happened to be a rope across the road and they all ducked it. I had found the source. When the car stopped, they got up and looked back. They couldn't see anything. But turned around and drove back to y'all and told the guards. There had been some trouble in Ardmore in '66 on the 50th anniversary of Easter Rising. So the guards were concerned it might be connected. At the time there was no squad car, so a guard went out to investigate on a bike. It sounds like a movie, doesn't it? He came across the same rope and ducked off the bike sliding under it. Again, he couldn't see it afterwards, but I tell that back to the station when they investigated the next morning, there was no trace to be found. That's a good story. It is a good. Also, I had a couple of incidents at Milana Abbey and Temple Michael as a kid, which basically amounted to suddenly being overcome with fear and running out of the place. Now, that's a typical kid thing. They've hyped themselves up. They've tried to go in and anyway. Then we have haunted y'all. And they're talking about the location. Someone says, "Has anyone been out there?" And Terry said, "I could never stay out there for long. I was felt bombarded by malice." Poor malice. And then the replies, not the first time I've heard about that at Temple Michael, I wonder what it is about that place. Terry replied, "I was told that the feelings are guarding the place. The feelings as inverted commas are guarding the place and trying to get rid of intruders. I know someone who stayed there overnight and had some very strange experiences." Now, I'm going to go back to the psychic who said that they felt that malevolent spirit would be a protector. It could be, yes. Trying to get people to stay away. That's correct. Absolutely. Look at me. Someone else said, "We've been there a few times ourselves late at night. It gets very cold out there once we brought a pendulum with us." And it went crazy out there. That's paranormal proof if ever you've needed it. Someone else said, "I've been told by someone they have seen a ghostly girl out there." Haven't I dug up some good stuff? And this person said, "No, this is back to Terry. I've been doing a bit of digging." Apparently, a soldier was seen out there, armour and everything. I'm reasonably sure the account is kosher. Excellent. We had someone I was out there the other day and I found a headstone of a soldier and I took his name and his army number off it. I was then able to trace his army record. There is actually a paranormal database where you can look up a lot of the stuff that was there. That's in Ireland. It goes by county and location. Then somebody said, "Wasn't the original owner of Ballon and Trey killed the morning of his wedding near the graveyard out shooting backfired?" Also, a monk supposedly haunts the castle nearby. The whole area freaks me out. And someone just replied, "Well, keep the stories coming because it keeps a page alive." There's another one here about a couple that was walking to the top of Nook Lane and looked into the grounds. The medieval church where they saw a faceless monk walking the ground. It was that blaster donkey again, I'm sure. A young man was walking home late one night in the 20s. As he approached the parish church, he passed a horse in carriage. He thought nothing of it until he realised there was no driver and the cab was empty. Oh, a spooky carriage and horse. This is my last one. Do you know that Eugle? Y'all? Sorry, Eugle? Y'all? Got its name because the town was surrounded by Eutrees. Eutrees can be found near chapels, churches and cemeteries since ancient times as a symbol of the transcendence of death. As usually found in the main squares of villages where people celebrated the open councils that served as a way of general assembly to rule the village affairs. It was the tradition on All Saints Day to bring a branch of Eutrees to the tombs of those who had died recently. So they will find the guide in their return to the land of shadows. The Eutrees is also toxic. Did you know that in Harry Potter Lord Voldemort's wand was made from Eutrees, which can achieve astonishing longevity. It can symbolise both death and resurrection and the sap is also poisonous. Well, you did a great job, Anne. I think I did a really good job. Very good job with those stories. I've got nothing sort of that we can go, well, that person's lying or that person's lying because it's just all accounts. But I love that they are gathering the stories and freaking each other out with them. But I love that they've written them down and they're keeping them. Yeah. Getting the little kids to stick around with granddad and grandma and listen to all of those stories and keep them alive. Absolutely. And you can imagine that in all of these beautiful little counties in Ireland, there are hundreds of these stories. Oh, thousands, I'm sure. Because once again, they would have used the stories to control the kiddies, to get them to do exactly what they were meant to do. Now, we will put up some pictures of Temple Michael and the graveyard because it is one of the things that actually attracted me to this place to tell the story. It's one of those places that is just, you know, it's calling out to every ghost hunter out there to come and visit and explore. It's just one of those places. Is it a true haunting? Maybe. I'd still go. I want to go. Oh, don't we say this every time, but we do want to go. Oh, like I said, we're at the very beginning. I like my theory of the protector. Yeah. That monkey is the protector and trying to keep people out who are there for shenanigans. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, that brings us to the end of this week's episode. I hope you've enjoyed it. If you have, you can shout us a cup of coffee if you'd like to. Go to Buy Me a Coffee and Renata. It's a website. Just type in those words into Google and you'll find us. Or you can become a longtime supporter of Patreon and that's P-A-T-R-E-O-N. Just search that and and Renata. Or you can share our podcast or you can write to us and tell us how much you're enjoying it. We have some people who at the moment are binging it and they're sending lots of messages through. We really appreciate it. And we will have a treat for you every now and then. We will share someone else's podcast as well. But in the meantime, I want you all to be frightfully good. Stay spooky and most of all, don't be a dickhead. Bye everyone. Thank you for listening to this episode of True Hauntings. If you like the show, give us a 5 star rating and leave a review. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. For more on Anne and Renata, follow @ Anne and Renata on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. [Music]