A Haunting in Killarney....Wait What?!?

by Tasha in Ireland

Creepy is not usually a word associated with Killarney. "Quaint", "sweet, charming and historic sure, but never spooky. Sure the locals are all friendly and folksy but not in a Stepford kind of way - more in a Hobbiton kind of way (Or maybe I have just been watching too much Tolkien).

Generally if someone is looking for the spooky supernatural in Killarney they jump on the town's Ghost Bus. Which, while they are yet to produce any ghost, does take you through some of the local ruins at night (which is pretty darn cool!).

photo by: ornickarr greenbarrow

No, the spooky side of Killarney I'm talking about you won't see until it's too late. Which we, and our friends Darcie and Olivia, learned the hard way.

pictured: three unsuspecting girls, not pictured: one Alex whose manly bellows sound suspiciously like a girl

Let's set the scene:

One night while walking through town our little quartet began to speculate on the recently closed mental hospital which was previously a lunatic asylum (it's official title) from the 1850's. I know, such usual conversation for night time walking. Regardless, dicussing it we were when we were reminded of the most frightening statue we have ever seen. And it was here. In town.

Being rational and logically young adults who were already unsettled after spooky-esque conversations, we rationed the only reasonable course would be to go see the statue...in the dark. Now to be fair this is Killarney in summer dark so really it was just vaguely gray, however we journeyed on to find the statue of a local town hero that they modified inexplicably to become the nightmare inducing horror it is today.

Wait that doesn't look so bad, let's get a little closer....

HOLY CRAP! IT'S EYES FOLLOW YOU! KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!

Who the hell in the planning process thought it was a good idea to give the statue glass eyes!?! Have these people ever seen a horror movie? Or Doctor Who? Or the cheerleader episode of Buffy?

We were all having a good laugh (or in my case amused nervous chuckle - seriously watch Blink then get back to me), when all of a sudden a bright light came on from beneath the statue, illuminating him from below like a flashlight during horror stories. Needless to say we screamed. Or to be more accurate - darcie shouted and jumped back, olivia screamed - shook like a leaf and stepped back slowly til she was a good 5 metres away, I gave out a psycho-shower scream and ran like a rabbit and Lexi....gave out the manliest squeal I have ever heard while jumping a good 2 ft in the air. (I should at this time point out he was leaning on the statue at the time). Not one of us approached the statue again. We all stood frozen in our respective positions waiting to see what it would do next. I repeat we are all rational adults....but this statue is truly terrifying.

Don't be afraid, I only wish to KILL YOU IN YOUR SLEEP! MUHAHAHA!

 As a group we backed away from the statue, Alex walking backwards to keep eyes on him at all times (David Tennant didn't raise no fools!). Finally he was beyond our sight and while we didn't feel reassured much we turned as a group and stopped.

For there on every surrounding building were hundreds upon hundreds of black crows.

AHHHHHHH!!!!!

There's a reason "The Birds" is terrifying....and we were looking at it. I get goosebumps even thinking about it. We quickly headed on into town giving the crow infested buildings as wide a berth as we could while changing topics to as bright and cheerful as we could manage.

Before immediately gathering under a flickering streetlight with a steady chilling wind and discussing ghost stories. Because we are smart rational adults. Smart rational adults who didn't really want to sleep anyway.


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