Loftus Hall, Hook Peninsula, Wexford, Ireland

The history of Loftus Hall castle is filled with different owners and mysterious facts. The very first building was built in 1350 by Redmond family. Later on after Cromwellian confiscations the house became the property of Loftus family. The today's building was constructed in 1870-1871 by the 4th Marquess of Ely. In 1917 the castle was turned into a convent and a school for girls. In 1983 the building was purchased by Michael Deveraux, who turned it into "Loftus Hall Hotel". It however was closed in the late 90s. The castle remained the property of Deveraux family until 2008 when it was sold to an unknown buyer. They say that the purchaser was Bono from U2.

The castle is famous mainly because of the young girl's ghost, who's wandering around the house. There are many variations of the legend about how she appeared. According to one of them in the middle of the 18th century, when Tottenhams lived in the mansion, on a rainy autumn night a stranger knocked the door of the house and asked for lodging. The hosts gladly agreed and asked him to join their supper. During the meal Anna, Mr. Tottenham's daughter bent down and saw that the guest's legs were transparent (some sources allege that she saw hoof in place of a foot). The girl screamed, and the guest disappeared leaving a big hole on the ceiling. A few days later Anna died under mysterious circumstances, and her ghost "settled" in the house. Mr. Tottenham called the local priest to drive the ghosts away, but it didn't help. According to another, more realistic version Mr. Tottenham learned that her daughter was pregnant by their guest, challenged him to a duel and killed him. On learning about that Anna got ill and soon died. Tottenhams made up the whole story about guest's legs and the hole in the ceiling to cover their shame... Although the present Loftus Hall is an entirely new building, reports from mansion previous staff confirm that they have seen Anne's wandering ghost many-many times.

By Sona Gasparian, www.building.am

Source of Photos: www.daft.ie