| Leap Castle is sometimes dubbed as the most | | | | There were spikes at the bottom of the shaft, |
| haunted place in Ireland, it certainly possesses a | | | | prisoners were flung in there, if not killed instantly |
| particularly bloody history. | | | | they lay gored on the spikes or were left to die |
| It is located in Co. Offaly, just outside the town | | | | of starvation. It took workers three cartloads to |
| of Roscrea. It was built in the middle of the | | | | carry out all the human bones at the bottom. As |
| thirteenth century by the O'Bannon clan and it | | | | a result of it's bloody history, the castle gained a |
| became known as Leim Ui Bhanain or Leap of the | | | | reputation of being haunted, it was eventually |
| O'Bannon's. The O'Bannon's were subject to the | | | | gutted by fire, boarded up and locals completely |
| ruling O'Carroll clan. It is recorded in the Annals of | | | | avoided it. |
| the Four Masters that in the early sixteenth | | | | In 1659, the castle passed into the ownership of |
| century the Earl of Kildare, Gerald Fitzgerald | | | | the Darby family, many Darby's became high |
| attempted to seize the castle but was beaten | | | | sheriff's of King's County (present day, Co. |
| back by the O'Carroll's. | | | | Offaly). In the late 1800s, Mildred Darby became |
| Around the same time a fierce and bitter battle | | | | involved with the occult and it said released one |
| for succession ensued amongst the O'Carroll's | | | | of the most vile, evil and disturbing of spirits - the |
| which turned them against one another. One | | | | elemental. It is said to be a small, hunched figure |
| brother murdered another, who was a priest, in | | | | who appears accompanied by a rotting stench |
| what has since become known as the 'Bloody | | | | and a smell of sulphur. In the 1970s the castle |
| Chapel' while he was conducting a ceremony. | | | | was sold to an Australian who had it exorcised, |
| Another source of evil which may have | | | | the exorcist stated that she could not rid the |
| contributed to the present existence of spirits | | | | spirits but she ensured that they would no longer |
| was discovered in the late nineteenth century. It | | | | be malevolent. In 1991 the castle was purchased |
| was an oubliette which is a dungeon which was | | | | by Sean Ryan who is undertaking restoration |
| only accessible from a high hatch in the ceiling. | | | | work on it. |