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Ghosts of Ireland
Fort Kinsale, Kinsale, Co Cork
Fort Kinsale, built in 1677, is haunted by the ghost of the White Lady, a haunting that is said to have started a short while after the fortress was built.
The fort became the home of Colonel Warrender, a strict disciplinarian.
He had a daughter with the unusual name of "Wilful" who married Sir Trevor Ashurst. On their wedding day they were walking along the fort´s battlements when the new Lady Ashurst saw some flowers growing on the rocks beneath. She asked her husband if she might have some of them. Sir Trevor, a bit apprehensive about climbing down the rocks himself, asked a sentry on duty if he would go down for him, the sentry only too pleased to oblige the newly-weds, agreed to do so provided that Sir Trevor stood in for him by taking his place. Sir Trevor agreed, and buttoning on the sentry´s tunic took over the soldier´s guard duty whilst the sentry clambered down to retrieve the flowers for her ladyship.
Time passed and "Wilful" Ashurst began to complain about the chilly night air. Her new husband advised his bride to go inside and wait for him in their apartments, saying that he would join her when the sentry returned with the flowers. Time dragged on and there was still no sign of the returning sentry.
Sir Trevor was exhausted by the events of the day and was also a little drunk. He fell asleep.
He was still in a deep sleep when Colonel Warrender made his rounds. Seeing one of his sentries asleep he approached the man, drew his pistol and shot him through the heart. When the body was brought inside for examination Colonel Warrender was horrified to see that he had shot his own son-in-law.
As soon as she learned of the fate of her husband, Lady Ashurst rushed from her apartments in a distraught state and threw herself over the battlements. On learning of the second tragedy Colonel Warrender shot himself the same night.
One summer in 1815, Major Black, a veteran of the Peninsular Wars, was astounded to see a strange lady enter through a doorway and walk upstairs. At first he thought she must have been one of his fellow officers´ wives but there was something distinctively odd about her. He noticed that she wore an old-fashioned white dress. He followed her into a nearby room but found that she had completely disappeared.
On another occasion, two sergeants who served under Major Black, were packing equipment. One of the men had his little daughter with him. The girl wanted to know who the White Lady was who was looking at them and smiling at her.
Both men looked up but could see nobody. However the little girl was adamant that she had seen a lady dressed in white, looking down at her. The same White Lady was seen some years later by a children´s nurse standing over the cot of a young child.
In the 1870´s, Captain Marvell Hull and Lieutenant Hartland were walking upstairs when they both saw the White Lady who looked at the officers for a short while before disappearing through a locked door.
In the 1920´s a surgeon at the fort was found lying senseless at the bottom of the stairs leading to his room. When he recovered he said that he had seen the figure of a woman in white, wearing what he described as an old-fashioned wedding dress. A short while afterwards the same figure was seen by a Captain Jervis. He too was found lying senseless at the bottom of the same stairs.
Source Unknown
Life is like a cup of tea, It's all in how you make it.
-Irish Proverb
When he was about 60 years old, St. Patrick traveled to Ireland to spread the Christian word. It's said that Patrick had an unusually winning personality, and that helped him win converts. He used the shamrock, which resembles a three-leafed clover, as a metaphor to explain the concept of the Trinity (father, son, holy spirit).
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