Ghosts of Malahide Castle
 As befits the oldest inhabited castle in Ireland,
Malahide Castle has many ghostly traditions. Many historic
castles and houses have one ghost, some have two or three,
but Malahide Castle has five. Fist there is the spectre of
young Lord Galtrim, Sir Walter Hussey, son of the Baron of
Galtrim, who in the 15th Century was killed in battle on
his wedding day. This Lord Galtrim wanders through the Castle
at night pointing to the spear wound in his side and uttering
dreadful groans. He is supposed to haunt the Castle to show
his resentment towards his young bride, who married his rival
immediately after he had given up his life in defence of
her honour and happiness.
The second spectre is that of the Lady Maud Plunkett who
does not appear as she did on the day of her marriage to
Lord Galtrim, but as she looked when she married her third
husband, a Lord Chief Justice. At this time she had become
notorious as an un-equalled virago, and in her ghostly appearances
chases her husband through the corridors of the Castle.
The third ghost is that of the Chief Justice himself, who
merely appears to furnish his spectral spouse with an opportunity
of taking a little nocturnal exercise.
The fourth ghost is more interesting, historically speaking
and is that of Miles Corbett, the Roundhead to whom Cromwell
gave the Castle and property during his protectorate. At
the Restoration Miles was deprived of his property and made
to pay the penalty of the many crimes he had committed during
his occupancy, and which included the desecration of the
chapel of the old abbey near the Castle. He was hanged, drawn
and quartered and when his ghost first appears it seems to
be a perfectly whole soldier in armour, but then falls into
four pieces before the eyes of anyone who has the unpleasant
experience of meeting it.
The story of the fifth ghost has a certain amount of pathos.
In the 16th Century, as befitted a family of importance,
the Talbots always had a jester among their retinue of attendants.
One of these jesters, “Puck” by name, fell in
love with a kinswoman of Lady Elenora Fitzgerald, who was
detained at the Castle by Henry VIII because of her rebel
tendencies. On a snowy December night the jester was found
close to the walls of the Castle stabbed through the heart,
a tragic figure in his gay jester suit and cap and bells.
Before he died he swore an oath that he would haunt the Castle
until a master reigned who choose a bride from the people,
but would harm no one if a male Talbot slept under the roof.
Poor little Puck and his last appearance were reported
during the sale of the contents of the Castle in May
1976. His little
dwarf figure makes its appearance in many photographs of
the Castle and one outstanding photograph shows his old
bewitching and wrinkled face peering out of the ivy on
the wall. The
Castle with its 800 year old family history is haunted
with many unseen and unknown spirits and their presence
is felt
in every room.
From: Malahide Castle Spooks, Newsletter No.
32, Malahide Historical Society
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