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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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