The Story of Loftus Hall, the most haunted house in Ireland.

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The Devil in Disguise

Loftus Hall in County Wexford, due to an old local story, has become known as the most haunted house in Ireland. The story goes like this:

Loftus Hall is located on the Hook Head Peninsula in the west of County Wexford. Once, a young lady was living in Loftus Hall in 1765, and she longed for some romance in her life. The Hook Peninsula is a bleak and lonely place in the winter, and so life was dull for her. One stormy night a young man arrived on horseback. He claimed to be lost and had been guided here by the light from the Hook Lighthouse. He needed shelter for the night, and was welcomed in by the owners. Naturally, the lonely Anne was delighted. They invited him to stay for some time. During the course of his stay he romanced the young and lonely Anne. Apparently he whiled away the long nights with a game of whist. (Must have been one hell of a charmer.)

It was during one of these games that Anne was to discover his terrible secret. As she bent down to recover some cards she had dropped, Anne saw that her companion had unmistakably cloven feet. Her screams echoed through the house and made the man aware that his secret was out. Immediately he turned into a ball of fire and exited through the roof. The hole left by his departure apparently resisted all attempts at repair.

There are many tales of his returning to haunt the residents of Loftus Hall, until he was finally exorcised by a local priest. Anne went insane and people say that her tortured ghost wanders the rooms of the hall to this very day.

How to get to Loftus Hall

For a brief period from 2012 to 2020 Loftus Hall was open to the public and you could take a tour around the inside of the building. However, in 2020 it was closed to the public due to the pandemic, then sold in 2021. Since 2022 it has been under renovation, so maybe with a bit of luck it may re-open to the public soon.

But you can still stop by and view it from the outside on the way to visiting the beautiful Hook Lighthouse.

If coming from Wexford town, take the R733 west towards Wellingtonbridge, then the R737 south to Duncannon. Shortly after follow the L4045 south towards Hook Lighthouse and Peninsula. Loftus Hall can be seen on the right from the roadside as you get close to Hook Lighthouse.

Getting to Ireland

Dublin is the main airport for the Rep of Ireland, or else Belfast in Northern Ireland. If you are coming from within Europe then the following airlines are worth looking at.

Wizz Air: Personally I have always found them to be the best and offer the lowest fares.

Easyjet

Ryanair

Aer Lingus

Skyscanner: A great place to search and compare flights

Ebookers: Ebookers have been around for longer than most and have always offered a great choice of flights.

Getting around

CAR

The best way to get around Ireland is by car. Either take your own car or you can rent one easily from Dublin or any other major city. Here are three great places to look:

Discover Cars

Skyscanner Car Hire

Ebookers car hire

BUS

The national bus service connects most major cities, towns and villages and is a good way to get around, especially if you want to meet some locals

Bus Eireann

If you want a fun way to travel with other like-minded travellers then try the Paddywagon

TRAIN

The national train service also serves a lot of the larger towns and cities. Great for getting from one side of the country to the other.

Iarnrod Eireann

Accommodation

Holidu: This is a great website to search for a variety of places to stay.

Hostelworld: If you are looking for budget accommodation then Hostelworld is a great place to search for a variety of backpacker hostels, B&Bs and hotels.

My Ireland Book

Read the story of my first ever trip around Ireland in my book, Hot Footing Around the Emerald Isle.

With just a backpack as a home, a guidebook in one hand, a bizarre travelogue in the other and very little money in my bank account, I leave my home and set off to this little country that has always been my neighbour, yet overlooked by myself for many years as I pursued dreams to travel to far and exotic countries. However, I was soon to learn that one of the most beautiful places in the world was right on my doorstep.

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This website and its articles contain links and adverts. The adverts and some links, but not all, are affiliate links. This means that if you click and buy something I will receive a small percentage of money, but at no extra cost to you. The price remains the same if you buy.

“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”