Antrim Castle was built in 1613 under Sir Hugh Clotworthy. On 28 October 1922, while Lord and Lady Massereene were entertaining guests, a fire broke out in the night. People escaped on ropes made from bed sheets or reached the chapel roof. One young servant was trapped and died. The castle was mostly destroyed, and the cause was never settled, as there was more than one fire and water tanks on the roof were empty. Several great houses were burned in Ireland at that time. What remained was mostly demolished in the 1970s, leaving an Italian stair tower, a gatehouse and the gardens.
Visitors have reported heavy breathing coming from the remains of the castle, and the ghost of a young woman on several occasions in the grounds, a lady in white thought to be Ethel Gilligan, the servant who died. Phantom footsteps and flickering lights are reported near the ruin.
A phantom coach is said to re-enact a different event from the eighteenth century. On 31 May a coach and four horses left the castle and went into the long canal, drowning all on board. The driver may have been drunk and mistaken the reflection on the water for the road. The vision is said to be seen each year on the anniversary.
Comments