Dunluce Castle stands on a basalt outcrop on the north Antrim coast. It was built in the thirteenth century, held by the McQuillans from 1513 and then the MacDonnells, and abandoned in 1690.
In the legend, Lord McQuillan arranged a husband for his only daughter Maeve Roe, but she refused, preferring Reginald O'Cahan. Her father shut her in the north-east tower, now called McQuillan's Tower. Reginald came to rescue her on a wild, stormy night. They went down to the sea cave beneath the castle, the Mermaid's Cave, set out in a small boat for Portrush or Port Ros, and were smashed against the rocks and drowned. Her body was never found.
Her ghost is said to be the banshee of Dunluce. On stormy nights people report chilling screams and sorrowful wails from the north-east tower, and a woman in white. She has been seen sweeping the floor of the tower where she was held. Folklore Finder describes her as a version of the family banshee of the McQuillans.
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