My night in a haunted house.

Headless Santa in attic


Me and my organic biscuits
Spooky K2 device

So many people have been in touch wanting to know what happened on Friday night in Old Carlow Gaol that I figured I better blog about it.

16 of us met at the cafe in the Carlow shopping centre at 7pm. The 'Old Gaol' and the 'Governor's House' are still pretty much intact and serve as the shell within which the shopping centre is housed. The last two people to be hanged at Carlow Gaol were killed on March the 30th 1835. Lucinda Sly aged 60 and her 21 year old lover John Dempsey were executed for the murder of Lucinda's husband. A massive crowd assembled to watch their last moments, some accounts describe Lucinda pulling up her skirt and shouting abuse at the heckling crowd. Some people believe that it is the ghost of Lucinda that haunts the old Gaol now. But if it was her roaming the Carlow shopping centre on Friday night she was playing tricks on us.

Our party consisted of 13 amateur ghost hunters, a producer from KCLR and two paranormal experts; Danny and Cormac from Leinster Paranormal. Our experts were armed with recording devices and a 'K2' which picks up EMF signals emitted by the supernatural. It was this K2 which provided the majority of the entertainment for the night. Danny and Cormac had investigated the Carlow Shopping Centre on several other occasions and had even succeeded in recording some strange chilling whispers. You can hear some of Leinster Paranormals recordings on their website.

We split into groups and investigated some of the paranormal hotspots within the centre. The holding cells were an obvious choice. Now populated by whirring computer equipment and office furniture they no longer seem sinister but are perfectly preserved. It was easy to imagine what they would have been like when in use. The holding cell itself was very oppressive, only one tiny window allowed natural light in and a metal door that fitted tightly to the frame kept the airflow to a minimum. The room itself had no sharp corners and this, according to Danny, was designed to keep detainees in a state of distress after interrogation.

The basement of the Governor's House with it's low ceilings and strange well is another centre of paranormal activity, many people have felt there shoulders and arms being touched whilst staking out the area. Upstairs the attic also has a history of unexplained incidents. On our return to the gym area where we were to sleep that night we found Stephen, one of the staff from KCLR in the changing room area looking quite uncomfortable. He had felt a bad vibe in the room, particularly the sauna. Whilst we had been out investigating other areas he and another member of the station had heard the sound of a metal door slam. I sat alone in the sauna for a few minutes and soaked up the unnerving atmosphere that remained there. It was agreed that we would take a break and then return to this room with the K2 device.

Just to explain what the K2 looks like. It is a small handheld electronic device, it has a trigger mechanism which we kept held down by a coin. At the top there are a series of lights which light when EMF (electro magnetic force) is detected. All power to the gym area had been cut and we had to find our way around with flashlights. The only power in the room came from the sprinkler system so interference from electrical impulses was unlikely, this made this set of rooms perfect for detecting EMF emitted by... and it seems strange to be typing this... ghosts.

Our entire group went to the sauna / changing rooms with the K2 device, which was placed on a bench in the centre of the room. We each introduced ourselves, it was also the first time we had formally introduced ourselves to each other which made it an even more surreal experience. The idea was that we should direct questions at the ghost and if the ghost wished to answer it would light the lights on the K2. If the lights began flicker the person that asked the question would persist. The first few questions met with no change in the device, four or five questions in we started to get a response. At first just 2 green lights lit but as we continued the signal got stronger. Being nervous, and many of us slightly cynical the questioning inevitably became light hearted, one of my colleagues from the Carlow Business Club, remembering that she had forgotten to bring any milk to go with the flasks of tea and coffee asked would the ghost mind popping downstairs and getting a pint of milk. To our surprise the lights on the meter bounced up and down from one to four lights. We then asked was the presence a servant? again the lights flickered all the way to the top, next 'are you a child?' a positive response again... then with the only 16 people in the shopping centre in this room we heard the sound of a metal door slam and echo around the building. The lights died down and we got very little response to our questioning in the next couple of minutes. Cormac from Leinster paranormal went down into the shopping centre and slammed every door he could find but there was none but the condemned prisoners cell that made a sound like the one we had all heard.

We rambled around the shopping centre, my group took a digital recording device with us as we tested each area for atmosphere or experience. I spent 10 minutes or so holed up in the condemned prisoners cell with no result, it seemed that all action tonight was to happen in the Gym. When we got back from our wandering we found Stephen in an even more distressed state, his group had remained in the changing room area with the K2 and he had heard a whisper, felt something touch him and seen something move out of the corner of his eye. When he followed the path of the apparition he had seen an outline of something in the sauna. He was visibly unnerved by this experience. The K2 had been 'lighting up like a Christmas tree' during this experience. As Stephen's group left we decided to sit in the sauna for a while. We started the digital recorder and sat in the dark and waited. Nothing obvious happened but after sitting there for just a few minutes I got a very strong urge to leave as did the others.

We took another break before returning with the whole group. I was given a mic and sent to the sauna to record what I felt inside, but sitting inside there by myself I no longer felt anything. Outside in the changing rooms the K2 was responding again so I joined the group there. By now we had established that the entity was a female child servant, Danny was persuading the ghost to light up as many lights on the K2 as she could, it was at this point that Kim one of my fellow ghost hunters felt a cold touch to the side of her body and a whispering. She felt a wave of empathy for the entity and asked Danny to stop pushing the child so hard. She moved position and felt the cold touch again. We resumed our questioning, the lights on the K2 continued to flicker up and down, at times remaining lit on 3 strong lights for 3 or 4 seconds at a time. At one point, although I can't remember quite when, we heard the metal door slam again.

Finally I asked 'Do you want us to go away?... if you want us to go away light up the lights and we will leave you alone.' 3 lights on the meter lit up and stayed lit for a number of seconds. Everyone looked around, no one wanted to leave, we were all intrigued by what was happening but if it was the ghosts wish we had to. Danny asked the ghost to confirm that it wanted us to leave... nothing. He asked again... nothing.

That was the end of our experience. We did a bit more wandering around but nothing else was reported so we finally sank into our sleeping bags and waited for the security guard to let us out.

So has my experience changed my mind? do I now believe in ghosts and the paranormal? Sadly I have to say no, I feel that I need more than the unexplained banging of a metal door and flashing lights on a electronic device to persuade me that ghosts exist. I am disappointed, I almost wanted to believe but nothing I experienced that night pushed my belief far enough. Would I spend another night in a haunted house? I'd love to, if anyone has one that they want me to check out feel free to get in touch!!!