On the coast of Ireland,
on a barren cliff face
off the Hook Peninsula,
sits one of the most haunted
mansions in the world.
Legend has it that this building
is a nexus of dark energy
and a haven for evil spirits.
It's been whispered that it
has more ghostly visitors
than human ones.
Today on Scream to
Screen, we're going
to explore the true
story of Loftus Hall, one
of the most infamous
haunted estates on Earth.
Before we do that, make sure you
subscribe to Graveyard Shift,
and let us know in the comments
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you'd like us to
cover in the future.
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Loftus Hall is a
manner that sits
on sprawling fields of
the Hook Peninsula, County
Wexford, Ireland.
Beneath the serene
exterior of this country
mansion lurks a mysterious past
and an incomprehensible evil.
The history of
Loftus Hall is as old
and winding as the secrets
housed inside its walls.
The plot of land where the
hall would eventually be built
was first claimed in
1170 by Raymond le Gros.
He acquired the land and
built a fortress which
he dubbed Houseland Castle.
His family eventually
replaced the original castle,
around 1350, with a
building known simply
as The Hall or Redmond Hall.
Why did they tear it
down and rebuild it?
Because at the time,
the Black Plague
was ravaging through Ireland.
The new location was
slightly further away
from the reaches of the common
folk from neighboring villages.
Its new fortified
positioning was an attempt
to keep its residents safe.
However, in actuality, it had
the exact opposite effect.
Perhaps, this act
of reconstruction
sparked an otherworldly
need for revenge
from the land of
the Hook Peninsula.
In 1642, The Hall was
attacked by English soldiers
loyal to King Charles I.
After numerous battles
and massive bloodshed,
the hall switched hands.
It was acquired by a family of
English planters named Loftus
in the 1700s, but death seemed
to dwell inside the building
no matter who owned it.
The walls of the manor
were drenched in blood.
The Loftus family
had no idea what
they were getting into when
they purchased the land.
In 1872, John Henry
Wellington Graham Loftus
undertook a rebuilding
of the property.
This would be the addition
of the estate that would
become the stuff of legend.
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The stories that
surround Loftus Hall
have enraptured people
all over the world.
However, it was the
initial ghost story
about the mansion on
the cliff that really
attracted people's attention.
The legend goes, one
night, a horrible storm
settled over Loftus Hall.
Unbeknownst to the occupants of
the mansion, the foul weather
caused a ship to crash on
the shore of Hook Peninsula.
A single survivor emerged
from the wreckage.
He was a young man with a pale,
thin face clad all in black.
His eyes were sunken
and misty gray.
The stranger gathered
himself and slowly walked
with the gate of a man many
years older than his appearance
towards the dimly flickering
lights of Loftus Hall.
As he approached the building,
the downpour intensified,
and thunder roared
over night sky.
The stranger's pale
hand reached out
and knocked on the
front door softly.
Charles Tottenham,
the nobleman who
had married into
the Loftus family
and was now the owner of the
estate, answered the door.
Charles found himself compelled
to invite the stranger
in for food and warmth.
Charles Tottenham
introduced the stranger
to his eldest daughter,
and over a meal,
they seemed to have an immediate
connection with one another.
The stranger's eyes seemed to
light up whenever they made
contact with Anne's.
His body language changed in
the flickering candlelight.
He shifted to face
her ever so slightly
and flashed a thin smile.
After they were
finished with dinner,
Charles Tottenham
inquired if the stranger
enjoyed a game of cards.
The stranger agreed,
and Charles, Anne,
and a few of Tottenham's local
companions sat and played.
As the night wore on, the guests
noticed a disturbing pattern.
The stranger would
start to lose,
but then at the last second,
he would land the perfect card
at just the right moment.
He won, and he won,
and he won again.
Growing tired of this trend,
the guests bowed out one by one,
and eventually, it was
just Charles, Anne,
and the stranger sitting
at the table playing cards.
Anne flirted more directly
with the stranger, then laid
down what she thought
was a winning hand.
The stranger,
unfazed, supplied her
with a witty retort that
made Charles Tottenham deeply
uncomfortable.
Becoming flustered over the
growing romantic tension,
Charles Tottenham fumbled and
dropped a few of his cards.
Tottenham bent down
to regain the cards,
when he made a
disturbing discovery.
The strangers feet were
in fact cloven hooves.
Charles screamed, shoving
himself back from the table.
A demon!
A demon in our home,
Tottenham cried!
Anne instinctively
looked down to see
what had terrified her father,
and upon seeing the stranger's
hooves, she dropped
her cards, her
eyes welling with tears
of shock and disbelief.
The stranger rose to
his feet, unleashing
a howl of anguish and torment.
It was as if his
heart was breaking.
His bellow roared beyond
what was humanly possible,
as sparks flew from his sleeves,
shoulders, and fingertips.
Abruptly, his left arm caught
on fire, radiating a cold heat.
Then, in the blink of an eye,
his entire body was aflame.
Taking a moment to
mournfully lust after Anne,
the stranger leapt into the air.
His flame engulfed his
body, propelling him upward,
as though he had been pulled
by a supernatural force.
This creature tore a hole in
the ceiling of Loftus manner.
To this day, that
hole still exists.
Regardless of how many times the
various owners have attempted
to repair it, the structural
damage to the manor
will re-materialize every
time, as if the building
itself is permanently
scarred by the happenings
on that fateful night.
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Multiple versions
of this urban legend
have existed over
the past 200 years.
Some of the tales
have the stranger
staying with the Tottenhams
for an extended period of time.
Some have him being
questioned at the door
before flying into a rage
and damaging the house.
Most of the versions
of the story
depict Anne and the
stranger falling in love.
One of the legends
even supposes that Anne
was impregnated by the stranger
before he was discovered.
However, every version of
the story ends with the fact
that, after the
stranger left, Anne
sunk into an
inconsolable depression.
She retreated within
herself, choosing
to spend all her days in her
favorite room in the house,
the tapestry room.
She would spend hours staring
out bay windows, yearning
for the stranger to return.
The legend posits that Anne
died clutching her knees
and rocking back
and forth, literally
death by broken heart.
It said that her body was
stuck in this fetal position
and that a special casket
had to be constructed for her
to accommodate the
peculiar body shape.
Some have even said that
Anne and the stranger's child
was born but then
smothered in its infancy
and was then buried in
the walls of the manor.
The Tottenhams were so
ashamed of Anne's behavior,
they would have done
anything to hide it.
This rumor was
substantiated when
during a renovation
of the 1870s,
the new owners
purportedly discovered
the skeletal
remains of the child
lurking between the walls.
The exact identity of
the child and its lineage
has not been
substantiated to this day,
but many suggest that
it was Anne's baby.
Was this baby born
out of wedlock,
was this child the
spawn of Satan himself,
or did Anne simply have
a late-term miscarriage
that the Tottenhams
wanted to keep secret?
No one knows.
Other rumors suggest
that the child
was in fact killed
by the Tottenhams
in order to conceal
the fact that Anne
had committed a dalliance with a
man from a neighboring village.
The only thing
that's for certain
is that the baby's spirit
haunts the tapestry room.
If someone is alone
late at night,
wandering the
halls of the manor,
the faint cries of
an infant can be
heard on the wind, the mournful
sobs of a helpless soul
abandoned by all who should
have embraced decency
but instead relented
to cowardice.
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The next evolution in the
disturbing tale of Loftus Hall
is when the
property, now riddled
with urban legends,
ghost stories,
and paranormal
happenings, was sold
to the Sisters of Providence.
It's rumored that during
the many years of being left
abandoned, The Hall was used
as a ritualistic meeting
grounds for Satanic cultists.
They were drawn to
the spot because
of the otherworldly sightings.
In 1917, the property
was purchased
by the Catholic church.
They then attempted
to use the property
as a school for
wayward youths who were
interested in becoming nuns.
The Sisters of Providence
held a rigorous schedule
of Bible study, as well as
basic educational coursework.
A fairly large student body
lived within Loftus Hall,
in addition to the nuns of
the Sisters of Providence
who oversaw the day-to-day
goings-on of the convent.
The students reported seeing
strange shapes, light trails,
and hearing weird, unexplainable
noises late into the night.
One young girl on
multiple occasions
saw a specter of a young
woman drifting behind her,
as she attempted to walk to the
kitchen for a glass of water.
Another young woman claimed she
witnessed bizarre, seemingly
sentient light orbs.
When she sprinted down
the stairs in an attempt
to get away from
them, she says, they
traveled through the ceiling to
follow her and then flew at her
and submerged themselves
within her chest.
The nuns refused to
believe the students,
saying they were
making it up in order
to attempt to get out
of their coursework,
but the nuns would soon
regret this admonishment.
One night, while walking up
the stairs to the second floor
landing, two of the
nuns dropped dead,
no explanation, no reason.
Living one moment,
and dead the next.
This happening would cause
Loftus Hall to be abandoned
by the Sisters of Providence.
Before they extracted
their students and faculty,
they etched a large
Roman cross on the floor
of the second story
landing, where
the two nuns had passed away.
It's still there to this day, a
grim reminder of past traumas.
Loftus Hall remained
abandoned for some time.
It stood as a solemn
warning to all those
who doubt the powers
of the paranormal.
Eventually, after many
potential owners viewed The Hall
and then were scared off by
the swirling tales of death
and torment, The Hall was sold
to Michael Deveraux, in 1983.
He worked diligently
and renovated it,
updated the amenities, and
transformed it into a hotel.
From the exterior, the building
was unrecognizable, cheerful,
well-lit, and inviting.
Unfortunately for
Michael Deveraux,
the strange happenings
kept occurring.
Guests would report locked
doors swinging open,
lights mysteriously
turning on and off,
and strange, ghostly shape
seen in dimly-lit rooms.
Michael ignored all
these complaints,
thinking that people's
imaginations were
being spurred on by the locals
telling them tall tales.
He soldiered on, running his
business for close to a decade
without any serious
issues, but the stress
of the constant interaction
with the spirit world
eventually got to Michael.
After seeing a strange
shape in a mirror,
he died of a heart attack.
Michael's wife
briefly ran the hotel,
but the ghostly happenings
were too much for her,
and she put it up for sale.
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The urban legends,
paranormal sightings,
and trauma associated
with the Loftus manor
took a new turn once
cameras rose to prominence.
The manor became a tourist
and ghost-hunting locale
that would draw many
people searching to capture
proof of the great beyond.
In fact, multiple
would-be ghostbusters
have captured
interesting evidence
of the ghostly
occupants of the manor.
The Zack Bagans show,
Ghost Adventures,
featured it on an episode and
discovered this interesting
find.
Holy [BLEEP] holy
[BLEEP] oh my god.
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Loftus Hall was
eventually purchased
by the Quigley family.
They've taken Loftus
Hall's disturbing backstory
and chosen to embrace it.
They've turned the manor into
a tourist attraction, where
people can come and see the
facility and potentially
witness a haunted
happening for themselves.
One tourist snapped this
photo which many have said
is tangible proof that the
ghost of Anne Tottenham
still haunts the manor.
Thanks to the legions of
otherworldly sightings
and unexplained phenomena,
Loftus Hall has taken on a life
all its own in the minds and
the hearts of the Irish public.
Its tragic backstory coupled
with its secluded location
has caused multiple
generations of people
to fear and distrust the old
house out on Hook Peninsula.
Today, thanks to numerous
recorded sightings
and bone-chilling examples
of ghostly encounters,
Loftus Hall has taken on
the life of the most haunted
place in Ireland.
From the evidence
we've seen, this
is anything but a
tourist moniker.
This is a warning,
a call to adventure
perhaps, but venture
forth at your own peril.
If we know anything
about Loftus Hall,
we know something
otherworldly will always
be lurking within those walls,
something that doesn't often
take kindly to strangers
poking and prodding.
What do you think?
Would you stay
there for a night?
Let us know in the comments
below, if you have the courage,
and don't forget,
share and subscribe
for more videos from
the Graveyard Shift.
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