‘allegedly’.. the most haunted house in Ireland!

Loftus Hall was built by The 4th Marquess of Ely in 1872 and soon after this date strange happenings began. One infamous story took place on a stormy winter’s night as the family relaxed before a roaring log fire. A stranger arrived on horseback, he knocked on the front door and was invited to stay for the night. After refreshments, he participated in a game of cards and when one fell on the floor Lady Anne bent down to retrieve it. She was so shocked to discover the stranger had a cloven foot that she screamed in terror and the stranger vanished up through the ceiling in a puff of smoke. She then fainted in terror and when she awoke, she was apparently mentally ill. This was such an embarrassment for the family that she was locked upstairs out of sight until she died. More ghost stories followed including apparations presumed to be of Anne Tottenham who frequently ‘appeared’ in the Tapestry Room and even an exorcism was carried out on the house by Father Broaders whose own epitaph reads..‘ here lies the body of Thomas Broaders, who did good and prayed for all and banished the Devil from Loftus Hall.‘