The Paranormal Database

Faceless Woman

Location: Dublin - Flat near the North Circular Road
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Circa 1988 / 1989, around midnight
Further Comments: Two friends chatting outside a flat spotted an old woman walking along the road, pausing every so often to pick up scraps of rubbish. The friends commented on how terrible it was to see the woman alone in that state and continued to watch as she climbed some stairs to the house on the opposite side of the road. The woman turned to face the friends, who then realised the woman's face was brightly glowing, and her legs and hands were also illuminated. The glowing woman then turned her back and vanished.

Lady Gregory

Location: Dublin - Former Abbey Theatre (National Theatre of Ireland) (demolished 1960)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1960
Further Comments: Lady Gregory took the lead in finding the funds to build the theatre, and had a favourite chair in the auditorium. After Gregory's death, anyone who sat in the chair would feel something pushing against them.

Strange Presence

Location: Dublin - Former Gym
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Autumn 2003 - Winter 2004
Further Comments: A cleaner would feel a strange presence in the showers on the third floor, which would build until the cleaner could sense someone standing behind them. Upon turning, no one would be there, but the sensation would start to build again. The cleaner would later discover another person who worked at the site also felt the same presence and, seriously unnerved by the fear it created, left after a week.

An old postcard of Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.

Boyd's Dog Returns

Location: Dublin - Glasnevin Cemetery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a Newfoundland dog sometimes appears at the grave of John McNeill Boyd. After Boyd drowned, the dog refused to leave his master's grave and slowly starved to death. The loyal hound is still seen both in the area and at St Patrick's Cathedral.

Lilac Balls of Light

Location: Dublin - Glenasmole, Bohernabreena
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Some locals say that these balls of light, lilac in colour, are fairies; others say they are the manifestation of a lady who lost her way in a bad snowstorm in the middle ages and consequently died - she now tries to prevent her fate from happening to others.

Devil in Disguise

Location: Dublin - Grand canal near Harcourt Bridge (aka Rialto Bridge)
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The devil would take the form of a black dog and stalk the area around the bridge.

The Cross at the Window

Location: Dublin - Iveagh House, St Stephen's Green
Type: Other
Date / Time: Every Holy (Maundy) Thursday (reoccurring)
Further Comments: A cross would once manifest upon a windowpane facing the square, visible to those walking by the property. It is reported that crowds would gather hoping to see the unearthly crucifix.

Rolling Apple

Location: Dublin - Jervis shopping centre
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa November 2011
Further Comments: CCTV footage released on YouTube appears to show an apple falling from a fruit stall and rolling backwards and forwards on the floor, as if being pushed between two unseen figures.

Flying Brandy

Location: Dublin - John Mulligan's public house, Poolbeg Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s-2010s
Further Comments: One barman watched a bottle of brandy fly off the shelf, while other staff have reported knocking and footsteps in empty parts of the pub. A figure has also been reported walking by the bar when the pub is closed.

Buck Jones

Location: Dublin - Jones's Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Riding headless on the back of a white horse, this phantom is named as Buck Jones, former City Sheriff (though the man died in a debtor's prison).

Footsteps

Location: Dublin - Kilmainham Gaol (former prison, now a museum)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: While being renovated, workers in this old gaol reported hearing strange footsteps. Other visitors have reported the feeling of being watched.

Jangling

Location: Dublin - Kimmage Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: The area where an old woman was murdered by a tramp was haunted by a strange jangling sound. Two sisters who heard the jangling were hit by a blast of air as it passed them.

Girl with Curly Hair

Location: Dublin - Mansion House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: May 2013
Further Comments: After Lord Mayor Naoise O Muiri's four year old daughter reported seeing a girl with dark curly hair watching television, he told the local press that the building was haunted.

Pat Doyle

Location: Dublin - Marshalsea Barracks (ruins)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Doyle attempted to escape from the Marshalsea prison but fell from a roof and died. His ghost could be seen balancing of a wall for several years after his death.

An ghostly archbishop reads through old books.

Archbishop Narcissus Marsh

Location: Dublin - Marsh's Library
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The wraithy Archbishop still looks through the books and manuscripts which line the library's shelves. One legend says he is searching for a lost letter, hidden within the pages of an unknown volume.

Sean Treacy

Location: Dublin - Mater Private Nursing Hospital (no longer standing?)
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 1920
Further Comments: Sean appeared to his friend Dan Breen as he lay in hospital - both were involved in a gun fight with the British, though Sean died of his wounds some hours before visiting Dan.

Singing

Location: Dublin - Monkstown area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1977
Further Comments: Phantom singing, combined with the occasional whimper for help, could be heard for a few months during 1977.

On the Telephone

Location: Dublin - Murrays Car Rental (no longer operating), Lower Baggot Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2006-2011
Further Comments: Staff here experienced pens being thrown around the office, fire extinguishers falling from their mountings, and strange voices interrupting telephone calls.

An old postcard of Dublin Museum.

Nineteenth Century Soldier

Location: Dublin - National Museum of Ireland (was Collins Barracks)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Several entities are said to exist at this former barracks, including a black shadowy figure and a soldier in nineteenth century uniform. Truck drivers have reported seeing figures in Napoleonic era uniforms burying the dead in Croppy Park, while visiting tourists said that they had watched soldiers in First World War uniforms, believing them to be a re-enactment group. Screams, panicked horses and gunfire have also been heard coming from the area.

Dressing Room Rearranging

Location: Dublin - Olympia Theatre, Dame Street
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Doors and windows have been known to rattle violently in this theatre, and once a dressing room was virtually destroyed by an unknown presence, although it is more common to merely hear footsteps.

Sherwood Forester

Location: Dublin - Percy Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: The Sherwood Forest regiment suffered heavy losses during the Battle of Mount Street Bridge, just around the corner from Percy Place. The ghostly soldier seen standing on guard is believed to have participated in the fight.

An old postcard of Dublin's Phoenix Park.

Swift?

Location: Dublin - Phoenix Park
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It has been claimed that the ghost of Jonathan Swift haunts the park.

Smell and Smoke

Location: Dublin - Private flat, Camden Row
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth or early twenty-first century
Further Comments: A former occupier reported that a horrible smell would periodically come from a wall and a door would be heard slamming, although they could never figure out which door it was. The occupier's partner also encountered black smoke which took human form and started to insult her.

Footsteps

Location: Dublin - Private house (no longer standing), Cork Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1900s
Further Comments: Loud footsteps and bangs could be heard through this building.

Rocking Woman

Location: Dublin - Private residence, Ballsbridge area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1960s
Further Comments: A phantom woman wearing nineteenth century clothing was observed knitting while sitting on a rocking chair. The witness initially mistook the ghost as a family member.