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During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Normans and Irish lords began building a type of castle known as a tower-house, a single sturdy rectangular tower with four or five floors. |
Most are now in ruins condition, but the best well-preserved example is Leap Castle in Offaly's Mystic Triangle.
Built facing the Great Pass through the Slieve Bloom Mountains to the province of Munster it has a massive tower and walls nine feet thick. Leap is famous for its many ghosts and spirits, as well as a foul smelling elemental creature, half human and half beast, reported to roam the lower regions of the Castle. Generations of terrified locals have reported meeting the ghostly beast. |
The Ghost of a young girl has also been seen on numerous occasions. She is thought to be the spirit of a daughter of a one-time owner of the Castle. Her father wanted her to marry the son of a wealthy gentleman but she was in love with a poor farming lad. When her father discovered this he killed the boy she loved. One night when he was sleeping his daugher came in and killed him. The following day as the girl was standing at the top of the castle an invisible hand pushed her and she fell to her death. It is believed her father's ghostly hand pushed her, and every night her spirit roams the castle mourning her lost love. Many visitors to Leap have heard eerie moaning and weeping at night, and lights are seen at the top of th Castle. |
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| Sean Ryan, owner of Leap Castle, tells the 'sceal' of Leap Castles colourful past in the ghoulish atmosphere of the most haunted castle in Europe. |
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