Covering Cobh: Irish Ghosts and Legends

Pillar's Bar in Cobh began life as a 19th century bank before arriving at its current abandoned state. Over the years, witnesses have reported doors that bang, phantom footsteps, the sound of chairs and tables being dragged along the floors, and mirrors that crack spontaneously of their own accord. Others, too, have felt the presence of some unseen figure skulking about the shadows.

The Old Church Cemetery is the final resting place for nearly 200 victims of the tragic sinking of the Lusitania. Some claim to have witnessed a phantom funeral procession as well as disembodied murmurs and footsteps as you approach the cemetery.

In the dockside Victorian era station that now serves as the Cobh Heritage Center, workers have reported tools mysteriously vanishing only to appear elsewhere. Shopkeepers have reported the unexplained movement of merchandise in their stores as well. The surrounding dock is also home to the ghost of a young woman in a red cape who floats spectrally through the gates. She gazes wistfully out to sea, as if awaiting some long lost sailor.

The Commodore Hotel opened in 1854 to support travelers on the many ocean liners that were passing through. During World War 1, the hotel served as a hospital and morgue. Yet it does not seem to be as haunted by these poor souls as it is by the cries of a ghostly infant that has been reported on the topmost floors.

Spike Island, just offshore, began as a monastic settlement in Cork Harbor, but its strategic location made it ideal for military fortifications. In 1779, the British built Charles Fort to guard the harbor. The fort has been a prison and a youth correctional facility as well. These days, it is a tourist attraction. It is also haunted. An apparition known as the White Woman wanders the island. She is meant to be the daughter of the fort’s commander who shot her betrothed. Wracked with grief, the young woman flung herself into the sea. A sightless ghostly soldier guards the perimeter of the fort. Is this her beloved? Or the victim of the many bloody battles that have scarred this small island?

Beneath Cobh's St. Colman's Cathedral, the crypts were once used as a prison, housing many children incarcerated for stealing food. If you take a history walk, you might learn that bones were still clinging within iron shackles bolted to the wall. The prison closed in 1895, but is nonetheless quite active. 
Additionally, a spectral hound skulks the grounds of St. Colman's, according to some.

In 1942, Bernie Dahl, was walking home along Harbour Row when he spotted another man headed directly toward him. Before Bernie could react, the man walked right through him! A decade later, roadwork revealed a skeleton in the exact spot where Bernie Dahl first encountered his strange apparition.