Off the Beaten Path: Visiting the Haunted Charleville Forest Castle, Ireland

Whenever I travel I try my best to experience places off the beaten path as well as the famous monuments and cities.

As seekers of adventure I think we all like to have unique and different experiences in our travels in order to make them special to us. Anytime I travel anywhere I do TONS of research on the area I'm visiting beforehand. This is so that I can make an informed decision about what are the most vital things for me to see and experience. I'm sure many of us with a wanderlust heart do the same!

One of my dream destinations for most of my life was to visit Ireland.

My family heritage goes back to Ireland so this made it equally important (for me) to visit there. So I was ecstatic when I was finally able to go back in 2010! While I was researching the areas we were going to visit I stumbled across this article about the haunted castle and forest of Charleville. Located near the town of Tullamore, Charleville Castle is nestled among ancient oak trees and a dense forest. It is said that a ghost named Harriet haunts the castle, as well as the souls of the ancient druids around the surrounding forest.

So of course I added this as a stop on our itinerary. Since we drove from Dublin across Ireland to the Cliffs of Moher on the Atlantic West coast, we hit Charleville forest on the way back across Ireland to Dublin. We couldn't find it at first but then we saw this ivy and algae covered entrance with a huge forest around it so we figured this must be it. The castle is situated back in the forest a little so we drove down a paved road surrounded by great oak trees. We pulled up to the castle and there were a few cars parked up front so we assumed that it was open for tours and what not. The doors were actually propped open so we went inside.

Once inside it became clear to us that this castle was either not open for tours or it was under some kind of renovations. While the inside had magnificent architecture and the like, it was in a state of disarray. Furniture was covered with sheets and other furniture and random things were haphazardly laying around so it seemed that maybe it was being worked on. We heard loud punk music playing from somewhere in the castle so we walked around to find where it was coming from. We entered into this large room with a fireplace which looked like it had been a dining room at some point. Alcohol bottles of various kinds and beer bottles lined the walls in the room where it was clear some serious partying had been taking place.

There was a huge window in front of us with a beautiful view of the oak forest and out there were the young partiers. Some of them were talking and smoking cigarettes and there was also a couple having sex under one of the trees. LOL!

My traveling companion and I just looked at each other, looked around the room, and started laughing uncontrollably.

We decided to leave the castle before the partiers came back in and went to investigate the forest instead. This forest is said to be ancient and primordial and a place that the druids were known to dwell. It's filled with huge oak trees with bright green leaves. The ground is covered with tall green grasses and some areas had purple and white wildflowers. I felt like I had stepped into a magical fairy wonderland! There was also what looked like stone ruins scattered about which had greenery growing over it.

We got some great photos of the enchanting old forest and I even picked a few flowers and leaves to press in a book. We didn't see any ghosts and the partiers were there but maybe that’s because it was the middle of the day. I'm not sure if the castle opened at night for haunted tours but I imagine that it would have been a bitch to clean up all those whiskey and beer bottles before nightfall! It didn’t really bother me that we didn't get to see the castle in all it's glory because we actually got a better experience with seeing the forest and an interesting experience with people who we will always have a story about.

Things don't always go as planned when you travel.

In fact they almost rarely do. At least that’s what I've experienced. But that is part of the beauty in traveling. Same goes for life in general. It's the unexpected things and experiences that stand out the most. These are the things we usually tell stories about.

What kind of weird and unexpected experiences have you had while traveling?