There is a legend associated with the ominously named Black Church in Dublin, which states that if you follow a ritual, you will be able to summon the devil.
In the peaceful streets of Dublin 7, where aged stone and shadow mingle, stands a building that is said to have the power to summon the devil. Surprisingly, it is a former church and chapel.
The Chapel of Our Lady, better known as the Black Church, is built of murky calp limestone that seems to drink the lithe. When it rains, the limestone turns murky when humid, hence the name. Once a place of worship, it is now used as offices, although few residents can walk past it after murky without looking over their shoulders. The reason is elementary: the devil apparently lives here.
Church of Shadows
Built in 1830 as a Protestant church, the Black Church was intended to serve parishioners who lived too far from St Mary's Church on Marlborough Street. It is even mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses. However, over the years, his eerie appearance has earned him a much darker reputation. The scratchy, blackened stone gave the building a funerary feel, and as the decades passed, stories began to emerge of strange whispers, chilly drafts, and the feeling of being watched even in daylight.
When the church was deconsecrated in the 1960s, many argued that it was not just sinking attendance that led to its closure, but something more sinister. Some even claimed that during the last service, the candles flickered violently and the air became icy chilly, as if something had awakened in the walls.
Summoning the devil
Every visitation has its own ritual, and the Black Church has three. The locals whisper that there are only three ways to summon the devil himself.
- One version says that at midnight you have to run around the church three times, with your footsteps echoing on the empty street.
- Another says that you should circle it exactly thirteen times in reverse, without taking your eyes off the building.
- The last, and perhaps most blasphemous, is that if you stand in front of his door and say “Our Father” backwards, the devil will appear before you.
No one admits to having tried all three. Some say that once a student dared to do this, but the next morning he disappeared without a trace, and his friends found his shoes at the entrance.
A warning in stone
Although time has softened its purpose, the Black Church remains one of Dublin's most enduring legends. Whether or not a devil has ever walked its lands, its stones have a strange gravity that attracts the curious and the foolish alike.
If you ever find yourself near St Mary's Place on a peaceful night, beware. You may be tempted to test the legend by running around its walls or whispering a forbidden prayer. But remember the warnings of the locals, and those who call out to the darkness in the Black Church may find it responds.
-
The Black Church: Where the Devil Waits in Dublin
There is a legend associated with the ominously named Black Church in Dublin, which states that if you follow a ritual, you will be able to summon the devil.
-
Norse burial dwelling Haugbúi Draugr (ᛏᚱᛅᚢᚴᛦ)
An historic spirit emerging from the depths of graves in the Nordic countries, Haugbúi Draugr, can be both hazardous and deadly. Not just a specter, but the rotten flesh of the dead, ghosts are remembered as The Walking Dead of the North.
-
Haunted Hendrick Street: Dublin's most cursed corner
Dublin's murky Hendrick Street was once home to two houses considered some of the most haunted in the city. Occupied by at least six ghosts, some say they still wander their aged street.
-
The Vampire of Richmond and his mausoleum in Hollywood Cemetery
In the pre-Civil War Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the W. W. Pool Mausoleum is said to be the grave of the Richmond Vampire. A more recent urban legend is now associated with the collapse of the Church Hill Tunnel.
-
Headless ghosts haunting Dublin Castle
It is said to be haunted by headless prisoners who tried to take Dublin Castle. Shadows hang in the corners of this two-story building.
-
The most haunted places in Bern, Switzerland
Old cities carry aged ghost stories, and Bern, Switzerland is no exception. From aged buildings filled with history to the depths of the Aare River, these are some of the most haunted places in Bern.
-
The Serbian vampire city of Kisiljevo and the undead of Ruža Vlajna
Centuries after the vampire panic that began with the death of Petar Blagojević, another vampire haunts the Serbian village of Kisiljevo. Who was Ruža Vlajna and what happened to her?
-
The Haunted Fields of Croppie's Acre: A site of restless rebellion in Dublin
Said to be the mass burial site of the dead Irish independence rebels since 1798, Croppie's Acre in Dublin is haunted by their souls.
-
The Lost Valley: Fairies of Val Gerina
Legend has it that it was once a green paradise and fairies protected the inhabitants of the Val Gerina valley in the Swiss Alps. However, driven by his greed to impress the woman, the son intended to continue the tradition and friendship with the fairies, and brought it all down to earth.
-
Trinity College: the ghostly scholars who never left
Said to be haunted by its former fellows, Trinity College Dublin is filled with eerie ghosts and even a bell rings after murky when shadows take over the campus.
-
Queen Wildegg Castle and the tomb of Maria Luisa St. Simon-Montleart in the forest
A true story turned into a fairy tale, the life and death of the French countess Marie Louise St. Simon-Montleart became a legend. Buried in the forest near Wildegg Castle in Switzerland, it is said that she haunts the castle and the forest, her sanctuary.
-
A mysterious white woman haunting the Belchen Tunnel in the 1980s
The urban legend of the ghost of a woman in white haunting the Belchen Tunnel while crossing the Jura Mountains in Switzerland is said to have been widely known and reported in the 1980s. The question is, does it still haunt the tunnel?
St Mary's, Dublin (Chapel of Ease) – Wikipedia
15 scary and most haunted places in Dublin you won't want to visit on Halloween
Image Source: Pixabay.com
