Inside the strange Lisheen House was once almost a museum of strange foreign artifacts. When strange things began to occur, they became convinced that a haunted and even cursed artifact was behind the poltergeist activity.
On the Coolera Peninsula in Sligo, Ireland stands the Lisheen House, also often called the Seafield Mansion, dating back to the 1840s. The peninsula is characterised by an intensive network of ancient megalithic and neolithic tombs, mounds and forts dotted across the landscape.
The house was built by William Phibbs throughout the Great Famine. In Gaelic, Lisheen means “little fort”. The full name of the town, Lisheenacooravan, means “small fort on the white plain”. Phibbs was a landowner known for his cruelty and indifference, making his legacy dark.
Egyptian artifacts – an interesting collection
In the early twentieth century, Owen Phibbs, a descendant of William, turned Lisheen House right into a repository of Egyptian artifacts, including mummies. He was an archaeologist because many wealthier people of the time traveled world wide looking for rare relics.
Some even say that he was also a grave robber and treated his tenants cruelly, and when he passed by in an opulent carriage, they told him to salute him. There are even stories that one in every of the tenants put a curse on him and his family.
He was known for evicting those that couldn’t pay his unfairly high rent, and on one occasion a widow uttered a curse and swore that the day would come when the birds of the air would make their nests within the ruins of Seafield House. She also cursed the Phibbs to walk their halls endlessly, on this life or the subsequent, until the top of time.
He returned in 1855 from a journey through Egypt, Syria and further east. When he returned, he brought many ancient and foreign treasures, which he displayed in a room he called a museum on the primary floor of his house. It will not be known today exactly what form of relics and what their meaning was. Little did he know that this enterprise would awaken sinister forces throughout the partitions of the mansion.
Reign of the Poltergeist
The servants within the mansion witnessed shocking events and strange things began to occur from then on. Lisheen's house shook ominously and objects appeared to be thrown against the partitions. They heard loud rumblings on the partitions, doors and ceilings, and dark figures wandered around.
The presence of a menacing poltergeist was undeniable, and fear permeated the once luxurious abode. People were sure it had something to do with alien artifacts.
Haunted specters and mysterious wagons
Spectral phenomena recorded included the ghostly appearance of a horse-drawn carriage whose eerie roar echoed throughout the night. The ghostly craft approached the doorway to the mansion and disappeared into thin air. Despite repeated attempts at exorcism, paranormal activity continued.
The haunting became so serious that the family called an area Jesuit priest who got here to exorcise the place. Every day for several weeks, the priest tried to say masses to rid the home of the poltergeist, but nothing worked.
Phibbs leaving Lisheen's house
The Phibbs family, living in denial concerning the haunting, were unable to retain the servants attributable to the manor's sinister fame, and the employees left one after the other, with nobody staying for long. At this point the name was also modified to Lisheen House in an try and salvage what was left of its fame. But it was too late.
In 1938 the family made the sudden decision to depart Lisheen House altogether. Their departure marked the top of an era for the once grand residence.
It is usually said that this was attributable to an incident during which the haunting became so intense that the whole house shook, fooling them into considering it was an earthquake and forcing them to go outside. After that night, each the family and the remaining staff fled, never to return.
The manor home is in ruins
The Lisheen House, whose history is shrouded in supernatural phenomena, fell into smash after the family left in 1938. No one wanted to return home to gather the home or its belongings. Most of the content has been sold. Whether this ended and what happened to the hauntings afterward stays a mystery.
Today it stands covered in wild Atlantic ivy, a silent testimony to its incredible past in green fields. Today it looks peaceful, but is it really so? Many claimed to have seen a carriage with 4 horses, claiming that the widow's curse had indeed come true and that the home was haunted until the top of time.
Bibliography:
Lisheen's House – Go to Strandhill
Did Ireland's answer to Indiana Jones bring a poltergeist home in 1855?
Seafield House | Emerald Isle Irish and Celtic myths, fairy tales and legends
Image Source: Pixabay.com
