The Marsh Library in Dublin is haunted by an archbishop who continues to be rummaging through the books on the shelves in quest of a letter that never reached him in his lifetime.
Marsh Library is a sanctuary of information, recognized because the oldest free public library in Ireland, behind St. Stephen's Cathedral. Patrick. The constructing is certainly one of the few in Dublin that continues to be used for its original purpose, and even today you may see the cages through which readers were locked to forestall them from stealing precious books.
Over the years, many famous literary figures resembling Jonathan Swift, James Joyce and Bram Stoker have used this library to research their works.
Bram Stoker, the literary genius and creator of the cult Gothic novel “Dracula” from 1897, found inspiration throughout the partitions of the library in accordance with local tradition, spending most of his time in Dublin. As he delved into its literary treasures, he was perhaps unknowingly tapping into the ethereal aura that surrounded the Marsh Library.
While its shelves bear the burden countless times, in addition they harbor a more ghostly presence – the ghost of Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, who is alleged to haunt the library.
Born in 1638 and dying in 1713, Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, founding father of the Marsh Library in 1707, left an indelible mark on Dublin's literary heritage. However, even in death, his story took a mysterious turn.
Niece's escape
The incredible story begins with the archbishop's young niece, whom he lovingly raised. She fell in love and, on the age of 19, secretly married a vicar from the village of Chapelizod. Instead of telling her uncle about it, she decided to run away and run away with him.
Incidentally, the village of Chapelizod in Dublin has multiple tragic love story. The etymology of the village indicates an association with Princess Isolde or Iseult from the Arthurian legends of Tristan and Isolde, who experienced their very own Romeo and Juliet end. The village took its name from the chapel dedicated in her honor.
The niece decided to depart a mysterious note hidden in certainly one of the countless volumes of the library, where she explained all the things and asked her uncle for forgiveness. But she hid the note too well and the Archbishop never found it, driving him from the afterlife in quest of answers he never got.
Marsh's restless search within the library
It is alleged that the ghost of Archbishop Marsh still roams the hallowed halls of his beloved library. His ghostly presence is without end trying to find that elusive note, rummaging through books. In death, as in life, he looks for answers and maybe a solution to come to terms with the past.
It can also be said that when walking from the primary gallery to the second, even on the most popular days you may feel the temperature drop.
The Ghost of Jonathan Swift
However, the Archbishop shouldn’t be the one ghost resident of the Marsh Library. For example, it is alleged that Jonathan Swift, creator of Gulliver's Travels, also pays the library a haunted visit once in a while.
Both he and his girlfriend Stella were buried nearby, in St. Peter's Cathedral. Patrick. Esther Johnson, as her real name was, might also have been his secret wife, and it’s rumored that she married and died a number of years before him. After her death in 1728, he made a death mask for her and himself and asked to be buried next to her.
Over 100 years later, they were re-excavated, causing huge controversy. William Wilde, father of the poet Oscar Wilde, joined the team that exhumed the bodies for examination in 1835.
As a part of their research, they made casts of Swift and Stella's skulls. Although this was considered very unChristian, the library retained the skull, and Stella's is situated in certainly one of the cages in the back of the library.
Swift is alleged to be visiting the Marsh Library to see Stella, as his skull continues to be within the cathedral.
Dublin's haunted treasure
As the moon forged an ethereal glow through the stained glass windows, Archbishop Narcissus Marsh continued his restless search within the hallowed halls of the Marsh Library. For centuries he had scoured the shelves, hoping to seek out the elusive letter from his niece that had eluded him throughout life and death.
And so the Marsh Library remained a sanctuary of information where the living and the dead coexisted. A spot where history, literature and the supernatural converged, without end preserving the legacy of Dublin's haunted treasure in the guts of the town.
Bibliography:
Supernatural Dublin – Marsh Library
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