THUNDER BAY — The oubliette may be known as a place of forgetting, but for the Beyond the Haunting team, the history and spirits of Leap Castle are something they’ll never forget.
Speaking recently from Thunder Bay’s Historic Fort William, British Columbian investigators Corine Carey, Kelly Ireland and Leanne Sallenback crossed the Atlantic in April to explore the remains of the 16th-century fortress in Roscrea, County Offaly, Ireland, for Destination Haunted: Leap Castle.
Though the current structure was built by the O’Bannon clan, the site has been in use since at least 500 BCE for druidic rituals.
“We got some money to do the special, and Leap Castle has always been on our bucket list, so when we were given the opportunity to go, it was a no-brainer to say yes,” Carey told The Superstitious Times.
Ghosts are nothing new to old Irish castles, but Leap is considered one of Ireland’s most haunted.
“It’s got all the ingredients for a lot of activity — not just one thing,” Sallenback said. “It’s on intersecting ley lines. It’s on Druid sites. It’s got the history: 150 remains were pulled out of the castle by the current owners.”
Anne and Sean Ryan, along with their daughter Ciara, have owned Leap Castle since 1991 and have been restoring it ever since. They were the ones who discovered the remains in the oubliette, found ironically inside the chapel.
“It’s now called the Bloody Chapel because apparently families, people, mercenaries were murdered in there,” Carey said. “It’s got quite the gruesome history.”
Off-camera, the trio conducted their own investigations, but for Destination Haunted: Leap Castle, their primary goal was to interview witnesses. Locals often visited the Ryans to share stories about the castle’s spirits.
One such entity was an elemental — a spirit believed to embody one of the four classical elements: earth, air, fire or water. And some of the team’s findings matched local testimonies about activity throughout the castle, both inside and out.
“We’d heard there was this elemental being in the Bloody Chapel, and I’m like, ‘I’ve never encountered an elemental. Let’s go explore this,’” Carey said. “You couldn’t tell if it was placed there by the Druids to protect the land or conjured by the Darby family later.”
The Darby family took over after Oliver Cromwell invaded Ireland in 1642 and held the castle until it was burned during the 1922 uprising. Mildred Darby, who married into the family in 1889, was known to dabble in the occult.
“There’s no real clarity on where the elemental came from,” Carey added. “So I thought that was kind of interesting.”
Ciara Ryan, who was raised in Leap Castle, would often see the spirits of two young girls named Charlotte and Emily. The Ryans would confirm that the two girls were buried in a nearby cemetery.
Ciara Ryan, who grew up within Leap’s walls, often saw two young girls named Emily and Charlotte. During their investigation, the team captured two figures on their SLS cameras, along with what they believe was a governess who looked after them. The Ryans later discovered that two girls with those names were buried in a nearby cemetery.
Both Carey and Ireland are mediums and felt the energy pulsing through the castle.
“It was a lot walking in there,” Ireland said. “It kind of struck me in the chest. I know it was powerful for everyone, but it’s in all the different layers of that building.
“It was fascinating to see Corine experience it herself because she sees it so differently than we do,” she added. “To hear the witness stories is one thing, but to feel it ourselves and then have her start to communicate or tell us what she’s seeing.”
Carey also encountered the hostility of a male spirit still harbouring resentment toward Oliver Cromwell — centuries later.
“She’s saying it like, ‘This is mine. This is my land,’” Ireland said, pounding her fist as she recalled the moment. “And then he starts trashing Cromwell.”
Viewers can see more about Leap Castle’s spirits and the witness testimonies on Destination Haunted: Leap Castle, airing on T+E on October 31, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. It’s all part of the network’s “Halloweekend” programming and Free Preview event.