Of
course, my novel is just that – fiction. But, in real life, there have been
numerous reports of houses cursed or possessed by demons. Sometimes these
emanate from the ground on which the house was built. Other times, the builder
of the house has somehow managed to impart his – or her – evil into the fabric
of the place so that it becomes irrevocably woven into the walls.
In Hollyhill on the north side of Cork in Ireland, a family fled their house after being terrorized by a supernatural force. They summoned exorcists to try and cleanse the house of its unwanted and uninvited ‘guests’.
According to Ritchie Hewitt and Laura Burke who lived in the house with their son, Kyle, the strange phenomena started off quite slowly with holy pictures and icons being thrown around. They heard screams in the night, and then their son was lifted off the bed and hurled to the floor while he was still asleep.
The family also reported seeing orbs flying around, in mid-air, from room to room.
They were left convinced that their house was possessed by an evil force that wished them harm. When they tried praying for it to leave, all they heard was the sound of furniture being moved around upstairs. Drawers were turned out, clothes tossed around the bedrooms.
They asked local people for any help they could give in tracing the possible cause of all the disturbances, but drew a blank. It seemed the house did not have any prior reputation for hauntings or poltergeist activity.
Mediums have reported strong impressions of a young man hanging himself in the house and they believe it is his negative energy that has infected the household. On stepping over the threshold, one such medium – John O’Reilly – had an instant impression of “Someone who is very angry.”
As for the house itself, its previous owner, Adam Payton, lived there for 26 apparently poltergeist-free years prior to selling it to the council. Other people living on the estate said the property was empty for several months, during which time it had been frequented by gangs of youths. There were even reports of séances being held there, often involving Ouija boards.
A local radio station facilitated a visit by Shaman Paul O’Halloran who detected the presence of hundreds of spirits trapped within the house. These included children and famine victims.
The family never returned there and the house remained boarded up and empty for some years. It is now occupied once again - apparently without further incident. So did Paul O'Halloran's cleansing do the trick? Or do the spirits merely lay dormant, only to emerge again when circumstances prove favourable?
They certainly weren't dormant for long at Hargest House, as Madeleine Chambers discovers, to her cost...
“Madeleine
Chambers of Hargest House” has a certain grandeur to it. But as Maddie enters
the Gothic mansion she inherited from her aunt, she wonders if its walls
remember what she’s blocked out of the summer she turned sixteen.
She’s
barely settled in before a series of bizarre events drive her to question her
sanity. Aunt Charlotte’s favorite song shouldn’t echo down the halls. The roots
of a faraway willow shouldn’t reach into the cellar. And there definitely
shouldn’t be a child skipping from room to room.
As the
barriers in her mind begin to crumble, Maddie recalls the long-ago summer she
looked into the face of evil. Now, she faces something worse. The mansion’s
long-dead builder, who has unfinished business—and a demon that hungers for her
very soul.
