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Loftus Hall in County Wexford is a hotbed of paranormal activity. Guest author HELENA B. SCOTT takes us beyond his myths and legends, revealing ley lines and heavenly secrets
Loftus Hall, Ireland’s most haunted house, stands resilient, once again forgotten and abandoned, just outside the coastal town of Fethard-on-Sea. It is located on the windswept tip of the Hook Peninsula; a mysterious and alluring landscape that has attracted invaders from monks to Vikings and from Normans to Knights Templar.
History of Loftus Hall
The haunted history of Loftus Hall dates back to the Norman Redmond family, beginning with Raymond Le Gros, a key figure in the first Norman invasion of Ireland, who is buried at Molana Abbey in County Waterford on land he donated to the Knights Templar for the construction of a prescription.
After the original castle on the Hook Peninsula fell into disrepair, Le Gros’ descendants built Redmond Hall, later renamed Loftus Hall by Henry Loftus in 1666 after the Cromwellian confiscations.
Over the centuries, this grand house has masked itself under many guises, housing two religious orders and even becoming a hotel, before falling into a period of neglect while lying empty for ten years.
In this era the hall was affected by vandalism and misuse for satanic rituals until it was purchased and used as a haunted tourist attraction for just over a decade.
Loftus Hall was sold in 2021 and was destined to become a hotel again as ‘Ladyville House’. Currently it stands empty, its future uncertain, holding on to its secrets like a forgotten story waiting for its next chapter.
Dark tale of the devil in Loftus Hall
But beneath the surface of Loftus Hall lies an untold story, far more chilling than the popular myth that has circulated through the ages: a creepy tale of the devil, an ill-fated card game and the tragic Lady Anne Tottenham.
After living on the Hook Peninsula for almost five years, I embarked on a journey to unravel the enigmatic story of the mansion.
What I discovered was a terrifying reality, and something that was difficult to ‘unfeel’; the land or domain of Loftus Hall clearly screamed something I could not ignore, and guarded an even darker secret and older story. A story hidden in plain sight that appeared on the ornate tiled floor leading to the morning room, clearly reflecting the hermetic principle of ‘as above, so below’.
Centuries after people first built sacred sites, a British archaeologist named Alfred Watkins (The old straight track1925) shared with the world the connection of certain paths with astronomical alignments.
He believed that these locations were spiritually linked by ancient forces and called these connections ‘leys’, a term often found along these paths. Interestingly, these leys were also known to the Knights Templar, who mapped them and followed them to Jerusalem.
What are Leys?
Leys (also known as Dragon Lines) are thought to wind through the earth, connecting sacred sites that pulsate with ancient energy and healing powers, believed to cure a variety of ailments and aid in fertility and virility.
These places, once full of ritual and thought to be the gateway to the fairytale world, became shrouded in mystery with the rise of Christianity, which condemned them as the work of the devil.
Features that allow leys to be identified include beacon mounds where signal fires once burned, such as the 5e century Church of St. Dubhán near Hook Head, earthworks, artificial mounds such as the barrow of Loftus Hall, ancient circular ditches, castles and castle name places (medieval or earlier) and place name crossings, as well as ancient crosses and fords.
The latter seemed like a no man’s land; a place outside this world and between the other world, where normal laws do not apply. Often connected to the spiritual world, they were places where the veil between this world and the next was considered thin (thin places), allowing contact with spirits.
In Ireland, as in Europe, crossroads became the final resting places for those who were not allowed to have a church funeral, leading to stories of wandering ghosts.
Underground passages of Loftus Hall
The underground passage at Loftus Hall, which probably still exists, serves as physical evidence of these ley lines, which require at least four markers to define. Many of these lines intersect, creating energy vortexes and further embedding the landscape with stories of lost tunnels and paths to the other world.
The tapestry room of Loftus Hall is not where Anne Tottenham died, but where we see the intersection of two leys creating a whirlpool. I felt this as I walked into the room, which immediately drew me like a magnet to the left corner. This is repeated on the other two floors, in exactly the same place.
Ley lines, once thought to be mere myths, are now considered by some to be fault lines in the Earth’s tectonic plates, releasing powerful magnetic energy. This energy can cause geopathic stress, affecting people with symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, nausea, general illness and even altering perception and consciousness; some people have even reported “time slips”.
Sleeping in nearby areas or on ley lines can also lead to altered states of consciousness, of which poor sleep is only one. It is also believed that the powerful forces flowing through these ancient energy meridians can be controlled by both good and evil.
People have reported feeling ‘tingling sensations’ or experiencing strange electrical disturbances near these lines, often attributed to their electromagnetic fields, and may be responsible for incidents of EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) on audio recordings.
Ley lines and ghost images
This has led to speculation about their impact on paranormal activities, as spirits are thought to use this energy to manifest or influence the physical world.
Ancient beliefs held that spirits, including those of the dead and mythical entities such as fairies, travel in straight lines, in line with the concept of ley lines as energy paths across the landscape. This ties in with the idea that ley lines can amplify paranormal events, especially at points where they intersect, creating energy vortexes.
Ley lines and ghosts go hand in hand, which isn’t surprising; Known as ‘coffin roads’, they were ancient routes for ghosts and alien forces.
While examining the leys on the Hook Peninsula, my colleague Steve Meyler and I discovered that their markings aligned perfectly on All Hallow’s Eve, a night when the boundaries between our world and the spirit realm are blurred.
Their alignment was with the Milky Way, also seen as a celestial bridge or portal. If my calculations were correct and the weather held, Steve and I planned to witness this cosmic connection firsthand on Halloween.
The anticipation was intense, but under the starry sky of the Milky Way, Steve took a photo that confirmed my research. That moment confirmed for us that there are mysterious forces at play, intertwining our fate with the cosmos. We knew then that nothing would ever be the same again and that fate really is written in the stars…
The untold story of Loftus Hall is the subject of an extensive study with psychic research that goes behind the myth, to reveal a darker, more terrifying story. Discover the secrets hidden beneath the veil of time and history within its walls, as a selection of photographs by Steve Meyler provide a glimpse into the unfinished stories. This recently released paperback is an Amazon bestseller in the areas of Freemasonry, Occultism, Secret Societies, and Haunted & Unexplained Travel. Signed copies of “Loftus – The Hall of Dreams” available at Johnstown Castle, Enniscorthy Castle and the Irish National Heritage Park in Co. Wexford and Helena’s website: www.helenabscott.com
You can also attend HELENA B. SCOTT’s upcoming lecture, Decoding the Symbolism of the Knights Templar (online) at the London College of Psychic Studies.
