Occult & The Hellfire Club
I absolutely love learning about ancient occult history. The idea of secret societies living underneath the strictest rules and leadership is fascinating. When I was in Ireland a few years ago, I had the most incredible 10 days of my life. During my solo journey I spent a couple days in Dublin and of course had to hop on a tour of the Hellfire Club! No, this was not the same one that Ghost Adventures investigated. The double decker bus was super spooky and a ton of fun. The bus ride was about 45 minutes but the guide kept us entertained with many stories and legends
The club was founded in 1735 by Richard Parsons, a known dabbler in black magic, who enjoyed receiving his guests in the nude...him, not them.
The construction of the Hell Fire Club began like every bad ghost story does: desecrating a cemetery.
Dublin’s Hellfire Club was a place for wealthy young gentlemen to drink, gamble, hire prostitutes, even, allegedly, engage in Satanic worship.
The best-known Hellfire club story is the one in which the Devil himself appears. A stranger had joined the members at a game of cards. At some point one of the card players dropped a card on the floor. As he bent down to retrieve it he noticed that the stranger had cloven hooves instead of feet.
Another tale concerns a young farmer, curious to find out what went on at the meetings. Climbing up Montpelier Hill one night, he was invited in by the members of the club and allowed to witness the night’s activities. He was found the next morning trembling and terrified. Tradition says he spent the rest of his life unable to speak unable even to remember his name.
Now, it’s hard to say if some of these legends are accurate, but during times of strong religious rule there were most certainly rebels that practiced Satanic magick, and/or other extremes. Even those who were not extreme were framed that way by the Church in order to scare and persecute. It’s also interesting to note that there are stories from many different traditions that talk about “someone” showing up with hoofed feet or chicken legs. It seems to be a telltale sign of the Devil, so who knows, maybe there is a grain of truth to the stories out there. I'd like to think there is! I'd definitely recommend doing some research on it. The amount of times people have told me similar stories is quite interesting. A friend of my grandmother swears she saw a man with chicken legs when she was out dancing one night and spent much of her life in fear that he would return to find her since she laid eyes on him.
The hike up to the structure was absolutely stunning! I almost forgot I was on my way to a spooky place filled with possible energy from Satanic Rituals. No creepy feelings at all, until I actually set foot in the place. During my actual time in the structure I did feel a little off, and there's definitely something strange going on inside there. I'd love to get in there at night, but there's a lot of unsavory characters that come out in the dark - and not the dead kind! A couple of areas caused me to become overwhelmed with unexplained anxiety. I wish more than anything I’d been able to sit down and center myself to see what I could feel around there as I do believe the place to be haunted...by what, I do not know.
There are reported deaths linked there, and also the desecration of a burial ground, so there is a high probability of hauntings, even outside of occult rituals. Unfortunately over time people have graffitied it and caused damage to the building too, which is really uncool. We need to preserve history, not destroy it.
