{"id":89675,"date":"2025-10-19T00:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T00:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/89675\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T00:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T00:30:09","slug":"the-real-ghost-story-behind-castle-named-northern-irelands-most-haunted-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/89675\/","title":{"rendered":"The real ghost story behind castle named Northern Ireland’s ‘most haunted’ location"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 400-year-old castle is said to be haunted by the ghost of Lady Isabella Shaw\"Ballygally-Castle\"Ballygally Castle is the most haunted location in Northern Ireland<\/p>\n

Are you familiar with the tale of the ghost that haunts a 400-year-old castle<\/a>, named one of the ‘most haunted’ attractions in the world?<\/p>\n

A recent study named Ballygally Castle, located just outside Larne, Co Antrim<\/a>, Northern Ireland<\/a>, as the fourth spookiest spot in the UK<\/a>, making it the most haunted location in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

As Halloween<\/a> is quickly approaching, those intrigued by the paranormal or seeking a good fright might be searching for places to visit this October.<\/p>\n

That’s why a quaint castle on the Antrim coast, now renowned for its top-notch bistro and as a stunning wedding venue, has earned a reputation as one of Northern Ireland’s most haunted locations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: The small Irish village with ‘gates to hell’ where Halloween was born<\/a>READ MORE: Halloween stems from ancient Celtic Irish festival with traditions we still do today<\/a>\"BallygallyBallygally Castle, photographed circa 1890(Image: London Stereoscopic Company\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Constructed in 1625 by John Shaw and currently operating as a hotel, Ballygally is known for its infamous ‘Ghost Room’ and the spirit of Lady Isabella, reports Belfast Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Ballygally Castle Hotel website reveals that the Shaws resided in the castle for several generations before encountering business troubles and ultimately losing their castle.<\/p>\n

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In 1814, Ballygally Castle was home to Rev Thomas Alexander, and by the 1830s, it was leased to the coastguard in an attempt to “thwart smugglers” in the area.<\/p>\n

As for how the castle gained its haunted status<\/a>, the hotel website shares the story of its well-known ‘ghost room’, which guests are welcome to visit.<\/p>\n

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The statement read: “Ballygally’s most famous phantom<\/a> is that of the tragic Lady Isabella Shaw. After giving birth to a daughter, she fell out of favor with her husband Lord James Shaw. He took the baby from her and locked her in a small room at the top with a turret.<\/p>\n

“Starving and tormented by her baby’s cries, Isabella tried to escape through a window but fell to her death on the rocks below.<\/p>\n

“Apparently she still wanders the hotel corridors at night knocking on doors, perhaps still searching for her little girl.<\/p>\n

“Another reported apparition is that of a former nineteenth-century resident of the castle, Madame Nixon. Her silk skirts can be heard rustling as she walks the castle at night.”<\/p>\n

For the latest local news and features on Irish America, visit our homepage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 400-year-old castle is said to be haunted by the ghost of Lady Isabella ShawBallygally Castle is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[56988,56989,32343,21008,61,60,43,2443,6306],"class_list":["post-89675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-co-antrim","tag-folklore","tag-ghosts","tag-halloween","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}