A Unique Ireland Ghost Tour: The Original Killarney Ghost Tour
Is Killarney Ireland haunted? Maybe. Is Ireland full of Celtic history? Definitely. Are there great ghost tours in Ireland? Most definitely.
A place rich with myth and legend, Ireland’s stories (and ghosts?) continue on through generations. Ireland’s past is rich with stories, historic locations and there are companies in Ireland who would love to share them with you.
We had the pleasure of meeting one such Irish storyteller in Killarney, Ireland and recording this podcast live as he shares about the Original Killarney Ghost Tours. His name is DB O’Connor we hope that you LISTEN TO HIS VOICE TELL THE STORY by clicking play on the podcast episode above. A summary is in the show notes in writing but listenting to this Ireland travel podcast episode is even better.
You see, DB O’Connor is a seanchai, which is traditional Gaelic for keeper of old lore. He has deep studies in this area and immersed himself in this for years and combines his expertise with a love of storytelling to share the lore of Ireland, with visitors. While I did not personally have time to take his tour in Ireland, I spoke with at least 4 people who did I hear words like, “fun to do”, “fantastic storytelling”, “so interesting’, and “kind of creepy.” In this podcast episode, you will hear DB explaining a bit about the (original) Killarney Ghost Tour experience. And if you have the opportunity to visit Killarney on vacation, I hope you look them up!
Listen to “Killarney Ghost Tour Experience w/ DB OConnor, Ireland” on Spreaker.
QUOTES:
“He is the ghost man!”
“I’m a storyteller… a seanchai …the actual direct translation of the word is a keeper of old lore.”
“It’s a ghost tour but it’s not a ghost tour.”
“Personally myself I’m doing it nine years and I have not seen felt or heard a goddamn thing.”
“It’s hard to describe what it is because it has evolved over the years”
“Okay… now you’re freaking me out.”
SHOW NOTES
Amidlife Traveler Podcast; IRELAND series
EPISODE: Is Killarney Ireland Haunted? DB O’Connor & the Killarney Ghost Tour
Hello
Hey everybody! We are closing out the month of October and we’re sharing two episodes this week because it’s almost Halloween… and because recently in Killarney Ireland we met the man who runs the Killarney Ghost Tours and his story is interesting.
So, in the spirit of Halloween it makes sense to share with you now (and even though all of our prior episodes have been about Scotland so far). We’ve got loads more of Scotland to share too, but this will be the first episode to kick our new podcast episodes on Ireland.
Lora meets a scary Irish ghost man?
Here we go… Lora met DB O’Connor in a parking lot (of all places!). She was asking him a question when a woman came up and started pointing in mild freakout mode (not total freakout). She was pointing and saying things like, “Oh my gosh this guy is so scary!” and “He is the ghost man!” while looking at Lora as if she might be nuts for talking with the scary ghost man at 8 o’clock in the morning.
SIDE NOTE: Scary ghost man had a paper to go coffee cup, and being from Seattle Lora thinks people holding coffee cups in public remind her of home (Starbucks, anyone?)…and therefore naturally more approachable. It is poor logic for sure, but in all honesty he also smiled and looked helpful.
It turn out that DB O’Connor runs two ghost tours in Ireland; the Killarney Ghost Tour and also a Ghost Tour in Dublin. Since we met and talked in Killarney Ireland, we’re going to focus on that as a thing to do in Killarney on vacation. After meeting DB, we looked it up online both on their website, www.killarneyghosttour.com and reading posts on thier Facebook page and reviews of Killarney Ghost Tour on TripAdvisor where they clearly get lots of good reviews. People love the Irish storytelling, the history and the creepiness factor from the freak scary aspect of places visited. Going to Killarney and lookign for something unique to do where you can visit historic sites and learn local Irish history and lore from great storytellers? You might want to check out the Killarney Ghost Tour next time you’re in Ireland.
SPOILER ALERT:
“It’s a ghost tour, but it’s not a ghost tour.”
SO HERE IS DB’OCONNOR, ONE OF IRELAND’S GREAT STORYTELLERS, TALKING YOU ABOUT THE ORIGINAL KILLARNEY GHOST TOUR:
DB: Killarney Ghost Tour: I’m a storyteller… a seanchai …the actual direct translation of the word is a keeper of old lore and men and women such as myself we can actually trace holding each other back to the Celts two and a half thousand years ago.
What we are is about promoting the Irish people… we’re great at talking, we’re great at telling stories and this comes from our Celtic heritage. The Celts had no written language. What they had was in their ranks for men known as the felai (gaelic spellcheck, anyone?) and they were the guardians of the history and they passed the doings and the deeds of various tribes on from generation to generation by word of mouth in the form of song and verse.
That was until the monks arrived. They arrived the only part of the fifth century and they are actually the first people to write down Irish history. But, the rich storytelling continues right up to the present day people like myself and all the people it’s very much a dying art. But in recent years undergoing a revival and that’s primarily what we are about and the ghost tour is reviving that.
(L thought… so,what’s different?)
We are different in the sense that we would go to the grounds of an old hotel, a haunted hotel, and we go to an abbey built in 1448 in and around the graveyard. Lots of interesting things happened in the Abbey.
(L disclosure… this next words made Lora relax a bit more)
Personally myself I’m doing it nine years and I have not seen felt or heard a goddamn thing. Nothing.
LOOKING FOR GHOST TOURS IN DUBLIN, IRELAND?
NOW MORE ABOUT IRELAND’S ORIGINAL KILLARNEY GHOST TOUR
DB: Killarney Ghost Tour: But, people have had interesting experiences on the tour. Orbs have become part of the tour as well if anyone out there knows what an orb is, it is supposedly the signs of spirits in the air around us and they appear on your cameras and pictures white spots of light and lights running through. We get a huge amount of them there.
So we get ghost hunters, mystic’s, and clairvoyants coming on the tour. They all feel the energies… they feel this… they feel that… and there is one particular room we go into a lot of people feel like there is someone pushing down their shoulder… someone breathing in their ear… bags have opened… earrings have done 360s…cameras malfunction. A whole load of stuff… a guy collapses inside there one night… and then this one particular girl, she actually felt like she was pinned to the wall… she felt like it was took a needle up her nose…
Lora: Amidlife Traveler: Okay… You’re freaking me out! Why would I take the tour now? It sounds like a magic show.
DB: Killarney Ghost Tour: Well it is very interesting… it is hard to describe. If you go onto Trip Advisor you can get a feel. And it’s hard to describe what it is because it has evolved over the years but reading reviews you will get people’s impressions of us.
DB: Killarney Ghost Tour: I am a skeptic. I will admit. I started it about storytelling primarily. And if I can see pictures I could sensationalize the pictures, but most of them are reflections of flashes bouncing off rocks. A lot of very explainable. But there’s a lot that are not and I still have to go up I try to explain them.
So whether it is something in energy what it is I don’t know, I can’t explain it but people genuinely do come back to me. One lady actually took the biggest reaction we ever had just a few nights ago. We had a lady who the door of this room and she said she physically felt so much pain… tears actually started rolling down her face… she started shaking… she got really really upset.
Like a lot of people get that I think is you are they’re just nervous cause I’ve built it up and all of that and they don’t go in and that’s grand. But this woman had a reaction…
Lora: Amidlife Traveler: But we’re all individual… the soul… the energy around us…
DB: Killaney Ghost Tour: Yeah, yeah, I think some people are more susceptible and that’s what I’ve seen over the years.
The end result? What is the Original Killarney Ghost Tour?
“We have a bit craic… we have a bit of fun. Yes, there’s jump outs and you know the usual stuff on any ghost tour… but it’s historical…it’sinteresting… it’s funny… it’s a bit of everything.” – DB O’Connor
Visit Killarney Ghost Tours on TripAdvisor
THINGS TO DO IN KILLARNEY
