Intrigued? Before you get too fascinated, you should know that it’s not what you think. It’s actually a tourist attraction – Kilmainham Gaol.
Kilmainham Gaol was a jail that held Ireland’s most famous political and military leaders from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. For 6 Euros (or 2 Euros with a student ID), you get a guided tour of the entire prison. I read here that they are renovating certain wings of the building until December 2015, so if you’re planning to visit, you should call ahead. I’m not sure how long it takes to walk/take public transportation there from the city centre, since my friends and I were feeling lazy and decided to take a cab there. It was probably a 10 minute ride for about $10-$15, so not too bad.
The jail was an unexpected stop on my Dublin itinerary. My friends and I were in a cab one day and the cab driver mentioned that we should definitely check this place out. So we did just that.
Kilmainham was like a page straight out of Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures’ book. Old. Dark. Dreary. Damp. (The only thing missing was Zak Bagans because let’s face it – he’s the main ghost hunter and he’s just a badass). And I’m sure there were a lot of wandering souls who were imprisoned there with some unfinished business. After all, many people were executed here. (For the record, I do believe in ghosts. I’ve had a few encounters myself but that’s a story for another day. Or another blog post?) I tried Googling, “Kilmainham Gaol haunted”, but nothing noteworthy came up. Just your average flickering lights or distant footsteps.
But even so, I’m glad that I didn’t get a chance to witness any paranormal activity. Otherwise, I think it’s a safe bet to say I would have probably wet or shit my pants – or any combo of the two. Here’s what I did get to witness:
how to be a traveler 