‘Haunted house’ skull from 1700s

EXPERTS at Queens University Belfast have dated a skull discovered in a so-called haunted house to the late 1700s.

Gardaí sent the skull to be analysed at the university after it was discovered during renovations on the house in Co Cork a few days before Christmas.

The grim discovery was made by a man who purchased the Queen Anne-period house in Ballynoe just a few weeks earlier.

The skull had been concealed between the floorboards separating the ground floor ceiling and the first floor, and it fell out when the man was putting in a new staircase.

Also discovered were a clay pipe and a gold sovereign.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster tentatively dated the skull as being more than 100 years old, but advised gardaí to seek the assistance of experts to get a more exact date.

No marks were found on the skull, indicating that the owner probably didn’t suffer a violent death.

However, as gardaí were unable to locate any other skeletal remains in the area, despite an intensive search, they cannot say for sure if the person died as a result of foul play.

According to gardaí the skull was extremely smooth, indicating that it had been regularly handled.

They believe the most likely explanation is that it was used for anatomical demonstrations by a doctor.

Gardaí know from local historians that a medical man lived in the house in the early 1800s and that he later left Ireland to ‘travel the world’.

It is likely that detectives will carry out further interviews in the area to try and gain more knowledge of the doctor and they will then submit a file to the coroner’s office in north Cork.

Ironically, locals always referred to the home as a “haunted house”, with many claiming down through the years that they had heard ghostly noises in the vicinity. The discovery further fuelled their belief that it was indeed the case.

The house was built in the late 1700s by the 6th Duke of Devonshire and was once part of the Lismore Castle estate.