A Dublin Ghost Story

Many people claim to have seen a huge ghostly cat which is said to roam about at night in the district of Killakee, in the Dublin mountains. The legend of "The Black Cat of Killakee" goes back to the early 18th century, when it was first seen in the area.

A well-known writer of thrillers, seeking suitable backgrounds for his tales, heard about a derelict house on the Massey Estate at Killakee and decided to investigate. To get the right atmosphere, he visited the estate at nightfall.

He was accompanied by a friend who drove him to the estate in a car. On a lonely mountain road they stopped at a wicket gate before a small lodge. Guided by the light from a torch, they entered a pathway which led to the old Massey mansion further ahead and just then what appeared to be a large black dog crossed their path and disappeared without a sound into some nearby bushes.

Intrigued by this happening - the old mansion was reputed to be haunted - the writer and his friend paid, another nocturnal visit to the scene. They were about to cross a wall when they saw in the moonlight the beaming eyes of a large cat confronting them. The confrontation only lasted a moment or two. The cat sprang off the wall and disappeared into the darkness.

The old mansion, formerly the dower house of the Massey family, has since been converted into the Killakee Art Centre, and it was at the door of the old ballroom, now the exhibition hall, that cat or apparition was said to have been seen and heard by several people.

One of those who exhibits paintings at the Centre, Galwayman Val McGann, a former Irish polevault champion, who lived in a cottage in the nearby woods, claims to have seen a cat, about the size of a large dog, an several occasions. But he was never able to corner it.

The well-known compiler of ghost stories, P. F. Byrne, has remarked that whether it was a phantom cat or a wild live cat that was seen, there was no doubt whatever that a cat legend was linked with the Massey family. Evidence of this is to be found all over the old estate. The door knockers are made in the form of a cat's face and stone carvings of cats are found in add places. The house is a weird and lonely place at night.

One of the best places to get a panoramic view of Dublin city and Dubln Bay is Killakee, on the Rathfarnham-Glencree road.

A popular picnic spot nearby is the imposing shell of the Hell Fire Club on the top of Montpelier Hill, where in the eighteenth century the first Earl of Rosse and his colleagues, it is said, worshipped the devil in black Masses. On one occasion (so the story goes) they set the building on fire and continued drinking inside - to give themselves a foretaste of Hell.

Close to Killakee are the pine forests and nature trails of Massey's Wood, Cruagh Wood and Tibradden, which spread across the Dublin side of the Killakee, Cruagh, Glendoo and Tibradden Mountains.

Ken Finlay's excellent Chapters of Dublin History says of the area: "These points [Glendoo, Cruagh, Killakee], although marked as mountain summits on the Ordnance Survey maps, are of so indeterminate a character, and differ so little in altitude from their immediate surroundings as to be almost incapable of identification, except by careful observation with an aneroid and compass." Still, while lacking enormous intrinsic interest, Glendoo is near to Dublin, is part of various possible routes and has interesting views.