Loftus Hall
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Loftus Hall is a building on the Hook peninsula, County Wexford, Ireland that is said to have been haunted by the devil. The Redmond family built it in 1350. It became the property of the Loftus family in 1666. The version of the building that exists today was built between 1880 and 1881 by the 4th Marquis of Ely.
[edit] The story
The details below apparently occurred when Charles Tottenham and his family came to live in the mansion in the middle of the 18th century.
The story of the house is that one cold, rainy night the family of the house were sitting in the parlour playing card games. During the game they heard a knock on the front door. A man on horseback was at the door and asked them if he could stay the night in their house because of the bad weather outside. He was invited in to play cards with the family and preceded to do so. It is said that during the game, one of the daughters of the family (who was about 18 at the time) dropped a card under the table. As she bent down to pick it up she saw the man's feet, which were in fact hooves.
It is said that the girl screamed and the man went up through the roof in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a large hole. The family called on Father Thomas Broaders (a Catholic priest) to exorcise the house. Fr. Broaders later became parish priest of the surrounding area.
Father Broaders' gravestone exists today and on it is written, "Here lies the body of Thomas Broaders, who did good and prayed for all, and who banished the devil from Loftus Hall".
