The haunted hills of Donegal

Happy Halloween from all of us here at the Donegal News. In the run up to all Hallow’s eve, we have been investigating the county’s scariest stories and it’s most haunted places. Whether you believe in ghosts and ghouls or not, there has been many a story told over the years about things that go bump in the night across the hills of Donegal.

We didn’t have to look no further than Manorcunningham, where Gary Ramsey has set up his own tour guide taking ghost hunters around some of the counties scariest places.

Gary established Donegal Derry Ghost Tours earlier this year and has been enjoying it’s roaring success after several tours.
Speaking to the Donegal News, Gary said the idea of the company came following years of interest in paranormal activity.
“I have always been interested in ghost stories since I was a child running around the Old Town where I grew up. There is so much history down around there and it has always been something I was interested in personally.” he said.

“The idea of the tours came one day as me and a mate were talking about it and we decided to run a tour and see how it goes. We spent weeks planning and driving the route and checking every last detail. We have run several tours since then and all those who attend have loved them.”

The four hour tour sees customers travelling across Donegal and Derry, visiting some of the counties spookiest places with a professional story teller on board full of facts about the history and ghostly happenings of several locations.
One place which Gary said was steeped in eeriness was the Beltany Stone Circle in Raphoe.

“This place is older than the pyramids and is where sacrifices would have been made years ago. I have a professional story teller on board who is amazing and tells all the history of the locations which is really interesting.
“This location is where a lot of people feel the most nervous about. It was here a man on the tour took a photo into the forest and the next day when he zoomed in he could see a face in the trees.

“The same location a lady took a short video of about three seconds and in it you can hear a woman cry and then a man sounding like he was being sick or vomiting. I was five yards from her and when this was filmed no one around us heard this sound on the night.”

Assuring people that it is not like a scene from The Blair Witch Project, and that the night is also full of ‘good craic’, Gary said customers have really enjoyed the authentic experience so far and he looks forward to the future of the business.

“Some of our customers on the tours have reported feeling strange sensations and others caught some really strange sights and sounds on cameras. Others have reported there reliable cameras wouldn’t work in some places and phones going dead when they were fully charged.
“One of our locations is reported to have been the site of sacrifices years ago by devil worshippers and has some amazing history and facts to it.
“But not to scare anyone, it is also a great night’s craic and I’m sure everyone is OK and enjoying themselves.” he concluded.
For more information visit www.donegalderryghosttours.com.

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