Dublin Historic Private Ghost Tour

About This Tour

Dublin’s most famous face is all Georgian squares, literary pubs, and stone monuments. But the city has a considerably darker underbelly, and this private tour takes you straight there.

You’ll walk cobblestone streets and dimly lit alleys with your own local guide, who pulls from research by the Paranormal Study and Investigation of Ireland to bring out the genuinely grim corners of the city’s history - haunted castles, executed rebels, body-snatching students, and worse. Along the way you’ll pass (from the outside) a haunted castle, a church, a prison, and a cemetery.

The stories don’t need a seasonal boost, but if you happen to be in Dublin around Halloween, this tour takes on a particularly fitting atmosphere. Just your group and your guide - no strangers joining mid-route.

What’s Included

• Professional local guide services

Itinerary

1. A burial ground where Baron Protester and his wife are entombed with their dog - which is said to bark from time to time. Nearby, Darkey Kelly once ran a brothel before being burned for witchcraft. The green lady is a regular presence in the park. (20 min)
2. Dublin’s answer to the Tower of London. Prisoners were beaten, heads were spiked, and hangings carried out with merciless severity. James Connolly was executed here, Oliver Plunkett was beheaded, and Red Hugh O’Donnell made his famous escape. (20 min)
3. A theatre haunted by the ghosts of actors, authors, and the characters they portrayed - Shakespeare’s Hamlet’s father, Banquo, and Duncan among them. (15 min)
4. The story of Dublin’s body-snatching trade, where students stole remains from graves for research and dissection. Archaeological digs have since recovered many of those remains. (20 min)
5. A site of over 200 hangings, beheadings, whippings, stranglings, and burnings at the stake. People are still reluctant to visit here after dark. (20 min)

Meeting point: Your guide will be waiting outside St. Audoen’s Church, High St, Merchants Quay, Dublin 8.

Good to Know

• This is a private tour - your group only
• Public transport is available nearby
• Not recommended for people with poor cardiovascular health
• Otherwise suitable for all fitness levels
• Conducted in German, Russian, English, French, and Spanish

Local Tips

St Audoen’s Church is easy to find but easy to walk past. It sits on High Street in the Liberties, right at the edge of the old medieval city. If you’re coming by Luas, the Four Courts stop puts you close; from the city centre it’s about a 15-minute walk through the old town. Give yourself a few minutes to find the right entrance.

The Liberties area has its own dark history beyond the tour. The neighbourhood around St Audoen’s and Christ Church was the medieval heart of Dublin, and the streets around it saw much of the city’s most turbulent history. Your guide’s stories will feel more grounded once you’re standing in those streets at night.

Bring a warm layer. The tour runs in the evening and Dublin nights cool down quickly regardless of the season. An extra layer makes a two-hour outdoor walk considerably more comfortable, especially if you stop moving at any of the longer story stops.

The body-snatching section is one of the most unexpectedly interesting parts. The practice was widespread in 18th and 19th century Dublin, driven by the medical schools’ demand for bodies for dissection. Your guide has the detail to make it feel real rather than sensational, and the fact that archaeological digs have confirmed what history recorded adds a particular weight to it.

Halloween in Dublin is worth planning around. The city takes the festival seriously - it has Celtic roots in the Irish festival of Samhain - and this tour during that period is genuinely atmospheric. If you’re visiting in late October, booking ahead is worth doing early.

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