Ireland Trip Blog #69: Haunted Marsh's Library

Entryway to Marsh's Library

With just a couple of more blogs to go about our 9 day trip to Ireland, Blog #69 takes us back to Dublin. After returning the car, we had a couple of hours of daylight left, so we decided to find Marsh's Library because it's reputed to be haunted.

WHAT IS MARSH'S LIBRARY? -  Its a library established in the early 1700s library with thousands of rare books on original oak shelves. It is located on Saint Patrick's Close, Dublin 8, Ireland, adjacent to  St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. 

Marsh's Library Sign

OUR ARRIVAL/THE GHOST- We arrived 5 minutes after the library had closed, so we didn't get a chance to go inside. However, I (Rob) didn't need to go in. After taking some pictures of the entryway, I stood near it and picked up on feelings emanating from the ghost inside (which I would later learn about). I sensed feelings of sadness, guilt and frustration. All of those feelings made sense when I learned who the ghost was and why he was there!


WHO IS THE GHOST IN THE LIBRARY? -   Marsh's Library has a particular ghost of its own, the ghost of an old man who has been seen at midnight browsing through its ancient bookshelves, the ghost of its founder, Archbishop Narcissus Marsh according to Irelandseye.com.
      Marsh was Archbishop of Dublin from 1694 until his appointment to Armagh nine years later, but the transfer did not terminate his interest in Dublin and in 1707 he founded his library, on ground belonging to the House of St Sepulchre, then the Palace of the Archbishops of Dublin.

Front door to the Library

WHY DOES THE ARCHBISHOP HAUNT THE LIBRARY? 
    The most recognized explanation for Archbishop Marsh's haunting the library  is because his favorite niece, Grace, fell in love with  a man the Archbishop forbade her to be with.  In the book  Irish Ghosts by John J. Dunne (published by Appletree Press), the author says Grace's lover was a sea captain. IN the book Haunted Ireland, the story says the man was a handsome clergyman from Castleknock. Regardless, it was someone that was not in the Archbishop's favor. 
     As a result, the young couple eloped. Later, his niece wrote the Archbishop a letter asking for forgiveness and mailed it to him.   The story goes that Archbishop Marsh received the letter, didn't open it and put it in a book. Now his ghost wanders the library in search of the book that holds the letter.   

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