Dublin Haunted History Evening Walking Tour

Barnardo Square and Dublin City Hall

The walk starts in Barnardo Square, the small square next to City Hall on Dame Street, right between Temple Bar and Dublin Castle. City Hall itself was built between 1769 and 1779 as the Royal Exchange, a neoclassical building with tall Corinthian columns and a domed rotunda, and it has been the seat of the city council since the 1850s.

In daylight this corner of Dublin looks grand and charming, but your guide soon shows you that the ground beneath your feet has seen executions, betrayals and centuries of fear. Arrive five minutes early, because the guide leaves on time. If you are planning things to do in Dublin at night, the central meeting point makes it easy to combine the tour with dinner beforehand.

St Audoen's Church and the Green Lady

St Audoen's is the oldest parish church in Dublin still in use, founded by the Normans around 1190 and named after a saint from Rouen. Its bells, cast in 1423, are the oldest in Ireland, and beside the church a flight of steps leads down through St Audoen's Arch, the last surviving gate of the medieval city walls.

After dark, this quiet corner of the old city is one of the most atmospheric places in Dublin, and it is here that your guide tells the tragic tale of the Green Lady of St Audoen's, an apparition said to have been seen around the church for generations. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, standing by the old walls at night gives you a real sense of how close the medieval city still is.

The quarter once called Hell and the Dolocher

In the 18th century a warren of narrow lanes near Christ Church Cathedral was known simply as Hell. Its entrance passage was marked by a carved wooden figure of the devil, and the area was crowded with lodgings, small shops and lawyers' chambers. Your guide explains the sinister origins of the name and the stories that grew around the place, leading towards the so-called Gates of Hell.

Nearby, in the 1780s, the city was gripped by the legend of the Dolocher. After the death of a condemned prisoner in the old Black Dog prison, people reported being attacked in the dark alleys by a monstrous black creature, and for a time few dared walk the streets at night. The truth behind the reign of terror, which your guide reveals, turned out to be just as strange.

True crimes of 18th-century Dublin

Some of the most chilling stories on this tour are not legends at all. Darkey Kelly ran a house on Copper Alley in the old city and was burned for her alleged crimes in 1761; later centuries added darker rumours to her name, and recent historians have asked whether she was guilty at all. Your guide sets out what is known and what was invented.

You also hear the shocking true story of Billy in the Bowl, a man with no legs who moved around in a large wooden bowl and used the sympathy of passers-by to lure them into danger, until his crimes were uncovered. The tour treats every case with historical accuracy and respect for the victims, focusing on the people and the city rather than on gore.

The Hellfire Club and Dublin's dark folklore

No haunted history of Dublin is complete without the Hellfire Club, founded in the 1730s by young aristocrats who mocked the church and the establishment. Their gatherings gave rise to stories of devil worship and disturbing rituals, centred on the ruined hunting lodge on Montpelier Hill in the Dublin Mountains, which you can still see from parts of the city on a clear day.

Your guide places these stories in the wider sweep of Irish history, from ancient Celtic beliefs to the Protestant Ascendancy, explaining why Ireland is often called one of the most haunted countries in the world. The tour ends in the old city centre after about two hours, a short walk from Temple Bar and the main bus and tram stops.