Spooked Ireland Review - Episode Three - Aughrim Village, County Galway
Ghost/Paranormal
Thursday 2nd, November 2023
The third episode in a ten episode series, Spooked Ireland visit's Aughrim Village in County Galway, with Spooked Ireland having taken over our Friday nights in the run up to one of the spookiest nights of the calendar year, what has Spooked Ireland been telling us about the other side of Ireland that most of us are used to hearing whispers of in stories.
We're going to approach the Spooked Ireland series from a purely fact based and reasonable assumption based on common knowledge and societal intelligence. Due to this approach it is hard to either prove or disprove any of the personal experiences that are presented in the Spooked Ireland series.
The third episode, aired on Friday 13th of October 2023 and is based at Aughrim Village in County Galway.
The Spooked Ireland team consists of presenter Vogue Williams, spiritual medium Chris Fleming, technology guru Ryan O'Niell and consultant parapsychologist Dr. Evelyn Hollow.
Aughrim town sits on the land where the Battle of Aughrim took place in 1691, being one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in the British Isles, with up to 7,000 people being killed on one day. An eyewitness with the Williamite army, George Story, wrote that, from the top of the Hill where [the Jacobite] Camp had been, the bodies "looked like a great Flock of Sheep, scattered up and down the countrey for almost four Miles round."
The Spooked Ireland team led by Vogue Williams states their aim as,
In the opening scenes of the episode, Vogue is heard in a voice over stating that local priests can’t solve the issues locals of Aughrim are experiencing and that locals are at their wits end.
We next see Vogue and Evelyn make their way to the village historical centre to talk to local, Abbey McGowan. Abbey goes on to describe an experience she had in the historical centre building.
One morning she came in to ‘put her face on’ (do her make-up), and while doing this she heard footsteps outside the room she was in, the footsteps were on a tiled floor, Abbey proceeded to look out into the hall to see who was there with noone around. A bit after the event, Abbey had a look at the CCTV (cameras) to see who was walking in the hall, there was no one there but Abbey did point out that oddly, all the cameras had their motion sensor activated at the same time.
Abbey goes on to state that the battle of Aughrim is often known as ‘Ireland's forgotten battle’.
The battle of Aughrim occurred on the 12th of July 1691, there is estimated to have been up to 20 thousand soldiers on either side of the battle with an estimated five to seven thousand killed in one day.
Abbey goes on to state that shadows are seen by locals around the village as well as other strange events and experiences. Abbey also states that a headless horseman has been seen, believed to be the spirit of Jacobite commander, Sam Ruth who had his head taken off by a cannonball.
Vogue and Evelyn start to walk around the historical centre to get a feel for the place, with Evelyn stating that all the soldiers would have been covered in fleas at the time as bathing was not common.
It’s also stated that the village is built right, smack on top of the battlegrounds where the battle of Aughrim took place.
With this nice introduction to ease viewers into the what and why of Aughrim, we see Chris and Ryan get into looking around and head to a local farmhouse owned by Thomas Dolan.
Chris , in a voice over states that Tomas wants the guys to check out his house for potential activity. Chris and Ryan meet Thomas at a gate to his property, with Thomas stating,
Thomas goes on to show Chris and Ryan that the gate doesn’t open easily and that it makes some noise, with Ryan stating that the wind won’t open the gate, with Thomas confirming Ryan’s statement..
Thomas begins into the story behind the gate and some of the occurrences involving the gate. Thomas states that he used to work on bin trucks and was up all hours of the morning and night.
Thomas goes on to state that one morning a couple of years ago he was up early and his mother was up having a cup of tea. Thomas was in the kitchen, the kitchen being the window closest to the gate. Next Thomas heard the gate open, he went and looked out the door with nobody to be seen.
Thomas went back into the house and said to his mother that it was strange, Thomas’s mother goes on to say ‘that's not the first time that's happened', Thomas followed up with his mother asking what did she mean and his mother followed up with that she's often heard it open before.
Thomas then goes on to state that an aunt of his believed the gate was blocking a path, with Ryan suggesting that soldiers would come on through.
Chris and Ryan now move into the house. Once in the door of the house Chris starts to see where he should be guided, eventually ending up in the kitchen which is the closest room to the outside gate they just talked about.
As Chris walks into the kitchen he states that he sees ‘a pocket’ with a man laying down with an injured leg. With Chris going to theorise if the man had fought at the battle, retreated to the house and then went back to the battle.
Chris further follows up by stating that it makes sense why Thomas hears all the voices, as Chris states that the area is a highway to and from a location.
Chris proceeds to sit in a chair in the kitchen, with Chris then jumping up and turning to Chris, Ryan stating ‘what the fuck’, with Ryan then stating, ‘it laughed, it giggled’, Chris then states that they just had a direct voice phenomena.
Chris and Ryan start an EVP session in the Kitchen, and when Ryan plays it back after Chris asking ‘did you get left behind’, Ryan and Chris believe that they captured an EVP saying ‘yes’ and ‘i did’.
Chris goes on to state that he has ‘that static electricity’ feeling which indicates that a spirit is there right now. As Chris asks any spirit present to set off an electronic device that Ryan is holding both Chris and Ryan state that they hear a whistle.
As Chris goes on to state to any spirits present that he's happy they are there, the camera pans out into a wider shot, after being in a narrow shot since they entered the kitchen.
Just then a woman's voice from off camera asks ‘did you hear that’, with Ryan and Chris confirming and Chris following up with that it sounded like a grunt.
Chris goes on to say that they want to see something move stating ‘move something for us, to prove to use your here’, as Ryan states he’s hearing things all around him, just they a woman quickly moves from the kitchen out of shot into the living room that they entered the kitchen from, with Chris stating, ‘something grabbed your ankle’.
Ryan moves to the location that the woman was just in to try and capture anything on the ‘mel-rem’.
Chris then states,
Chris in a voice over states ‘with confirmation we’re interacting with soldiers’, as Chris and Rayn head to the hallway and stairs.
As Chris is at the top of the stairs, Ryan states that he hears a bell sound, with Chris confirming he heard it as well. Chris goes on to state that a mass a bell would be rung, further going on to infer that a spirit is saying that they are trying to say they want a proper send off as they never got one, ‘the bell was never rung for them’.
13:48 minutes
At this point Chris states that now that spirits are starting to interact, the team needs to regroup and decide what to do next.
We see Chris and Ryan meet up with Vogue and Evelyn to discuss what they have found out so far. Vogue goes on to state that between five to seven thousand people were killed within 12 hours, even though Vogue was told five to seven thousand in one day, or 24 hours earlier.
Chris on a voice over states that ‘now’ they know the battlefield spanned the whole village, which is an odd thing to state just now.
Evelyn meets up with villager Mike Redell to find out more. Mike confirms that all of the village is in the battlefield, Evelyn probes about specific locations of interest.
Mike goes on to state that he experienced something himself in the village's historical centre.
There is a table in the historical centre that has miniature figures of people in battle attire, Mike goes on to state that he paints these figures, and about eight or nine times he has experienced a shadow enter the room while he was sitting in a corner painting figures.
After a few occurrences Mike went out into the reception area to see if there was someone coming in and was told no there was noone there.
Evelyn goes on to state that the room Mike’s experience was in had no windows therefore no natural source of light in the room with Mike further stating that the shadow was in the form of a human shape and in the same spot each time.
Mike goes on to explain the shameful way the dead were treated and left. After the battle everyone still alive moved on and left the dead where they were, not before scavenging everything they could off the bodies of the dead.
Mike goes on to state that people travelling by would say that ‘you would think that looking up at the hill, at a flock of sheep’ in reference to the naked bodies left for nature to dispose of.
The episode turns to Vogue going to do some research on the battle and village of Aughrim. Vogue goes on to state that the ammunition supplied by the French to the Jacobite’s would not fit into their rifles essentially rendering their rifles useless. They Jacobite’s resorted to throwing anything they could at the enemy.
Vogue goes on to state that she believes that the castle used by the Jacobite’s is a crucial part of the battle and they they need to look into where the castle is or once stood.
Lastly with the number of dead said to be five to seven thousand, Vogue questions why the spirits of so many continue to stay in the village and essentially not move one.
The episode moves back to Thomas’s farmhouse with Ryan setting up some electronic equipment, like an Edi and a REM-pod.
The episode quickly jumps to Chris heading out to ‘bloody hollow’ where Chris states that most of the soldiers lost their lives.
Chris meets up with Irish paranormal investigator Ciaran. Ciaran goes on to state that the field they walk into is where the most fiercest fighting took place and that the stories passed down say that the fields and rivers turned red from the amount of blood spilt in the battle of Aughrim.
Ciaran further states that in the hollow of the field, when it rained the blood all collected into the one spot, hence giving the area its name ‘bloody hollow’. Bloody hollow is located in a field just beside Killcommadan Hill just outside of Aughrim village, about a 25 minute walk or 3 minute drive.
Ciaran goes on to describe an experience he had which happened in a field in Aughrim, it was dust at the time and as they drove away he turned back to see what he states was a single black figure standing in the field. Ciaran goes on to further state that there was no one else in the field but Ciaran was unable to make out features of the figure.
Ciaran goes on to state that he believes that the figure wanted Ciaran to see him. At this stage Chris invites Ciaran to join himself and Ryan during their investigation of bloody hollow at night.
Next Ryan shows up and they start their investigation, Ciaran explains that he is going to use a spirit box and explains what he believes it does while Ryan places a trifield metre on the groups while also holding a digital audio recorder.
As they start to get words over the spirit box, Ryan states that the Tri-field metre is giving small readings, the camera changes focus to the trifield metre but either there is nothing registering or the angle is too bad to see anything.
Ryan goes on to state that as they are getting direct responses to their questions via the spirit box that it suggests intelligence.
Next Chris states that he hears the word ‘portal’ and straight away concludes that the spirits want a portal to leave. Further Chris states that when he does prayers that a portal will appear for the spirits, and then closes the spirit box session down.
Chris on a voice over goes on to state that he feels more spirits starting to surround them as they move further into the field. Just before the camera jumps back into the field there is a high shot, most likely from a drone that shows very low cloud/fog just off in the distance a bit, keep note of that.
Jump forward a couple hours, it’s now dark and head torches are out in full swing as Chris states that they are going to use the GhostTube app and Chris further states that they have great success with the app due to it being real quiet and only the single word coming through.
Chris goes on to start talking with Chris stating it’s very cold and that there is fog, with Ryan also stating that the fog is coming over the hill. A second time Ryan seems surprised to see fog rolling over the hill, which for any Irish person that has spent dusk in the country would know is a very common thing to witness as well as the bitter cold that the Irish countryside has to offer.
As Chris hears what he believes is his name called out he starts to walk to the fog and it’s clear again that time has passed as now it’s dark and dusk has passed.
Ryan suggests they state back from the fog to see if anything forms in it. Chris goes on to ask if they can hear the drums of war and hey presto, drums are heard with Chris, Ryan and Ciaran all surprised by the clear sound they received.
Ryan goes on to further comment on the fog stating it is coming around them, Chris confirms what Ryans says. Additionally if you look at the light on the head torches you will see the torches reflecting off the fog as it rolls past them, they are actually standing in the middle of a foggy field.
Ciaran states that he sees a lot of movement over to his right which Chris confirms he sees also. Ryan goes on to further state that ‘they’re at the edge’ of the trees in reference to the spirits, as Chris asks the spirits to walk towards his light.
Chris goes on to ask ‘this bloody battle is what keeps you here’, with the spirit box throwing out the word ‘abso’ which Ryan straight away states that it was going to be ‘absolutely’ which is a big no no for any investigator, Chris goes on to confirm Ryan’s assumption about the word.
They get their final contact via the spirit box as Ryan states the fog is completely gone.
The episode moves back to Vogue, Chris, Ryan and Evelyn back together discussing everything they have found so far.
As Chris talks about the bell he heard in Thomas’s house and plays the audio recording he captured, Chris infers that the bell was due to the fact that some people didn’t get a proper burial.
As the team moves to Thomas’s farmhouse a voice over from vogue asks, ‘will they accept our help’ in reference to the spirits accepting the help the team are offering.
Ryans states that himself and Vogue will go into the Kitchen, Ryan goes on to state what happened earlier with Chris in the Kitchen as well as an Irish producer experiencing a touch on the leg.
Vogue chimes in next stating that she feels itchy, as Ryan sets up a REM-pod on the table and almost straight away the REM-pod goes off and Vogue states that she is really itchy. As Vogue asks Ryan if he wants her to get touched, the REM-pod goes off again.
Vogue keeps coming back to the feeling itchy piece, stating that she hasn’t felt itchy all day, with Ryan suggesting ‘it’s like something putting an effect on you’, Ryan follows up by stating that there is a paranormal thing where a spirit will make you feel how they felt when they were alive.
A voice off camera reminds Vogue what Evelyn said earlier about fleas, Vogue and Ryan seem to have a eureka moment where it all makes sense and the spirits are making Vogue feel as they did when they were alive covered in fleas.
Ryan takes out a Franks box and starts an EVP session, as Vogue says that it feels as though someone is touching her.
Vogue moves to the area of the Kitchen where the Irish producer reported to have her leg touched earlier. Vogue asks how close she is from the wall, with Ryan then asks ‘you still feeling it, like somethings at your hood’.
Ryan proceeds to check where the wall is in relation to Vogue’s hood and a camera has a look as well, clearly showing the hood is an inch or two away from the wall.
Vogue states that it’s like something brushing past her hood, Ryan goes on to link what Chris stated earlier about soldiers moving through the area.
Just then a bell rings in the room next to them, they proceed in as do the others form the production crew and team members in another part of the house, all claiming to not have touched the bell.
With everyone in the room where the suspect the bell rang, Vogue asks what has happened to everyone as Chris proceeds to sit down and state he is having a hard time physically, Chris goes on to state he’s getting major spasms and head pain as well as having a hard time breathing.
The episode goes off back to the historical centre with Vogue and Chris having a look around this time.
Chris starts to call out to any spirits present to knock over a miniature figure on the table that Mike paints the figures for, just then a bang is heard in another area of the centre and Vogue and Chris investigate.
As Vogue returns to the table, she points out that two horses are lying on their side now. Chris goes on to claim ‘I knew we were going to get activity in here’.
It’s impossible to verify that there was anything paranormal here, a bang is heard, they run off to investigate and come back to find figures knocked over, with nothing caught on camera. It’s very possible that someone running to investigate the band knocked the table causing the figures to fall over, a just as plausible cause.
Chirs starts an EVP session and goes on to capture what he states are chains, Vogue asks about the noise caught on the audio record and they catch a similar chain like sound again. This is enough for Vogue to be convinced that they are not alone in the historical centre.
The episode moves to a new location in the centre of the town's park where Ryan and Evelyn are investigating where Ryan starts an EVP session. Ryan places down this audio recorder and picks it up a few moments later to play back what if anything was captured, with Ryan and Evelyn stating that they heard ‘Ryan’ said on the recorder.
After this brief session with Ryan and Evelyn, the whole team meetup and head to the castle, or what remains of the castle. Vogue goes on to state that Evelyn has a unique experiment that might get them some results.
The first experiment is based on a theory where if you re-enact the conditions where someone died you're more likely to get a paranormal interaction.
Ryan has a cannonball that he states was used in the battle of Aughrim and will use it as a trigger object. Evelyne goes on to state that they will set off smoke to replicate the day of the battle that she claims was really foggy. And Chris has battle audio sounds to play.
While all these items are used together they will take pictures in the fog to see if they capture anything.
Ryan shows what he claims to be a skull in a picture he captures of the smoke
, nothing is mentioned here about pareidolia which is a shame.
Additionally Evelyn looks to have captured a light anomaly which in fairness looks pretty cool, there is a chance though it could be from t hepyro-technic flashes setu off at the same time as the smoke, impossible to verify or dismiss without further access to photos and unedited video.
Chris wraps up the episode with a prayer for the spirits while Ryan uses an app called afterlife, Chris states to monitor responses.
Chris goes on to state that knowing that the prayers he did, and that many spirits are going to pass over and be brought peace allows him to sleep good at night.
This episode was a very different one as it spanned a village and not just a single castle or building. There were many sites that had to be visited. Some things we did note during the episode that we wanted to raise.
Vogue at one point went on to ask if the spirits would accept their help, now it’s one thing to say as an investigator you can help a living person understand what they are experiencing and potential giving down to earth answers to experiences, it’s a large jump to state that you can help spirits when in reality no one really knows what the science or non-science behind spirits is, can they even be helped, are they spirits or something else. To help as investigators we first need to understand and know 100% what we are dealing with and not ask these misleading questions.
With relation to feeling itchy and midge flies that Vogue talks about, again it’s a very common thing to experience in the countryside, nothing paranormal or odd about it unfortunately. But like any personal experience it’s impossible to verify or dismiss.
And with regard to the affects the Chris described feeling in Thomas’s house, spams, head pain and difficulty breathing, if this was any other situation, let alone television, medics most certainly would have stopped filming and checked out Chris. It’s not stated that anything like this was done or that Chris was given the once over before continuing.
Overall this episode seemed to have activity from the beginning right through to the end and the majority of events were personal experiences. The only interesting event caught on camera is the bell ringing but without further unedited video and audio and a look around the house it’s impossible to verify or similarly dismiss.
Out of the three episodes we’ve reviewed so far, this episode was the least convincing from a paranormal perspective even though it seemed to have the most ‘activity’ out of the three episodes so far.
The episode does shine a light on the battle of Aughrim that is rightly called out in the episode as one of the bloodiest days in Irish history that most have long forgotten about.
We’re looking forward to reviewing episode four which is based at Leap Castle, reported by some to be one of the most haunted castles in Europe.
We're going to approach the Spooked Ireland series from a purely fact based and reasonable assumption based on common knowledge and societal intelligence. Due to this approach it is hard to either prove or disprove any of the personal experiences that are presented in the Spooked Ireland series.
The third episode, aired on Friday 13th of October 2023 and is based at Aughrim Village in County Galway.
The Spooked Ireland team consists of presenter Vogue Williams, spiritual medium Chris Fleming, technology guru Ryan O'Niell and consultant parapsychologist Dr. Evelyn Hollow.
Aughrim town sits on the land where the Battle of Aughrim took place in 1691, being one of the bloodiest battles ever fought in the British Isles, with up to 7,000 people being killed on one day. An eyewitness with the Williamite army, George Story, wrote that, from the top of the Hill where [the Jacobite] Camp had been, the bodies "looked like a great Flock of Sheep, scattered up and down the countrey for almost four Miles round."
The Spooked Ireland team led by Vogue Williams states their aim as,
Vogue Williams invites American medium Chris Fleming and his team to investigate a spike in paranormal activity across Ireland. With exclusive access, they uncover the mysteries, myths and murders behind some of Ireland's most haunted locations.
In the opening scenes of the episode, Vogue is heard in a voice over stating that local priests can’t solve the issues locals of Aughrim are experiencing and that locals are at their wits end.
We next see Vogue and Evelyn make their way to the village historical centre to talk to local, Abbey McGowan. Abbey goes on to describe an experience she had in the historical centre building.
One morning she came in to ‘put her face on’ (do her make-up), and while doing this she heard footsteps outside the room she was in, the footsteps were on a tiled floor, Abbey proceeded to look out into the hall to see who was there with noone around. A bit after the event, Abbey had a look at the CCTV (cameras) to see who was walking in the hall, there was no one there but Abbey did point out that oddly, all the cameras had their motion sensor activated at the same time.
Abbey goes on to state that the battle of Aughrim is often known as ‘Ireland's forgotten battle’.
The battle of Aughrim occurred on the 12th of July 1691, there is estimated to have been up to 20 thousand soldiers on either side of the battle with an estimated five to seven thousand killed in one day.
Abbey goes on to state that shadows are seen by locals around the village as well as other strange events and experiences. Abbey also states that a headless horseman has been seen, believed to be the spirit of Jacobite commander, Sam Ruth who had his head taken off by a cannonball.
Vogue and Evelyn start to walk around the historical centre to get a feel for the place, with Evelyn stating that all the soldiers would have been covered in fleas at the time as bathing was not common.
It’s also stated that the village is built right, smack on top of the battlegrounds where the battle of Aughrim took place.
With this nice introduction to ease viewers into the what and why of Aughrim, we see Chris and Ryan get into looking around and head to a local farmhouse owned by Thomas Dolan.
Chris , in a voice over states that Tomas wants the guys to check out his house for potential activity. Chris and Ryan meet Thomas at a gate to his property, with Thomas stating,
well, theres a bit of a story to this gate, it…eh…manages to open itself, in the middle of the night
Thomas goes on to show Chris and Ryan that the gate doesn’t open easily and that it makes some noise, with Ryan stating that the wind won’t open the gate, with Thomas confirming Ryan’s statement..
Thomas begins into the story behind the gate and some of the occurrences involving the gate. Thomas states that he used to work on bin trucks and was up all hours of the morning and night.
Thomas goes on to state that one morning a couple of years ago he was up early and his mother was up having a cup of tea. Thomas was in the kitchen, the kitchen being the window closest to the gate. Next Thomas heard the gate open, he went and looked out the door with nobody to be seen.
Thomas went back into the house and said to his mother that it was strange, Thomas’s mother goes on to say ‘that's not the first time that's happened', Thomas followed up with his mother asking what did she mean and his mother followed up with that she's often heard it open before.
Thomas then goes on to state that an aunt of his believed the gate was blocking a path, with Ryan suggesting that soldiers would come on through.
Chris and Ryan now move into the house. Once in the door of the house Chris starts to see where he should be guided, eventually ending up in the kitchen which is the closest room to the outside gate they just talked about.
As Chris walks into the kitchen he states that he sees ‘a pocket’ with a man laying down with an injured leg. With Chris going to theorise if the man had fought at the battle, retreated to the house and then went back to the battle.
Chris further follows up by stating that it makes sense why Thomas hears all the voices, as Chris states that the area is a highway to and from a location.
Chris proceeds to sit in a chair in the kitchen, with Chris then jumping up and turning to Chris, Ryan stating ‘what the fuck’, with Ryan then stating, ‘it laughed, it giggled’, Chris then states that they just had a direct voice phenomena.
Chris and Ryan start an EVP session in the Kitchen, and when Ryan plays it back after Chris asking ‘did you get left behind’, Ryan and Chris believe that they captured an EVP saying ‘yes’ and ‘i did’.
Chris goes on to state that he has ‘that static electricity’ feeling which indicates that a spirit is there right now. As Chris asks any spirit present to set off an electronic device that Ryan is holding both Chris and Ryan state that they hear a whistle.
As Chris goes on to state to any spirits present that he's happy they are there, the camera pans out into a wider shot, after being in a narrow shot since they entered the kitchen.
Just then a woman's voice from off camera asks ‘did you hear that’, with Ryan and Chris confirming and Chris following up with that it sounded like a grunt.
Chris goes on to say that they want to see something move stating ‘move something for us, to prove to use your here’, as Ryan states he’s hearing things all around him, just they a woman quickly moves from the kitchen out of shot into the living room that they entered the kitchen from, with Chris stating, ‘something grabbed your ankle’.
Ryan moves to the location that the woman was just in to try and capture anything on the ‘mel-rem’.
Chris then states,
”heres whats happening, a phenomena, when you go to a location thats never investigated, is, theres a curiosity from all the…”
“…we’re getting spirits from all over this land that are now coming forward because we are now opening communication”
Chris in a voice over states ‘with confirmation we’re interacting with soldiers’, as Chris and Rayn head to the hallway and stairs.
As Chris is at the top of the stairs, Ryan states that he hears a bell sound, with Chris confirming he heard it as well. Chris goes on to state that a mass a bell would be rung, further going on to infer that a spirit is saying that they are trying to say they want a proper send off as they never got one, ‘the bell was never rung for them’.
13:48 minutes
At this point Chris states that now that spirits are starting to interact, the team needs to regroup and decide what to do next.
We see Chris and Ryan meet up with Vogue and Evelyn to discuss what they have found out so far. Vogue goes on to state that between five to seven thousand people were killed within 12 hours, even though Vogue was told five to seven thousand in one day, or 24 hours earlier.
Chris on a voice over states that ‘now’ they know the battlefield spanned the whole village, which is an odd thing to state just now.
Evelyn meets up with villager Mike Redell to find out more. Mike confirms that all of the village is in the battlefield, Evelyn probes about specific locations of interest.
Mike goes on to state that he experienced something himself in the village's historical centre.
There is a table in the historical centre that has miniature figures of people in battle attire, Mike goes on to state that he paints these figures, and about eight or nine times he has experienced a shadow enter the room while he was sitting in a corner painting figures.
After a few occurrences Mike went out into the reception area to see if there was someone coming in and was told no there was noone there.
Evelyn goes on to state that the room Mike’s experience was in had no windows therefore no natural source of light in the room with Mike further stating that the shadow was in the form of a human shape and in the same spot each time.
Mike goes on to explain the shameful way the dead were treated and left. After the battle everyone still alive moved on and left the dead where they were, not before scavenging everything they could off the bodies of the dead.
Mike goes on to state that people travelling by would say that ‘you would think that looking up at the hill, at a flock of sheep’ in reference to the naked bodies left for nature to dispose of.
The episode turns to Vogue going to do some research on the battle and village of Aughrim. Vogue goes on to state that the ammunition supplied by the French to the Jacobite’s would not fit into their rifles essentially rendering their rifles useless. They Jacobite’s resorted to throwing anything they could at the enemy.
Vogue goes on to state that she believes that the castle used by the Jacobite’s is a crucial part of the battle and they they need to look into where the castle is or once stood.
Lastly with the number of dead said to be five to seven thousand, Vogue questions why the spirits of so many continue to stay in the village and essentially not move one.
The episode moves back to Thomas’s farmhouse with Ryan setting up some electronic equipment, like an Edi and a REM-pod.
The episode quickly jumps to Chris heading out to ‘bloody hollow’ where Chris states that most of the soldiers lost their lives.
Chris meets up with Irish paranormal investigator Ciaran. Ciaran goes on to state that the field they walk into is where the most fiercest fighting took place and that the stories passed down say that the fields and rivers turned red from the amount of blood spilt in the battle of Aughrim.
Ciaran further states that in the hollow of the field, when it rained the blood all collected into the one spot, hence giving the area its name ‘bloody hollow’. Bloody hollow is located in a field just beside Killcommadan Hill just outside of Aughrim village, about a 25 minute walk or 3 minute drive.
Ciaran goes on to describe an experience he had which happened in a field in Aughrim, it was dust at the time and as they drove away he turned back to see what he states was a single black figure standing in the field. Ciaran goes on to further state that there was no one else in the field but Ciaran was unable to make out features of the figure.
Ciaran goes on to state that he believes that the figure wanted Ciaran to see him. At this stage Chris invites Ciaran to join himself and Ryan during their investigation of bloody hollow at night.
Next Ryan shows up and they start their investigation, Ciaran explains that he is going to use a spirit box and explains what he believes it does while Ryan places a trifield metre on the groups while also holding a digital audio recorder.
As they start to get words over the spirit box, Ryan states that the Tri-field metre is giving small readings, the camera changes focus to the trifield metre but either there is nothing registering or the angle is too bad to see anything.
Ryan goes on to state that as they are getting direct responses to their questions via the spirit box that it suggests intelligence.
Next Chris states that he hears the word ‘portal’ and straight away concludes that the spirits want a portal to leave. Further Chris states that when he does prayers that a portal will appear for the spirits, and then closes the spirit box session down.
Chris on a voice over goes on to state that he feels more spirits starting to surround them as they move further into the field. Just before the camera jumps back into the field there is a high shot, most likely from a drone that shows very low cloud/fog just off in the distance a bit, keep note of that.
Jump forward a couple hours, it’s now dark and head torches are out in full swing as Chris states that they are going to use the GhostTube app and Chris further states that they have great success with the app due to it being real quiet and only the single word coming through.
Chris goes on to start talking with Chris stating it’s very cold and that there is fog, with Ryan also stating that the fog is coming over the hill. A second time Ryan seems surprised to see fog rolling over the hill, which for any Irish person that has spent dusk in the country would know is a very common thing to witness as well as the bitter cold that the Irish countryside has to offer.
As Chris hears what he believes is his name called out he starts to walk to the fog and it’s clear again that time has passed as now it’s dark and dusk has passed.
Ryan suggests they state back from the fog to see if anything forms in it. Chris goes on to ask if they can hear the drums of war and hey presto, drums are heard with Chris, Ryan and Ciaran all surprised by the clear sound they received.
Ryan goes on to further comment on the fog stating it is coming around them, Chris confirms what Ryans says. Additionally if you look at the light on the head torches you will see the torches reflecting off the fog as it rolls past them, they are actually standing in the middle of a foggy field.
Ciaran states that he sees a lot of movement over to his right which Chris confirms he sees also. Ryan goes on to further state that ‘they’re at the edge’ of the trees in reference to the spirits, as Chris asks the spirits to walk towards his light.
Chris goes on to ask ‘this bloody battle is what keeps you here’, with the spirit box throwing out the word ‘abso’ which Ryan straight away states that it was going to be ‘absolutely’ which is a big no no for any investigator, Chris goes on to confirm Ryan’s assumption about the word.
They get their final contact via the spirit box as Ryan states the fog is completely gone.
The episode moves back to Vogue, Chris, Ryan and Evelyn back together discussing everything they have found so far.
As Chris talks about the bell he heard in Thomas’s house and plays the audio recording he captured, Chris infers that the bell was due to the fact that some people didn’t get a proper burial.
As the team moves to Thomas’s farmhouse a voice over from vogue asks, ‘will they accept our help’ in reference to the spirits accepting the help the team are offering.
Ryans states that himself and Vogue will go into the Kitchen, Ryan goes on to state what happened earlier with Chris in the Kitchen as well as an Irish producer experiencing a touch on the leg.
Vogue chimes in next stating that she feels itchy, as Ryan sets up a REM-pod on the table and almost straight away the REM-pod goes off and Vogue states that she is really itchy. As Vogue asks Ryan if he wants her to get touched, the REM-pod goes off again.
Vogue keeps coming back to the feeling itchy piece, stating that she hasn’t felt itchy all day, with Ryan suggesting ‘it’s like something putting an effect on you’, Ryan follows up by stating that there is a paranormal thing where a spirit will make you feel how they felt when they were alive.
A voice off camera reminds Vogue what Evelyn said earlier about fleas, Vogue and Ryan seem to have a eureka moment where it all makes sense and the spirits are making Vogue feel as they did when they were alive covered in fleas.
Ryan takes out a Franks box and starts an EVP session, as Vogue says that it feels as though someone is touching her.
Vogue moves to the area of the Kitchen where the Irish producer reported to have her leg touched earlier. Vogue asks how close she is from the wall, with Ryan then asks ‘you still feeling it, like somethings at your hood’.
Ryan proceeds to check where the wall is in relation to Vogue’s hood and a camera has a look as well, clearly showing the hood is an inch or two away from the wall.
Vogue states that it’s like something brushing past her hood, Ryan goes on to link what Chris stated earlier about soldiers moving through the area.
Just then a bell rings in the room next to them, they proceed in as do the others form the production crew and team members in another part of the house, all claiming to not have touched the bell.
With everyone in the room where the suspect the bell rang, Vogue asks what has happened to everyone as Chris proceeds to sit down and state he is having a hard time physically, Chris goes on to state he’s getting major spasms and head pain as well as having a hard time breathing.
The episode goes off back to the historical centre with Vogue and Chris having a look around this time.
Chris starts to call out to any spirits present to knock over a miniature figure on the table that Mike paints the figures for, just then a bang is heard in another area of the centre and Vogue and Chris investigate.
As Vogue returns to the table, she points out that two horses are lying on their side now. Chris goes on to claim ‘I knew we were going to get activity in here’.
It’s impossible to verify that there was anything paranormal here, a bang is heard, they run off to investigate and come back to find figures knocked over, with nothing caught on camera. It’s very possible that someone running to investigate the band knocked the table causing the figures to fall over, a just as plausible cause.
Chirs starts an EVP session and goes on to capture what he states are chains, Vogue asks about the noise caught on the audio record and they catch a similar chain like sound again. This is enough for Vogue to be convinced that they are not alone in the historical centre.
The episode moves to a new location in the centre of the town's park where Ryan and Evelyn are investigating where Ryan starts an EVP session. Ryan places down this audio recorder and picks it up a few moments later to play back what if anything was captured, with Ryan and Evelyn stating that they heard ‘Ryan’ said on the recorder.
After this brief session with Ryan and Evelyn, the whole team meetup and head to the castle, or what remains of the castle. Vogue goes on to state that Evelyn has a unique experiment that might get them some results.
The first experiment is based on a theory where if you re-enact the conditions where someone died you're more likely to get a paranormal interaction.
Ryan has a cannonball that he states was used in the battle of Aughrim and will use it as a trigger object. Evelyne goes on to state that they will set off smoke to replicate the day of the battle that she claims was really foggy. And Chris has battle audio sounds to play.
While all these items are used together they will take pictures in the fog to see if they capture anything.
Ryan shows what he claims to be a skull in a picture he captures of the smoke
, nothing is mentioned here about pareidolia which is a shame.
Additionally Evelyn looks to have captured a light anomaly which in fairness looks pretty cool, there is a chance though it could be from t hepyro-technic flashes setu off at the same time as the smoke, impossible to verify or dismiss without further access to photos and unedited video.
Chris wraps up the episode with a prayer for the spirits while Ryan uses an app called afterlife, Chris states to monitor responses.
Chris goes on to state that knowing that the prayers he did, and that many spirits are going to pass over and be brought peace allows him to sleep good at night.
This episode was a very different one as it spanned a village and not just a single castle or building. There were many sites that had to be visited. Some things we did note during the episode that we wanted to raise.
Vogue at one point went on to ask if the spirits would accept their help, now it’s one thing to say as an investigator you can help a living person understand what they are experiencing and potential giving down to earth answers to experiences, it’s a large jump to state that you can help spirits when in reality no one really knows what the science or non-science behind spirits is, can they even be helped, are they spirits or something else. To help as investigators we first need to understand and know 100% what we are dealing with and not ask these misleading questions.
With relation to feeling itchy and midge flies that Vogue talks about, again it’s a very common thing to experience in the countryside, nothing paranormal or odd about it unfortunately. But like any personal experience it’s impossible to verify or dismiss.
And with regard to the affects the Chris described feeling in Thomas’s house, spams, head pain and difficulty breathing, if this was any other situation, let alone television, medics most certainly would have stopped filming and checked out Chris. It’s not stated that anything like this was done or that Chris was given the once over before continuing.
Overall this episode seemed to have activity from the beginning right through to the end and the majority of events were personal experiences. The only interesting event caught on camera is the bell ringing but without further unedited video and audio and a look around the house it’s impossible to verify or similarly dismiss.
Out of the three episodes we’ve reviewed so far, this episode was the least convincing from a paranormal perspective even though it seemed to have the most ‘activity’ out of the three episodes so far.
The episode does shine a light on the battle of Aughrim that is rightly called out in the episode as one of the bloodiest days in Irish history that most have long forgotten about.
We’re looking forward to reviewing episode four which is based at Leap Castle, reported by some to be one of the most haunted castles in Europe.
