St Michan is thought to have been a Danish bishop who, in 1095, built a church above vault that had been constructed upon the site of an ancient oak forest. The church was rebuilt in the 18th century and contains, among other things, the death mask of the charismatic Irish patriot, Theobald Wolfe Tone [1763 - 1798], and the organ on which Handel is reputed to have practised his Messiah before the first performance in Dublin. The philosopher Edmund Burke was christened here, and the funeral of home rule leader Charles Stewart Parnell took place here. It is in the dark vaults beneath the church, however, that you will find one of the creepiest and most unique haunted locations in the whole of Ireland. You enter this subterranean world via two heavy iron doors that open onto a steep flight of stone steps, down which you descend into eerie darkness. The air, however, is strangely warm and fresh, not in the least like the cold and clammy atmosphere you would expect to find in such a place. As your eyes grow accustomed to the dark, you notice a series of vaulted cells that lead from a central passage. In several of the chambers, coffins are stacked in untidy piles as generations of the same family lie on top of one another. In places the weight of the dead pressing upon the dead has resulted in the coffins collapsing into each other. In the past, arms, legs, or even heads would protrude from their final resting places as if successive generations were posing for some grotesque and macabre family portrait. What is even more remarkable is that, despite the fact some of these people died 500 years ago; they have not crumbled into dust, but have been preserved like mummies, their flesh the texture of tanned leather. Even more bizarre, their joints are supple and can actually be moved! The only living creatures in this underground world of twisting shadows are spiders. Their webs, woven thick across the ceilings and walls, form grim, grey veils that disappear into dark corners. In one vault, four open coffins display occupants whose heads are either thrown back or lying to one side, their mouths open as if they have just fallen asleep, and you find yourself half expecting them to emit loud snores at any moment. The body of a man lies with one leg crossed over the other, the traditional posture denoting a crusader. Such is the state of preservation that you can actually examine the nails of someone who died around 800 years ago. There was a time when you could even stoop and shake his hand, but such intimacy is now forbidden thanks to the accidental breaking of several of his fingers! The remarkable preservation of the crusaders is thought to be the result of the air being chemically impregnated by the remains of the oak forest that stood on the site in ancient times. As long as the vaults remain dry, decay ceases. Let only a little moisture enter, and the bodies crumble into a fine dust. In 1853 the two brothers, John and Henry Sheares, who were beheaded after being hanged in the 18th century, were re-coffined and stood upright in the vault, with their severed heads resting by their feet. The people of Dublin brought wreaths - and within a year, the moisture from the flowers had wrecked everything in that vault. Not surprisingly, the tales of ghostly happenings pale in comparison to the gruesome reality of the crypt. But people exploring the macabre charnel house have heard strange and disembodied voices whispering around them, and some have felt ice-cold fingers run down their necks as they stoop to examine the permanent residents of this subterranean world of silent shadows.


Love Angel!!!