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The Irish Hellfire Club: No Smoke Without Fire

Posted by daev

The history of Dublin's Hell-Fire Club, Rathfarnham. Overlooking Dublin city from the south west, at an altitude of 383m (1264ft), is a foreboding ruined hunting lodge, marked on Ordnance Survey maps as the 'Hell-Fire Club'. Current urban lore insists on telling us that it was - and still is - a site commonly used for the practice of 'Satanism' and other occult activities, and that the Devil himself made a brief appearance there at some unspecified time in the past. In a story similar to the one attached to Loftus Hall (a haunted house on the Hook Peninsula), a mysterious stranger seeks shelter on a stormy night, and a card game ensues. A member of the household drops a card, and sees that below the table, the otherwise affable and charming visitor has a cloven hoof. His or her screams made the Devil 'aware of her discovery, and he at once vanished in a thunder-clap leaving a brimstone smell behind him' (Seymour and Neligan).

More Hellfire Club photographs »

The elusive and rather ambiguous exploits of the Irish Hell-Fire Club have intrigued Blather for some time. While for most people the name denotes a ruined hunting lodge in the forested Dublin mountains, visited on Sundays by hordes of escaping suburbanites, it originally refers to an organisation alleged to have devoted to their time to the practice of unbridled hedonism.

The Club, also referred to as the Medmenham Club was formed in 1741 by Sir Francis Dashwood (1708 - 1781) at West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and became notorious for its rumoured sexual orgies and 'occult' activities. Much has been written about Dashwood and his friends, with varying levels of luridness... but our interest lies with the Irish Hell-Fire Club, founded in 1735 by the 1st Earl of Rosse, Richard Parsons, known to be a 'sorcerer, dabbler in black magic... and a man of "humour and frolic"' (Somerville-Large). It was apparently disbanded following his death in 1741.

Weston St. John Joyce mentions Mount Pelier on page 123 of his The Neighbourhood of Dublin, published in 1912:

'Making our way over the gorse and heather up the slopes of the hill from Mount Pelier House, we at length come into view of the old ruin on the top - an interesting and conspicuous object from afar, but proving a most unprepossessing structure on closer acquaintance. It is variously known to the Dublin folk as the Hell-Fire Club House, the Haunted House, and the Shooting Lodge, although it really possesses no valid claim to any of these designations, it having been built, apparently as a mere freak, for use as an occasional summer residence, by the Right Honourable William Conolly of Castletown, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, about the year 1725, shortly after he purchased the Duke of Wharton's estate in this neighbourhood.'

St. John Joyce mentions another Satanic appearance, due to the use of part of a local megalithic standing stone in the construction of the lodge:

'Shortly after the house was built, the slated roof was blown off one night in a tremendous storm - by the agency of the devil it was popularly believed, on account of the sacrilegious conduct of the builder in desecrating the old carn. But Squire Conolly was not a man to be easily beaten, and so he set to work and built a massive arched roof of stones keyed together as in a bridge, and of such impregnable strength that it has effectually withstood the efforts of wind or devil - whichever it was - from that day to this.'

St. John Joyce also expressed uncertainty with regard to the tenuous occult significance of Mount Pelier:

'With regard to one of the names which seems to have taken the fancy of the public, it is to be observed that while the Hell-Fire Club may have held some of its meetings in this house, it is tolerably certain that it was never one of the regular meeting-places of that mysterious and iniquitous body, the ordinary rendezvous of which was the Eagle Tavern on Cork Hill.'

As with the exploits of other larger than life characters, the stories of the Hell-Fire Club vary, but most mention the Eagle Tavern, once on Cork Hill (by Dublin Castle) as the main centre of operation, where the "Bucks" swigged Scultheen, a 'special mixture of whiskey and butter'. "Bucks" were a class of gent '"whose whole enjoyment and the business of whose life seemed to consist of eccentricity and violence"'(Somerville-Large).

Somerville-Large tells us 'popular supposition associates [The Hell-Fire Club] with the gaunt ruin on top of Montpelier Hill, and the odd black mass have taken place in Mr. Conolly's airy shooting lodge. The club is supposed to have set fire to the place to give it a more hellish appearance, while the reputed burning of a lady in a barrel sounds like an outdoor occasion'.

Andrew Behan, who unfortunately seems have been possesed by the dark forces of H.P. Lovecraft and the Necromonicon, reckons that it is possible that ;the Hell-Fire Club did indeed carry out black masses and orgies on Montpelier Hill', but 'merely used satanic regalia to spice up their bawdy drinking sessions.' Behan's essay can be found at several locations on the web, which doubtless will lead to the inclusion of various characters from Lovecraft's Cthulu Mythos in the future lore of the Irish Hell-Fire Club.

Behan also mentions the story of a priest, who stumbled across the club's fun'n'frolics (there's no mention of what he was doing wandering about Mount Pelier Hill at night), and discovered that the centre of attention was a huge black cat.

'Breaking free from his captors the cleric grabbed the cat and uttered an exorcism which tore the beast apart. A demon shot up from its corpse. Hurtling through the roof it brought down the ceiling and scattered the assembly.'

Behan also mentions that Conolly 'is said to have met the devil in the form of a "black man" in the lodge's dining room, which is probably a variation on the card-game story.

Unfortunately, Behan doesn't provide us with references or basis for his theories (well, discounting the Cthulhu Mythos stuff). He also claims that Parsons was also known as Jack St. Ledger - which Blather deems doubtful - Colonel Jack St. Ledger seems to have been a real person (who, according to Somerville-Large, was so obsessed with the Duchess of Rutland that he would drink the water in which she had washed her hands).

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The website of Killakee House, a restaurant further down Mount Pelier Hill, tells us some more about of the Hell-Fire Club shenanigans, including of the burning, which they believe occurred around 1740, while it was in the hands of Richard Chappell 'Burn-Chapel' Whaley, so called because of his Sunday entertainment, which entailed riding around setting fire to the thatch of Catholic chapels.

Anyway, the folk at Killakee tell of how, following a black mass, a footman spilled a drink on Whaley's coat, after slipping on the mass of drunken bodies on the floor. Whaley poured brandy upon the man, set him alight, and soon had the entire building ablaze. Most were too drunk to escape.

The webpage continues to talk about Whaley's death at the age of 34, in 1800, no mean feat for a man who burned down a building in 1740. I would imagine that they have confused him with his son, Buck Whaley, famous for having travelled to Jerusalem and back for a bet (no mean feat in 1789). "I was born with strong passions" begin Buck Whaley's Memoirs, "a lively imaginative disposition and a spirit that could brook no restraint. I possessed a restlessness and activity of mind that directed me to the most extravagant pursuits; and the ardour of my disposition never abated until satiety had weakened the power of my enjoyment". Whaley junior did indeed die in 1800 at the age of 34, following a masochistic squandering of his personal fortune.

Killakee House itself is no stranger to weirdness, with mention of spectral black cats (related to the sacrificed moggie of Hell-Fire Club days?), and the discovery of a dwarf human skeleton below the floor in 1970.

And so the ambiguity surrounding the Dublin Hell-Fire Club abounds. Does the Hellfire Club building really have anything do with the club of the same name? Were the members (of the Irish branch) students of the occult, or students of drunken revelry?

Whatever about the various specifics, it is entirely possible that some meetings of the club took place at the now ruined building on Mount Pelier Hill, even if only briefly. To quote V.S. Pritchett:

'I was brought up on the legend that the sinister little ruin on top of the Dublin Mountains which is called the Hell-Fire Club was the site of the orgies; but historians now say there is no evidence. I incline still to the legend on the general ground that what goes on in cities is nothing to do with what goes on in the country.'

Sleep Well...

(See also Hellfire and Harlots, the Blather issue following this one, and Accidental Satanists, Dave (daev) Walsh's talk at Fortfest 99)

More Hellfire Club photographs »

Photographs (2006) of the English Hellfire Club - Medmenham Abbey and the tunnels at West Wycombe

NOTES:

Recommended: Geoffrey Ashe - The Hell-Fire Clubs: A History of Anti-Morality

John Seymour and Harry Neligan, True Irish Ghost Stories, (1926), p266
ISBN 1-85958-050-5

True Irish Ghost Stories (Amazon.com)

Weston St. John Joyce, The Neighbourhood of Dublin, (1912), pp. 123-4
ISBN 0-7089-9999-9

Peter Somerville-Large,Irish Eccentrics(1975), pp. 147-8 and 210-215
ISBN 0-946640-67-X
Irish Eccentrics (Amazon.com)
Irish Eccentrics (Amazon.co.uk)

Peter Somerville-Large, Dublin: The Fair City, (1979,1996), p129
ISBN 1-85619-791-3

V.S. Pritchett, Dublin (1991), p55
ISBN 0-7012-0750-7

Andrew Behan, The Hell-Fire Club

The 'devil and the ball of flame' story was also mentioned in The Smoking Cannon

FOR THOSE OF A DELICATE NATURE
Blather co-conspirator Paul Clerkin has astutely observed this entry in St. John Joyce's The Neighbourhood of Dublin (a copy of which now resides in the Blather library), concerning an apparent rodent problem in 18th century Dublin suburbia...

'Walsh's Impartial News Letter of 16th May 1729 contains the following curious item of news in regard to this neighbourhood: - "This morning we have an account from Merian that a parcel of these outlandish Marramounts which are called Mountain Rats who are now here grown very common... walk in droves and do a great deal of mischief." The account then goes on to relate how these mysterious pests devoured a woman and a nurse-child in Merrion and that the inhabitants "killed several which are as big as Katts and Rabbits... This part of the country is infested with them. Likewise we hear from Rathfarnham that the like vermin destroyed a little Girl in the Fields."'

Weston St. John Joyce, The Neighbourhood of Dublin, (1912), pp. 30-1 ISBN 0-7089-9999-9

PAGAN BASHING?
It was just last week that we that discovered one web-site, which linked itself to us, has accused Blather of 'pagan-bashing', a curious pastime which we are not consciously engaged in partaking of.

In fact, the Blather article in question - the Hallowe'en Issue - dealt with a backlash against the fictional work of Bram Stoker. Despite this, it has been listed amongst the ' [link dead: http://www.mills.edu/PEOPLE/ug.pages/boza.public.html/danica.public.ht
ml/harassment.html] pagan-bashing web sites we've found so far '.

Dave (daev) Walsh
30th October 1998

Posted by daev at October 30, 1998 12:14 PM

yep thats shite alrite

what's shite?

this is not shite,i believe it and ur intiteled to ur own opinion but its NOT shite ok!!!

Thank you Sophie. Blather.net is vindicated!

beware for the devil may take you

Hi Dave,

Love the site.
Back in 1999 / 2000 I was doing a bit of research on your site for a CD-ROM a team of us were producing for a college project about the Hellfire Club. I was in touch with you back then. We were going to send you a copy. Did you ever get it?

Hi Paul - did I not thank you for sending it? I just dug it out of the shelf for another look - it's great stuff!

Death will come to those who visit the hell fire club,,,
I am the evil that sits on the hill......JNB

I'm looking for books that have been written on, or that have something in them about the two known Irish Hell-Fire Clubs. Please contact me if you can help.

I've been up the hill, and I got a strange sensation from the Building there... I'm no psychic, but there definetly was something weird going on there. I normally don't believe in shite like this, but I'm getting close to it...

yes indeed the hellfire club is the home to occult practises now only because people believe false legends and ubscribe to the idea they are carrying on a myth. the man that was arrested two or three years ago for creeping around the hellfire club at night brandishing a sword told the gardai he was possesed by an ancient spirit living in the house. strange place though

We do mushrooms up there in autumn just before halloween, nice evening skies, there is negative stories attached to it but we've never had any bad trips, it is still an ancient pagan site. however at halloween you do get some weirdos walking around

I have just been up in the hell fire woods and club up the stairs and all, imust admit it is freaky but that could be cause i know of all the rumours already walkinginto the house. What realy stuck in my mind walking in the house was those men years ago being in that excact same spot with there guns in there hand praying for there lives, and me walking in with my head held high not a bother in the world not worring at all that my life may end here, its just mad how times have changed for the better,just be carefull anyone who does go of the stairs cause the person that was with me did fall down th bottom half of the stairs on the way back down but he was ok :) kelly tallaght

it is a bit weird alright as i walked in to this place i got a strange feeling!!!

that is a very interesting story! i once brought my dog inside the club and he suddenly went crazy and jumped out d top window. i tink despite some parts of the story it is based around true events.

looks good. david mcp is shittin it once he reads this

Thanks for the informative and well-documented site!

I visited Dublin's Hell-Fire Club back in 2001. My friends took me, and told me nothing but that we were going for a walk in the hills. I was ignorant to name, fame, and legend, but still I had a strong sense that there was something more to the place... there really is some tangible energy up there; I still remember it vividly. I can't wait to revisit.

Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

when i was in my teens and living in rathmines dublin,myself and friends used to sleep in the Hellfire club,very eerie place,,at weekends on our way to glencree youth hostel,paid the place a visit last year,,but not the same,,,,now living in Darwin australia

Has any one ever found pictures of the INTERIOR of Loftus Hall in Wexford?? I would love to see some if at all possible...

I'm hoping to film a music video up in the aowl hellfire club @ night for a big Dublin band (can't name them for obvious reasons) anybody know who actually holds the ownership of the Hellfire club in Dublin?

try http://www.coillte.ie

haha shane i already beat you to the punch. i already filmed my music video at the hellfire club in dublin. defintately something eerie there. after gang fights and south central riots in LA that shit still freaked me out..take my advice bring some battery powered lighting it sure is dark in there..peace...thee suspect

Just reading the book 'Hellfire' which makes judicious use of the legends surrounding the Club, made me want to know more, excellent site

When I was real young and staying in Tallaght in the summer a load of us kids would walk up to the Hell Fire Club, as the crow flies. We'd stay the night and it was pretty creepy. I didn't believe in ghosts or the like then or now but that place is seriously creepy. Just looking at it from afar it seems like a ghost house.

me n me mates go up der wen wer not in skul n drink!1 gud laf it duz be. . but d udda nite we all stayed der. . good friday it woz. . n we wer jus lyin der wit a few cans wen we noticed dat der wer dem devil worshipers der! luckly day didn see us coz day probly wuda kilt us!! we jus ran in ta d forest n left all are stuff der!! we went bak t next day t get dem. . it woz d scariest time of me life coz it woz pitch black n we cudn see were we wer runnin t!! we were on d road den n a car went speedin past us so we jus hid in d bushes!! i rang me uncle n he piked us up n we stayed in me mates gaf da nite!! but oh my god neva again will i stay dr!!

I often visit the hell fire club.In the last few years there has been 2 suicides.a man hung himself from the top of the stairs.i was up there a few sundays ago wit the my dog and she would,nt go up near the stairs, the dog was whimpering. something spooked her.it was only a few days after that i heard from a work college what had happened there, jayzus i got a chill up the spine when i heard.

I am living about 3mile from the hell fire club and have been there many a time. Over the years i have brought dogs up there and not one of them would walk around the club. something spooked them every time. There is some strong force up there.

My Uncle lives below the Hellfire Club.In 1992 I was out for a walk with the dog and stayed out too long.It was pitch black when I had to pass the ruins.I decided to go in to test the stories.The dog,a Rottweiler,was very reluctant to enter.I stayed for about two minutes and left feeling relieved to having tempted fate.I was scared out of my brain.

the hellfire is a portal to the other side. there is a lot of negative energy both in and outside the walls of the place,there is something eerie about the woods at the back of the hellfire too.great for sun bathing on the roof in the summer though

I WAS BORN IN KILLAKEE HOUSE IN 1960 THERE WAS A SIGHTING OF A HEADLESS PIANO MAN IN A TUXEDO BY MY LATE MOTHER. IN THE BALLROOM. ALL TRUE.

im goin ta d hell fire club tonight ta stay over... and if i run into any of those devil freaks i look forward ta seein if their devil can protect them from my 12 gage bullets

i plan on making a photography project of this abouloutly beautiful and captivating and also stunning land mark.
we have our very own black hill legends of burkitsville (blair witch)
cant wait to camp out in or infront of it, as a white witch myself i look forward to greeting any visitors that come to me.
come all hallows eve i will have a party with the unknown

We are reseaching the history of Killakee House and would appreciate any photos, maps, history.

supposedly there was a woman stuffed in a barrel, doused in brandy and set alight because she spilt a drink on a club member. strange place. does anybody know anything about masseys wood

its freaky i watched scariest places on earth i was like im never going there cuz two college kids went there and they saw somthing out in the woods behind it and then wen they wer outside something was in there room

im gonna get all you devil worshiping freak...i have been sent to take you all out....i dare u to go to the hellfire club t night and sty ever again...i wil be disguised wit my friends in tents...but beware i have a .380 semi handgun, plenty of knives and 3 grenandes....u mother fuckin satan worshiping freaks are s good as dead...i will be there most nights..i wil even lesve u gays my name nd number...dts hw confident i am of victory....
08571640584
andrew slaughter

andrew slaughter? MORE LIKE andrew WANKER!

ha ha ha ha ha andrew fucking slaughter wha a fucking bell end. im no satan worshipper i believe in god but man come on .380 semi?,3 grenades? lots of knives? stick 1 of them grenades up your hole pull the pin and do us all a favour.. 1 less idiot to deal wit!!!!!!!!!!!

my friend and i went into the club last week at around 11. we'v gone to some freaky places with cameras and tape recorders to see if anyhting would happen, untill now nothing really has happened anywhere, but as soon as we entered the club, our camera would not work, tape picked up nothing. we were going to the stairs when cold rush blew through my friend, i spun round after hearin a shuffeling in the room behind me then what sounded like a pile of fist size stones was kicked over right beside us in the doorway of the other room to our right. there was nothing in the spot we heard the sounds but empty floor but it was enough to send us at out and down the mountain. something is not right there. DC

Over fifty years ago I, with a crowd of students from the
Higfh School of Commerce, in Rathmines, cycled, one Sunday arfo to the renowned Hell Fire Club and saw nothing but clouds, rain a few disgruntled goats or ratty sheep and felt the cold wind of disappointment in our loins before we had to cycle all the way back home again.
So much for the hauntings - maybe there were a few atrocities carried out in the twenties and there were no ghosts, then either.

I was there today with my boyfriend. He had heard about it and told me some stories. I'm usually very skeptical about these kinds of stories so I didnt think much of going to visit it. However when we got to the top of the mountain the sight of the building made me feel uncomfortable. My boyfriend didnt think twice about entering but it took me a minute to be persuaded. I hated being in there I felt uncomfortable the whole time.It wasnt until we started going upstairs that I began to believe that there really is someting not right about that place. just as i walked up I suddenly felt like I was going to get sick. It was very strange it came on so quickly. It passed after a few minutes but I couldnt wait to get out of there!!

Where bout is the hell fire club. I,ve been wanting to visit it for years but i cud never find any1 2 ask where bouts in the dublin mountains it was and how2 get there?

I remember 30+ years ago as a kid we lived in Templeogue and had a view out the bedroom window of the Hell-Fire Club. It used to scare me shitless and I still don't think I'd like to walk around it now alone. They'd be better off bulldozing it for everyone's peace of mind.
Martin

I have been in the Hell Fire Club a few times. Each time I go there it is the same errie feeling. Even on hot summer days I still get chills when I go inside. Also brought my dog up there and this dog would follow me into fire. Strangly he wouldn't go in to the building. He stayed aboout 2 feet from the walls and barked and barked until I came out. Very strange place.

i luv goin up te the helfire club but it reminds me of the time my lil sis fell off the roof and broke her leg but i caught her

I go up there all the time for picnics with freinds. One time I was climbing up the chimney ( to get to the roof) and i was so scared the devil was going to get me, and then right above me a fricken bird flew out of a nest in the chimney wall, scared the bejesus out of me, I fell all the way down cutting myself up badly. I tell you that Bird MUST of been a manifastation of the devil. What else could explain it????lol

I was sceptical until tonite! Just back from our visit to the Club, and as said above, there is something so odd and just uncomfortable, i felt anyway, but the smell, and the sever coldness on my neck, and the odd cow/bull like noises were enough to scare the living crap outta me. The most gut wrenching bits were the sight of the forest which surronds it and the first view of the building from the drive way,, so creepy!well considering it was 10pm and really dark! but nevertheless i had an unusal yet exciting experience!

im 32 living in dublin all my life and only visited it twice.my two friends came over from wales last month who love all the storys of myths and legends and what better place to take them.there were three of us with 2 dogs a rotty and a german sheperd.lol even when we only got to the car park they were shitting themselves and wanted to go back as it was 11 at night and pitch dark.as we hiked up to it we felt uncomfortable with the woods on either side peircing with eyes of the deer in the distance,we had camcorders with us and playing them back the next day there were visions you couldnt account for.when we got to the top and seen the house that really freaked them out.i dont know but did any1 here if u walk around the house 3 times after midnight the devel appears?well not even thinking that we nearly did just looking for the entrance.when we got into the house and went upstairs as some1 said earlier downstairs we heard stones being kicked like mad off the walls,the dogs were barking like crazy got off the leads and ran down.when we got downstairs and went outside both of them were sitting quietly and the burn marks of camp fires where its said devil worshipers sit.i have all this on camera.anyway its a place i,ll always remember and my 2 friends cant stop talking about and are definatly comming back to visit.any1 with a weak heart or planning to go up there on their own shouldnt.its a cold dark and freaky place to go to on your own.p.s that crowd from most haunted we should start a campain for them to come to our most haunted place to see what they think.

Does anyone know how to get to the hellfire club from the m50? (am heading down from 'de nort') for a gonder at it!!

Try these directions to the Hellfire Club

who one the pocker match luicifer or the men

i was there last night and i didnt think it was that bad the view of dublin is savage if you want a real scare the is a house in closilla not far from lucan. but i can not gon inside that house but i went inside the hellfire club does any knw what that pointed stone is.

me and my pauls went up yesterday we did not know way there was a crack in the mirror but we had a crack we are going up tomrrow

We used to always go there as Kids and my da used to tell us the stories... it used to scare the shit out of me... i havent been up there in years... but the last time i went up there was cans evrywhere... will yis fuckin pick up ur cans after yis fuckin nackers ha ha

i mountain bike up ter and in massy wood. every time i go up i go into the club but i never get any strange sensations .i wud luv to stay a ni to see wat wud happen. te forest behind it for me is scaryer.it feels as if u ar being watched

hello agian i just wanted to say that my little sister made her commuion and she had her dinner in maynoot and we went to the hell fire club my little brothere was scared

im ashlings sister de 1 who broke her leg. so dis is how it happenend i was just after running up de hill and we were all scared to climb it so i said il do it! and i got just haf way up and a rock came flyin out and i fell. i could av been paralised if it wasnt for my lovely sis!!! o nd b 4 i was goin in and i got the fright of my life coz wen i walked in der was lyk a dip in de ground nd me fooy got caught. i tawt it was de devil hahahah im so blonde

Hey, love your site. You's keep it real and an open mind.

I've been up there more times than I want to recall.

Even though I have seen and felt some indescribable things in and around the Hell-Fire Club, also in the days/weeks after visiting the Club. I think I will always find myself going back there. For curiosity, my deep interest in it's history or just the need to interstand and not fear what I've seen and felt up there.

You's are doing a great job, please keep it up.

All the best. - Simon

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w62/bones747/DSC02403a.jpg

I've just set up my own weblog looking into the Hell Fire Club http://dublinhellfireclub.blogspot.com/ while I come at it from a different angle to you guys I have to admit this site was a major inspiration for my own.

I've recently set up a weblog looking into the Dublin Hellfire Club http://dublinhellfireclub.blogspot.com/. And I just want to say that this site strongly influenced my own research.

I just came across this blog and was very surprised that the Hellfire Club and Killakee House (so named in recent times, it was in fact the dower house to the original Killakee house the ruins of which are in Massey's Woods)of Black-Cat fame, arouse such feelings. I spent most of my summer holidays in Killakee House, which was owned at the time by my Grandaunt. The Hellfire Club was if you like our back garden. It was well before affluence allowed rubbish throwers access to what is really quite a lovely area. Concerning the feelings you get in the woods, strange for such modern woods. I remember when the trees were being planted and the old turnstile being removed to make way for the road. The stories are many and varied, and some, in accordance with the old folk, are based on fact. Lord Massey's woods on the other hand lend themselves a lot better to eerie feelings, given its long history. However, I enjoyed reading the many articles.