Aughrim Battlefield
History
Aughrim Battlefield was the site of the main decisive battle between the Williamites and the Jacobites during the Williamite war in Ireland of 1691.
It was fought between the forces of William III and the Jacobite rebels on the 12th July, 1691 and the battle saw the ground littered with the bodies of over 7000 people.
This battle was one of the bloodiest ever to be fought on Irish soil and was a clear win for the Williamite forces which effectively ended Jacobitism in Ireland, though the city of Limerick held out for an extra month.
The battle itself seemed to be going quite well for the Jacobites at first, with the battle having various small wins on both sides, but at one point the Jacobite general, Marquis de St Ruth believed the battle was in their favour and rallied his cavalry for a flanking charge. All of his men were in high spirits at this point and gathered to his side for the attack, until suddenly a cannonball flew through the air from a Williamite cannon and took the Generals head clean off, right in front of all his men just before a decisive charge. After this point the battle went heavily in the Williamites favour.
Estimates of the amount of dead vary depending on who is making the claim. The Williamites claim they killed around 7000 Jacobites and lost only 600 men, though the more realistic number is a total of 7000 dead from both sides, with the Williamites losing 1 - 2000 and the rest being made up of dead Jacobites.
Today the site is open to the public since it is mostly made up of farm land and public ground, there is also a Battle of Aughrim Interpretive centre there which holds information about the battle.
Is Aughrim Battlefield Haunted?
As you may have guessed all of the ghosts that linger at Aughrim battlefield are thought to be from the fighting in 1691 when 7000 people lay dead on these fields. There is even one spot on the battlefield that was so gruesome it still holds its name to this day.
It is near this little ditch that so many people died around that it filled up with blood, creating a terrifying sight for anyone left still alive. It is known as "The Bloody Hallow" and is still called so by the people who live there today and it is believed to be the hot spot of the ghostly activity.
It was nothing more than a small recess in the ground which just so happened to be at the centre of the fighting, and so was in a position to collect all the blood from the troops suffering from huge musket shot wounds and slashed limbs.
People who have visited the site have all made rather similar claims, with popular stories including seeing apparitions on the field, from both sides, and also the smell of gunsmoke floating on the breeze.
One interesting thing about the ghosts seen here is that they are always seen at a distance, always fading away when approached, and the other rather unusual thing is that all the apparitions seen are always just standing still, staring blankly into the distance or at the ground.
Normally when people report apparitions they are usually walking somewhere, as if following an old path they used to take in life, but every single one seen on the battle field are always just standing still.
In the area around the bloody hallow people have made claims of being touched by unseen hands, and also of being overcome with an intense feeling of fear. I once heard someone say they think the reason behind this is from the lingering emotion of intense fear from the troops of seeing a pool filled with nothing but the blood of their comrades.