Montpelier Hill
Brief History
The Original name of Montpelier hill has been lost in history, and today it is only known as Montpelier or just referred to as the Hell fire club.
It started off life as a humble hunting lodge built in 1725 by a man named William Conolly. Before he built the lodge here there was a pre-historic burial mound on the summit of the hill and he used some of the stones in the mound to create his lodge.
Shortly after the lodge was completed the whole of the roof was blown off in a storm, with local superstition claiming it was the work of the Devil himself for interfering with the burial mound.
The Irish Hell Fire Club used the lodge as a meeting place when they were active between the years of 1735 and 1741, and during this time the building became known for being haunted. The lodge was also damaged by fire and while it was being repaired the club relocated to the nearby Stewards house for a short while and because of their presence that building is also known as being haunted.
Today the Ruined shell of the Hell fire club and the surrounding lands including hell fire forest are owned by a forestry company and permanently open to the public.
Is Montpelier Hill Haunted?
As you can imagine there are no shortages of stories about a spooky looking ruined building that used to be used as a practice site for devil worshippers.
The start of the paranormal activity on the hill is thought to have started when the ancient burial mound was disturbed and much of the stone used in the walls of the lodge. Since the entire roof was blown off pretty much as soon as the lodge was completed many people took this as a sign that something was not happy about the disturbance of the mound, though the other argument is it was just a coincidence.
If it were something punishing the lodges builder for disturbing the mound then it wouldn't have been happy to know that when the roof was rebuilt it used a lot more stone than before, most of which was again taken from the mound.
Stories about the actual club itself do not tell of cloak wearing cultists chanting around a fire, but instead of high standing figures in society, such as politicians and business owners. The whole point of having such a high class group of individuals is so that they could get away with basically anything within the walls of their club.
The members were thought to have a motto of "Do as you please", meaning that any desire no matter how sick or terrifying could be indulged in behind the safety of the lodges walls.
With all of the stories about the club and the with it having the perfect basis for many camp fire style stories to be made about it there's no surprise that there are tales of this places paranormal activity that include pretty much everything.
One story that keeps coming up again and again is the sighting of a large black cat, about the size of a panther. The cat is believed to be a manifestation of the evil of this place, though it has never been reported to have approached anyone.
Stories from inside the building and the forest on the hills slope are typical for such a location. Apparitions are apparently common within the lodge, and sound phenomenon is also often reported, with random screams and crying sounds coming from inside the building, though it is always empty upon inspection.