The Hellfire Club
The Hellfire Club, Montpelier Hill, Dublin Mountains
The Hellfire Club is a mysterious ruin indeed. This long abandoned, burnt-out building is hundreds of years old. Centuries ago, the foreboding site was a club house for hedonistic aristocrats. A place where young men on horseback would rendezvous to go galloping across the surrounding land terrorising the local peasants in their immoral pursuits, giving real meaning to the phrase ‘lock up your daughters.’ A den of debauchery for those privileged marauders if ever there was one.
Situated on Montpelier Hill, a windswept elevation on the edge of the Dublin mountains, and only a short drive from the city, it rises from the gloom with its metre thick walls to loom over the surrounding landscape like a shrine to the supernatural. The building is a place synonymous with gruesome ghost stories, and chance meetings with the Devil alike.
Approaching the Hellfire Club, once a den of aristocratic debauchery, now an empty shell
Legend
Most famously, it is told that one stormy night many years ago while a group of men played cards inside, a stranger seeking shelter from the fierce gale outside knocked in to join them. The strange visitor soon settled in, taking his place among the other men at the table, and accepting the hand of cards dealt to him. All was well until another man sitting opposite the stranger, who while searching beneath the table for a card he’d dropped, saw the stranger’s legs ended in cloven hoofs instead of the expected pair of shoes. When the man, now ghastly pale took his seat again, and at last managed to splutter words of warning to his companions, the guest opposite him disappeared in a flash of flame, leaving only smoke, and the smell of brimstone behind. Make of this what you will.
Inside the room where the game of cards is alleged to have taken place
Another shot of that cursed room from the opposite direction
My recent visit resulted in no such tall tales, only a particularly chilly walk. The cold wind coming off the mountain that day was enough to cut through light clothing, so anyone planning a walk of their own there should wrap up well.
Now, I do have my own unnerving story to recount from a previous visit some years ago, but I think I’ll save it for another post, perhaps as part of a Halloween special. Anyway, it is more a ‘hoodie horror’ than anything otherworldly, and while I’m relieved to say it never went full-blown ‘Eden Lake’ (those familiar with the movie should get the reference) it did make for an anxiety inducing experience all the same.
Until next time Happy New Year, enjoy my photos, and hopefully, I’ll be back with another post soon enough.
Standing infront of the Hellfire Club