31/10/2024
Do you know any chilling tales of the Crolly Distillery ghost? Read below some of what we know.
👻 Happy Halloween to you all . . .
The calm of rural Donegal’s night air was shattered by the wailing of the Crolly Distillery intruder alarm as it mysteriously rang out at 1.16am on Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Assistant distiller John Casey was first to arrive on the scene, but he could find no evidence of human or animal movement. The CCTV cameras were checked thoroughly but again there was no evidence to suggest what had triggered the alarm. There was nothing out of the ordinary at all really — just a very inconspicuous whiskey tumbler on the visitor’s bar counter.
It was only in the hours that followed that the spooky significance of the date and time of the mysterious incident was realised.
The alarm sounded exactly 100 hundred years to the very minute since the tragic death of a young British soldier stationed in the distillery building, which at that time was a temporary Royal Irish Constabulary barracks as the Irish War of Independence raged.
At 1.16am on May 18, 1921, Private Charles Harsant, 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade was shot dead accidently by a colleague near an upstairs window.
Private Harsant, from Hackney in London, was returning from a local pub, The Fisherman’s Inn (Paddy Og’s pub today) and according to the official account failed to identify himself and was accidentally shot, dying on the spot near an upstairs window.
In the decades that followed, there were many chilling reports of a pool of blood continuing to mysteriously appear on the exact spot where his fatal wound bled out and seeped into the floor.
There are stories of numerous efforts to wash away the bloodstains which defiantly continued to reappear. Apparently, during the building’s time as the Crolly doll factory, from the 1940s, heavy linoleum was laid to cover the recurring problem. However, this was short-lived, with one worker experiencing a spine-tingling chill when arriving one morning to discover a dark-red patch on the surface.
It’s also local knowledge that many of the people who subsequently worked in the factory would never go upstairs to where the shot was fired. The fear that the ghost remained there has spanned the 100-plus years that have passed since the killing. There were many tales among the workers throughout the past century of mysterious footsteps with no sign of anyone walking the floors. There were numerous reports of sightings of a ghostly figure of a soldier by the upstairs window where the killing occurred. There was even a story about a chilling hand-on-shoulder encounter and a ghostly whisper to tell the person they would be ok.
More recently, in 2023, a young girl reported that a ghost stood beside her in the female toilets at the distillery.
Private Harsant may be buried a few miles from the distillery at Bunbeg Church of Ireland cemetery, but he is very much remembered at the distillery building.
And there ends our supernatural tale. Make of it what you will.
The mystery of the alarm sounding that night at that very time, and the curious placement of the empty whiskey tumbler may, of course, be nothing. But perhaps spare a thought for the possibility that, just maybe, Charlie’s spirit decided to mark the anniversary of his untimely demise with a very special ‘timlin’ of Croithlí spirit — the spirits’ spirit.
Why not ponder upon that while enjoying your warming dram this chilly All Hallows’ Eve?
👻👻
To receive more insights, fascinating stories, news of Crolly Distillery whiskey tastings, events and more, join Our Whiskey Club ‘Croithlí Le Chéile’ today at https://thecrollydistillery.com/croithli-le-cheile/
