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Episode 130: Spooky Destinations pt. 6
422 Plays29 days ago
Welcome back, Witches! In this episode, we’re diving into the chilling history of two of the most haunted spots—the ancient Ram Inn, where ghostly apparitions and dark energy lurk, and the notorious Hellfire Club, home to secret rituals and sinister legends. So get in, loser, we’re taking a spooky ride to the heart of paranormal mysteries!
We would be forever thankful if you left our podcast a 5-Star review. If you really loved the show and want more Get in Loser content, check out our Supercast & Buy Me a Coffee links below. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @GetinWitches, on TikTok @weredoingwitchcraft, or email us at [email protected]. You can support our show through our links below.
Supercast: https://getinloserweredoingwitchcraft.supercast.com
Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/getinwitches
Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio- The Witch
References:
- Rita Juanita Pike (2024). The Amazing Story Behind England’s Haunted Ancient Ram Inn and Reasons to Visit. Travel Awaits. https://www.travelawaits.com/2480927/england-haunted-ancient-ram-inn/
- The Little House of Horrors. (2024). The Ancient Ram Inn. The Little House of Horrors. https://thelittlehouseofhorrors.com/the-ancient-ram-inn/
- House and History (n.d.). The Ancient Ram Inn- More than 850 Years Worth of
- History. https://houseandhistory.com/ancient-ram-inn/
- Fitzgerald, Genevieve. Supernatural Dublin- The Hellfire Club. https://dublin.ie/live/stories/the-hell-fire-club/
- Abarta Heritage. The Hellfire Club. https://www.abartaheritage.ie/hellfire-club-archaeological-project/hellfire-club-history/hellfire-club/
Brennan, Aoife. Drunkenness, Debauchery, & Devil Worship: Ireland's hellfire Club. https://www.abartaheritage.ie/hellfire-club-archaeological-project/hellfire-club-history/hellfire-club/
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Transcript
Introduction to Witchcraft Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft and the occult but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we've learned about the craft. So get in, witches, as we travel to England and Ireland on another spooky destination.
Reflecting on Season One
00:00:53
Speaker
So, you know, as I was going through making more room on my computer, I had a bunch of Zoom video recordings of our first season. Oh, my God. That was taking up so much space. And I just I cannot. First season, Sam and Tiffany, we were fucking dumbasses. We really were like in the best possible way we have.
00:01:22
Speaker
um
00:01:25
Speaker
And i I came across because I only had a few saved on my computer. Yeah. um And one of the ones I had saved was remember that time we referenced it recently where we were recording a spooky episode in my empty ass fucking house and all of a sudden like the sun was setting and I had the light turned off and it was just literally a floating head.
00:01:47
Speaker
floating ahead. And I remember I was like, I'm gonna watch this just to kind of see like, was it as bad as we like, originally thought it was worse. um really good that All of a sudden, like it happened just completely like, it was like a blue switch, like a Yeah, like you flip the switch dark.
00:02:07
Speaker
Yeah. And it just literally was my white ass face ah floating. And you were wearing like a black shirt or something or like a really dark shirt. Yeah. So it was just your head. Just my head floating in this dark ass room. And it was what was funny about it is I remember when we were recording that being like, well, it doesn't even feel like it's that dark in this room.
00:02:29
Speaker
Yeah. But on screen, it looked like my ass was just a floating head. And it it really did. It really did look like that. So funny. I always laugh when I do like, because, you know, I do like the blooper episodes and I go through like our old stuff to pull just ridiculous things that we said and did from. Yeah. And it's just so funny to see how much we've really grown in like these three years.
00:02:59
Speaker
I know. And it feels so crazy that it's three years later. I know, right? I feel like we just started this. Almost four years. Yeah, it does. It's crazy. So this is the first episode of our season three spooky season, which is crazy to me.
Success of Spooky Season
00:03:17
Speaker
We've done this three years in a row. I love spooky season. Me too.
00:03:23
Speaker
And then also, we have some crazy ass news to share about like the downloads this year. I can't believe it. The downloads this year are weird. Yeah. Good weird. Weird. Good weird. like we We'll take it. Yeah. like But also why. This year. Nope. Yeah. But also like, hey, guys.
00:03:43
Speaker
There's been so many downloads. How about, like can you guys rate us and review us on Apple Podcasts? ah Yeah, leave us a review. We love them. Leave us a review. Send us an email. Comment down our shit. like We love that stuff, but 43,000 downloads. like Are you shitting me? Out of nowhere. like twenty thousand I was telling you because I looked at this the other day, like over 20,000 of those downloads happened in the last six months. I love it. like Half of our downloads happened in the last six months, and we've been doing this for almost four years. Yeah.
00:04:18
Speaker
Wow. So I'm yeah you know just so humbled, so happy that we have people out there that are actually listening to us and you know listening to these two idiots make a podcast as we want to say. but It's always like crazy to me. like I get you know in the grand scheme of big podcasts, that's not a lot of downloads. But like for us, that's wild because we literally, we just started this as something for fun.
00:04:45
Speaker
it wasn't like anything where we were like, people might listen, they might not, we don't know. but yeah But we're having fun doing it. And then here we are where I'm like, oh, we joked about this like recently because I remember when we started like doing the podcast and we started getting, I think we were getting close to 10,000 downloads. And I was like, when we reached 10,000, I want to buy myself a nice bottle of wine. and Spoiler alert, I never did that. But to think that like beginning us was like 10,000, oh my God. And now I'm like, oh God, like we've gotten 20,000 in the last six months.
00:05:23
Speaker
Yeah. like that's just in in the the the long like The time it took for us to get go from zero to 10,000 was like two years. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's just crazy to me. It's like it's amazing. i'm I'm so happy. and so um just thank you guys for listening to us. yeah um And also, guys we appreciate you guys. Yeah, we really do. And we've gotten some really um cute like Apple Podcast reviews that I wanted to share on this episode too. um So the first one is from June 29th. So I'm going to go backwards in time. um June 29th of this year for Mickey Mac.
00:06:08
Speaker
They say, I'm only on episode one, but I can tell that this podcast is super well researched. Thanks for your scholarship. And we love that because, you know, at the end of the day, that's something that we always, like, strive to do is we want to put out information that is digestible, that's well researched and well thought out and related back to the topics that we cover. And so um I love that.
00:06:31
Speaker
Yeah. And then um I don't know how to say your username, but it's T-S-L-L-D-A-A. And this is from June 25th of this year. And it says, can't express how much I love this podcast. I listen as I work in my garden barefoot. Great way to take in new information and inspiration. Y'all are rocking it. Thank you so much. And I just love that. Cute.
00:06:56
Speaker
So yeah, I'm
Advice for New Podcasters
00:06:58
Speaker
really happy. And then also the fact too, like I wanted to just briefly say for anyone who was thinking about starting a podcast, just know like it took us two years to get to 10,000 downloads. Yeah. So if you know, if it takes a while, it's okay, just stick with it. As long as you love it and you have fun, it's fine.
00:07:16
Speaker
I feel like the people that start podcasts and it's like right off the bat like download, download, download like really big. These are people that already have some kind of like internet personality or they're an influencer or it's like a famous person, people that like are well known. So like if you're just a normal everyday person, like we are starting a podcast. If you're not like sharing it out there, if you don't have a lot of like supportive friends and family that share it out there for you, it could definitely take a long time to get anything, like any downloads and any um recognition.
00:07:57
Speaker
It's not like an instantaneous thing sometimes and that's okay. Yeah. So. And just knowing that we have people who listen to our podcasts that are not like our friends and family is really cool. We do have a lot of friends and family that listen to and we love you guys too, but. Yes. Yeah. But you guys have to love us.
00:08:15
Speaker
And if you're friends or family and you're not listening to us, um shame on you. and you wouldn't You wouldn't hear this, but we're shaming you. Yeah, we're shaming you. Where's the shun belt? Like the shame? Shame.
00:08:30
Speaker
<unk>
00:08:33
Speaker
But anyway, oh we're not talking about downloads and shame bells. No. What are we talking about today? We're going on a stupid trip. I wish we were like literally in this place, but it's fine. I guess we'll take what we can get. We'll do this research and watching documentaries, but it's okay. It's okay. It's all right. It's all right.
00:09:01
Speaker
We are traveling to two spooky destinations.
Exploring the Haunted Ram Inn
00:09:04
Speaker
I'm going to cover the Ram Inn. And Tiffany, what are you covering? I can't remember. The Irish Hellfire Club out of Japan. The Hellfire Club. Yes, that's right. I was like, oh, this reminds me of Stranger Things. Right? I was like, oh, is this where this came from? it Basically, yes. Oh, cool. Well, I cannot wait. Yeah. There's not a ton. This was one that I was like, man, I bet there's going to be so much information.
00:09:29
Speaker
And there's not as much as I was hoping for, but it's still very interesting. Well, hopefully this episode will give you a little bit of some spookiness and get you ready for spooky season.
00:09:44
Speaker
It starts right now. Yeah. So let's get into it. So I'm going to cover the Ram Inn first. So I'm going to start off with a little bit of background and history. So the Ram Inn is known as the most haunted house in Great Britain. And for those who don't know, Great Britain does not just include England.
00:10:01
Speaker
It includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. um But I say that because, you know, there's a lot of history there. So basically, a lot of historically significant areas, like the fact that this one is considered the most haunted of them all, is really saying something. So the Ram Inn is also known as one of the oldest buildings in the country and the oldest in Watton Under Edge, which is a small town about 40-ish minutes from Bristol.
00:10:30
Speaker
in the county of Gloucestershire. So going into the history, The inn itself dates back to 1145, and before the inn was built, the site was home to a multi-millenia pagan burial ground that lies on ley lines that tie the location back to not only Stonehenge, but Glastonbury Tor as well. In fact, the inn was built directly at the crossroad of those two ley lines, the one that intersects to Stonehenge and the one that intersects to Glastonbury.
00:11:04
Speaker
So for those who don't know, a ley line is a straight line that one can draw through several places of geographical and spiritual importance. So this gives a lot of when people are talking about like the reason why it's so haunted, they think that this is why it's because of the ley lines.
00:11:22
Speaker
When the inn was built, it was built as a keeping house for slaves, masons, and other workers who were working on building St. Mary's Church, with which was built nearby. So the legend says that when the church was being built, streams and other water sources on the land that were naturally present in that area were diverted to allow for the church to be built,
00:11:46
Speaker
which in turn created a portal of dark energy in the area. Now, I don't know if I necessarily believe that, but what I will say is historically, we see a lot of times with very haunted places situations where there's some sort of connection to the water, there's connection to lane lines or connection to electromagnetic fields. So I could see how maybe like the water situation may be in some sort of spiritual activity, um but I don't know if it necessarily created a dark portal. After a while, when the church was built, the slaves and masons were moved out from the keeping house, and the space was used to house the first vicar in the town
00:12:32
Speaker
named Jaronis. No other records exist showing vicars or reverends living on the property after Jaronis, so it's assumed that after Jaronis the other holy men lived in the town Vicarage, which was built a few years after the Ram Inn was built. But the next record of ownership was Maurice de Bath in 1350.
00:12:53
Speaker
Maurice Debath leased the inn to Peter LeCocque and his wife Margaret, and they lived there for a while, but the inn itself stayed under the property of the Debath name for 171 years. So between 1421,
00:13:09
Speaker
in 1820, the inn changed ownership many times, and the use of the building changed as well. During this time, it was known as the tan house and the old sun. And some of the uses of the property included an inn and
Demonic Encounters at the Ram Inn
00:13:24
Speaker
then a public house. And so for your Americans out there or anyone who doesn't really know what a public house is, it is essentially a quote unquote pub. And it's an establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. And there's other rules and stipulations as well, like since it's a public house, they can't, you know, deter people away or like have rules for like, you have to, you know, pay a membership fee to come in, there has to be like a space where you can serve food, like there's a little bit of rules and regulations to what is considered a pub or a public house. But it was
00:14:02
Speaker
a public house for many years. I thought the name pub comes from. Yes, that's exactly what it comes from. I never knew that. Isn't that crazy? That is crazy. Yeah, that's where it comes from. So the house got its current name as the Ram Inn when it was purchased by a brewery. And in 1968, the inn was bought and transformed into a house by John Humphreys.
00:14:27
Speaker
So there's a lot of controversy surrounding John and his claims about the inn. And a lot of locals in the area think that John was a con man and that he made up a lot of the claims of the house being or you know the ramen being haunted as a way to make money. But there are many more people who believe John and who have experienced unexplained phenomena in and around the property. So It really just depends, I think, on the story, whether or not you think it's exaggerated is what I will say there. So according to John, the first night that he stayed in the property, he says that he was grabbed by his arms and thrown across the room or drug across the room. And he says that this was done from the work of demonic forces.
00:15:20
Speaker
And he also reported a lot of banging on his window by these same demonic forces. And when he hung a crucifix in his room, that helped to reduce the activity. So that's why he kind of attributed it to demonic forces. um Along the property, he also found evidence of ritual sacrifice and devil worship, as well as skeletal remains of children he believed were stabbed with where stabbed with daggers.
00:15:48
Speaker
And so this story comes from information where like it was reported that he was doing renovation on the basement of the inn. And whenever he was doing renovation at the bottom of the stairs, he accidentally dug up a grave. And in that grave, he found several children's skeletons and there was evidence of broken knives still in like the skeletal remains.
00:16:13
Speaker
which pretty fucking wild, right? Like, could you imagine like finding a grave? Yeah, and then it be filled with children and there's dagger still in their bones. Like, what? Obviously murdered children. Yeah, like it's so sad. and and ah So with this part, though, I'm like, ah did he actually get it tested? I don't know. But supposedly an archaeological report of the daggers confirmed that they were, quote, of a great age. But the daggers were stolen during a tour that he was giving ah of the Ram Inn in 2014.
00:16:50
Speaker
And they've never been returned so more dating hasn't really happened and so they can't really confirm like how old these daggers were, when the children were killed, were killed and if like the daggers correspond with the bones and and what have you. so I don't know. I just thought that was kind of weird that it was reported that they were just dated to be of a great age as opposed to being able to say look what even what century they were from. I thought that was a little bit odd. But also super unfortunate that the daggers were stolen because it's like this is a historical artifact. like What the fuck?
00:17:31
Speaker
so yeah Anyway, John found, I guess, an estate shop or um an antique shop. He found an old painting of one of the pastors who lived in the inn um or somebody who like frequently stayed at the inn. This pastor was named John Wesley. In his attempts to preserve the space and its history, he decided he was going to buy the picture and hang it up. However, the ghosts in the house apparently thought that this was a terrible idea because
00:18:02
Speaker
According to John, doors would swing open and slam shut and there was banging on all the windows while the painting was up. So needless to say, like he took that painting down, which I mean, they're like, get it out. Yeah. We hate this motherfucker. Like, I don't know what was going on with that. But yeah, who knows? So regardless of the activity he encountered in the end, he worked in the end and lived there from the 1960s until his death in 2017.
00:18:31
Speaker
And it's like all of his work and every penny he made was put into preserving the building. Even when his wife and children left the inn, like they straight up moved out. And so he lived there by himself for decades preserving this inn.
00:18:49
Speaker
And he also was said that his room, the one he he decided to stay in and stayed in for decades, he said was haunted by an incubus and a succubus. Both? Yeah, both.
00:19:06
Speaker
He's just having a wild time. Yeah, maybe that's why he was fine staying there alone, if you know what I mean. This is a great place to be haunted at. This is a great place. Also, if I was staying in a super creepy, super fucking ancient house that was super haunted, I'm going to need some good night's sleep. I would not stay in the room where I believed an incubus and a succubus were haunting. Come on.
00:19:32
Speaker
I don't know. So I don't know if I really believe that part. And if you like, I'll get into it later. But like, this space was documented on Ghost Adventures. And as we know, Ghost Adventures is like kind of a wild show. yeah But if you watch that show, I mean, it kind of comes across as a little bit Looney Tunes, but it's okay. I think we will be done. Yeah.
00:20:00
Speaker
yeah Oh yeah, I'm sure you have. so That show makes me laugh so hard. but Yes, with these bedazzled jeans, like, get out of here. It's so over the top. It's so funny. I'm so big. Whoa, Erin, get in the shed.
00:20:20
Speaker
yeah Aaron, go down to the basement. This is the most haunted room in this house. Aaron, get in there. Yeah. Oh, you want a piece of me a ghost? Come and touch me. me. It's so dramatic. I love it.
00:20:39
Speaker
or like that one ticked off where it's like it's that that snippet of like an episode where it's like he's doing using the evp thing or whatever but it's like the the one where it's like it scans the radio frequencies and yeah i can't remember what he said but he's like talking to the ghost and it's like the ghost says your mom go making a joke about my mom
00:21:05
Speaker
Oh, if you ever need great entertainment, please go watch that. I have watched so many seasons and I can't have it pretty much every episode. But it's so good. I can't stop watching it. It sucks me in. But some of the history stuff, I love the history parts of the episodes. And then getting to see these buildings that I can't travel to all of them. I don't have that kind of funds.
00:21:28
Speaker
right So you get to see them and see the land and stuff. I love that. And then you get entertainment in the process. Yeah, exactly. And they're all running. ah bro Stop Stop running. I love it.
00:21:45
Speaker
Moving on. We're going to talk about Ghost Adventures. Won't be the last time we talk about it. Let's talk a little bit about who could possibly haunt this inn.
Hauntings in the Witch's Room
00:21:57
Speaker
There are many entities who are said to haunt the Ram Inn and the most famous is that of a witch Or I'm not going to go out and just say a witch. A woman who was accused of witchcraft, because as we know, she probably was not a witch. She was probably just a normal human. Just a normal human. Maybe poor, maybe not married. And maybe said, fuck off to someone. And they're like, witch. Witch. Yeah. And so this woman was accused of witchcraft. She took refuge in the inn.
00:22:30
Speaker
But she was eventually captured and killed and you know tortured nearby um on the charges of witchcraft, so RIP her. um But there is a room at the end called the Witch's Room where her spirit is believed to haunt. There is also endless stories of murdered children and exorcisms happening in the end.
00:22:50
Speaker
And there are stories of crying children throughout the end. And according to Mr. Humphries, he started to play stuffed animals around the inn. um I don't know why, but I guess he thought, you know, maybe as a crying child, this helped my crying child. I don't know. But here's the stuffed animal.
00:23:08
Speaker
Yeah, it seemed to lessen the crying phenomena. So I don't know if this were like the the ghosts of the children who were like sacrificed at the basement. I don't know. yeah But yeah, so the bishop's room is also another room that is considered to be one of the most haunted rooms within the inn. And it's supposedly and and supposedly nine entities reside in this room. It's said that this room is haunted by the spirits of several bishops who stayed in the room in the past, as well as monks, nuns, and a Cavalier King Charles dog, which
00:23:43
Speaker
Oh, cute. So basically, like, isn't that a lady in the tramp, like the dog lady or something? No, that's not a cocker spaniel. But they're very close. They're like same. I think there might be the same breed family. Oh, okay. Yeah. But, you know, could you imagine the big kind of cute and ghost? Yeah, I love that. I mean, it could haunt me as long as it's not a coochie. Oh, we're good.
00:24:07
Speaker
ah Exactly. I'll be fine with that. There's also a, I didn't put this in the notes, but there's also a 500 year dead cat ghost that also, 500 year old dead cat ghost that haunts the house as well. So I don't know how they figured out it was 500 years old, but you know. So like, so let me trace this cat's family tree.
00:24:27
Speaker
500. We couldn't date those daggers and these bones, but you know what we can date? that They're like, actually, let's get one of those EBP scanners. Kat, how old are you? Your mom, 500.
00:24:40
Speaker
yeah
00:24:43
Speaker
She said 500 years.
00:24:49
Speaker
but I thought I loved that show. Yeah, me too. According some accounts, people who stayed in the bishop's room have also reported that they've been lifted and thrown across the room, which I hate. I hate that. Yeah, don't like that. And the bed is reported to have levitated on different occasions, which is also a gnar for me. ah You're just sleeping and you wake up and you're floating in this bed. Yeah, fuck that.
00:25:18
Speaker
I would be out of there so fast. You can pay me for that. There's also a story of a man being brutally murdered by having his head put into the fireplace in this room.
00:25:31
Speaker
and you know I know right like what a terrible way to die um at least like if I'm gonna be burnt to death like let me go by smoke inhalation first you know what I mean yeah but to put my whole fucking head into the fire what yeah um and it said that sometimes you can hear his screams oh no I gotta go I can't be there and then A spirit of a young woman is also reportedly seen in this room hanging upside down from the ceiling. Like a bat. Yeah, like a bat. Just no thank you. And a Roman centurion has been reported riding through the room on horseback
00:26:13
Speaker
apparently scaring the shit out of two plumbers doing work in the room. That'll do it! That'll do it! Could you imagine? I'm just a Roman man on a horse galloping through the room and right out the wall. Right, like the fuck. Whose horse is that?
00:26:31
Speaker
Oh my god. And then there's a room called the men's kitchen. um I couldn't figure out if this was like just the kitchen or why it was called the men's kitchen. the But kitchen yeah, allegedly, it stands on the side of the ancient pagan burial ground. And it said to be haunted by the cries of a baby. There's also a story that during a ghost hunt, a young man was thrown against the wall by an unseen force.
00:27:02
Speaker
Another story from this room involves a young woman coming up through the floor of the kitchen and later a woman and the skeletal remains of a baby were found in that location. So you hear baby cries in that room and then you see a woman coming out from the floor and then you find the skeletal remains of the mom and the baby like that's fucking crazy.
00:27:25
Speaker
So there's that. And then behind the bar in the kitchen, another ghost of a young woman who was murdered by a highwayman is often seen, and she presents herself as someone named Elizabeth. And then in the attic, this is said to be haunted by the ghost of a previous innkeeper's daughter who was murdered in the attic in the 1500s.
00:27:46
Speaker
The girl who haunts the inn is said to be friendly and will wave at people through the windows. And there are also stories of a ghost named Rosie, who is a young girl seen throughout the inn. And I'm not sure if this is the same ghost as the innkeeper's daughter who died in the 1500s, but it could be. but So I thought I'd just kind of throw that in there on that section. but according to accounts of those who visited the inn, they can feel intense feelings of melancholy in the attic, and they hear the sound of something heavy being dragged across before from the rooms below. And one of the rooms directly below the attic is the bishop's room. And so could you imagine like, and then it made me think like, okay, if the bishop's room is right, ah
00:28:32
Speaker
below the attic, and the young girl was killed in the attic. Is it the young girl's ghost that's also coming upside down into the bishop's room to be like, Hey guys, what's up? What's going on? I died up here. Yeah. Do you want to see? What's up here?
00:28:48
Speaker
ah yeah well um Also, an important note here, John Humphrey's daughter Caroline originally chose the attic as her room. And so whenever she originally moved in the end, this is where she was living. But this was like, you know, obviously before she moved out of the end because of the paranormal activity. But also like out of all the rooms, why would you choose a fucking attic like I've seen pictures of this place. It looks creepy as fuck. I would never live in that attic. And then lastly, the Mayflower Barn is on the property and it dates back to the 18th century. It is said to be haunted by a seven-foot dark entity that is aggressive towards men and will often be seen materialized by the doorway of the barn given the impression that he's like guarding something inside.
00:29:42
Speaker
And I don't like that either. So today, the Inn is currently owned by Caroline Humphreys, who she inherited the Inn from her father, um John Humphreys, after his death. She allows the Inn to be open to visitors and paranormal tourists who wish to stay overnight. And she's also opened the space to archaeologists to study the Inn and its history. She would like to restore the property to open a pub or a restaurant, but The cost of keeping the house from just falling down is so great that she doesn't really have any money to put towards the renovations needed for like to open up an inn or a restaurant. so um you know Obviously, it's just kind of sitting kind of in disarray like how it was left. But the Ram Inn has attracted a lot of attention from different paranormal and ghost hunting organizations.
00:30:38
Speaker
In 2008, the English show Most Haunted, which is on Amazon if you're in America, um they conducted an investigation of the property and they captured activity on their cameras and they also captured some strange noises. um And then Ghost Adventures, as we mentioned, they also completed an investigation on the property and they documented EVPs and their own like personal strange encounters while they were in the location. And they have like a,
00:31:06
Speaker
pretty extensive interview with John Humphries, because obviously this was filmed well before he passed. And he's kind of a weird fellow. But I would imagine living decades in this haunted fucking place would probably make me kind of weird too.
00:31:23
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I do. I did see that episode. I do remember it. That's the one where it like the succubus, he talks about the succubus and it's like, yeah, we're like it shows up or whatever. Yes. Something touched me. It must be the succubus. The succubus. It heard us talking about sex. Yeah.
00:31:47
Speaker
Jokes on you, Zach Baggins. It was the Incubus. Right, yeah. It's feeding off of your female hormones.
00:31:58
Speaker
Oh, that show. That show is great. It's very entertaining. I love it so much.
Mysteries of the Hellfire Club
00:32:04
Speaker
All right, now we're gonna travel on over to Ireland. So like we said earlier, I'm talking about the Hellfire Club. And I thought there was gonna be a lot of information on this and there's not. It was very like all surrounded by secrecy. And I thought there was gonna be more ghosties attached to this one. And there was only a couple of mentions of like,
00:32:29
Speaker
ghost activity. It's mostly about the events that occurred or were rumored to have occurred in the Hellfire Club. So just a little bit of background, it's located on Montpelier Hill in Dublin. And the Health Higher Club is an old hunting lodge that had some ominous and nefarious stories attached to it. The location was said to have once been home to an ancient passage grave that was marked by a cairn of stones stacked on it. But a man by the name it of Williams Speakers Connolly
00:33:09
Speaker
came along and he built this hunting lodge over the site in 1725. It's noted that he destroyed the cairn and he used some of the stones ah um for like the lintel of his fireplace and Connolly was one of the wealthiest men in Ireland at the time.
00:33:27
Speaker
A short time later, there was apparently some storm and the entire roof of the lodge was blown off during this storm, and all of the locals believed that it was an act of the aggrieved spirits seeking vengeance for the Cairns' destruction and having this you know lodge built over their graves.
00:33:48
Speaker
So while it's the most infamous, the Irish Hellfire Club was not the first of its kind. The original Hellfire Club appears to have been founded by Philip, the first Duke of Wharton in England in 1719.
00:34:05
Speaker
He was prone, apparently, to excessive drinking and outrageously lewd behavior, and as a result, the first Hellfire Club in England was suppressed by Order of King George I in 1721. In terms of spookiness, there are few buildings in Ireland that are more haunted than the mysterious Hellfire Club.
00:34:26
Speaker
And supernatural reports have been connected to the lodge since it was built, but there wasn't a lot of these stories like available, which I don't understand that, but it is what it is. Not only was the club built on top of like a literal grave, but it was also it also contained nefarious practices, and it there was like mention of sacrifice, both animal and human, and then some of the um Stories were like, oh, it was actually just maidens, um though the sacrifices have never been proven. So after Connolly's death, the lodge was sold, and I couldn't find like if the health the people of the Hellfire Club bought it or if like someone they knew bought it. But it's like essentially, it gets sold and it becomes the meeting place for the Irish Hellfire Club.
00:35:15
Speaker
This club was founded by Richard Parsons in 1735. And Parsons was a man known for dabbling in black magic. And it should be noted that this club was very short lived. So it was disbanded, I think by the early 1740s. But there wasn't an exact date on that one either. It just says the early 1740s. So there's a lot of mystery that surrounds this place.
00:35:41
Speaker
Members of the club were well known for their abnormal behavior and debauchery, involving alcohol and sex. And even though they were seen as a group that would be trouble, they were also known to be young men who were well educated and practitioners of science. Many of them were also graduates from both Trinity or the University of Cambridge. They were often described as a Masonic-like group of rich aristocrats who enjoyed drunken orgies where they gambled and practiced dark arts like murder and human sacrifice.
00:36:17
Speaker
And there are a shit ton of rumors and speculations that surround them. So I'm just going to go over a few of them. And by a few, there's still a lot, right? So there was a lot of secrecy surrounding the club, and the secrecy led many to speculate that its members were Satanists and devil worshippers.
Dark Rumors of the Hellfire Club
00:36:37
Speaker
And one of these beliefs was that within its hierarchy, the president of the club was named the King of Hell, and he would dress like Satan with horns, wings, and hoofs. While there are depictions about the hierarchy, the Hellfire Club didn't actually follow any rigid or even formal structure, and they were seen more as a shared special interest group. It was created purely for hedonistic and self-indulgent pleasures, and their goal was to not only amuse themselves, but to also like shock society.
00:37:14
Speaker
Some claimed that the members would set a place at each meeting for the devil in hopes that he would attend. The club was thought to have held black masses in the lodge, and the rumor holds that both cats and servants were sacrificed during black mass.
00:37:33
Speaker
At one point, there was a fire in the lodge that led to its appearance being, like, ominous. Like, they never repaired it. They kept it looking this way. And many believe that the building was set on fire, like, on purpose to help aid its hellish appearance.
00:37:48
Speaker
One of the best known stories or rumors surrounding the Hellfire Club was that the devil himself appeared at the club, and the story goes that a stranger came and joined the club members at a card game, and one of the players dropped a card on the floor, but when he bent down to pick it up, he saw that the stranger actually had cloven hooves instead of feet.
00:38:09
Speaker
So another popular story claims that there was a young farmer who was curious about what happened at the club's secret meetings. So he climbs this hill and they invite him to come in and witness the night's activities. He was said to have been found the next morning, trembling and terrified, spending the rest of his life unable to speak or even remember his own name. Oh, I hate that. Right?
00:38:36
Speaker
There's also and a story that claims a young man was visiting a local farmhouse and he decided to uncover the activities of the club. So the next morning, this guy is found dead and his host, along with a local priest, believe that he was murdered by the Hellfire Club. So they decide they're going to go and investigate.
00:38:56
Speaker
When they arrive at the lodge they see there's like a banquet laid out and apparently this black cat roaming around the room. But the cat isn't normal. They claim the cat was huge and that its ears were shaped like horns and the priest takes a bottle of holy water out of his pocket because of course he does and he decides I'm going to do an exorcism and this exorcism apparently just rips the cat to shreds and the priest returns outside and he finds the host laying on the ground just covered in like claw-shaped scratches like all over his face and neck. Right? So weird. Yeah, creepy, weird. And while there were many rumors and speculation surrounding the Hellfire Club, they quickly gained notoriety by openly mocking the church, taking the question of organized religion that was like the height of the Enlightenment to a whole new level during this time.
00:39:54
Speaker
And there was a letter written by a member of the club in 1738 that described their practices and it included the sacrifice of maidens though it's thought that like they were taking virginity and not actual like human sacrifices though the locals took it to be like literal forcing like the new members had to like give declarations that they wouldn't sacrifice people because of it basically. Even though it wasn't like ah So this human sacrifice is like rumor, and there's like no proof that it actually happened, but who knows? Yeah. Could have. Yeah, could have. We don't really know. To add fuel to the fire surrounding the rumors, there were a lot of scandals tied to the Hellfire Club, and it soon became notorious for its heavy drinking sessions that often involved sexual assault and violence. And on at least one account, it ended in murder.
00:40:53
Speaker
but boom boom yeah ah man ah a man named john A man named Jonathan Smith described the Hellfire Club as a brace of monsters, blasphemers, and bacchanalians of whom Worsdale was the leader. And while there wasn't any written rule that proved this, the history states that to become a member of the club, you had to do the following.
00:41:21
Speaker
So first, it was necessary to have carried off and debotched a maid, a wife, and a widow, or an indefinite number of each. okay Second, the person should have fought three duels, in one of which, at least, he must have either been wounded or have wounded his antagonist.
00:41:42
Speaker
And third, the person should have at one time drunk six bottles of claret after dinner in half-pipe bumpers only. So basically like one person.
00:42:00
Speaker
enter this club because who would be doing all these things? The Hellfire Club. Apparently. So I went down a major rabbit hole. I was up until like, I don't know, like one or two in the morning, researching this last night.
00:42:17
Speaker
And I could not find lists of members. I could not find any other hauntings. Like, nothing. It was basically this whole place's, like, ominous presence is all based on this group of frat boys during the Enlightenment.
00:42:36
Speaker
like That's essentially what it is. But they apparently did all these crazy things supposedly that were like devil worship bad and like sacrificing humans, maidens, cats, like whatever. like that it's It's all local lore, essentially. There's no like actual proof that any of this happened.
00:43:02
Speaker
na The only thing like when it comes to the human part is that one time it did end in murder, but there's not a lot of information. There's no names, there's nothing because it was such a secret club of the time. Or they're just pulling her fucking leg. That it couldn't very much. copy know Who knows? So today, the remains of the Hellfire Club are still accessible and they're located about 30 minutes ah driving from Dublin city center.
00:43:32
Speaker
There's a nearby car park near Montpellier Hill um that you can park at and it's attached to a 5.5 kilometer loop that will take you to the hill where the club remains can be seen. And if you climb the hill, you can see the remains of the club along with views looking out over Dublin City. But be aware that people who have visited the club's location at night have reported unusual smells and a strange, like, quote, unquote, strange atmosphere. And some have even claimed to find trace remains of satanic rituals. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the Hellfire Club.
00:44:11
Speaker
I love like that. i did not I didn't realize that it had it was anything other, like because I only ever heard of it from Stranger Things. yeah It was interesting to see that it was like you know something else outside of that. It made sense once I started doing this research. We have Hellfire Club shirts, me and Anthony, from Stranger Things, and it's like the little double emblem on it.
00:44:34
Speaker
And it makes so much more sense now because like it was all about like, oh, let's set a place for the devil. And you know the president of the club is the king of hell and he dresses like the devil and the devil can even visited them. So it makes so much sense like why that emblem is attached to the Hellfire Club in Stranger Things.
00:44:56
Speaker
Yeah, super interesting, super spooky. And if you've been to either of these locations, if you've been to the Hellfire Club in Dublin or to the Ram Inn outside of Bristol, let us know.
00:45:10
Speaker
Yeah. And if you went to the Hellfire Club, did you have any ghosty experiences? Did you smell strange smells and strange atmospheres? I'd like to. Yeah. Yeah. Tell us all about it. And if you have pictures, even better. Show us that. Even better. We love a picture. We do.
00:45:36
Speaker
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00:45:58
Speaker
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