The Cursed Lisheen House and the Haunting Egyptian Artifacts – Moon Mausoleum

Inside of the strange Lisheen House, there was once almost a museum of strange artifacts from abroad. When strange things started to happen, they became convinced there was a haunted or even cursed artifact that was behind the poltergeist activity. 

On the Coolera Peninsula of Sligo in Ireland stands the Lisheen House, also known as Seafield Mansion from the 1840s. The peninsula is characterized by a vast network of ancient Megalithic and Neolithic tombs, cairns and ringforts spread out across its landscape.

Read More: Check out all of the ghost stories from Ireland

The house was constructed by William Phibbs during the Great Famine. In gaelic, Lisheen means “the little fort.” The full place name Lisheenacooravan means “the little fort on the white level plain.” Phibbs was a landlord known for his cruelty and indifference, making his legacy a shadowy one.

Egyptian Artifacts A Curious Collection

By the early 20th century, Owen Phibbs, a descendant of William, transformed Lisheen House into a repository of Egyptian artifacts, including mummies. He was an archeologist as many of the richer men at the time traveled all around the world in search of rare relics. 

Some even claim that he was also a grave robber and treated his tenants cruelly and had them salute him when he drove by in his luxurious carriage. There are even stories that one of the tenants cast a curse on him and his family. 

He was known for kicking out those that couldn’t pay his unfairly high rent and once a widow cast a curse and swore that day would come when the birds of the air would build their nests in the ruins of Seafield House. She also cursed the Phibbs to walk its halls forever after, in this life or the next, until the end of time.

He came back in 1855 from traveling through Egypt, Syria and further east. When he came back, he returned with many ancient and foreign treasures he put on display in a room he called the museum on the first floor of his house. Exactly what type of relics and their meaning is not known today. Little did he know that this endeavor would awaken malevolent forces within the mansion’s walls.

The Poltergeist Reign

Servants within the mansion bore witness to harrowing occurrences as strange things started to happen from then on. Lisheen House quaked ominously, and objects seemed to hurl themselves against walls. They could hear loud banding on the walls, doors and ceilings and dark figures would wander around.

The presence of a violent poltergeist was undeniable, and fear permeated the once-luxurious abode. People were sure it was something to do with the foreign artifacts.

Haunting Phantoms and Mysterious Coaches

Among the spectral phenomena reported was the ghostly appearance of a horse-drawn coach, its eerie rumble echoing through the night. The phantom vehicle would approach the mansion’s entrance only to vanish into thin air. Despite multiple attempts at exorcism, the paranormal activity persisted.

The haunting became so bad that the family called upon the local Jesuit priest that came to exorcise the place. Every day for several weeks the priest would try to hold masses to rid the house of the poltergeist, but nothing seemed to work.

The Phibbs Exodus from Lisheen House

The Phibbs family, while living in denial of the haunting, could not retain servants due to the mansion’s sinister reputation and the staff quit one by one and no one stayed for long. It was at this point they also changed the name to Lisheen House to try to save what was left of the reputation. But it was already too late. 

In 1938, a sudden decision was made by the family to abandon Lisheen House entirely. Their departure marked the end of an era for the once-stately mansion.

It is often said that it was because of an incident when the haunting became so intense the whole house was shaking, making them believe it was an earthquake and forcing them outside. After this night both the family and the remaining staff fled to never return.

A Mansion in Ruins

Lisheen House, its history veiled in the supernatural, was left to crumble into ruins after the family left in 1938. No one wanted to go back to the house to claim the house or the things inside it. Most of the content was sold. Were it ended up and what happened to the hauntings after remains a mystery. 

Today, it stands cloaked in wild Atlantic ivy, a silent testament to its eerie past on the green field. It looks peaceful today, but is it really? Many have claimed to have seen a coach with four horses, making the claim that the widow’s curse really came true and that the house is haunted until the end of time. 

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