13 Haunted Irish Pubs From Around The World

Irish pubs have long been places of community and camaraderie. Countless pints have been poured, toasts have been made, and pubs are also great places for reminiscing and telling stories. Given Ireland's long history of brilliant legends, folktales, and stories of the otherworldly, it's not surprising more than a few pubs are said to have ghostly patrons and spirits that linger ... perhaps over a pint of Guinness.

And honestly, we can't say that we blame them. If we ever find ourselves needing to choose a place to spend the afterlife, an Irish pub is a pretty solid choice. Stories of spirits lingering in pubs have also spread to Irish pubs outside of the Emerald Isle itself, and whether or not you believe in the ghostly is irrelevant: These are some wonderful stories about times gone by.

First, the big one — and a taste of things to come. Kyteler's Inn in Kilkenny has long been said to be one of the most haunted restaurants in the world. It was founded by Alice Kyteler, a woman who was accused and convicted of witchcraft after the death of her fourth husband. She excaped her accusers, but stories say that her servant, Petromilla de Meath, still haunts the inn where she worked: She was executed in lieu of her wealthy employer. That's far from the only haunted pub around, though, so let's take a look at some of the stories of ghosts, spirits, and unexplained phenomena that you might be served alongside that pint.

Grace Neill's has a wild history that spans more than four centuries. It opened way back in 1611, and the list of clientele includes everyone from locals and fishermen to pirates. In other words, it makes sense that it's called one of the most haunted pubs in Northern Ireland. According to the stories, there are a number of shadowy forms that are regularly seen by staff, but these vague forms aren't the only ones responsible for the eerie footsteps and the chill in the air. 

It's Grace Neill herself who's said to still be keeping a watchful eye on the pub that was gifted to her by her father. And it's a pub, incidentally, that sat just a stone's throw from an area so rough it was popularly known as Murder Lane.

Neill outlived all of her five children and died in 1916 at nearly 100 years old, and employees say they've experienced lights flickering and the sounds of someone sweeping the floor. Some have reported not just cold spots, but the kind of chill that's overwhelming, and that it only passes when they reassure Grace that all is well. Some say they've seen glasses move seemingly on their own, and others swear they've seen her ghostly form, walking the pub that she kept for decades.

graceneills.com

+44 28 9188 4595

33 High St, Donaghadee, BT21 0AH

Kells is one of the best Irish pubs in Seattle, and the building was once a mortuary. Does that have anything to do with this pub's reputation as one of the most haunted places in the city? We're not going to say no, and there are some stories that might give chills to even the biggest skeptics. First, one of the most commonly-seen spirits is said to be that of a young girl, who is suggested to have been one of the victims of the 1918 flu. Another figure — clad in clothing from the same period — has been seen, often heralded by the wafting smell of lilies. 

There's also a man believers refer to as Charlie: He's believed to have been a mortician here, and shows up when there's music scheduled. People have seen his reflection in mirrors, and he's considered a protective, friendly sort.

Other activities — including breaking mirrors and falling glasses — are believed to be a consequence of the fact that many of the dead who passed through the mortuary were the victims of terrible accidents, drownings, and illnesses like tuberculosis. Some of the spirits also may have been victims of Linda Hazzard. She's said to be the state's first female serial killer, accused of claiming to be a physician, then prescribing extreme fasting for her patients. She's been connected with the deaths of at least 15 people. 

kellsseattle.com

(206) 728-1916

1916 Post Alley, Seattle, WA 98101

The name of The Franciscan Well Pub & Brewery is apt, as it is, in fact, on the grounds of a 13th century monastery. The well is still there, too, and for centuries, it's been believed to have healing properties. It's also at the heart of rumored hauntings, with some employees swearing that late at night, they hear the sound of chains, as if water is being drawn. 

Doors open and close, objects move, and some say they've heard footsteps. The microbrewery opened here in 1998, and there was enough unsettling activity reported that a priest was asked to come and do a blessing in hopes of getting the spirits to rest. Even skeptics should admit that this one's a little creepy, especially when we point out that if you head out to the beer garden to kick back with a few frosty brews, you're standing above the remains of an unspecified number of monks that were buried here long ago.

franwellbar.com

+353 021 439 3434

14b North Mall, Sunday's Well, Cork City T23 RHW2

The Victorian-era Crown Bar is a stunning example of Belfast's finest architecture, with stained glass windows, a red granite bar, and elaborate woodwork. It's also reportedly home to a spirit and — thanks to a 2008 seance — those who believe say that we know exactly who's still haunting this stately old place.

According to the story, the seance was conducted after many, many reports of unexplained footsteps and mysterious voices. One of the spirits is said to be a woman named Amelia, who occupied one of the rooms in the building's upper floors back in its hotel days. She died after falling down the stairs, and some staff are so convinced that she remains that they refuse to go upstairs alone. She's supposedly downstairs in the pub, too, and is said to be the source of mysterious knocking sounds sometimes heard in the snugs.

nicholsonspubs.co.uk/restaurants/scotlandandnorthernireland/thecrownliquorsaloonbelfast

+44 28 9024 3187 

46 Great Victoria St, Belfast BT2 7BA

Seattle is home to a lot of hidden gem restaurants and hidden history, and that's true of the Owl 'N Thistle. This Irish pub is housed in a building that was erected after a 1889 fire, and today, it hosts regularly scheduled live music, as well as a few ghostly tenants ... who also appreciate a great tune. Not only have there been countless reports of strange, shadowy figures and whispered voices, but it's also said that sometimes, the piano will start to play on its own. Others have heard sounds with no explanation, said utensils will randomly move, and at least one staff member has said that they've met the ghost responsible. 

Unlike some ghost stories where the spirit in question is given a name connected to some bit of the building's history, that's not the case here. There is, however, some pretty wild history that believers say might account for spooky happenings. The Owl 'N Thistle is in the basement of what's called the Colman Building, and when it was rebuilt after the fire, the old remnants weren't cleared first. That left a maze of tunnels beneath the building, which have been used for everything from storefronts to opium dens and gambling parlors. Who knows what shadiness they played host to?

owlnthistle.com

(206) 621-7777

808 Post Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

Sitting in a lovely area of Dublin is The Bull & Castle, part pub and part steakhouse. Head here, and you'll find dry-aged beef sourced from Angus and Hereford cattle. You might also catch a glimpse of the resident ghost, and it's believed that we know exactly who's haunting this stately old place and filling the air with sudden, overwhelming melancholy. 

James Clarence Mangan was a poet born in Dublin in 1803. His once-wealthy family was bankrupted by 1810 thanks to a series of poor decisions and bad luck, and by 1818, Mangan was publishing poetry. He fell in with Dublin's literary crowd, but his was not a happy end. After years of mental and physical health issues, Mangan contracted cholera, was hospitalized, and died in 1849. Three people attended his services, and according to the story that's told today, his spirit has returned to the place he was born: The Castle Inn, now known as The Bull & Castle.

thebuckleycollection.ie/bull-castle-steakhouse

+353 1 475 1122

5-7 Lord Edward St, Christchurch, Dublin 2

As you might expect, Boston has a number of outstanding Irish pubs. Over at Ned Devine's, you can count on some award-winning clam chowder — which says a lot, considering how many places in Boston are serving stellar clam chowder and perhaps the occasional ghostly form, seen dressed in clothing from centuries past, shimmering in and out of sight. 

There's been plenty of paranormal activity reported here, from the usual unexplained sounds, blood-chilling screams, and moving objects to — late at night — the sounds of old-timey Irish music. A few spectres have been seen repeatedly, including a man in Revolutionary War-era garb who always seems to be looking for something, and a figure that always appears behind the bar. A menacing entity in the basement has reportedly touched people and whispered names, and a colonial-era woman has been glimpsed, acting as though she's trying to escape from an unknown, unseen someone or something. 

Ned Devine's might not be old, but Faneuil Hall is — and it definitely has the history to carry a haunting or two. In addition to once being a hotbed of Revolutionary activity, it was once connected to the slave trade. It was also the site of the grisly death of a man named Victor Hendrickson in 1907. He was working on farming equipment when he got caught in the machinery, and it's thought that the screams might be his.

neddevinesboston.com

(617) 248-8800

1 Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston, MA 02109

Darkey Kelly's pub is a stone's throw from the famous Temple Bar, and it has a colorful history that's led to rumors of hauntings and ties to Dublin's famous Hellfire Club. Darkey Kelly was a very real person from the mid-18th century, and she once owned an inn that was a favorite hangout spot for the Hellfire Club. Something went sideways, and she earned the vitriol of the club's Simon Luttrell. Luttrell — who was also the city's sheriff — accused her of being a witch, and she was burned at the stake. Is any of that true? It's actually unclear, aside from the fact that she was real and she was executed.

The other story is that while she was being investigated for murder in 1760, the bodies of five men were found beneath the floor of what's now Darkey Kelly's pub. Back then, it was a brothel under her watchful guidance. What happened? No one knows, but both Kelly and the dead men have been said to still haunt the pub.

darkeykellys.ie

+353 83 346 4682

19 Fishamble St, Dublin, D08 PD8W

The Oval is a gorgeous old pub in Cork City, but if you go during the day hoping for a paranormal experience, you probably won't have one. Why? Because the ghosts here come out at night, including a rather friendly spirit that staff says has an attitude they're grateful for — especially considering how often he's around. Go up the stairs, and you'll feel everything get cold, and it's also above the pub that there are a series of secret doors and hidden rooms that have been untouched for decades.

That's enough to give us the yikes, and staff say that they've seen figures running into rooms then vanishing, and others that say "Hello!" several times before they appear. There's a soldier who's been seen in the bar area, and he's supposedly one of the most common apparitions. 

Creepy? For sure: The building itself is more than two centuries old, and the pub itself dates to 1918. That might give us a hint as to the soldier's identity. Cork City was a hotbed of violence and revolutionary activity between 1916 and 1918, and perhaps that soldier has a story he very much wants to tell.

corkheritagepubs.com/the-oval

+353 021 427 8952

South Main St, Cork

There are all kinds of great places to pick up a frozen cocktail in New Orleans, and Pat O'Brien's is a must. It's the birthplace of the Hurricane, after all, and it has a history that goes all the way back to the end of Prohibition. It also has a few ghosts, several of whom apparently like to tinkle away on the pianos when everything should be quiet. Chairs have been seen moving across the floor apparently unaided, photos have been taken with strange, shadowy entities showing up in them, and the patio furniture in the back courtyard has been known to be thrown around with apparent hurricane (sorry, not sorry) force, within minutes of staff leaving.

Head up to the women's bathroom, though, and that's where things get the strangest. There have been an unsettling number of accounts from people who hear strange noises from footsteps that sound as if they're following patrons to unearthly and human-like sounds coming from empty stalls.

patobriens.com

(504) 525-4823

718 St Peter St, New Orleans, LA 70116

The Brazen Head claims a history that goes back to 1198, although the reality of those claims is a little hazy. Regardless, if there's any place that's going to be haunted, it's this one, starting with the woman whose story inspired the name of the place. According to legend, she was watching fighting in the Dublin streets sometime around 1690 when she was beheaded by a cannonball, and honestly? We'd be a little salty about that, too.

If she's still there, she's in very good company — and here's a super-quick Irish history lesson. Back in the late 1700s, a group called the United Irishmen decided that if America could get rid of the British, so could Ireland. One of the major forces was a Dublin man named Robert Emmet, but everything went horribly wrong for the Irish. In the end, Emmet was arrested, interrogated, hanged, and then beheaded. His remains have never been found, but it's said that he has been seen sitting at a table in the Brazen Head.

Why? It was one of the go-to spots for planning his failed revolution. Those who see him say that he seems to be looking for someone, and it's possible that he's not looking for his old revolutionary companions or English agents at all. It's possible he's looking for his executioner, as they'd both frequented the pub.

brazenhead.com

+353 01 677 9549

20 Bridge St Lower, Usher's Quay, Dublin D08 WC64

When it comes time for St. Patrick's Day celebrations, no one does it quite like Chicago. There are a ton of places that serve great Guinness pours and some delicious food, but for ghosts, it's Fado that you're going to want to check out. (And we have to say it: Green beer is absolutely not Irish.)

There are three spirits that have regularly been spotted in the pub. Two are male figures who look to be dressed as if they stepped out of the 1950s, and there has been some speculation as to who they might be. Go back to that era, and you'll find reports that the building was a nightclub run by a notorious Chicago crime syndicate, as a front for all kinds of shady dealings.

That's the suspicious-activities-and-history box checked for them, but what about the third? That spectre has been said to be a young woman dressed in a sort of turn-of-the-20th-century nightgown, and the more active the pub is, the more active she's said to be. Impossible-to-trip burglar alarms have gone off regularly, and employees say they've been touched by someone they can't see. You might hear she was murdered in a fit of jealousy, but there's no historical story connected to her.

fadoirishpub.com/chicago

(312) 836-0066 

100 West Grand Ave, Chicago, IL 60654

When the Old Bear reopened in 2024, it was actually the newest incarnation of a pub that had been standing in the same spot, dating back at least to 1698. In the years before the modern remodel, it was called BarBarella, and it was during that period in its history that bar staff allegedly saw a mysterious man sitting alone — with a pint — long after closing. The figure vanished without a trace, and with no way to leave the thoroughly and completely locked-down pub. That's not the only eerie tale that's been told: Staff members have also seen objects move of their own accord, seen and heard pint glasses begin to rattle off one another, and witnessed motion detectors acting strangely.

One motion detector in the back room was triggered in the darkness, despite surveillance footage showing no reason for the alarm. Sure, that's eerie, but Barrack Street has the history to back it up. It's seen scores of executions, as well as the mass burials of plague victims.

oldbear.ie

+353 021 229 1290

125 Barrack St, Cork T12 YY52