On the north shore of Loop Head, the ruin of Doonmore Castle stands exposed to the Atlantic. It was built in the late 1400s by the McMahons of West Clare — a family of soldiers and sea-lords who watched the ocean for enemies and opportunity alike.

The castle rises straight from the rock, its lower vaults opening toward the sea. For centuries people in Kilbaha and Rinevella spoke of hollow moans rising from those chambers at night — sounds like wind or waves caught in a bottle. T. J. Westropp visited the ruin in 1912 and wrote that the noises were “probably caused by waves lapping into rock crannies, but imputed to the perturbed spirits of those who had perished miserably in the dungeons.”

Local tradition held that the cries came from prisoners thrown into the lower vault and drowned by the tide. Others said they were the voices of sailors wrecked on the reefs below, calling for help long after they were gone.