Dromquinna Manor is a former country house, originally built for Sir John Colomb in the late nineteenth century. Set in forty acres of parkland and overlooking the picturesque Kenmare Estuary, the fine house now operates as a private hotel, catering for weddings and events, with glamping available in the grounds. I should state that both the hotel and its glamping offering are highly regarded, and that there have been no recent accounts (that I am aware of) regarding hauntings at the property.

To be quite honest, I am including this story, more because it made me laugh than anything else.

In 1997, the Irish Times carried a report that then owner, Mike Robertson, was offering a substantial cash reward to anyone who could “tame” his alleged spirit guests. Although of sceptical mind himself, he did not outwardly dismiss claims by staff and guests that they had heard strange sounds and encountered phantoms within the hotel walls. While some guests did leave following encounters, word of an apparent haunting only drew more of the right kind of attention – guests who would pay to stay in a haunted hotel – and potentially be groped by a ghost!

The report alluded to three ghosts, a young girl and two men. The owner joked that he would like to say to his guests that the ghosts would appear at a particular spot at an agreed time, and offered the reward to anyone who could make that happen. But one of the spirits was not always shy about making himself known. In May 1997, The Sunday Mirror referenced “the spirit of a handsome, tweed-suited man” that had allegedly “caused consternation at the hotel by chatting up and caressing women guests in bed”.

One female guest woke thinking her husband was massaging her feet. But then he came out of the bathroom saying he had not been near her toes. Another woke to find a blonde man wearing old-fashioned clothes sitting in the room drinking a glass of wine. He said to her husband, `That’s a very good-looking wife you have’- then vanished. – Sandra Ramdhanie, Psychic

Of the alleged frisky spirit, the then owner shared that women guests had told him that the ghost was “a bit of all right, but a pest”. He continued that he did not want to banish him completely but wanted someone to “put manners on him” and encourage him to “keep his hands to himself”.

Disappointingly, neither the writer for the Irish Times nor the Daily Mirror encountered a spirit at the hotel themselves. I note that there have been no recent updates either. Noted that the hotel is also under different ownership, so maybe the alleged spirits are finally showing some decorum.