Ireland's schools and colleges are among its most storied institutions - in every sense of the word. Many occupy buildings that predate their educational use: converted manor houses, former religious buildings, repurposed barracks. Others were purpose-built in eras when discipline was absolute and the line between education and punishment was deliberately thin. The industrial schools and reformatories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries cast a particularly long shadow, and the suffering that took place within many of them is a matter of historical record.
It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that these buildings are so frequently associated with unease. Reports range from figures seen in empty corridors to footsteps on staircases after hours.
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