The old Franciscan Abbey, Newtownsmith: home to a prickly Poltergeist

The Franciscan order came to Galway in 1296 and they have had a continuous presence here ever since. Their original abbey, a beautiful cloistered church was located just outside the city walls, roughly where the Courthouse now stands, and over time, the lands immediately surrounding it became the largest cemetery in the city, where the great and the good of the city were buried, in richly carved tombs and under ornate headstones. Located on the riverbank at what is known as Wood Quay, the abbey welcomed travellers who came to the city by boat on the Corrib river, and other monks from the dozens of other religious orders with abbeys built all along the lake shore, as far north as Cong. Their guesthouse was renowned throughout the west of Ireland and welcomed all-comers to the city for centuries. After the destruction of the city in 1652 by the Cromwellian forces, the beautiful abbey was wantonly destroyed, and today not a stone remains of the venerable church or the extensive cemetery, buried deep below the foundations of the Courthouse and the Town Hall today. In November 1973, the 19th century Franciscan church whose facade one can see overlooking the Monks River opposite the cathedral was converted to a nursing home for retired clergy and nuns. Many shattered tombs and dozens of skulls and other bones were uncovered during the construction, and while they were respectfully re-interred, something else was less than happy to be disturbed. Was it a murdered monk, or a city merchant prince unhappy to be disturbed? Hammers and chisels, drills and shovels began to be thrown across the unfinished site. Several people were injured by flying bricks. Workmen began leaving their jobs, refusing to return to the haunted building site. Masses were said, exorcisms performed, to no avail. The malevolent spirit continued to harass the workers, getting more and more violent. Finally, the architects were forced to re-design the building, incorporating a small park opposite the courthouse, surrounded by iron railings relocated from Eyre Square. Today that little park looks so peaceful, planted with flowers and even a small palm tree, an idyllic place to sit and relax, but the locals know better.