The Haunting of Belvedere House

Caitlin Connors

The spooky season is here, reopen old haunts and scares. One that will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, according to local stories and paranormal investigators is Belvedere House and Gardens.

The Samhain Spectacle in Belvedere was fun and games (see left) but as well, there might have a distant knocking or whistling from the main house.

The story goes back to 1740, when the Georgian Palladian Villa was built for the first Earl of Belvedere, Robert Rochfort.

Many accounts of the haunting has been told and retold. One is about the first Earl of Belvedere, Robert Rochfort, who was known for his cruelty, and was ‘The Wicked Earl’.

He accused his second wife, Mary Molesworth, of having an affair with his younger brother Arthur, and had her locked up for 31 years, while Arthur fled Ireland after Rochfort successfully sued him for adultery. Arthur was eventually imprisoned in Dublin, where he died. Rochfort also deprived Arthur’s children of their property.

Another Rochfort brother, George, built a large mansion nearby, originally called Rochfort House but later renamed Tudenham Park House. Plagued by jealousy, Rochfort built the Jealous Wall to keep the house out of his sight.

In 1774, Rochfort was found dead with a fractured skull on the grounds of his home of Belvedere, at age 66. There was no detailed inquest. The official account stated he had slipped while walking and struck his head on a stone.

Soon other stories began to circulate. A servant who had been recently fired was seen on the grounds. A story full of human retribution was born and with it, an unsettled energy supposedly haunts the estate to this day.

Former tour guide Samantha Kelly worked in different capacities at Belvedere since 2000, and she reports occurrences she could not explain. The experiences varied over the years, from hearing strange noises to the movement of objects. Housekeepers and servants could be haunting the property, she says, but the last private owner, Charles Howard Bury, is her suspicion since she had an unusual encounter.

“I think it was in 2002/2003 and I have never in all my years forgotten this,” she said. During that summer, she was alone in a hallway in between tours when a woman came up to her complaining of another man smoking a cigar. The women’s husband was outside the room, but when the group entered, there was nobody to be found – just the smell of cigar smoke.

While in the morning room, the woman told Samantha the man in the previous room looked strikingly like Howard Bury. The woman and Samantha walked into the hallway. While the room was empty, a hearty laugh and more smell of cigars wafted to them. Both left without explanation…

In 2022, paranormal investigators, Ghost Éire, inspected the house after receiving emails from former manager Samantha’s mother, Mary, reporting odd going happenings and strange energy. Despite being characterised as ‘ghost hunters’, the Ghost Éire group led their investigations with environmental factors rather than what they described as “divination” practices (Ouija boards, tarot cards). They put more emphasis on how human reactions in certain situations. Organiser and researcher at Ghost Éire, Anthony Kerrigan, said his experiments are based on, “how our minds react in the environment that we are in”.

Exploring the house for out of place occurrences, many of the staff described a “sense of something” and reported unexplained knocking from a basement kitchen window. The window overlooks a moat, making it difficult for someone outside to reach.

Later, Mr Kerrigan corroborated this observation but did not see any haunting activity from Charles Howard Bury. “What we got there, was whisperings and that happened a lot apparently there at the house.

“But we did other tests, using an electroencephalogram – an EEG wave device – it monitored a couple of the individuals’ brainwaves. We also used thermal imaging cameras to check rooms for any heat changes.”

Overall, it was this insistent knocking and whistling that seemed to be the common denominator reported, particularly on the back stairs, where the whistling was reported to be most prevalent.

It was said that Rochfort required his servants to whistle from the moment they left the kitchen to the moment they entered the dining room so he could be sure they were not sampling his food. The energy stirring in the atmosphere of Belvedere may be an indentured servant who never escaped the cruel employment of Rochfort.

Whoever the unsettled energy belongs to, this Samhain, if you decide to brave the grounds of Belvedere House, be sure to keep your wits about you for anything strange and unusual that you may see or hear…