Spooks or flukes?

Shadowy figures, unexplained scratching sounds and a stubbled man with a knife.

These are just some of the spine-tingling paranormal happenings witnessed in Cork according to a recent Reddit post.

Creepy Leeside stories have been pouring in after Redditor Wild_Web3695 posted on the r/Cork Reddit web page asking people to share any first-hand paranormal experiences. One Redditor going by the name WoodyRM described some very disturbing nocturnal encounters in the city centre.

They said: “Used to live in a house near the Blackpool end of lower John Street and whenever I slept in the attic room, I would be woken in the middle of the night to a shadow coming up the window and inside the room. Was a dude with stubble and a knife and he’d just sit in the corner of the room by the window. Whenever family stayed there, they would also say they heard us screaming for our lives only to find us fast asleep. Very weird vibes in that house.”

Another Redditor called ichgcffee shared something they claim to have experienced early one morning in a house near the Lough. “After a long night out, we were all still awake the next day. One friend and I were sitting on a couch that had its back against the staircase, and this black shadowy figure flew down the stairs and out towards the door, we both whipped around and were like ‘Did you just see that!?’. To be honest, that house creeped me out in general, had a kind of oppressive vibe at night time.”

One Redditor, named Rebel787, claims to have encountered one of Cork’s most frequently sighted ghosts back in the early 2000s. “I saw the 'famous' old Cork Gaol ghost about 15 years ago. It was in the closed off corridor in the wing on the left hand side as you go in the main door. Check it out. Apparently seen by a lot of people over the years. “Also, there is a ghost of a child in a house in St Luke’s which was seen by students who were renting there, seen at all different times of the day on different occasions,” they said.

Another chilling comment came from Reddit user PUGILSTICKS who, while babysitting in a house numbered 13 in Midleton over a decade ago, claims to have heard banging and scratching sounds. “The worst part was, after I said let's head to sleep, the intense scratching on the bedroom door and the dog next to me, staring at it. I immediately rang the parents. Thankfully they were only down the road,” they recalled.