Singer Chris de Burgh has revealed how he grew up in a haunted castle and ‘spoke’ to ghosts.
The 74-year-old musician, best known for 1986 song Lady in Red, said that ghosts and ghouls were ‘all around’ when he was a lad. The dad of former Miss World Rosanna Davison, who was brought up in a 12th century fortress called Bargy Castle in County Wexford, Ireland, said it was haunted by ‘angry spirits’.
The singer’s grandfather, Sir Eric de Burgh bought the castle in the 1960s and his parents - Maeve and Charles - turned it into a hotel, where a young Chris would sing to guests. One of the former owners, John Harvey - who died in 1880 - is entombed in a specially-made mausoleum at the entrance to the castle, and is believed to be one of the phantoms haunting the castle.
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Asked about where he grew up, Chris said the castle was ‘rather grand’, but that it was in a right mess when his grandfather bought it. He told the Sunday Times: “It sounds rather grand, but it was bought by my grandfather in 1960 as a serious doer-upper.
“No electricity, no light, no heat, no running water. For the first few weeks, we slept on a stone floor, fully clothed in sleeping bags.”
Asked about whether he had seen any ghosts, the singer said it was ‘definitely haunted’, and that he had even ‘spoken to some of the ghosts’. He said: “I remember walking up and down the corridors and always feeling that something was there.
“Some nights, the wind would whip through the whole house and it seemed like every single door was rattling in chorus. My dad saw a few things moving.
“Let's just say that if you believed in poltergeists and angry spirits, there were more than enough to set your imagination racing.” Bargy Castle, which has a moat and a drawbridge, was turned into a private residence in the 1980s.
One of the songs on Chris’ 2014 album The Hands of Man is called The Ghost of Old King Richard. Among the lyrics include ‘I have seen the ghost of old King Richard, Walking through the hall as if he were alive, And with such an air of pain and sorrow, Trying to get back to the other side’.
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