Haunted Ballyboley Forest

Ballyboley Forest

Time and time again when you google the world’s creepiest haunted places, forests are always amongst the first thing to pop up. No doubt that there are many tall tales told about forests, there is not much scarier than a forest at night. However, the folklore that surrounds the Ballyboley Forest is told by too many people over different stretches of time for it to be just a coincidence.

During the 15th-17th century, countless people disappeared when traveling near these woods, and there was old monuments or alters found around and within the forest. However, even today, robed figures are seen, columns of smoke are seen and the sounds of human and animal squeals are still lingering. The most haunted forest in Ireland and one of the most haunted forests in the world. Caution is advised.

Ballyboley Forest,

Northern Ireland,

United Kingdom

Ballyboley Forest

Ballyboley Forest,

Northern Ireland,

United Kingdom

Ghost Hunting At The Ballyboley Forest

A thousand of years of pagan worship in one location. Sacrifice, kidnap, murder are all as much a part of this forest as the trees themselves, the activity within is unmatched.

Within The Forest

For 100s of years, the Ballyboley Forest has inspired fear and dread. All of the locals would stay far from the wood and warn travelers to do the same, not just because of the dozens of disappearances linked to it but also because of the things that lurks inside. Since the 15th century, there have been figures seen moving amongst the break in the forest. Watching people walk past or stalking them when they enter. Thick columns of black smoke have been seen coming from the dead center accompanied by a sympathy of human and animals squeals of pain.

Sometimes people naively enter the forest without knowing anything about it, the reports are incredible. People have heard what sounds like a dim chanting in all parts of the forest, but when entering deeper into the forest they see the trees have been smothered with blood. Sometimes the black smoke forms a cloud on the ground and human screams actually appear to be coming from it. Whatever is in here, it is not good.

An old newspaper report was recently unearthed back from the 1997. Two ramblers were walking through the forest when they heard strange flapping sounds, they thought nothing of it and entered deeper into the forest. The flapping sounds were consistent and followed them. But it wasn’t until they heard the sound of a woman moaning somewhere in the distance that they began to become unnerved. Thinking the lady was in trouble they left the track and went to find her. When they reached the point where the sound seemed to be coming from it stopped abruptly. Then out of nowhere, an ear-splitting woman’s scream came from directly behind them, they fled. Looking back they saw 4 hooded figures clad in brown ragged robes standing motionless, watching them. There was no one there before.

`Recommended Ghost Hunt Kit

Ghost Hunting At The Ballyboley Forest

A thousand of years of pagan worship in one location. Sacrifice, kidnap, murder are all as much a part of this forest as the trees themselves, the activity within is unmatched.

Within The Forest

`Recommended Ghost Hunt Kit

Ghosts of The Ballyboley Forest

Ghosts of The Baleybolley Forest

. The Druids

The Robed Figures

Ballyboley Forest is an ancient druidic site. For hundreds of years that have been stories surrounded the forest, most of them horror. However, at the base of each story, there has always been the 4 robed figures. Groups of travelers have seen them standing in the break of the forest watching them pass and then simply disappearing,walking backward into the shrub. Campers have reported movement and lights all around their tents at night, and when they investigate they find nothing. People have actually seen them in the dead of night standing at the forest’s edge holding what looks like burning branches. They are always clad in brown ragged robes and always their faces hidden by the shadow of hoods.

There are similar sites around Ireland and the world. To be a druid is not always sinister however in times of old it was practise to sacrifice humans and animals on stone altars and then set the remains on fire. Those practises are rarer today than ever before, but that does not mean it does not exist.

Pagan rituals, witchcraft, demonic worship. They are all known to pretty much one in the same thing, with the same result. These people are worshipping what they call the old gods, gods of an element. Today we call them demons, demonic worship in any form has a purpose. They aim to connect with their gods by opening portals. This is some deep spiritual beliefs and something we tend to steer from. However, we know portals to be real and have never found one as strong as the one within Ballyboley.

So the question stands who and what are these figures. No question they are druids but are they alive still? It is a possibility that the practice has been carried out through generations, and living men and women are still practicing their dark arts deep amongst the trees. It would seem logical there activities fuel the darkest kind of paranormal. However, these figures seem to be inhuman themselves. The activity that comes and goes before your eyes, the blood, the columns of smoke with no evidence of a fire, the druids disappearing into thin air right in front of you. Are these people amongst the living and truly magical or did they figure out how to come back even in death and haunt all those who dare to enter one of the most dangerously haunted places in the earth

Ghosts of The Baleybolley Forest

. The Druids

The Robed Figures

Ballyboley Forest is an ancient druidic site. For hundreds of years that have been stories surrounded the forest, most of them horror. However, at the base of each story, there has always been the 4 robed figures. Groups of travelers have seen them standing in the break of the forest watching them pass and then simply disappearing, walking backward into the shrub. Campers have reported movement and lights all around their tents at night, and when they investigate they find nothing. People have actually seen them in the dead of night standing at the forest’s edge holding what looks like burning branches. They are always clad in brown ragged robes and always their faces hidden by the shadow of hoods.

Strange Noises In BallyBoley Forest

Strange Noises In Ballyboley Daytime

One Incredible Account of The Robed Figures

A Camping Trip

So in 2005, when I was 13 and in my third year of my secondary school, I took part in an outdoor team-building scheme called the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. For anyone outside of the British Isles, it’s when you go on an “expedition” hill-walking and mountaineering in groups of about 6 for two nights and three days. It’s normally organized by schools and churches, and also involves charity work and skill-building exercises during the year. When you’re 13, you’re eligible for the Bronze level- and in my area this involved a reasonably straightforward walk with the ‘exciting’ but daunting prospect of camping for one night right in the middle of a local forest- Ballyboley Forest, in Larne, Northern Ireland (part of the UK).

Now I wasn’t the fittest of kids but it was with a group of friends and it turned out to be good fun. The first few days involved nothing more exciting than navigating fields and hills, and it went without incident. On the last night, we ended up camping right in the middle of Ballyboley Forest with all of the other groups. It was at the very foot of a fire break (a long, thin stretch of ground with no trees- which means you can see for quite some distance with nothing hindering your vision). There were no teachers or leaders at this campsite, so naturally all hell broke loose.

At about 8:15pm, as the light was beginning to dim, someone in an other group began to ramble on about seeing people at the other end of the firebreak moving about between the trees. In case it was another group who had gotten lost, a few of us marched up the firebreak to check it out. It was about a five minute walk, and there was nothing but more trees and shrubbery- not a road or a natural footpath in sight. It wasn’t taken very seriously, until about an hour later.

We were all gathered round a gas stove having hot chocolate, when someone else noticed some kind of movement down at the far end of the fire break. This time, the figures that had been previously sighted were holding some kind of torches- but this is where it got a bit stranger. Rather than modern torches or Maglites, the figures seemed to be holding what were either branches that had been set on fire, or some kind of oil-lanterns that you held out in front of you. We counted 4 of these figures (this is important to remember). Someone later that night (who lived on a farm and would therefore know a bit about this) claimed that, after the figures vanished, they could hear sounds like an abbatoir in the distance- echoing cries and squeals of animals. Needless to say, after the figures vanished, our young imaginations ran wild and we began to assume the worst was about to happen. In a small and very religious country like Northern Ireland, you are brought up hearing of stories of the witchcraft and devil-worship that supposedly takes place in secluded forests- and it took a lot of discussion and freaking out before we decided that someone should ring the nearest teacher with our group’s emergency mobile phone.

But eventually, more rational voices began to pipe up and assure the more frantic campers that it was probably just other groups in the forest (the fire-break stretched very far back- about a kilometer), and we decided the best course of action was for everyone to go to their tents, keep torches handy and stick together.

The next morning, save for a few rumors of figures and lights being seen running around the tents, we laughed it off and carried on with the expedition. Eventually, it was rarely spoken about and it became one of those stories that, as you get older, you find yourself struggling to remember if it was real or a dream.

Fast forward 8 years.

Now 22, I was flicking through articles on Facebook when I came across one called “10 Most Haunted Forests on Earth”. It contained some of the usual ones- like the suicide forest in Japan, but I was amazed to see ‘Ballyboley Forest’ was included at number 5. It mentioned the usual ‘paranormal activity’ that describe a lot of old places, but it intrigued me enough that I decided to research things a bit deeper. Then I came across a website called ‘The Shadowlands’- which documents real ghost and unexplained stories in Ireland. In it’s segment on Ballyboley Forest, it explains how locals believed it was the site of Druid rituals and sacrifices and how some of the stone formations and trenches they created are still there. But every hair on my body stood on end when I read on:

“On another date (1997, this is actually in a news paper report!) two men say that they were in the forest when they heard a loud flapping sound. They thought nothing of it at first but as they got continued walking they started to hear other strange sounds like a lady moaning in pain…Their horror began when they came to a place where the trees were smeared thickly with blood…As they fled in terror one man looked behind him and seen four human shaped figures in the forest behind him (standing motionless, not pursuing), where previously there had been no one there.”

Four figures. Like the four figures with lights we witnessed 8 years previous.
Other sites report the practices of Druids involved the creation of altars to sacrifice animals and then set them on fire- which goes someway to explaining the “abattoir”-esque noises someone claimed to hear. It was so surreal to read, so long after the event took place, such eerily similar accounts and descriptions: what do you think?