Don’t Pay the Scary man...
De Burgh tells of ghostly goings-on in castle
SINGER Chris de Burgh has revealed how he grew up in a haunted castle… and “spoke” to ghosts.
The 74-year-old musician, whose hits include 1982’s spooky Don’t Pay The Ferryman, said 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 Co Wexford, 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.
Asked about where he grew up, Chris said: “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 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.”
Norman fortress Bargy Castle, which has a moat and a drawbridge, was turned into a private residence in the 1980s.
One of the songs on the musician’s 2014 album The Hands of Man is called The Ghost of Old King Richard.
Among the lyrics include the lines: “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.”