The old church ruins Do you believe in ghosts? I am not sure whether I do or not. However, something we caught on camera some years back makes me wonder. Outside Letterkenny, near Gartan and the birthplace of Donegal’s saint, St. Colmcille, we were taking photographs of the old church ruins there together with the graveyard, the Holy Well of St. Colmcille and of course the views. The land there was given to St. Colmcille in the 6th century by his friends and neighbours and here in the 6th century he built a monastery. Nowadays the only remaining parts are bits of the old boundary walls. It is here too that many of the O’Donnell Chieftains are buried. The ruins of the old church contains some slab stone graves together with a small alter where people leave rosary beads and the like whilst saying prayers for the owners of the trinkets left, asking for blessings for the person. The church itself was probably built by Manus O’Donnell in the 16th century. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon with a crystal clear blue sky and I was up at the top of the graveyard taking photographs and enjoying the fabulous views over Lough Akkibon below. My husband was down at the old church taking photographs and after a while he called me down to check something out. I made my way down through the graves to the church below and my husband. He held out his camera to show me the screen on it. There on the screen was what appeared to be a ghostly figure. We were a bit sceptical about it thinking that perhaps the sunshine had caused it. However he took more photographs and the figure appeared in everyone he took at that one place. I hen stood where he had been standing to take the photographs and nothing appeared on my screen other than the church behind. We did this for a little while, taking it in turns to photograph the same picture over and over again and the exact same thing happened each time: the figure appeared on his screen but not on mine. Below is two of the photographs ~ one with the "ghost" and the other taken by me from the same spot, without. So, is it a ghost? You decide.
3 Comments
Errigal Tweet Up Time! It's time for the 2nd Annual Errigal Tweet-Up folks! Once again a group of people will take part in the highest tweet-up in Ireland walking up the highest mountain in County Donegal, Errigal. Errigal stands 2,464 feet (751 meters) high so this is no mean feat! This year funds will be raised in aid of The Mark Pollock Trust. (@mpollocktrust) and your old mobile phones accepted for The Little Angels School in Letterkenny. Non-climbers can help raise money by bringing their old mobile phones (more below). A little about Mark from his website The Mark Pollock Trust: "For over a decade Mark Pollock was known as an inspiration, an adventure athlete competing in the world’s harshest environments despite being completely blind. As part of regaining his identity after losing his sight he chose to take on spectacular challenges. He has survived the sub-zero temperatures of Antarctica as he raced to the South Pole over 43 days. He suffered the scorching heat of the Gobi Desert, completing six marathons in one week in “The Race of No Return”. He has competed in races on the frozen Arctic Ocean at the North Pole, through the desert lowlands of the Syrian African Rift Valley to the Dead Sea and at altitude at Everest base camp. He also has two Commonwealth Games medals for rowing under his belt. In mid-2010, Mark’s business was thriving with a full calendar of motivational speaking events ahead. He was in the process of writing his second book and he was due to be married. On the night of the 2nd of July 2010 everything changed. He fell from a second story window fracturing his skull, some ribs and breaking his back in a number of places. Mark was taken to intensive care where injuries such as bleeds on his brain and a suspected torn aorta one by one healed becoming less and less significant beside the fact that Mark could not feel or move anything below his belly button. An MRI confirmed damage to his spinal cord where two of his vertebrae had burst in the fall. Mark was transferred to the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville in England, where spinal surgeons stabilized the bones in his spine with metal rods. Mark spent 7 months suffering an onslaught of kidney and heart infections, which brought weeks of temperatures and pain and a 3 stone weight loss. Mark’s bones eventually healed but medicine can do nothing to repair a damaged spinal cord and Mark was discharged to The National Rehabilitation Hospital in Ireland in February 2011." The climb will also benefit The Little Angels School in Letterkenny who supply a much needed and valuable place for children and young people with learning difficulties. From The Little Angels website: "Little Angels School is a multi-denominational school which caters for students with moderate, severe and profound learning disabilities and students with Autism. Pupils range in age from 3-18 years. There are twelve classes, five junior (4-12yrs approx.) and five senior (12-18yrs). Little Angels School also has a Pre-school for pupils with Autism." Climbers and hikers can bring along their old mobile phones and the money raised from selling them will go to The Little Angels School. Even if you are not doing the climb you could come along to the carpark any time between 12 noon and 4pm and give in your old mobile phone ~ maybe even gather up old phones from friends and relatives and bring them too ~ every cent raised for The Little Angels is desperately needed so let's all row in and help by bringing our old phones. Slimming World Consultants will be providing the climbers/hikers with what will be a very welcome warm & healthy soup and some of their members will even be attempting the climb. The Mountain Rescue members will be in attendance. Please tweet this blogpost to your followers (adding @Errigaltweetup to your tweet) and link it to your facebook page so that as many people as possible join in. My blogpost on last year's (the first) Errigal Tweet-Up HERE. Directions to the meeting point in the carpark below Errigal HERE. START AT: The carpark at the foot of Errigal DAY & DATE: Sunday, 3rd March 2013 TIME: 12 noon Any further information TEL: 086-3540300 NOTE: Everyone takes part at their own risk. |
We Love DonegalWe Love Donegal is a site dedicated to bring the beauty of County Donegal on the north west coast of Ireland to the world. Categories
All
|