Don't be afraid. Lock the doors. Turn out the lights and climb into bed. It's time for

a real building. Dead time. Stories. Do you believe in the power of a curse? Looking at the weathered ruins of Duckets Grove, it's easy to imagine it in its heyday of glittering parties and Gothic glory.

Look closer, you might sense something supernatural at work. Legend has it that William Duckets scorned lover placed a curse on the family.

Summary Nebanchi, who's dreadful whales, foretold a sudden death within the family. The voices of the chattering servants and galloping hooves are said to echo across the grounds.

Some even tell tales of a phantom horse in its carriage, said to be steered by William Duckett himself.

In this episode, you will learn about the curse of Ireland's Duckets Grove.

Although only ruins now, the outline of the towers and the turrets of Duckets Grove stand ominously against the horizon and surrounding countryside of the estate to which they have belonged for nearly two centuries.

Duckett's Grove was originally a modest two-story house built in the style of its day in the mid-18th century by descendant of the Duckett family, who arrived to the townland of Neistown some 100 years previously.

As the family grew in wealth in the social standing in both Carlo and Dublin City, it became clear that the somewhat ordinary family home was insufficient to meet the Duckett needs.

Owner William Duckett married an heirous by the name of Harriet in order to further his aspirations of grander.

In 1830, the services of Thomas A. Cobden, a renowned architect, were secured and worked began on making Duckets Grove a Gothic revival masterpiece of epic proportion.

With regal arches, neogoptic orio windows and protest added to the majestic towers, it became an imposing structure.

Now believing his home was suitable for his social needs, William Duckett began to throw lavish parties invited the socialites of Dublin to mingle with the areas wealthy and the Duckett family.

William was somewhat of a flanderer and married his second wife, Maria Thompson, in 1895, when he was 73 years old, bringing her and her daughter, Olive, to reside at Duckett's Grove.

William passed away in 1908 and was buried in a family plot in nearby Knocknory.

Maria continued to live in solitude at the mock Gothic castle as she and her daughter had become estranged. Finally, Maria abandoned the property in 1916 to live in Dublin.

In a twist, when Maria died, she was still so furious with her daughter, Olive, that in her will she left nothing but what was known as the angry shilling to her absentee offspring.

Not wishing to be done out of her inheritance, Olive went to court in a week and a half long hearing. It was revealed that the mother and daughter had a tempestuous and physically violent relationship, much to the shock of the Dublin city's social scene.

Maria was given a cash settlement and the Duckett's of Duckett's Grove were no more.

Originally purchased by a farmer's collective, Bickering and Greed over shares led to default on payment and the land commission stepped in and took over.

During this time in the early 1920s, the IRA made use of Duckett's Grove for training purposes and it was the base of its flying column, a mobile arm to the unit of soldiers.

Despite the nature of its used post-ducket, the Great House was well maintained until it was brought to a smoking shell by way of a catastrophic fire on April 20, 1933, the cause of which was never discovered.

...