Knocking at Ballygally Castle

0:00The wind is coming off the water, cold and damp, carrying the smell of the sea. I step out of the car and for a moment I just stand there. I can hear the wind moving through the trees, the distant sound of waves along the coast, and the crunch of gravel beneath my feet as I walked towards the entrance. With me, the stone walls loom over me as I head inside. I'm here to work on a podcast. I'm going to interview one of the staff to find out whether there's truth to the stories about what happens here. I never expected to have my own experience with what or should I say who lives inside. There we go. There's a note. Did you hear that?

1:00Yeah. There's a note. Hi, Isabella. Nice to meet you. I'm Nadine Bailey and this is Haunted Canada. In this episode I travel to Northern Ireland's Entrem Coast and I'm joined by Norma Craig, the duty manager of the hotel to uncover the tragic story of Lady Isabella Shaw and explore the dark history and the legend behind this location's most famous ghost. This is Nocking at Ballagallic Castle. As I drove up, the first thing I saw was the castle rising out in front of me. The road curves towards the entrance and it seemed to grow larger with every turn. There's something imposing about it but also strangely beautiful, like something that

2:05has been left behind by another century. Ivy cleansed the portions of the pale stonework and narrow windows punctuate the thick walls. The turrets give the building an almost storybook appearance and the steeply pitch roofs stand sharply against the grey Northern Irish sky. Long before Ballagallic Castle was a hotel, this stretch of the Entrem Coast had been shaped by thousands of years of human history. Archaeologists excavating near the castle in 1957 and again in 1989 uncovered neolithic pottery and flint tools left behind by prehistoric hunter gathers. They came looking for fish, fresh water and the raw stone needed to make arrowheads and spear points. The flint recovered here closely matches material found in the Isle of Aaron across the

3:11narrow seas in Scotland, suggesting this short stretch of water once connected the two coastlines. For centuries afterwards this corner of Northern Ireland belonged to Dal Riyada, a gala kingdom that straddled both sides of that same channel so that the people living on the Entrem coast and the people living across the water in what now as Archaeal shared language, kinship and often alliances. By the late Middle Ages the glens of Entrem fell under the control of a galaic lordship with its own roots on both sides of that channel. There was the McDonald's of the Isles who married into the local Besseck family and built one of the most powerful cross-channel dynasties in the province. They ruled from nearby Glenurm and held this coastline against English encroachment for

4:13generations. Their most famous lord, Sourly Boyd McDonnell, spent decades fighting off English forces and rival gala clans before eventually striking his own deal with the crown. He hoped to secure his family's hold on the glens, even as the rest of Ulster's galaic order collapsed around him. That resistance eventually gave way, and after decades of war King James I set out to remake the province from the ground up. Starting in the 1600s he started the plantation of Ulster, a project that gave Scottish and English Protestants land taken from Irish Catholic lords. The new Earl of Entrem, who had made his own peace with the crown, used this moment to open up the coastline to Scottish settlement.

5:14Today you can find a scenic coastal village on the stretch of coastline where this all played out. It sits on what is now known as the Causeway Coastal Root, which is a short drive south from the Giants Causeway, a UNESCO heritage site. This small bay still carries the name Valley Galley, and it's easy to understand why Shaw chose it. The bay curves in a natural harbor, sheltered enough for settlers to build a life, and exposed enough to watch anyone approaching from the water. One of the men was a young man from Greenock named James Shaw. It was 400 years, last year. It was built in 1625 by a gentleman called James Shaw, and he built it, he came over for the plantation. That's Norma Greg, the duty manager at Valley Galley Castle for 32 years.

6:17She said James Shaw had actually arrived in Ireland nearly 20 years earlier, in 1606, to seek his fortune. He established himself in the district before the Earl of Antrim granted him an acre of land, along the coast, which he reportedly rented out for 24 pounds a year. In 1625, Shaw built Valley Galley Castle, making it one of the earliest surviving examples of a Scottish-style fortified residence in Northern Ireland. The castle was not simply a grand country house. Life in the 17th century could be uncertain, and a fortified residence offered protection as well as status. The walls are thick, close to five feet deep. The windows are narrow, cut just wide enough for muskets rather than daylight, and has a

7:21defensive features like towers and a fortified courtyard. The castle would be put to the test in 1641, when Irish Catholic Gentry, many of them, the same Gaelic families displaced by the plantation a generation earlier, rose up against the settlers. It was also known as the Irish Rebellion, and although it effectively ended in 1642, it transitioned directly into the broader Irish Confederate wars, also known as the 11 years war that lasted until 1652. During that time, there were repeated attempts on Valley Galley Castle by an Irish garrison from nearby Glenarm. The Scottish-instile house, with a steeply pitched roof, corner turd, and small dormer windows

8:23stood against them and became a refuge for Protestant settlers fleeing the surrounding countryside. It was built to be recognized as belonging to a Scottish family, even from a distance, and before the coastal road existed, the only way in was through a treeline avenue running up from a stone gateway into a courtyard beside the Waldgarden. The road along the water that visitors drive today didn't exist until the 1840s, more than two centuries later. If what was once the original doorway is an inscription that reads, God, my Providence, my inheritance, is carved. Beside that is a coat of arms and two sets of initials, J.S. and I.B. Those belong to James Shaw and his bride, Isabella Brisbane.

9:27They were married between 1615 to 1625, with historical records and the inscribed date on Valley Galley Castle pointing specifically to 1625. Isabella was 16 years old when she left her home in Scotland and sailed towards a fortified stone house on a foreign coast. People storytellers say she never quite stopped missing home. Legend has said for generations that Isabella spent her free time on the castle battlements, looking east across the water towards the coastline she had left behind. It's not out of the realm of possibility because on a clear day, Scotland is close enough to see, but impossible to reach. Very little, relatable biological information about Isabella herself survives.

10:27And this is where the historical woman and the legendary Lady Isabella Shaw begin to diverge. The story goes that James Shaw married Isabella and the story is that he wanted to get an heir to the throne or to keep the show name and she had a daughter instead of a son which wouldn't keep the show name and the family, so he is supposed to snatch the baby from her and a doctor in the ghost room which we've just been up to. The ghost room that Norma referenced is a small room at the top of one of the castle's turrets. The story continues that Isabella became desperate to reach her child. In some versions, she attempted to escape through the turd window. She fell under the rocks below and died. Other versions of the tale are much darker and suggest that she may have been murdered.

11:30This is where history becomes folklore because there is no real documentation of what happened and we don't know for sure. What we do know is that the Shaw's lived through a turbulent period in Ireland. The loyalties shifted, communities were divided, and ownership of land was frequently tied to questions of power, religion, and allegiances. In 1799 William Shaw, the last of the family squires, inherited and estate already in financial trouble and it wasn't long before the family lost the property entirely. The castle sold for reported 15,400 pounds or $20,999 and 20 cents Canadian and it passed to the Agnew family.

12:31Through the 1800s, Balagalli changed hands and purposes several times. For several years it was used as a Coast Guard station before the Reverend Clayson Porter and his family took up residence. It was then taken over by the Moore family. They then sold it to a textile millionaire, Mr. Cyril Lorde in the early 1950s. Lorde made his fortune for the manufacturing of carpets and in the 1960s he sold some expensive rugs to a film and television producer and was paid with a cameo appearance in the TV series Batman. This unique property, steeped in history, became the crown jewel of the Hastings Hotel in 1966 and Balagalli Castle Hotel opened its doors to paying guests. What was once the dungeon now serves as a lady's bathroom and the original tower rooms

13:34are rented out to guests every night of the year. These after Lady Isabella Shaw first entered its threshold, the castle became the home away home for visitors from all around the world. Except it is believed she has remained. As the hotel website states, no 17th century Irish castle worth its salt would be without a resident ghost or two. This norm I mentioned earlier, Balagalli's most famous phantom is that of the tragic Lady Isabella Shaw. She apparently still wanders the hotel corridors at night knocking on doors. Perhaps still searching for her little girl. My first Christmas year when I started the hotel invite of Lady Isabella in the ghost and I was like, I don't think that's true.

14:34I don't believe in that and then we were all sitting finishing on Christmas Eve because we closed some Christmas day and we could hear these footsteps across the front of reception and I was like, who's that? And we realised that everybody that was left in the hotel was there and they said, oh no, that's Lady Isabella. So at that stage I was like, okay, I'm away home because I was like, oh goodness, maybe it is true. That night, Norma could have heard another reported apparition, that of a former 19th century resident of the castle, Madame Nixon. Her silk skirts can be heard rustling as she walks the castle at night. Whoever visitors encounter, one thing is for sure. The apparitions are unusual among castle ghosts, in being described not as threatening, but as friendly or sorrowful. There's nothing ever but how this happened that's always been good stories and people

15:37as safe felt her presence in the hotel. She's a good ghost. She's a good ghost and a friendly ghost. Valley Galley doesn't shy away from its paranormal presences. They advertise them proudly. The small room where Lady Isabella has been allegedly locked in until her death isn't hidden away and hasn't been made into storage or staff quarters. The ghost room is marked, furnished and even celebrated. Any guest curious enough to climb the stairs will see it exactly as the story describes it. At any hour of the day or night, they'll find a room barely large enough for a single bed which is pushed up against one wall. The windows are narrow and hard to imagine how Isabella could have possibly gone through it. The rest of the furniture and decor is sparse, but there is one photo that hangs next

16:38to the bed of Isabella. And this is a rendering of her likeness. The image which we have up in the ghost room, there's no three images that has really been there, but that's the image of how they imagined that she would have looked like. Fentrain to visit the ghost room is not for the faint of heart. A few of them lately in the last few years have been up and have felt a presence in the room. They've also got this smell. They say it's like a musty smell that they get the presence that Isabella is there in the room. They've had taken photographs where later on they've realised there's some orbs and stuff has appeared in the photographs and all of so like some shadows and images of a lady in the background that they've had. If your brave soul that wants to test yourself in, stay the night, Norma says, you can't. Well years ago, another thing whenever I started here, they used to say that anybody that

17:42slept in the ghost room overnight, I was able to stay on out used to get a free breakfast, free y'all's to fry in the morning. But that doesn't happen now. Obviously with health and safety and stuff, we have to be careful. But there used to be people maybe for charitable things with a came and stayed, obviously like a sponsored charity overnight stay and stuff to say that's maybe 25-30 years ago that would have happened then. That would say it obviously with health and safety and all of that, that stopped all that. The staircase that leads up to the ghost room is original to the tower. It's made out of stone and it is very narrow with a steep spiral staircase. The steps are well worn after 400 years. They have a shallow dip at the centre of each step after centuries of use. So it wouldn't be a great idea to stay the night, be frightened and try to run down

18:42without injury. The good news is that the Valley Galley Castle Ghosts or Ghosts aren't trapped in the ghost room. Presences, sounds and smells have been found all over the hotel grounds. In the room that we're setting in now, this is part of the original castle. And years ago I had some paranormal TV, came over and did a live presentation here and while we were doing it, the lights which is just behind me there started to flicker and go on and off during it. So they couldn't believe what they had seen on the day. Local universities, Queen Jennifer in Belfast, they actually came down maybe 10. 12 years ago and came in with three adars and stuff and come in with all their equipment and set up and they were there for a few yards and they said like the reed ours was going

19:46off the scale. We were in the newly renovated 1625 room which is one of the hotel conference rooms and Norma said that she has also had unique experiences during dinner service. In the restaurant we have had some of the cut right, the knives and forks, been round in the table with nobody has touched them. We've had some of the glasses slide across the table. Working alongside phantoms is part of the everyday life at Valley Galley Castle. Staff have become accustomed to the unexplained. Some of our night potters maybe like myself has felt a presence or has heard a few noises and stuff in the middle of the night or a few things strange going so on as happen but we haven't had any staff as left and said you know I can't work here because of the ghost room or the ghost lady as Galley. Guess on the other hand are a different story.

20:47So we have four rooms in this original castle bit which are named after some of the nine glances of Ambram and we had people stayed in one of the entire rooms one night and they actually left at three or four o'clock in the morning because they said they felt the presence in the room and they actually was a Bible sitting on the dressing table and it fell off the table and opened and they actually got up and left the hotel. They said they didn't want to stay in the hotel. Was that the room below the ghost room? Right directly below the ghost room so they left in the middle of the night and said they weren't staying. Whether Lady Isabella wanders into the room or not we'll never know but we know there have been accounts of footsteps in empty corridors, doors that seem to move on their own and perhaps most famously, knocking.

21:58The knocking is an unexplained sound that has become closely associated with the castle's ghostly reputation which has spread like wildfire thanks to social media. Have you seen a bigger demand of people coming in? Absolutely, for a site, I'm here 32 years and I hate things but the hotel in 1966 and it maybe just wasn't as popular as well, known about then but obviously with social media and I it's become a lot bigger and loads more people taking and then resting and are aware that this is an R hotel you know so I find that there's been more people has been not interested and came up because of social media and stuff you know. Yes it's fascinating. Yeah. That has helped the 400-year-old castle to be filled with life as guests from all over the world flock to the unique location.

22:59The popularity of the hotel has only increased thanks to the HBO TV series Game of Thrones. People does do it to run Northern Ireland where all different areas and each kind of has their door so we have the door here which was made out of the dark hedges and the wood so that's down near Armoe in Balamone and we had a few of the actors and stuff and people that was in the game of Thrones we had the privilege of having them to stay with us here and they did ship just about half a mile to mile up the road in a little town called Kern Castle which they did I think was maybe one of the road when it scenes or something started there and then proceeded around Northern Ireland and shooting the film so we have one of the doors and we do get quite a lot of people that comes just to look at the door and take photographs and say that they go round all the doors so they

24:01like to grind all the venues with the doors. The doors were curved from historic beach trees that fell during storm gertrude at the dark hedges also known as the Kings Road in the show in January 2016. Master craftsman and illustrators then turned the fallen timber into a permanent public art project and now tours can get a special journey of the doors passport and collect a unique stamp at each location. One of them is at Valley Gally Castle. We've had lots of people that have came as part of a tour group which we do lots of tour groups over the summer as well and then they would come and maybe bring their family on a separate trip and say well we want to come back here and bring our family back so they would come with just privately over in their own with their family members to show them because they just fall in love with the anthem coast and hotel. We do get a lot of repeat guests that do love it and

25:05obviously round Halloween time and stuff it would be quite popular that people would come to stay because obviously they're into all the paranormal and stuff and we do get repeat business from that. Having been inside Valley Gally Castle I can see why people come back. It's like walking through history with the comforts of modern life all while having unobstructed views of the sea. The castle is an idyllic place to curl up with a good book and listen to the waves crash. But as Norma and I were wrapping up and I was gathering my things someone else stopped by to greet me. But listen closely or you might miss it. There we go. Oh come on. There we go. There's a knocking. Did you do that? Yeah. There's a knocking so. Hi Isabella. Hi Isabella. Yeah. Nice to meet you. And just like that after 400 years, Isabella still knows

26:08exactly when to make her presence felt. Thank you for joining me as we explored Valley Gally Castle and the ghost room in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. And a special thank you to Norma Greg for taking the time to talk with me and everyone at Valley Gally Castle Hotel for the exceptional service and stay. It was amazing, a truly unforgettable experience. If you want to visit Valley Gally Castle, I will link the website in the show notes. Do you have a ghost story, paranormal encounter or true crime? If yes, email it to me so I can cover it and share with all listeners on this podcast. Please email me through the website hauntedcanada.com. If this episode gave it the chills in the best possible way, please consider supporting this show by buying me a coffee. The link is in the show notes. Every coffee helps to keep these stories coming. And if you want to go even deeper, stay

27:10tuned because it will be adding a picture on very soon. Hondet Canada is sponsored by the Eminent Ghost stores. I will link the website in the show notes. Hondet Canada is written and produced by me, Nadine Bailey, with senior producer, Dila Velasquez. Production and sound design is by Rob Johnston, with help from Cory Price. If you would like to support this podcast, please follow, share and tell a friend about this podcast. We would also appreciate a like and a five star written review. If you're on Spotify, tap follow that plus button. It helps more people find these Canadian ghost stories. Also, you can follow me under different social media platforms including TikTok, M.A. YouTube channel, hauntedcanada. Hey everyone, I've got some exciting news. I'll be hosting a haunted and paranormal tour of Ireland in participation with my friend Joanne at Expedia. We're going to be visiting haunted locations, staying in haunted castles, and exploring many historical places,

28:13all well delving in a ghost, hauntings and paranormal activity. So be sure to bring your EMEF readers. This tour is going to be happening in May of 2027. All information is posted on my website, hauntedcanada.com. Any questions email onto me, and remember, space is limited so book early. Thank you from all of us at hauntedcanada and curious cast. Have a good night everyone, and stay haunted.