Ghost tour prepares for busy Halloween night

By Kevin O’Mahony

Ghostbus Tour. Photo via Dublin Bus

As the country gets ready to celebrate Halloween, the Liberty takes a look at the unique tour which takes visitors on a bus ride through the city’s most haunted locations.

Having been established in 1998, the tour is in it’s sixteenth year of providing tour goers with a theatrical experience through the more macabre side of Dublin’s fair city.

The Ghostbus Tour was created and designed by Dan O’Donoghue for Dublin Bus, and according to Dublin Bus Commercial Director Sean McDaidit is, “the world’s first custom built ghostbus”. The Ghostbus Tour starts and finishes at the Dublin Bus offices at O’Connell Street. From there, it continues on to the south side of the city, stopping in many areas of the Liberties.

There are two stops on the tour where passengers get off the bus – St. James’s Cemetery and the ancient crypts in Christ Church Cathedral. The tour has exclusive access to St. James’s on Thomas Street, a graveyard that has not been opened to the public for many years. McDaid, who has worked on the tour in the past, has high praise for it’s unique appeal.

“The crypts in Christ Church are a wonderful addition to the tour and this is where the actors describe the grave robbing techniques used in Dublin in the past.” The tour also stops outside the Royal College of Physicians where passengers hear the tales of Dr. Clossey, who once worked there, and whose ghost is said to wander its halls.

The excursion passes through the heart of inner city Dublin late at night, and as a result it has had problems with anti-social behaviour on some of it’s stops, with the area around St Audeons being particularly suspect. However, McDaid claimed that this was no longer an issue and said that feedback to the tour has been, ‘fantastic the vast majority of the time’.

“In recent weeks, we have had a media night, and we also have had the city’s tourism officials on-board a tour and feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Those on the tour often comment and say how it’s wonderful to have such a great alternative night out in the city. It’s also a big plus that the tour is informative, funny and scary, all rolled into one which as you can appreciate, is no easy feat.”

The tour runs Monday to Thursday 8pm, Friday & Saturday 7.00pm & 9:30pm. Tickets from €22.40 can be booked online.