A haunting night at the museum
There’s a nun’s cell on the top floor of Cavan County Museum containing a bed. The bed looks slept in; there’s the shape of a head on the pillow and the imprint of a body on the duvet.
Yet nobody has slept in this room for years. Not since around 1992 when the convent for the Poor Clare Sisters, which dates back to 1872, closed and was sold to the council to house the new County Museum.
It’s one of many areas Director and writer James O’Donnell hopes to bring to life in his play ‘A Night at the Museum’ where he invites participants to come to the museum after dark over the Halloween weekend. Led by Sligo actress Niamh McGrath who plays Lavinia, attendees will walk the corridors, believed to be haunted, and learn about the artefacts on display. But, who knows who will join them?
“We are searching for a ghost,” James explains.
The building itself still contains many original features from its past life; the walls and ceilings, a wooden staircase and floorboards, doors, tiles, paintings, and some furniture. It creaks and groans, there are unusual noises all around, especially when the wind blows through.
The play also taps into Stone Tape Theory which suggests that building materials collect traumatic events within their environs, and then later replay them “like a tape” to whomever enters the space.
“The building is doing a lot of the heavy lifting for us because as you can see, it’s fantastic, there’s so many dark corners.”
As the Celt reaches the uppermost floor, James remarks “up here is where it happens, and where it has happened”.
One Saturday morning as a couple were wandering the halls, a woman watched from the doorway of the sleeping quarters the Celt now looks into.
“She felt an arm around her shoulder and she turned to speak to her husband but he wasn’t there, he was far down the corridor,” says James.
“She heard voices as well coming down the corridor, but she’s not the only one that felt this arm around the shoulder. This seems to be an area that is particularly active.”
On another occasion, the ghost of a nun was allegedly seen walking from one room to the next by a cleaner.
It is here, that the immersive play crescendos- with participants trying to contact the ghost. On the weekend of Samháin, when the season turns to the darker half of the year, who knows what could appear?
“We might sense something, we might get something. You never know.”
The father of two was inspired to write the play following rehearsals in the museum after dark, thinking the building was “evocative”.
“You can see it on the hill, imposing. It sort of looms over Ballyjamesduff.
“That was really the inspiration and also the fact that I’ve done tours before and I really think it’s a nice format for people to experience things.”
With a background in acting and directing, James wants to incorporate an element of drama with his “love” for Halloween and ghost stories.
Connecting people
The London native, living in Lower Lavey this past six years, says connecting people with their local history is “one million percent” the objective, reasoning: “People just don’t know the history that’s under their feet.
“It’s of interest to me because I like history but I think that people can learn a lot more about the history that is right here, and all of these things were found right here in Cavan.”
“There’s as much heritage here in Cavan as there is in any other county you would find across the country and I find that fascinating,” he says. “I like the story telling aspect of it, that we are bringing you on a journey, we show you some things, we try to connect you and then you go home hopefully a little bit changed.”
James O’Donnell’s ‘A Night at the Museum’ takes place October 30-31 with tickets available on the Town Hall website. Family tickets have sold out, but adult tickets are still available for 16s and over.