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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Lifestyle
Sophie McLaughlin

History of 1920s medium who lived in NI house being investigated for paranormal activity

Antrim and Newtownabbey council has recently approved for a local paranormal group to investigate paranormal activity at visitor attraction Clotworhty house.

But did you know that one of its former inhabitants was a respected spiritualist and claimed to be a "natural medium" in the 1920s?

County Antrim Paranormal Research Association (CAPRA) has received permission from the council to investigate Clotworthy House one evening using equipment which detects temperature anomalies.

Read more: Two NI visitor attractions to be investigated for 'paranormal activity'

To prepare for this investigation, CAPRA members have been working with local bestselling author and historian Lyndsy Spence to learn more about Viscountess Jean Massereene who lived in the historic building with her husband after Antrim Castle was set alight in 1922.

Speaking to Belfast Live, Lyndsy said her interest in Clotworthy house and the fascinating Viscountess began while she was growing up in the area.

She said: "Having written my first book, The Mitford Girls' Guide to Life, in 2013, I decided to look in the archives about the inhabitants of Antrim Castle. Jean Massereene and her daughter, Diana Skeffington who died aged 21 and is buried at Antrim Castle Gardens, intrigued me.

"Nothing was documented about Jean or Diana and I felt that wasn't right – we know all about the viscounts and even the legendary wolfhound of Antrim Castle, but why not the women? So, I began a fact-finding mission to piece together their lives.

"They're both largely unknown but in recent years Jean has been acknowledged by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council."

Lady Massereene (Submitted)

Clotworthy House began as a stable block, designed by Sir Charles Lanyon in the 1840s, and was converted for Lord and Lady Massereene after the castle burnt down in 1922 - Jean found it too small and later left for the Isle of Mull, but her husband, Lord Massereene (Algernon) resided there until his death in 1956.

Lyndsy continued: "Jean Massereene was really something else, she was so ahead of her time and a true feminist in every sense of the word.

"Her quote, 'Men would give a higher place if she demanded it and it would be well for her if she did,' resonated with me and the work I do.

"She was of Scots parentage and was almost six feet tall with jet-black hair and dark eyes and she played up her dramatic colouring with heavy makeup and feathered headpieces, costume jewellery, and quite revealing clothes."

In 1905, her husband, Algernon Skeffington, the second son of the 11th Viscount Massereene, unexpectedly inherited the viscountcy after the death of his older brother and father so at 21 she found herself the chatelaine of Antrim Castle.

"She did brilliant things for Antrim town - she was the patroness of the local schools and championed further education for girls, she was president of the Women's National Health Association, and she founded the local branch of the NSPCC, to name a few of her achievements," Lyndsy explained.

"During the Home Rule Crisis, she formed a nursing corps in the event of a civil war in Ulster and she befriended Sir Edward Carson and moved in political circles. This ultimately led to the burning of Antrim Castle in 1922.

Clotworthy House in Antrim (Antrim & Newtownabbey Council)

"Politics aside, ghosts were her chief interest and she was a respected spiritualist both in Dublin and in London, and she claimed to be a natural medium. Her paranormal experiences and premonitions were detailed in her column for the Daily Express."

The death of her only daughter, Diana Skeffington, of typhoid in 1930, "shattered her world" and she soon followed, in 1937, dying of a stroke.

She added: "Jean became a footnote in history but my ambition has been to change that."

CAPRA is hoping to investigate the claims of paranormal activity that are associated with Clotworhy and Lyndsy says that knowing the historical background of the family who lived there in the 1920s and beyond will help confirm or dispel the alleged hauntings and who the so-called spectre is.

Lyndnsy added: "CAPRA has been operating for almost twenty years and is well respected in its field. We're mindful that it was a family home and a happy home, so we're not approaching it in an over-exaggerated way, hoping to scare ourselves and everyone else.

"Of course, CAPRA's equipment might add a touch of high drama on the night, but the viscountess would approve, after all, she was accused of leading a witches' coven in the 1920s.

An image of the Viscountess (Submitted)

"All in all, it'll be a great investigation and the atmosphere should be good. I think any investigation, regardless of the findings, adds a bit of mystery to the place. It's a great building, so the historical merit alone should interest people."

She hopes the investigation will encourage people to explore the people forgotten from our local history, especially women.

"If a paranormal investigation draws attention to Jean Massereene, that's all the better. She would approve of the mysticism. Either way, we need to preserve women's stories and their place in our historical canon."

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