The Murder Hole Room

Also referred to as the Muckle Hole room, various experiences have been reported in the time of the Darbys residency. Unfortunately, it is not known where this room was located. The two possibilities of the room’s location are either the North or South Wings, Blue and Red rooms respectively. One argument for the South Wing is that the south side of the tower, the original entrance features a machicolation that is still visible today. Theoretically a murder hole in the traditional sense may have been situated in this area of the castle guarding the main entrance.


Alternatively, the murder hole room may have been situated on the Northern or Blue wing. Looking at the layout, the northern rooms are under the oubliette located on the next floor up. The oubliette could have quite easily been referred to as a murder hole. This also ties into the spirit of the murdered O’Carroll priest and the account below.
Mildred Darby retells her experience in the Murder Hole Room in her article Kilman Castle: The House of Horror.
“I put my hand out of bed, snapping my fingers to call her Nell, (a terrier). My hand was suddenly in the grasp of another hand, a soft, cool hand, at a temperature perceptibly below my own flesh. To say I was astonished would but mildly convey my feelings! After a few seconds of steady pressure the other hand let go, and almost simultaneously I heard a heavy sliding fall, like the collapse of a large body at the foot of the bed. Then in the absolute stillness of the room there sounded a deep human groan, and some half-articulated words, or to be accurate, prayers.” “People have complained before-in fact; we don’t generally put any one there now. The room is called the Muckle or Murder Hole Room, and the story goes that the stain on the floor is the blood of a man stabbed there by his brother. Two O’Carrolls quarreled over the ownership of the castle. The room had been disused for 50 years or more when we did it up. The stain has been planed off the boards several times, but it always comes again-creeps up from below in a few hours”.

More evidence of this location is the reference from the Kilman Castle article. After spending a night in the Murder Hole room, Kenneth asks to be in a room facing West as his present quarters face East. This now narrows the location down to the four rooms on the Eastern side of gothic wings; most likely those closest to the tower.