Tayto Park House of Horrors
There are a number of other events in Meath for the spooky season, listed by Meath Tourism. There’s a special Halloween event at Tayto Park, the House of Horrors. Tayto Park is only a few miles from the self-catering accommodation provided by Duffys of Ballybin. The House of Horrors is for over-8s, which is a good idea, because it is really entertaining/scary, depending on your perspective.
Halloween originated as a Celtic End-of-year/New-Year celebration, which was then adopted by Christianity as All Souls Day/All Saints Day. Irish emigrants introduced it to the United States, where – along with St Patrick’s Day – is one of the two major Irish cultural festivals.
Ireland has a strong tradition of Gothic horror. Irish-born Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, which is said to be informed by the 19th Century political and social conflict between the-people-who-lived-in-the-castle and the-people-who-lived-in-the-village. TG4 recently showed a very good documentary on Irish Gothic literature, expanding on this idea. Our Romanian friends assure us that the fictional figure of Dracula bears no resemblance to the historical Transylvanian figure Vlad Tepes.
