Strange reports of Blarney Castle's Badger Cave
Badger Cave
* Blarney Castle, Blarney, Ireland * http://www.blarneycastle.ie *
This little gem underneath the Blarney Castle has many myths and legends surrounding it. Folklore or Urban lore based on its name has rumors it was dug out by a giant badger. More trustworthy lore claims it was the escape route used by the garrison when Cromwell’s general Lord Broghill besieged the castle and fired down from Card Hill above the lake and broke through the tower walls. He found only two trusty old retainers and the garrison gone. He was hoping to find the fabled golden plate but appeared that it was taken through the caves to escape his capture. Some say the plate was sunk in the lake. Some say its buried in the tunnels. No one really knows what happened to the mythical treasure. Great expenses have been incurred to find it – from excavations, draining the lake, and battles. There are believed to be three passages in these caves – one that leads to Cork, another to the lake, and another to Kerry. However, no one seems to be able to find these legendary passages …. An excavation of the main tunnel in 2007 produced nothing except a potentially Neolithic flint flake and over 340 most-likely modern animal bones. However in 2010-2011 some ghost hunters called the “Echo Ghost Hunters” investigated the site and captured an image of a man in the 3rd floor window of the castle (no stairs or access to that window) and recorded strange Kll meter hits in the caves. Could these naturally occurring passages been used by the Tuatha de Danann before humans built the castle in the 10th century of the Common Era? No one knows, no written records remain on the prehistoric origins of the castle grounds – there is a Druid cave, a witches’ kitchen, a fairy glade, a Druid’s circle and sacrificial altar – or so they say – in the The Rock Close.
