The Hellfire Club
A ruined lodge on a hill above Dublin is linked to a club of wealthy rakes, and to a stranger at the card table with a cloven hoof.
What was reported
On top of Montpelier Hill, in the Dublin Mountains, stands the stone shell of a hunting lodge built around 1725 by William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, partly from the stones of a prehistoric cairn. Legend links it to the Hellfire Club, a group of wealthy young men in 1730s Dublin known for drinking and mocking religion.
One famous tale says a stranger joined their card game, and when a player dropped a card and bent to pick it up, he saw the stranger had a cloven hoof. The visitor vanished in a burst of flame.
Explanations offered
Historians doubt the club ever met at the lodge, and the tales grew later. Taking stones from the ancient cairn was said to bring bad luck, and the roof blew off in a storm soon after the lodge was built. Today it's a popular walk with views over Dublin.
- When
- Lodge built around 1725
- Where
- Montpelier Hill, County Dublin, Ireland
- Witnesses
- Dublin tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.