Nick Groff Investigates… The Roscommon Cave – The Birthplace of Halloween!

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Nick Groff is one of the most respected names in television and beyond when it comes to the paranormal. He has had incredible experiences in some of the most haunted locations in the world. As a friend to Arrow in the Head, we’ve shared some very exciting experiences with Nick including a couple of wild and spooky moments that we’ve managed to capture on camera. Thus, we’ve decided to work with the television host and producer extraordinaire so he can share his knowledge and insight on all things that go bump in the night. With this bi-monthly column, we plan to delve into everything from urban legends to ghostly apparitions, to his take on some of the coolest genre flicks ever. This is Nick Groff Investigates…!

THE ROSCOMMON CAVE aka THE BIRTHPLACE OF HALLOWEEN

Halloween is upon us. In two short weeks, costumed children will go door to door – or perhaps some will stick to their local mall – and collect candy from strangers. Decorations will adorn the houses, street by street, row by row, with lights and ghosts and goblins. Of course Halloween has done a bit of a shape shift since its beginning. Originating back to the ancient Celtic festival Samhain, the holiday was an event to celebrate the new year, which started for them on November 1st.  The Celts believed that the night before the new year, the line between the living and the dead would fade. And that very evening as the summer and the harvest came to an end, the two worlds came together as the ghosts of the dead rose for one night a year.

There is a place in Ireland that has been called “the gateway to the underworld.” Oweynagat, or the Cave of the Cats, is located below the Roscommon field in Ireland. It is rich in history, and it has been called by monks in the region the “gate to hell.” And on Halloween, archaeologist Daniel Curley, manager of the Rathcroghan Visitor Centre, brought tourists to visit this spooky location for a special Halloween haunt. In a 2016 buzz.ie article, Curley mentioned that “It was believed that beasts and demons and wicked things came out of the Otherworld through the cave… Halloween began here.” This includes the myth of monstrous cats and a three-headed demon that made their way into the natural world.

Nick Groff introduced me to this very special location, and of course, it is one that he has experienced firsthand. The history of Halloween has always fascinated me, and the idea of visiting a place where part of this legend came to be is beyond enticing. Imagine entering a world where the whispers of the dead and the grasp on everything that is tangible and true is blurred. I’d love to experience this place where those that have passed linger along side strange and magnificent beasts, all waiting until Halloween finally arrives. One can only imagine the magic and mystery a location like that must possess. But if you are Nick, you don’t need to imagine…

“One of the most interesting places I had the opportunity to explore was in Ireland at the Roscommon Cave, the birthplace of Halloween. After a long flight and a drive Into the middle of some farmland sits a hidden entrance to the ancient Roscommon Cave. Children in the old days would wear masks to cover their faces and trick the entity that would rise from the depths of the cave and drag them into the hell of the cave. Greeted by an Irish Pagan priest and guardian of the cave who explains what could happen once I enter the mouth of the poorly lit entrance. I decide to test my fate and proceed forward and slowly climb in with excitement and fear. There’s an overwhelming spiritual feeling that rushes through my body as I move deeper into the darkness.

I feel at this moment I’m entering the underworld/Midian in the movie “NIGHTBREED”  and waiting to pass by supernatural monsters accepted by the other world. This movie is one of my favorites that I grew up on and really set the mood for me during my expedition into the Roscommon Cave! My experience was beyond weird. Staring into the abyss of the darkness I began to see glowing red eyes form and shape shifting faces occur. I kept my mind and body calm during these chain of events and realized how frightening it could of been for The Knights Templar. Back in the day The knights had to enter this exact cave to face their own fears upon removing their helmets.. The Queen would Knight the ones that did not break and survived the journey into the hellish cave.

These ancient locations have so many stories attached to them through the years. Stories change over time, but everything has to start somewhere. So much history is attached to the land with supernatural and paranormal encounters from spiritual and of norm individuals who wandered these areas.

October 31st spawned decades ago with the Roscommon Cave. The stories still hold true today and even monks claiming it’s the gate to hell. I’m not sure if it’s an evil dimension or just a spiritual place with an energetic trigger that the human body reacts to but I know for sure the experience I had inside the heart of the cave left me with more questions than answers. This was one of my favorite locations to explore and I’ll never forget starring into the darkness of the cave waiting for evil to confront me.”

While you head out to parties or take your children trick or treating, think about how all this began. Is Samhain the night where the loved ones return? Call me crazy, but I kind of like the idea of a MIdian like world that is tangible and terrifying. Yet another reason why I love Halloween is the rich and haunted history of the holiday. What spooks and spirits linger in the darkness until the next Nick Groff Investigates…? You’ll have to wait and find out.