![\"SCARE:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0_booking-wx.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBooking.com has launched an investigation into the incident<\/p>\n
05:00, 22 Jul 2026Updated 10:42, 22 Jul 2026<\/p>\n
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SCARE: Person was behind black space in wall after family removed piece of plasterboard<\/p>\n
A woman and her family were left \u2018terrified\u2019 after a “horrifying” experience booking a property to go to a family party after finding a man hidden behind one of the walls of the house.<\/p>\n
Last weekend, Therese booked a property to stay in with her partner and two children for the night after a family birthday party in the Leinster<\/a> area.<\/p>\n The home, advertised as not being owner-occupied, was close by to the function and seemed like the perfect place for an overnight stay, but moments after arrival things began to take a turn for the worse.<\/p>\n “I met with the landlord to get a key,” Therese told Kieran Cuddihy on RT\u00c9\u2019s Liveline<\/a>. “That was in a key lock box. He showed me around the house. He had his clothes in his dryer at the time, and so they were drying away. I was leaving, heading back to the party, and I said, \u2018Will you be here tonight when I come back?\u2019 And he went, \u2018Oh no, no, I won’t be here’.”<\/p>\n She added: “At the time I didn’t realise when I booked it, the entire piece. It does have advertised the entire home is yours. But even with that regardless, I wouldn’t have minded if he was staying there because B&B hosts still stay in the house sometimes. I just asked, \u2018Are you going to be here tonight?\u2019 And he went, \u2018No, no, I’ll be gone’.”<\/p>\n Along with the dryer being in use, she found it odd the children\u2019s room downstairs was beside a locked room, and while she was iffy about leaving the kids to stay there, she thought at this point there was nothing she could do about it.<\/p>\n Despite this, safe in the knowledge that the property would be empty when they returned later on that night, the family headed out for their party. It wasn\u2019t until they came back that they found something truly odd was going on with the property.<\/p>\n After getting back the family found that now the washing machine was running, meaning the landlord must have returned. The key for the property was also on a chain in a lockbox outside the home. \u201cThat did make me think that he was here,\u201d she shared.<\/p>\n “I knocked off the washing machine because the kids were going to bed at that point, and I was like, \u2018I’m going to knock off the washing machine because the single beds were right beside it\u2019.<\/p>\n Feeling put off by the whole situation, Therese asked her partner to check the rooms, which is when they noticed something very strange with the property.<\/p>\n “Still I felt a little bit weird. So I said to my partner, \u2018Will you go upstairs and just check all the rooms.’ And he went up, then he came back down. He was feeling a little bit weird. We didn’t initially notice that there was like this partition-looking wall.<\/p>\n “It was actually a really thin piece of plasterboard with a nail. So there was no nails on one part. This was in the sitting room, in the living room. So my partner went, \u2018What’s behind that?\u2019 Because it looked like it could move. So when he went to move it, it came off.<\/p>\n “It was just darkness behind it and I hear \u2018hey, hey\u2019, so we obviously died. And I went, \u2018Is there somebody behind that wall?\u2019 And he went, \u2018Yes\u2019. Now the man didn’t come out near us, but like straight away, I went to get the kids and just leave right now.”<\/p>\n Therese explained that she met the landlord after, who claimed to have never met her before, and told him how the experience was traumatizing.<\/p>\n “It was pitch black, so you couldn’t say a thing,\u201d Therese said. \u201cAnd obviously, when you get frightened, you’re not expecting to hear somebody go, \u2018Hey, hey\u2019, from a wall, which I thought was just a wall at the time.<\/p>\n “We left, initially had the kids outside. In the end, I did end up meeting him at the front of the house. He said that he didn’t meet me before. And I said to him, \u2018Why have you done this? You have traumatized myself and my kids when you easily could have just said, ‘Yes, I will be here later on\u2019…. And he went, \u2018Well, my Google reviews don’t say that\u2019.”<\/p>\n The Irish Mirror’s Crime Writers Michael O’Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up<\/a> and get it delivered to your inbox every week<\/p>\n Therese said the whole experience has put her off booking a property that isn\u2019t a hotel in the future, telling how even in her own home she sometimes feels unsafe.<\/p>\n “It’s horrifying. It’s so scary,” she said. “I genuinely. The only way to describe it is\u2026 I feel like I was on a Netflix documentary. I wouldn’t believe this.<\/p>\n “The blood drained from my face. The kids were frozen in one spot. We had to physically move them. Their jaws had dropped. They heard the hey, and all we could see was this black hole. We didn’t know what size it was, whether it was a small space or big space, and we knew there was a man behind that. It’s the most terrifying feeling ever.”<\/p>\n “I\u2019m still not over it,” she continued. “It’s terrifying, and I feel sorry for the kids. Genuinely, will put me off booking any sort of holiday home in the future.<\/p>\n “I think I’ll probably be hotels from here on in. I don’t think the kids would want to stay. You just don’t feel safe. Even in my own home now, it’s crazy. I know I am safe, but I’m still psychologically affected by it. It’s terrifying.”<\/p>\n Booking.com confirmed a probe has been launched into the incident, and that the listing has been taken down while the investigation continues.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784776289_659_0_OTOOLE-HEALY.jpg\")
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