The foggy, lush green hills of the British Isles are home to some of the most fascinating ghostly myths and legends, so when a family walking around Murlough Bay in Northern Ireland spotted a sinister black figure in the distance, they naturally ran for their lives.
According to the video shared on TikTok by user t1v37a9, the group was using Randonautica — an app that has gained a reputation and a social media following for sending users to remote, creepy spots — when they came across a lone person who, from a distance, eerily resembled Sister Valak from the Nun supernatural horror franchise. “I’ve never ran so fast,” the video maker said.
Using the Randonautica app became a viral trend in 2020, culminating in a group of teens finding a suitcase containing human remains on a Seattle beach near the coordinates generated by the app. Then, as more people stumbled upon things like abandoned houses or places in the middle of the woods, the Internet did what it usually does, and all kinds of conspiracy theories surrounding the app and how it really works emerged — this because Randonautica claims to use manifestation to generate coordinates to a place where people can find exactly what they wish for. The few instances where that happens can be attributed to coincidence, fate, or a third creepier thing, depending on the beliefs of whoever is using the app.
So, if you pair the mystery of Celtic folklore, with its banshees and faeries, and the spooky fame of Randonautica, the story of the Northern Ireland beach nun has all the ingredients to become one of those unsolved supernatural mysteries the Internet loves to obsess over. We regret to inform you, though, that this time around, the answers are a lot simpler and less exciting.
The mysterious “nun” is also on TikTok and was just as quick to post a video from her point of view, unaware the family would be sharing their side of the story on the platform too. “So, I’m down at his beautiful little hidden beach, (…) and I’ve got this long black coat on. As I was walking past (…), there was a group of what looked like teenagers, maybe a mom and dad, but they all stopped and stared because they were just seeing this figure with this black coat emerging from the rocks,” Kelly, the owner of the Soul Girls Adventure TikTok account recounted.
The Northern Irish woman, who describes herself as a “meta DNA and ecological bodyworker in training” on her public Instagram page and runs a microdosing nature hiking tour service called Soul Roots, then revealed that she saw the group turning around and bolting out of there. As it turns out, they weren’t exaggerating when they said they had never run faster in their lives. “I didn’t even want to shout to tell them that it was okay, in case it’d terrify them even more,” Kelly continued, before quipping, “I am not the black witch of Murlough Bay.”
Per her account, the shadowy coastal setting of this horror encounter is as remote as it can get, needing a two-mile off-road drive and an additional half-mile walk just to get there. You would either have to be a nature enthusiast and explorer like Kelly or a Randonautica user like the teens in that family to wind up there. “There is not another sinner in this place bar this little bothy, which looks derelict, and then this mysterious black woman,” she laughed, adding “If this was you, first of all, I would love a photograph, because that would have looked pretty awesome, and, secondly, I am really sorry, I did not mean to spoil your day out exploring, but I think you have a brilliant story to tell!”
“Brilliant story” is a bit of an understatement, considering the teen’s video has now generated a whopping 8.8 million views in a week. User t1v37a9 has not yet made a post reacting to the nun’s POV, but we now are eagerly anticipating it.