TR UE

I R I S H G H O ST STO R I ES

COM PI LED B Y

ST
J O H N D . S EY M O U R, B D . .

AU TH OR O F
lRISH W I TC H C R AFT AN D DEMO N OL O GY
ETC .

AN D

H AR R Y L . N EL I GAN ,

DU B L N I
H O D G ES, F I G G I S co .
,
LTD .

1 04 G R AFTO N S TR E ET
L O N D ON

HU M P H R EY M I LFO R D
A M EN C OR N ER ,
EC .

1 914
( V ELY PO LTER G EI STS

AN D G

OK 15 A
D ED I C TE D

E C O M P I LER S

61 3 3 2
 FO R EW O R D

T H I S book h ad its origi n on this wise I n .

my I rzs/z Wztcfi craft and D emon ology pub

' ’

li sh e d in O ctober 1 9 1 3 I inserted a couple

,

of famous 1 7 th century ghost stories which

described h ow lawsuits were se t on foot at
th e insti gation of most importunate spirits .

I t then occurred to me that as far as I knew

t h ere was no such thing in existence as a
book of Irish ghost stories B ooks o n Irish
.

fairy and folk Iore there were in a bundance

-

— some of which coul d easily be spared

bu t th ere w as n o book of ghosts An d so I
.

determin e d to supply this sad omission .

In accordance with th e immortal recipe

for makin g hare — soup I had fi rst to obtain
my gh ost stories . Where was I to get
them from ? For myself I kne w none
worth publishing n or h ad I ever had any
,

strange experien ces while I feared that my

,

friends and acquaintances w e re in much the

ix
shoulders M y
.
mind was speedily set at
rest
. On October 3 0 , the fi rst answers
reac h ed me .
W ithin a fortnight I had
.

—
could pick and choos e and more was
promised Further on in this preface I
.

give a list of those persons whose c o n t ri b u

tions I have made use of but here I should

,

like to take the opportunity of thanking all

those ladies and gentlemen throughout the
length and breadth of Ireland the maj ority
,

of whom were utter strangers to me who ,

 F O REWO R D
went to th e trouble of sitting down and
writing ou t pag e a fter page of stories I .

cannot forget their kindness an d I am only ,

sor ry that I could not make use of more o f

th e matter that was sent to me As one .

would expect this material varied in value

,

and extent Some persons contributed i n

.

c i de n t s
,
of little use by themselves but ,

wh ich worked in as h elpful illustrations ,

while oth ers forw a rded budgets of stories ,

long and sh ort To sift the mass of matter

.
,

and bring the various portions of it into

proper sequence would have been a lengthy
,

and di ffi cu lt piece of work h ad I not been

a bly assisted by M r H arry L Neligan D I
. .
, . .

but I l eave it as a pleasan t task to the

H igh er Critic to discover wh a t portions of
the book were done by him and what ,

should be attribut e d t o m e .

Some of th e replies th at reac h ed me

were su ffi c i e n tly amusing O ne gentleman
.
,
“ ”
who carefully signed himself Esquire ,

informed me that he w a s after reading a

great book of ghost stories but several ,

letters of mine failed to elicit any su b se

qu e n t inform a tion A nother person o ffered
.

to s ell me ghost stori e s while se v eral ,

xi
 T R UE I RISH GHOST S T O RIES
pro ffered tales that had been worked up
comically One lady addressed a card to
.

me as follows
TH E RE V D
.

( N am e an d addre s s los t of th e cle rgym an wh ose le tt e r

ap p e are d late ly i n ! ri sk Ti m es, re ap p ari ti on s

C A P PAW H I T E .

As the number of clergy in the above

village who deal in ghost stories is strictly
limited the P ost Otfi ce succeeded in deliver
,

ing it safely I wrote at once i n reply and

.
,

got a story In a letter bearing the Dublin

.

postmark a correspondent veiled in anony ,

mity sent me a religious tract with the

,

curt note R e ghost stories will you please

, ,

read this I did so but still fail to se e

.
,

the sender s point of view Another person

’

in a neighbouring parish declared that if I

were t h eir rector they would forthwith
leave my church and a ttend service else ,

w h ere There are many I fear w h o a dop t

.
, ,

this attitude ; but it will soon become out

of date .

Some of my readers may cavil at th e ex

”
pression True G host Stories
, For myself .

I cannot guarantee the genuineness o f a single

X11
 FO R E W O R D

—
incident in this book h ow could I as none ,

of them are my ow n personal exp erience ?

T his at least I ca n vouch for that the ,

maj ority of th e stories were sent to me as

fi rs t or second — hand experiences by ladies
and gentlemen whose statemen t on an ordi
nary matter of fact would be accepted with
ou t question An d further i n order to
.
,

prove the bor m fi de: of this book I make ,

the following o ffer T h e original letters

.

and documen ts are in my custody at Don oh il

R ectory and I am perfectly willing to
,

allow any responsible pe rson to examin e

them subj ect to certai n restrictions th ese
, ,

latter obviously being th at names of people

and places must n ot be divulged for I regret
,

to say th at in very many instan ces my corre

sp on de n t s have laid this burden upon me .

T h is is to be th e more regretted because ,

the use of blanks or fi cti ti ou s i nitials makes

, ,

a story appear much less convincing than if

real names h ad been employed .

Just on e word I can imagine some o f

.

my readers ( to be numbered by the thousand ,

I h op e ) saying to t h emselves : “
Oh ! Mr .

Seymour h a s l e ft out some of th e best stories .

Did he never h ear of su e h and such a - -

x iii
 TRUE I RI SH G H O S T S T O RIES
“
haunted h ou se or place 3 Or I c ould relate
, ,

an exp e rience better th an anyt h ing h e has

got .
”
If such th ere h e may I be g of t h em ,

to se nd me on their stori e s W ith all imagined

S pe e d as th ey may be turn e d to account at
,

so me future dat e .

I be g to return thanks to th e following

for pe rmiss ion to m ake use of matter in
th ei r publ icati ons : Mess rs Sealy B rye rs .
, ,

and W alh er proprietors of the An o I reland

,
r

M f R
’

; t h e editor of th e R ew m a o e

mm ” th e edi tor of th e P r aceeaing: of t h e

’

S oc iety for Psychi cal R esearch t h e editor

of the ?aum al of th e Ameri can
th e editor of the Occult R e vamp and M r ,
.

E lli ott O Don n e ll Nl e ssrs Lo n gm an s Green

’
.
,

and C o and Mrs An drew Lang th e editor

.
, .

of the Wi fe War ld zlfI agaz ine the rep t e '

se n t ati v e s of the late R ev Dr Craig . . .

In accordance with t h e promise made in

my letter I have n ow much pleasure i n
,

givin g t h e nam es of th e ladies and gentle

W h o h ave contri buted to or assisted i n the , ,

co mpila tion of this book and as well to ,

m e th em t hat NI L Neligan an d I are

d ee ply gratefu l to t hem for t h e i r ki n dness .

fi lm 8 Ach es on D rums na C o R os
. .
, , .

xiv
 F O REW O R D
c o mm on ; M rs M A rchi b a ld Cliftonville . .

R oad B elfast ; J J B urke Esq U D C

,

. . . . .
, , ,

R ah oo n G alway ; Capt R Be ami s h P as sage

,
. .
,

W e st C o Co rk ; M rs A B ayly VVoode n
,
. . .
,

bridg e C o W icklow R Blair Es q So uth

,
. .
, ,

Shields ; J as Byrn e Esq ” Castletownroch e .

, ,

C o Cork ; M rs Kearney B roo ks K illarney

. .
,

H Buchanan Esq Ini shann on C o Cork ;

.
,
.
, .

J. A B arl.ow Es ” Bray C o W icklow ;

q J , ,
. .

C arton Esq K ing s I n ns Library D u blin

,
.
,
’

M iss A Co oke Cappagh H ou se C o Lime

.
, , .

rick ; J P V Camp be ll . Dubli n

. .
,

Re v E G S C ros th w ai t M A Littleton
. . . .
, . .
, ,

Th url e s ; J Crowley Esq M unster an d .

, ,

Le inster B ank Cas hel ; M iss C M Doyle ,

. .
,

Ash fi e ld R oad D ublin ; J R alph D agg Esq , .

,
.
,

B a ltin gla ss ;
M atthi as and M iss N an Fit z gerald Cappagh ,

H ou se C o Limerick ; L ord Walter Fi t z

,
.

gerald K ilkea Castle ; M iss Fin ch R ush

, ,

brook C o Cork ; R ev H R B G ill es pie

, . . . . .
,

M A Agh acon Recto ry R oscrea ; M i ss

. .
, ,

Gr e ne Grene Park C o Tippe rary ; L H

, ,
. . .

G rubb ,
C o Tippe .

r ary H K eble G elston Es q Le tterkenny.

, ,

V e n J A H aydn LL D Ar chdeacon of
. . .
,
. .
,

L im e rick M i ss Doro t hy H am ilton Port ar ,

XV
 T R UE I RISH GH O S T S T O RIES
li n gton ; R ichard Hogan Esq Bowman S t ,
.
,
.
,

Limerick Mrs G K elly R at h gar Dublin . .

, ,

M iss Keefe C arn ah alli a Doon R ev D B , ,

. . .

K nox White h ead B elfast R ev J D K idd

, ,
. . .
,

M A Castlewellan ; E B de Lacy Esq

. .
,
. . ,
.
,

Marlboro R oad Dublin ; M iss K Lloyd ’

,
.
,

S h inrone K ing s C o ; Canon Le tt M A

,
’
. ,
. .
,

Agh ade rg R ectory ; T M ac Fadde n Esq . , .

,

C arri gart C o Donegal ,

.

Strabane ; Canon Courtenay M oore M A , . .

,

M itchelstow n C o Cork ; J M c C rossan ,

. .
,

Esq .
,
Strabane ; G H M iller . .
,

Esq J P Edgeworthstown M rs P C F
.
,
. .
,
. . . .

Magee Dublin R ev R D Paterson B A

,
. . .
,
. .
,

Ardmore R ectory ; E A P h elps Esq . .

, .
,

Trinity College Library Mrs Pratt M un .

,

ster and Leinster B ank Rathkeale ; M iss ,

Pim M onkstown C o D ublin ; M iss B

, ,
. .

Parker Passage West C o Cork ; H enry

, , .

R eay Esq Harold s Cross Dublin ; M

, .
,
’

, .

J. R yan Esq Tag h mon C,o VVe x for d; .

, ,
.

P. Ryan Esq Nicker Pallasgre an

, .
, ,

Canon R oss Lewin Kilmurry Limerick ; -

, ,

M iss A R ussell Elgin R oad Dublin Lt

.
, , .

Col the Hon F S h ore T homastown C o

. . .
, , .

K ilkenny ; M rs Seymour D on oh il Rectory ; .

,

Mrs E L Stri te h North Gr e at Georges

. . .
,

XV I
 FO R E W O R D

St .Dublin M C R Stri te h Esq B e ltu r

,
. . .
, .
,

b e t ; V e ry Re v the Dean of St Patrick s . .

’
.

D D ; M rs Spratt T hurles W S Th om p
. . .
, . .

s on Esq Inish a nnon C o Cork

,
.
, M rs ,
.
,

T h o mas San dye ove Dublin , M rs Walker ,

.
,

Gl e nb e igh C o Kerry ; M iss W olfe Ski b

,
.
,

b e re e n C o Cork M rs E W elsh Nenagh

,
. . .
,

T J W e strop p Esq
. . Sandy ,
.
,

m o un t Dublin M rs M A W ilkins Rath

, . . .
,

gar D ublin ; John W a rd Esq B a llymote

, ,
.
,

M rs W re nch Ballybr a ck C o Dublin

.
, , .

M iss K E Y o ung e Upp e r Oldt o wn R a th

. .
, ,

d o wn e y .

ST .
J OHN D . S EYMOUR .

DON OH I L R ECTORY,
CAPP AWH I TE, TI PP E R A R Y,
February 2 , 1 9 1 4 .

xv ii
 C O N T EN T S
C R AP .

I . H AU N TE D H OU SES IN OR NE AR D UB L I N

II . H AU N TE D H OU S ES IN CoN N
’
s H ALF

III . H A UN TE D H OU SES IN Moon ’

s H AL F

IV . P OLTE R GE I STS

V . H AU N TE D P L AC ES

VI . AP P A R I TI ON S AT O R A FTE R DE ATH

V II . B ANS H EES , AN D OTH E R DEA TH W A R N I N GS

-
1 75

V III . M I S C E LLAN E OU S S UP E R N OR MAL EX P E R I EN C E S 1 9 8

IX . LE GE N D AR Y AN D AN C ES TR AL G H OS TS

X . M I S TA KE N I DE N TI TY—CON CLU S I ON

I ND EX OF P LA C E N AMES
 T R UE I RI SH GH OS T S T O RIES
part and parcel of th e domicile as the stai r
c ase or the hall door and consequently
, , ,

nothing s h ort of leaving the house or of

pulling it down ( both of these solu t i ons
are not always practicable ) W 111 fr e e
us absolutely from the unwelcome pre
s ence
.

There is also something so natural and at ,

the same time so unnatural in seeing a door ,

o pen when we kno w t h at no human hand

rests on the knob or in hearing th e sound
,

o f footsteps light or heavy and feeling that

, ,

it cannot be attributed to th e fe et of mortal

m an o r woman O r perhaps a form ap
.

pears in a room standing sitting or walk

, , ,

ing—i n fact situated in its three dimensions

,

apparently as an ordinary being of flesh and

blood until it proves its unearthly nature

,

by vanishing before our astonished eyes .

O r perhaps we are asleep in b e d The .

room is shrouded in darkness and ou r ,

recumbent attitude together with the weigh t

,

o f bed clothes h ampers our movements and

-
,

probably makes u s mor e cowardly A man .

will meet pain or danger boldly if h e b e

s tanding —
upright occupying that erect
position which is his as Lord of Creation
2
 H AU N T E D H O U SES IN D U B L I N
but his courag e do e s not well so high if h e
be supine W e are awakened suddenly by
.

the feel that some superh uman Presence 15 i n

the room W e are t ran sfi x e d with terror
.
,

we cannot fi n d either th e bell rope or the -

matches while w e dare not l ea p o u t o f bed

,

and make a rush for the door lest we should

encounter w e know not what I n an agony .

o f fear w e feel i t moving towards u s ; it

,

approaches closer and yet closer to th e

, ,

bed and — for wh at may or may no t then

,

happen we must refer ou r readers t o th e

pages of this book .

B ut the sceptical reader will say T his

—
is all very well but th ere are n o haunted
,

houses All these alleged strange happen

.

ings are due to a vivid imagination or else ,

”
to rats and mice ( Th e
. question o f de

liberate and conscious fraud m a y be rej ected

i n almost every instance ) T h is simple .

solution has been pu t forward so often th at

i t should infallibly h ave solved the problem
long ago B ut will such a reader explain
.

h ow it is t h at th e noise made by rats and

mice can resemble slo w heavy footsteps or
, ,

else take the form of a human being seen

by sev e ral persons ; or h ow ou r imagination
 T R UE I RI SH G H OS T S T O R I ES
can cause doors to open and shut or else ,

cr e ate a conglomeration of n oises which ,

physically would be beyond the power of

,

ordinary individuals to reproduce P What

ever may be the ultimate explanation we ,

feel that there is a great deal in th e words

quoted by Professor Barr e tt : I n spite of
all reasonable scepticism it is di ffi c ult t o,

avoid accepting at least provisionally th e

, ,

conclusion that there are in a certain sense

, ,

haunted houses that there are house s

,

in which similar quasi human apparition s

-

have occurred at di fferent times to di fi e r

'

ent in h abitants under circumstances wh ich

,

exclude the hypothesis of suggestion or

”
expectation .

We must n ow turn to the subj ect of thi s

chapter Mrs G K elly a lady well known
. . .
,

in musical circles in Dublin sends as h e r ,

own personal experience the following tal e

of a most quiet haunting in which t h e ,

spectral charwoman ( 1) does no t se e m t o

hav e entirely laid aside all her mundan e
habits.

My fi rst encounter with a ghost occurred

about twenty years ago O n that occasion.

I was stan d1n g in the kitchen of my hous e

 H A U NTE D H O U SES I N D U B L I N
in Square when a woman whom I was
, ,

afterwards to se e many times walked down ,

the stairs i nto the room H aving heard .

th e footsteps o utside I was not in th e least

,

perturbed but turned to look who i t w as

, ,

and fou nd myself lookin g at a tall stout , ,

elderly woman wearing a bonnet and old

,

fashioned mantle Sh e had grey hair and

.
,

a benign and amiable expression We stood .

ga z ing at each other wh ile one could count

t w enty
. At fi rst I was n ot at all frightened ,

but gradually as I stood looking at her an

uncomfortable feeling i ncreasing to terror
, ,

came over me T his caused me t o retreat

.

farther a nd farth er back until I h ad my

,

back against the wall and then the appari

,

tion slowly faded .

T his feeling of terror due perhaps to,

th e unexpectedness of her appearan ce al ,

ways overcame me on th e subsequ e nt occa

sions on which I saw her These occasions.

n umbered twelve or fifte e n and I have s e en

,

her in every room in the h ouse and at ,

every hour of the day during a p e riod of

,

about ten years Th e last time sh e appeared

.

w as ten years ago NI y h usband and I had

.

j ust returned from a conc e rt at wh ich h e

 T R UE I RISH GH OS T S T O RIES
had been singing and w e sat for some time ,

over supper talking about the events of the

,

evening When at last I rose to leave th e

.

room and opened the dining room door I

,
-
,

found my old lady standing on the mat

outside with h er head bent to wards the
door in the attitud e of listening I called .

ou t loudly and my husband rushed to my

,

side That was the last time I h ave seen

.

her.

One peculiarity of this spectral visitant

was a strong objection to disorder or untidy
ness of any kind or even to an alteration in
,

t h e general routine of the house For i n .

stance she showed her disapproval of any

,

stranger coming to sleep by turning the

chairs face downwards on the floor in th e
room they were to occupy I well re .

member on e of our guests h a ving gone to ,

his room on e evening for something he h ad

forgotten remarking on coming downstairs
,

again W ell you people have an extra

,
‘
,

ordinary manner of arranging your fu rn i

ture I have nearly broken my bones over
one of the bedroom chairs which was turned
down on the fl oor As my husband and I .
’

had restored that chair twice already to

6
 H A U N T ED H O U SES I N D U B L I N
i ts prop e r position during th e day w e were ,

n o t mu ch surprised at his rem a rks alth oug h ,

we did no t enlighten him The w h ol e .

family h ave been disturbed by a peculiar

knocki n g wh ich occurred in various room s
i n the house frequently on th e door or
,

wall bu t sometimes on th e furniture quite

, ,

close to where w e had been sitting Thi s .

was evidently loud enough t o be heard in

th e next house for ou r next door neighbou r
,
-

o nce asked my husband why h e selected

suc h curious hours for h anging his pictures .

A nother strange and fairly frequent occur

rence w as the following I had go t a se t of
.

skunk furs which I fancied had an u m

pleasant odour as this fur sometimes has ;
,

and at nigh t I used to t a k e it from my

wardrobe and lay it on a chair in th e draw
ing room which was next my bedroom
-
,
.

Th e fi rst time that I did this on going to ,

.

the drawin g room I found to my surpri se

-
, ,

my mu ff i n one corner a nd my stole in

O

a not h er Not for a moment suspecting a

.

sup e rnatural agent I asked my servant abou t

,

i t and sh e a ssured me that she had not been

,

in the room that m o rning Wh ereupon I .

determin e d to test th e matter wh ich I did ,

 TRUE I RI SH GH OS T S T O RIES
by putting in the furs late at nigh t and ,

taking care that I was the fi rst to enter th e

room in t h e morning I invariably found
.

”
that they had been disturbed .

The following strange and pathetic i n

e ident occurred in a well known Square in
-

the north side of t h e city I n or about a

.

h undred years ago a young offi ce r w a s

o rdered to Dublin ,
and took a house there
for h imself and his family H e sent on his
.

wife and t wo children intending to j oi n

,

them in the course of a fe w days When .

the latter and the nurse arrived they found ,

only the old charwoman in the h ouse and ,

sh e left shortly after their arrival Finding .

t h at somet h ing was needed the nurse wen t

,

ou t to purc h ase i r . O n her return sh e

asked the mother were the children all right ,

as she had seen two ghostly forms flit past

her on the door— step Th e mother answered
that she believed t h ey were but on going ,

up to the nursery they found both th e

children with their throats cut T he mur .

derer was never brought to j ustice and n o ,

motive was ever discovered for the crime .

The unfortunate mother went mad and it ,

is said that a n e erie fe e ling still clings to

8
 TRUE I RISH GH O ST S T O RIES

seemed to me in a tight fi tti n g sleeve of

,
-

some winter material wit h a linen cu ff but ,

w h en I got to the elbow all trace of an arm

ceased I was so astounded that I let th e
.

hand go and j ust then the clock struck

,

two Including the mistr e ss of the house

. ,

there were fi v e females in the establishment ,

and I can assert that the hand belonged t o

none of them When I reported the ad
.

venture t h e servants exclaimed O h it must

, , ,
’
h ave been the master s old Aunt B etty w h o ,

lived for many years in the upper part of

t h at house and had died over fi fty years
,

before at a great age I afterwards h eard

.
’

that the room in which I felt th e hand had

been considered haunted and very curious ,

noises and peculiar incidents occurred su ch ,

as the bed clothes torn of &t e O ne lady

-
, .

ot a slap in the face from some invisible

g
hand and when she li t her ca n dle sh e saw
,

as if something opaque fell or j umped off

the bed A general ofli ce r a brother of
.
,

the lady slept there two nights but pr e

, ,

IO
 HA U NTED H O U SES I N D U B L I N
fe rred going to a hotel to remaining th e
third night H e never would say what he
.

heard or saw but always said the room w a s

,

un canny I slep t for months in the room

.

afterwards and w as n e ver in the least

,
”
disturbed .

A truly terrifying sight w as witnessed by

a clergyman in a school house a good many -

years ago This cleric w as curate of a

.

Dublin parish but resided with his parents

,

some distance ou t of town in the direction

of M alah ide I t not infrequently happened
.

th at h e had to hold meetings in th e even

ings and on such occasions as h is h ome was
, ,

so far away and as the modern convenience

,

of tramcars w as not then known h e used ,

to sleep in the sch oolroom a large bare ,

room wher e the meetings were held H e

,
.

h ad made a sleeping apartmen t for h imself -

by placing a pol e across on e end of the

room on which h e h ad rigged up tw o
,

curtains which when drawn together met , ,

in the middl e O ne night h e had been .

h olding some meeting and when every ,

body had l eft h e locked up th e empty

schoolhouse and went to bed I t was a
,
.

bright moonl igh t night a nd e v e ry o bj e ct ,

I I
 T R UE I RI SH GHOS T S T O RI ES

could be seen perfectly clearly Scarcely .

had h e got into bed w h en he became con

scious of some invisible presence Then he .

saw t h e curtains
agitated at on e end as if ,

h ands were grasping t h em o n the outside .

I n an agony of terror he watched these

hands groping along outside the curta i n s
till they reac h ed t h e middle The curtains
were t h en drawn a little apart and a Face ,

peered i n— an awful evil Face with an ex

, ,

pression of wickedness and hate upon i t

w h ich no words could describe I t looked .

at h im for a fe w moments then drew back,

again and the curtains closed The clergy

,
.

man had su ffi ci e n t courage left to leap out

of bed and make a t h orough examination of
the room but as he expected he found n o
, , ,

on e
. H e dressed himself as quickly as
possible walked h ome and never again
, ,

slept a night in that schoolroom .

T h e following tale sent by M r E B d e

,
. . .

Lacy contains a most extraordinary and

,

unsatisfactory element ofm yst e ry H e says .

When I w as a boy I lived in the suburbs ,

and used to come in every morning to sch ool

in t h e city My w ay lay throug h a certain
.

street in which stood a very dismal semi

12
 HA U NTED H O U SES IN D U B LI N
detached house which I might say w a s
, , ,

closed up regularly abou t every si x mo n ths .

I would see new tenants coming into i t ,

and then m a fe w months it would be To ‘

let again T h is went on for eight or nine

.

years and I often wondered what w as th e

,

reason O n i n qu i ri n g on e day from a friend

.
,

I was t o ld that it had the reputation of

being h a unted .

“
A fe w years lat e r I entered business in
a certain o th e e and on e day i t fell to my
,

lot to h av e to call on t h e lady who at that

particular period w as th e tenant o f th e
h aunted h ouse When we had transacted
.

ou r busin e ss she informed me that s h e was

about to leave K nowing th e reput a tion of

.

th e house and being desirous of i n v e sti gat

,

ing a ghost story I asked her if sh e would

-
,

give me the history of the house as far as

sh e knew i t which she very kindly did as
,

follows
About forty years ago th e h ous e w as left
by will to a gentleman named He
lived in it for a short tim e wh en h e su d ,

de n ly went mad and had to be put in an ,

a sylum U p o n this his agents l e t th e house

.

to a lad y Appa r ently n o thing unusual

.

I
3
 T R UE I RISH GH O ST S T O RIES
0

happened for som e time but a fe w months ,

.

lat e r as she w e nt down one m orn 1n g to a

,

room behind the kitchen sh e found t h e ,

cook hanging by a rope attac h ed to a hook

in the ceiling After the inquest th e lady
.

gav e up t h e house .

I t was then closed up for some t i m e b ut ,

’
w as again advertised To let an d a care ‘
,

taker a woman was put into i t One

, ,
.

night about on e o clock a constable going ’

his rounds heard some on e calling for h elp

from the house and found the caretaker on
,

t h e sill of one of the windows holdin g on

as best sh e could H e told her to go in
.

and open the hall door and let him i n bu t ,

sh e refused to enter th e ro om again He .

forced open the door and succeeded in drag

ging the woman back into th e r oom only ,

to fi n d sh e had gone mad .

Again the house was shut u p an d ,

again it was let this time to a lady on

, ,

a fi v e years lease However after a fe w

-
’
.
,
’
months residence she locked it u p and , ,

went away O n her friends asking h er

.

w h y sh e did so sh e replied that sh e ,

wou ld rather pay the whole fi v e years ’

rent than live in it herself or allo w any ,

14
 H A U N T E D H O U SES I N D U B L I N
on e els e to do so but would give n o ,

other reason .

‘
I beli e v e I was th e next person to tak e
this h ouse said the lady who narrated th e
,
’

story to me ( i e M r de Lacy ) . .I took it .

‘

abou t eigh t e en months ago on a thre e years ’

lease i n th e hopes of making money by

taking 1 n boarders but I am n o w giv i ng i t
,

up because none of them will stay more

th a n a week or tw o They do not giv e .

any de fi n i te reason as t o w h y t h e y ar e leaving ;

they are careful to state that it i s not because
they have any fault to fi n d wi t h me or my
domestic arrangements bu t th ey merely say ,

t/zey do n e t like t /ze r oom r l The rooms them

selves as yo u c a n see are good spaci o us
, , , ,

and well lighted I hav e had all classes of

.

professional men ; o n e of th e last w as a

barrister and he said that h e h ad n o fault
,

to fi n d except that be did n ot like t/ze r oom s !

I myself do not beli e ve in ghosts and I have ,

never seen a nything strange here or else

wh ere and if I h ad known th e house had
th e reputation o f being haunted I would ,
”
n ever have rented i t .

M arsh s l ibrary that quaint old world

’

, ,
-

r e pository of ponderous tomes is reputed to ,

I S
 T RUE I RI S H G H O S T S T O RI E S
be haunt e d by the gh o st of its founde r ,

Prim a te Narcissus M arsh H e is said to

.

frequent the inner gall e ry which con tai ns

,

what w as fo rmerly his own p r ivate library

h e moves in and ou t among th e c a s e s taki ng ,

down bo o ks from the shelves and occasion ,

’
ally throwing them down o n th e r e ader s
desk as if in anger . H o wever h e always ,

leav e s things in perfect orde r T h e lat e .

Mr . wh o for s o m e years lived i n th e

librarian s rooms und e rneath was a fi rm
’

believer in this gh o st and said he fr e quently

,

heard noises which coul d only b e accou nt e d

for by the pr e sence of a nocturnal visito r ;
the present tenant is more scepti cal Th e .

’
story go e s that M arsh s niec e eloped from
t h e Palace and was married in a tav e rn to
,

the curate of Ch a pelizod Sh e is rep o rted

.

t o have written a note consenting to th e

elopement and to have then placed i t in
,
’
on e of her uncle s books to wh ich he r lover

had access and where h e fo un d i t As a

, .

punishment for his lack of vigilanc e th e ,

Archbishop is said to be cond e mned t o h un t

for th e note until he fi n d i t—hence the
ghost .

The ghost of a dec e ased Canon was s e en

16
 T RUE I RISH GH O S T S T O RI ES

if anybody had se e n Canon

rob e st re ss
g h ost She informed him that rfi e had and
. ,

that he had also been seen by one of the

s extons in the cath edral I mention this .

because in describing his personal appearanc e

s h e had rem a rked the same change as I had
”
wit h regard to the beard .

Some years ago a family had very unc a nny

e xperiences in a house in Rathgar an d sub ,

sequently in another in Rathmines These .

were communicated by on e of the young

ladies to M rs M A W ilkins w h o publis h ed
. . .
,

them in th e J aum a/ ofthe American

from which they are h e r e taken The .

Rathgar house had a basem e nt p a ssage

leading to a door into the y a rd and along ,

t his passage her mother and the children

u sed to hear dragging limping steps an d
, ,

the latch of the door rattling bu t no on e ,

could ever be found when search was made .

The house bells were old and all in a row

-
,

an d on one occasion they all rang apparently

,

of their own accord Th e lady narrator

.

used to sleep in t h e back drawing r o om and ,

S pt m b r 9 3
1
F or e e e 1 1 .

1 8
 H AU N T E D H O U SES I N D U B L I N
a lways wh e n the light w as pu t o ut sh e he a rd
strang e noises as if som e one was going
,

round the room rubbing paper along th e

wall while sh e often had th e feeling that a
,

person was standing beside her bed A .

c ousin w h o w as a nurse once slept with

, ,

h er and also noticed t hese strange noises

,
.

O n o n e occasion this room was giv e n up t o

a v e ry m atter of fact young man to sleep i n
- -
,

and n e xt morning h e said that the room

was very strange with queer noises in i t
,
.

H er mo ther also had an e xtraordinary

experience in the same h ouse One ev e ning .

s h e had j ust put the baby to bed wh e n she ,

“ ”
h eard a voice calling mother She left .

the bedroom a nd called to her daughter

, ,

wh o was in a low e r room What d o you ,

want But th e girl replied that she had

n ot called her and then in h er turn asked , ,

her mo ther if rfie had been i n th e front

room for sh e had j ust heard a noise as if
,

some one w as trying to fasten the inside bars

o f the sh utters across But h e r moth e r ha d
.

been upstairs and n o o ne was in the front

,

room The experiences in th e Rathmines

.

house w e re of a similar auditory nature i e , .

t he y o ung l a dies heard their n a mes c a lled ,

I 9
 TRUE I RI SH GH OS T S T O RIES
though it was found that no one i n th e
h o use had done so .

Occasionally it h a pp e ns that gh osts 1 n sp 1re

a law suit - I n the seventeenth century
.

they were to be found actively urging the

adoption of legal proceedings but in the ,

nineteenth and twentieth cen turies th ey

play a more passive part A case abou t a .

h aunted house took place in D ublin i n th e

year 1 88 5 in which the ghost may be said
,

to have w on A Mr Waldron a solicitor s

’

. .
,

clerk sued his n e xt door neighbour on e

,
-
,

M r Kiernan a mate in the merchant se rvice

.
, ,

0 for damages done to h i s

t o recover 74 35 0

house .

Kiernan altogether denied the charges ,

but asserted that Waldron s house was noto ’

ri o u sl
y haunted Witnesses proved
. that
every nigh t from August 1 8 84 to January
,

1 88 stones were thrown at t h e w i n dow s

5 , ,

a nd doors and extraordinary and i n e xp li c

,

able occurrences constantly took place .

Mrs Waldron wife of the plainti ff

.
, ,

swore that one n ight sh e saw on e of th e

panes of glass of a ce rtai n w i n dow cut through
with a diamond and a white hand inserted
,

through the hol e She at once caugh t u p .

20
 HA U NTED H O U SES IN D U B LI N
a bill hook and aimed a blo w at the h a nd
-
,

cutting off on e of the fi n ge rs T his fi n ge r .

could not be found nor were a ny traces of ,

blood seen .

A servant of hers w as sorely persecuted

by noises a nd the sound of footsteps M r . .

Waldron with the aid of detectives and

,

policemen endeavoured to fi n d out the

,

cause b ut with no succ e ss T h e witnesses

,
.

in the case were closely cross examined but -

,

without shaking their testimony T he facts .

appeared to be proved so the j ury found for ,

Kiern an th e defendant At least twenty

,
.

pers o ns had t e st ifi e d o n oath to the fact

th a t the house had been known t o h a ve
b e e n haunted .
1

Before leaving the city a nd its immediat e

surro undings we must r e lat e the story of an
,

extraordin a ry gh ost some what lackin g i n ,

g oo d manners yet not W ith o ut a certain ,

distorted sense of humour Absolut e ly i n .

credible though the tale may seem y e t i t ,

comes 0 11 very good authority I t was .

r e lat e d to our informant M r D by a , . .

,

M rs C whos e d a ughter he had employed

. .
,

as governess M rs C w h o is described as
. . .
,

1
'

S e e S zglzts an d S kadows , p 4 2 fi . .

2I
 T RUE I RI SH GH O S T S T O RIES
a woman of respectable position and goo d
”
educ a tion heard it in her turn from her
,

father and mother In the story the relation .

ship of t h e di fferent persons seems a little

involved but it would appear that th e
,

initial A belongs to t h e surname both of

M rs C s father and grandfather
’
.
. .

“
This gh ost was commonly called Corney
by the family and he answered to t h i s
,

though it was not his proper name H e .

disclosed this latter to M r C s mother wh o . .

’

forgot i t Corney made his presence mani

.

fest to the A family shortly after th ey had

gone to reside in Street in th e followin g
manner M r A had sprained h i s knee
. .

ba dly and h ad to use a crutch wh ich a t

, ,

night w as left at the head of his bed One .

night his wife heard some on e walking o n

the lobby thump thump t h u m p as i fi m i tat
, , , ,

ing M r A . She struck a match to se e if

the crutch had been removed from the head
of the bed but it was still there
, .

From that on Corney commenced to talk ,

and he spoke every day from his usu a l

h abitat the coal—
, cellar off the kitchen H is .

voice sounded as if it came out of an empty

barrel .

22
 H A U NTED H O U SES I N D U BL I N
He w a s v e ry troublesome and conti nu ally ,

played practical j okes on th e se rvants who , ,

as migh t b e exp e cted were i n terror of thei r

,

l ives of him ; so much so that M rs A .

could hardly induce them t o stay with h er .

T hey used to sleep in a press bed in t h e -

kitch en and in order to get away from

,

C orn e y t h e y a sked for a r o om a t the top oft h e

,

house wh ich was given to them Accord

,
.

i n gly the press bed was moved up th e r e

-
.

Th e fi rst n ight th ey went to r e tire to bed

after the chang e th e doors of th e pr e ss w e re
,

flung open and Corn ey s voice said H a 1

,
’

h a ! you devils I am here before y o u !

,
I
am n ot c on fi n e d to any p a rticular part o f
”
this h ouse .

Corn ey was continu ally tamp e rin g with

the doors an d straining lo cks and keys
, ,

H e only manifested himself i n material form

to tw o persons to w h o died with th e
fright and to M r A
, ( M rs. C s fa ther ) . .
’

wh en h e w as ab o ut seven years old Th e .

latter described him to his moth e r as a n aked

man with a curl on h is fo r e head and a skin
, ,

lik e a clothes horse ( l) -

.

One day a s e rvan t w as prep a ring fi sh fo r

dinn e r She l a id i t on th e kitchen table
.

23
 TRUE I RI SH GH OST S T O RI ES

When sh e returned the fi sh

s h e wanted .

had disappear e d She thereupon began

.
t o .

cry fearing she would be accused of mak i ng

,

away with i t The next thing she heard

.

w as the voice o f Corney from the co al c e llar -

s aying ,
T here you blubbering fool
,
is your ,

fi sh for you 1
”
and suiting th e act 1 on to
,

t h e word the fi sh w as thrown o ut o n th e

,

kitc h en floor .

R elatives from t h e country used t o bring

presents of vegetables and these were often ,

h ung up by Corney like Christmas decora

tions round the kitchen There w as on e .

particular pre ss in the kitc h en he woul d not

allow anything into H e would t h row i t .

o u t again A crock with meat in pickle

.

was put into i t and a fi sh plac e d on the ,

cov e r of the crock H e threw th e fi sh ou t .

.

Silver teaspoons were missing and no ,

account of them could be got until M rs .

A as ked Corney to confe ss if he had done

a nything wit h them H e said Th ey ar e .
,
” ’
under the ticking in the servants bed .

H e h ad so he said a daughter in
,
Str e et
, ,

and sometimes announced that he was going

to see h e r and would no t be h ere to n ight
,
-
.

24
 TRUE IRI SH GH O ST S T O RI ES

Corney constantly j oin e d i n any conversa

tion carried on by t h e people of t h e h ouse .

One could nev e r tell when a voice from th e

coal cellar would erupt into the dialogue
-
.

He h ad his likes and dislikes : h e appeared

to dislike anyone that was n ot afraid of him ’

,

a nd would not talk to them M rs C s

. . .

poker and hammered at th e door of th e

,

coal cellar haying

-
,
I ll make you speak
,
’

but Corney wouldn t Next morning th e

’
.

poker was found broken in t wo T hi s .

uncle used to wear spectacles and C orn ey ,

“
used to call him derisively Four eyes ,
-
.

An uncle named R ichard came to sleep on e

night and complained in the morning that

,

the clothes were pulled off him Corney .

“
told the servants in great glee I slept on
Master R ic h ard s feet all night
’
.

Finally M r A made several attempts

.

to dispose of his lease but with no success

, ,

for w h en intending purch asers were being

’

s h own over the house and arriv e d at Co r ney s

domain the spirit would begin to speak and
,

the would b e purchaser would fl y They

- .

26
 HAU NTE D H O U SES I N D U BL I N
asked him if th ey changed hous e would h e
troubl e th e m H e replied. N o but if ,

they t h row down this house I will trouble ,

”
the stones .

At last M rs A appealed to him to

.

keep quiet and n ot to inj u r e people who

,

h ad nev e r inj ured him H e promised that .

h e w o uld do so and then said M rs A

, , .

o u will be all right n ow for I see a lady

y ,

in black coming up the street to this house ,

a nd sh e will buy i t Within half an hour

.

a widow called and purchased th e house .

Possibly Corney is still there for ou r inform ,

ant looked up th e Directory as h e w as writ

ing and found t h e house marked V acant
, .

N ear Blanchardstown C o D ublin is a , .

,

house occupied at pres e nt or up to very

, ,

r e cently by a private family ; it was formerly

,

a monastery and there are said to be secret

,

passages i n i t Once a servant ironing in

.

the kitchen saw the fi gu re of a nun approach

the kitchen window and look i n O ur in .

formant was also told by a friend ( now dead) ,

w h o had it from th e lady of the house that ,

once night falls no doors can b e kept closed

,
.

I f anyone shuts them almost immediately,

they a r e flung op e n again wi th the gre a t e st

27
 T R UE I RISH GH OS T S T O RIES
violence and appar e nt anger I f l e ft open .

t he re is no trouble or noise but ligh t foot ,

steps are h e ard and there is a vague feeling

,

o f peopl e passing to and fro The persons .

inhabiting the house are matter of fact u n - -

,

imaginative people w h o speak of t h is as if

,
“
it were an everyday a ffair S o long as .

’
we leave the doors unclosed they don t harm
”
u s : why s h ould we be afraid of them ?

M rs. said Truly a most philosophic a l

.

attitude to adopt
A haunted house in Kingstown C o ,
.

Dublin was investigated by Professor W

,
.

Barrett and Professor Henry Sidgwick .

The story is singularly well attest e d ( as on e

might expect from its being inserted in th e
pages of the P roceedings a s the
apparition was seen on three distinct oc
c a sions and by three separate persons wh o
,

were all personally known to th e above

gentlemen The house in which the fol
.

lowing occurrences took place is described

as being a very old on e with unusually ,

t h ick walls T he lady saw h e r strang e

.

visitant in her bedroom She says : Dis .

liking cross lights I had got into the h a bit

-
,

J ly 884 p 4
1
u 1 , . 1 1 .

28
 H A U N T E D H O U SE S IN D U BL I N
of having the blind of the back wind o w
drawn and th e shutt e rs closed at n ight a nd ,

of le a ving the blind rais e d and the shutters

opened towards the front liking to se e the
,

trees and sky when I awakened Op e ning .

my eyes n ow one morn ing I saw righ t,

b e fore me ( thi s occurred in July 1 87 3) th e

fi gu re of a wom a n stooping down a nd ap
,

p are n tl
y looking at m e H
. er head and
shoulders w e r e wrapped in a common woollen
shawl h e r arms wer e folded and they were
,

also wrapped as if for w a rmth in th e sh a wl

, , .

I look e d at her in my horror and dared no t

,

cry o u t lest I migh t move the awful thin g

to S pe e ch or action Behind her head I
.

saw the window and th e growing dawn th e ,

looking glass upon the toilet table and

- -
,

the furniture i n that part of the room .

A fter wh a t may h ave been only seconds

of the duration of this vision I cannot j udge
—sh e raised h erself and went backwards
towards the wi ndow stood at the toilet
,

tabl e and gradually vanish ed I mean sh e

, .

grew by d e grees transparent and that ,

through the shawl and th e grey dress sh e

w ore I saw th e white muslin of th e table
c o ver a gain a nd a t last saw that o nly in the
,

29
 T RUE I RI SH GH O S T S T O RI ES
place where sh e had stood The lady lay .

motionless with terror until the servant came

to call her T he only other occupants of
.

the house at t h e time were her brother and

the servant to neither of whom did sh e
,

make any mention of the circumstanc e ,

fearing t h at the former would l a ugh at her ,

and the latter give notice .

Exactly a fortnight later when sitting at ,

breakfast she noticed that h er broth e r

,

seemed ou t of sorts and did n ot eat O n ,

.

asking him if anything were the matter h e ,

“
answered I have had a h orrid nightmare
,

— indeed it w as n o nightmare : I saw i t

early this morning j ust as distinctly as I se e
,

“” “
you . What ? sh e asked A villain .

“
ous looking hag h e replied
-
, with her ,

head and arms wrapped in a cloak stooping ,

over me and looking like this

,
H e got
u
p
,
folded his arms and put himself
,
in the
exact posture of the V ision W h ereupo n sh e .

informed him of what sh e h e rself had se e n

a fortnight previously .

About four years later in the same month , ,

’
th e lady s married sister and tw o children
were alone in the house The eldest child .
,

a b oy of about four or fi v e ye a rs asked for ,

30
 H AU N T E D H O U SES I N D U BL I N
a drink and his m o ther went to fetch i t
, ,

desiring him to remain in the dining room -

until her return Coming back sh e met

.

th e boy pale and tr e mbling and on asking ,

him why he left the room h e replied Who ,

is that woman — w h o is that woman

,

“ “
Wh e re sh e a sked Th a t old wo m an
.

”
who went upstairs h e r e plied S o agitated
,
.

was h e that she took him by the h and and

,

wen t upstairs to search but no on e w as to

,

be found though he still maintained that a

,

woman went upstairs A frien d of the

.

family subsequen tly told them that a woman

had been killed in the house many years
previously and that it w as r e po r t e d t o be
,

h aunted .

31
 ’
HA UN TED H OUS ES IN CON N S HA L F
F RO M a very early period a division of Ire
”
land into t w o halves existed Th is was .

traditionally believed t o hav e been made by

Conn the Hundred fi gh te r and M ogh -

N u adat in A LD 1 66
,
. Th e north was in .

’
consequence known as Conn s Half th e ,

south as M ogh s Half the line of division

’
’

being a series of gravel h ills extending from

Dublin to Galway This division w e have
.

followed except that w e have included th e

,

whole of th e c o unties of West M eath an d

Galway in t h e nort h ern portion We h ad .

hoped originally to have had fb ur chapters

on Haunted H ouses o n e for each of th e
,

four provinces but for lack of material

, ,

from Connaught we have been forced to

,

adopt the plan on which Chapters I I I I ar e -

arranged .

M rs Acheson of C o Roscommon send s

.
, .
,
“
the following : Em o H o use C o W e st , .

32
 T RUE I RI SH GH OS T STO RIES
so much so that he could not r est All th is .

time he did n ot mention the strange occur

rence to anyone One morning h e went .

up through the fi e lds between four and fi v e

o clock To his surprise h e found the herd
’
.

o u t feeding the cattle My father asked .

him why he was up so early H e repl ied .

’
t h at he could not sleep Why ? asked .
‘

my father You know why yourself si r

‘
,

—the knocking H e then found that this

.

man had heard i t all th e tim e though he ,

slept at the end of a long ho use My father .

was advised to take no notice o f i t for it ,

would go as it came though at this tim e it ,

was continuous and very loud ; and s o i t

did The country people said it was th e
.

”
late resident w h o could n ot rest .

We had another curious and most eerie

experience in this house A former rector .

was staying the nigh t with u s and as the ,

evening wore on w e commenced t o tell

g h ost stories H e related some remarkable
-
.

e xperiences and as we were talking th e

,

drawing room door suddenly op e ned a s wide

-

as possible and then slowly closed again

, .

It was a calm night and at any rate i t w as ,

a h e avy double door which n e ver fl i e s O pen

34
 ’
C O N N S HALF
h owev e r strong the wind may be blowing .

Everyone in the h ous e w as in bed as it w as ,

’
after 1 2 o clock excep t the three persons
,

who witnessed this v i z myself my daughter

,
.
, ,

and the rector Th e e ffect on the latte r

.

was most marked H e w as a big stro ng

.
, ,

j ovial man and a go o d a thlete but whe n he ,

saw th e door open h e quivered like an

”
aspen l e af .

A strange story o f a haunting in which ,

nothing was s e en but in which th e same

,

n oises were heard by di ffer e nt peopl e i s sent ,

by one of the percipients who does n ot ,

w ish to have h er name disclosed She .

“
says : Wh en staying for a time i n a
c ountry h ouse i n th e N orth o f Ireland some
years ago I was awakened on several nights
’
by hearin g the tr a mp tramp of horses , ,

h oofs Sometimes it sounded a s if they

.

were walking on paving stones while at -

,

o ther times I had t h e impression that th e y

were going round a large space and as if ,

s omeone was u sing a whip on them I .

hea r d neighing and champing of bits and

, ,

s o formed the impression that they were

carriage horses I did not mind it much
.

at fi rst , as I though t the stables mus t b e

35
 TRUE I RI SH GH O S T STO RI ES
near that part o f the house After hearing
.

these noises s e veral times I began to get

curious so on e morning I made a tour of
,

the place I found that the side of the

.

house I occupied overlooked a neglected

garden which was mostly used for drying
,

clothes I also discovered that the stables

.

were right at the back of th e h ouse and so ,

it would be impossible for me to hear any

noises in that quarter ; at any rate th ere
was only one farm horse left and this was
,

securely fastened up every night Also .

t h ere were no cobble stones round the yard

-
.

I mentioned what I had h eard to the peopl e

of the h ouse but as they would give me n o
,

satisfactory reply I passed it over I did .

”
n ot hear these noises every night .

One night I was startled ou t o f my

sleep by hearing a dreadful disturbanc e in
the kitchen I t sounded as if the dish
.

c overs were b e ing taken off the wall and

dashed violently on the fl agge d floor At .

length I got up and opened the door of my

bedr oo m and j ust as I did so an appalling
,

cras h resounded through the h o use I .

waited to se e if there was any light to b e

seen or footstep to be heard but nob o dy
, ,

36
 ’
CO N N S HALF
w as stirring T here w a s only one servant
.

in th e house the o ther persons being my

,

host h is wife and a baby who had all

, , ,

r etir e d early Next morning I described

.

the noises in th e kitchen to th e servant and ,

sh e said sh e had often heard th e m I th e n .

told her about th e tramping of horses sh e

r eplied that she herself had never h e ard i t ,

but that o t h er persons w h o had occupied

my room had h ad e xperiences similar to
mine I asked her was there a ny explan a
.

tion sh e sai d N o except that a story w as

,

told of a gentleman who h a d lived th e r e

some yea r s ago and w as very much addicted
,

to racing and gambling a nd that h e w as ,

shot on e night in that house For th e .

remainder of my visit I w as removed to

anoth e r part of th e house and I heard no ,

mor e noises .

A h ouse in th e North ofI re lan d near that ,

locality which is eternally famous as havin g

furnished the material for the last trial for
witchcr a ft in the country is said to b e ,

haunted the reason being that it is built o n

,

the site of a disused and very a ncient gr a v e

yard I t is said that when some r epairs
.

wer e being carried ou t nin e hum a n skulls

37
 T RUE I RI SH GH OST S T O RIE S
were unearthed I t would be interesting to
.

a scertain h ow many houses in I reland ar e

traditionally said to be built on such u n p le a
sant sites and if they all bear the reputation
,

ofbeing haunted T h e present writer knows

.

of one in the S outh which is so situated

, ,

( and t h is is supported to a certain

, exten t ,

by documentary evidence from the t h irteenth

century down ) and w h ich in consequenc e
has an uncanny reputation But concerning .

the above house it has been found almost

impossible to get any information I t i s .

said that strange noises were frequently

h e ard there w h ich sometimes seemed as if
,

cartloads of stones were being run down on e

of the gables O n o n e occasion a n inmat e
.

of the house lay dying upstairs A fri e nd .

went up to se e the sick person and on pr o ,

c e e di n
g to pass through the bedroom door
was pressed and j ostled as if by some unseen
‘

person hurriedly leaving the room On

entering it was found that the sick person
,

had j ust passed away .

An account of a most unpleasant h aunting

is contributed by M r W S Thompson wh o
. . .
,

vouches for the substantial accuracy of i t ,

an d als o furnishes the nam e s of tw o men

,

38
 ’
C ON N S HALF
“
still living wh o attended the station
, .

We give it as i t stands with th e comment

,

that some of th e details seem to h ave been

grossly exaggerated by local raconteurs I n .

th e year 1 869 a gh ost made its presence

manifest in the h ouse of a M r M in C o
. .

Cavan I n the daytime i t resided in t h e

.

ch im n ey but at nigh t it l e ft its quarters

,

and subj e cted the family to considerable

annoyance D uring th e day th ey could
.

cook nothing as showers of soot would be

,

sent down th e chimney on top of every pot

and pan that w as placed on the fi re At .

n igh t the various m e mbers of the family

would be dragged ou t of bed by th e hair ,

and pulled around th e h ouse When anyo n e.

ventured to ligh t a lamp i t w o uld i m m e di

ately be pu t out wh ile ch a irs and tables
,

would b e sen t d a ncing round the room .

At last matters reached such a pitch that

the family found i t impossible to remain
a ny long e r in the h o use Th e nigh t before
.

they left M rs M . w as severely handled ,

and her boots l e ft facing the door as a gentle

hint for her to b e off Before th ey departed
.

s o me of the neighbours wen t to the house ,

s aw the gh o st and even d e scribed to M r

,
.

39
 T R UE I RISH GH O S T S T O RIES
Thompson w h at th e y had seen According
‘
.

to on e man it appeared in th e shape o f a

’
human being with a pig s h e ad with long
tusks Anoth e r desc r ibed it as a hors e with
.

an elephant s head and a h e adless m an se a ted

’
,
”
on its back Finally a station w as held
.

at the house by seven priests at which all ,

the neighbours attended The station com .

m e n ce d after sunset and everything in the

,

house had to be uncov e red lest the evil ,

S pirit should fi n d a ny resting place A fr e e -

.

passage was left ou t o f the door into th e

street where m a ny people were kneelin g
,
.

About fi v e minutes after the station op e ned

a rumbling noise was he a rd and a black ,

barrel rolled out with an unearthly din ,

though to some coming up the str ee t it

appeared in the sha pe of a black horse with
’
a bull s head and a h e adless man seated
,

thereon From this time the ghost gave

.

no further trouble .

The same gentleman also sends an account

of a h aunted shop in which members of h i s

family had some very unpleasant experiences .

In October 1 882 my father William ,

Thompson took over the grocery an d spiri t

,

business from a Dr S to whom it had

.

40
 T R UE I RI SH GH OS T STO RIE S
chairs commenced to dance about the fl oor ,

and some of th e m struck him o n th e shins .

Upon this h e left the house declaring that

,
”
h e had seen the Devil ! Possibly this
g h ost had be e n a rabid teetotaller in the
fl e sh and continued to have a dislike to the
,

publican s trade after he h ad become di s

’

carnate At any rate the present occupants

. ,

who follow a di fferent a vocation do not ,

appear to be troubled .

Ghosts are no respecters of persons or

places and take up th e ir qu a rters w h ere
,

they are least expected One can hardly

.

imagine them entering a R I C barrack . . .

,

and annoying the stalwart inmates thereof .

Yet more than one tale of a h aunted police

barrack has been sen t to u s— nay in its ,

proper place we shall relate the appearanc e

“ ”
of a deceased member of th e Force ,

uniform and all ! T h e following personal

experiences are contributed by an ex
constable wh o requested that all names
,

should be suppressed The barrack of

.

which I am abou t to speak has n ow di s

appeared owing to t h e construction of a
,

n e w railway line It was a three storey

.
-

h ou se wi th large ai r a artm e n ts and splendid

,
y p
42
 ’
CO N N S HAL F
a ccommodation This particular nigh t I
.

w as on guard After t h e constables had

.

retir e d to th eir quarters I to o k my palliasse

downstairs to th e d a y room and laid it on -
,

two form s alongside tw o si x foot tabl es -

wh ich w e r e placed e nd to end in th e centre

of th e room .

As I exp e cted a patrol in at midnigh t ,

a nd as another h ad to be sen t ou t when i t

’
arriv e d I didn t promise myself a very restful
,

nigh t so I th rew myself on the bed intend

, ,

ing to read a bit as the r e w as a large lamp

,

on th e table Scarcely had I commenced

.

to read when I felt as if I w a s being pushed

off th e bed At fi rst I th ought I must h ave
.

fallen asleep so to make sure I got u p took

, , ,

a few turns around the room and t h en ,

deliberately lay down again and took up my

book Scarc e ly had I don e so when th e
.
,

same thing happened and though I r e sisted

, ,

with all my stre n gth I was fi n ally landed ,

on the flo or M y bed w as close to th e

.

table and th e pushing came from that side

, ,

so th a t if anyon e w as pl aying a trick on

me th e y could n ot do s o with o ut being

und e r the t a ble : I looked but there was ,

no visible presenc e ther e I felt shaky but .

,

43
 T RUE I RI SH GH O ST S T O RI ES
changed my couch to another part of th e
room and had no further unpleasant e xp e ri
,
’
ence Many times after I was guard in
.

the same room but I always took care not

,
”
to place my couch in that particular spot .

One nigh t long afterwards w e were all

, ,

asleep in t h e dormitory when w e w e re a

,

wakened in t h e small hours of the mornin g

by the guard rushing upstairs dashing ,

throug h t h e room and j umping in to a bed

,

in the farthest corner behind its occupant .

T h ere he lay gasping unable to speak for

,

several minutes and even then we couldn t

,
’

get a co h erent accoun t of what b e fe l him .

It appears he fell asleep and suddenly ,

awoke to fi n d himself on the floor and a ,

body rolling over h im Several men v olun

.

teered to go downstairs with him but h e ,

absolutely refused to leave the d o rmitory ,

and stayed there till morning N or would .

h e even remain downstairs at night with out

h aving a comrade wi th him I t e nded in .

his applying for an exchange of stations .

“
Anot h er time I returned off du ty at
midnight and after my comrade a ma r ried
, ,

Sergeant had gone outsid e to his quarters

,

I w e nt to the kitchen to ch a nge my boots .

44
 ’
C O N N S H AL F
T h e re w as a good fi re on and it look e d so ,

comfortabl e that I rem a ined toasting my

toes o n th e h ob a nd enj oying my pipe
, .

T he lock u p w as a l e an —
- to one storey build -

ing of? th e kitch en and w as divid e d into

,

two cells one op e ning into the kitch e n the

, ,

other int o th a t cell I w as smoking away

.

quietly wh e n I suddenly h e ard inside the

l o ck u p a dull heavy th ud j ust like the
-
, ,

noise a drunk e n m a n w o uld mak e by crash

ing down on all fours I wondered w h o
-
.

the pris o ner c o uld b e as I didn t see a ny

,
’

o ne that nigh t wh o s e emed a likely candi

d a te for fr e e lodgings H owever as I heard
.

n o other s o und I decided I w o uld t e ll the

guard i n ord e r that h e migh t look after
h im As I took my candle from the table
.

I happ e n e d to glan ce at the lock— u

p and , ,

t o my s urp ri se I saw that th e outer door

,

was op e n My curi o si ty b e ing rous e d I

.
,

looked inside to fi n d th e inner door also

,

open T h ere was n othin g in either cell

.
,

except th e two empty plank beds and these -

,

were immovable as they were fi rm ly fi x e d to

th e walls I beto o k myself to my bedroom
.

muc h quicker than I w as in the habit of

d o ing .

45
 TRUE I RI SH GH O S T STO RIES
I mentioned that this bar r ack w as d e
m oli sh e d owing to the construction o f a
new railway line I t was th e last o bstacl e
.

removed and in the meantim e workme n

,

came from all points of the comp a ss On e .

day a powerful navvy was brought into the

barrack a total collapse fr om drink and ah ,

solu t e l
y h elpless
. After his neckwear w as

loosened he was carried to the lock u p and -

laid on the plank bed the guard being i n

-
,

structed to visit him periodically lest he ,

should smother H e w as scarcely half an

.

hour there— t h is was in the early evening

when the most unmerciful screaming brough t
all hands to the lock up to fi n d the erstwhile
-
,

helpless man standing on the plank—bed ,

and grappling with a to u s invisible fo e

, , .

We took him out and he maintained that

,

a man had tried to choke him and w as still ,

there when w e came to his relief The .

strange thing was that he w as sh ivering

,

with fright and perfectly sober th ough in

, ,

the ordinary course of e vents he would not

be in that condition for at least sev e n or
eight hours The story spread like w i ldfi re
.

through the town but th e inhabit a nts were

,

not i n the least surprised and one old m a n ,

 ’
CO N N S HA LF
tol d u s that many strange things happened
i n that house long be fore it became a
”
police barrack
-
.

A lady who r e quests that her name be

,

suppressed relates a strange sight se e n by

,
’
h er sister in Galway Th e latt e r s husband
.

was stationed in that town about seventeen

years ago One a fternoon he was ou t and
.
,

sh e w as lying on a sofa i n the drawing —

room ,

when suddenly from behind a screen (wh ere

there was no door) came a little old woman ,

with a small sh a wl over h er h e ad and

shoulders such as the country women used
,

to wear She h ad a most diabolical expr e s

.

sion on her face Sh e seized the lady by

.

th e h and and said

,
I will drag you d o wn
”
to H ell where I am l Th e l a dy sprang
,

up in terr o r and shook h e r off when th e ,

horrible creature again disappeared behind

th e screen T h e h ouse w as an old on e and
.
,

many stories were rife amongst th e people

about i t the on e most to the poin t b e ing
,

that the appari tion of a n old woman wh o ,

w as supposed to have poisoned someone ,

used to be seen therein Needless to say .

,

th e lady i n question n ever again sat by h er

self in the dr a wing room -
.

4-7
 T R UE I RI SH GH O ST S T O RIES
Two stories are told about haunted houses
at Drogheda the one by A G Bradley in
,
. .

N ote: on s ome I rzJ /z Sup errtzlzom ( Dr o gheda

’
'
‘
,

the other by F G Lee in Szg/ztr and

.

S/zadowr ( p .
As both appear to be
placed at the same date ti e 1 89 0 it i s ,
.
,

quite possible that they refer to o n e and

th e same haunting and w e h ave so treated
,

them accordingly The read e r if h e wishes

. , ,

can test the matter for himself .

Th is h ouse which was reputed to be

,

haunted was let to a tailor and h is wife

,

by the owner at an annual r e n t o f £ 2 3 J

.

They took possession in due cours e but ,

after a very fe w days they became aware

of the presence of a most unpleasant super
natural lodger One night as the tailor and
.
,

his wife were preparing to retire they were ,

t e rri fi e d at seeing the foot of some invisible

person kick the candl e stick off the table ,

and so quench the candle Alth ough i t .

was a very dark night and the shutters ,

were closed the man and his wife could

,

se e everything in the room j ust as well as

if it were the middle of the day All at .

once a woman e ntered th e r o om dressed in ,

w h ite carrying something in h er han d

, ,

4 8
of the facts concerning the ghost in question ,

asked leave to support their sw o rn testimony

by that of several other people This how
.
,

e ver was disallowed by the j udge

,
I t was
.

a dmitted by the landlady that nothing o n

o n e side or the other had been said regarding

the h aunting wh en t h e h ouse w as let A .

j udgment was consequently entered for th e

landlady although it h ad been shown i n
,

d irectly that unquestionably th e house had

h ad the reputation of being haunted and ,

that previous tenants had been much i n c on

v e n i e n ce d
.

This c h apter may b e concluded with t w o

s tories dealing wit h haunted rectories Th e .

fi rst and mildest of these is contributed by

, ,

the present Dean of St Patrick s it is not

.
’

h i s own personal experience but w as related

,

t o him by a rector in C o M onaghan where

.
,

h e used to preach on special occasions The .

rector and his daughters told the D ean that

they had often seen i n t h at h ouse th e appari

tion of an old woman dressed in a drab cape ,

wh ile they frequently h eard noises O n .

o n e evening the rector was in the kitchen

togeth e r with the cook and the coachman .

50
 ’
C O N N S HA L F
All thr e e heard noises in the pantry as if
vessels were being moved Presently they .

saw the old woman in the drab cape come

o u t of t h e pantry and move up the stairs .

The rector attempted to follow her but the ,

t w o servants held him tightly by t h e arms ,

and besough t h im not to do so B ut hearin g .

the children w h o were in bed screaming

, , ,

h e broke from the grip of the servants and

rushed upstairs Th e ch ildren said that they
.

had been frightened by seeing a strange old

woman coming into th e room but she w as ,

n ow gone . T h e house had a single roof ,

a nd th e re w as no way to or from th e nursery

except by the stairs The rector st a ted that
.

h e took to praying that the old woman

might have rest and that it was now many
,

years since sh e had been seen A very old .

parish ioner told him th a t when she was

young sh e remembered h aving seen a n old
woman answering to the rector s description ’

w h o h ad lived in the h o use which a t th a t ,

t ime was n ot a rectory .

The s e cond of these which is decidedly ,

more complex and mystifying refers to a ,

rectory in C o Donegal I t is sent as the

. .

person a l e xperi e nce o f o ne of the percipients ,

S I
 T R UE I RI SH GH O S T S T O RI ES
w h o does not wish t o have his name disclosed .

H e says My wife childr e n and mys e lf

, ,

will have lived here four years next Jan uary

From the fi rst nigh t that w e came
into th e house most extraordinary noises
have been heard Sometimes they were in
.

side the house and s e emed as if the fu rn i

,

ture w as being disturbed and th e fi re i ron s ,

k n ocked about or at other times as if a dog

,

was running up and down stairs S ome .

times they were external and res e mbled tin ,

buckets being dashed about the yard or as ,

if a herd of cattle was galloping up the drive

before the windows These things would.

o o n for six m o nths and th e n everyth ing

g ,

would be quiet for three months or so when ,

the noises would commenc e again M y

—
.

dogs a fox terrier a boar hound and a

- -

—
, ,

spaniel would make a t e rrible din and ,

would bark at som e thing i n the hall we

could not see backing away from it all th e
,

t 1me
.

“
The only thing that was ever seen was
a s follows : One nigh t my daughter went
down to the kitchen about t e n o clock for ’

som e hot water She saw a tall man with

.
,

o ne a rm carrying a lamp who walk e d o ut

, ,

5 2
 ’
CO N N S H ALF
of th e pantry into th e kitchen and then ,

through the kitch e n wall Another daught e r .

s aw the same man walk down o ne evening

from the loft and go into the harness room

,
-
.

Sh e told me and I w e n t out immediately

, ,

but could see nobody Shortly after th a t .

my wife who is very brave h e a rd a knock

, ,

at the hall d o or in th e dusk N aturally .

thinking it was some fri e nd sh e opened th e ,

do o r a nd there saw standing outside th e

,

self same man H e simply lo o ked at h er

-
.
,

and walked through the wall into th e house .

She got such a shock that sh e could not

S peak for several hours and w a s ill for some
,

days That is eighte e n mon ths ago and h e

.
,

h as n ot been seen sin ce and it is si x months

,
”
since w e heard any noises Our corre sp on .

dent s lett e r was written o n 2 5t h November

’

1
9 3
1
“
.An old man nearly ninety died
last year H e lived all his life within
.

four hu ndred y a rds of th is house and ,

used to t e ll m e that s e venty years ago

the parsons came with bell book and , ,

candle to drive th e ghosts out of the

house Evid e ntly th e y were unsuccess
.

ful . I n English ghost stori e s it is the -

p a rson who performs th e exorcism succ e ss

53
 T R UE IRI SH G H O ST S T O RI ES
~

fully while in Ireland such work i s gene

,

rally performed by the priest . Indeed a

tale was sent to u s in which a ghost quite
ignored the parson s e fforts but su ccumbed
’

to the priest
.
 C H AP T E R I I I
’
HA U N T E D H O U S E S I N M O G H S HA LF
TH E northern half of I reland h as n o t proved
as p roli fi c in stories of haunted h o uses as th e
southern portion : the possible explanation
of this is n ot that the men of the north are
,

less prone to h old or talk about suc h b e

, ,

liefs but that as regards the south h alf we

, , ,

have had th e good fortun e to happen upon

s o me dilig e nt collectors of these and kindred
tales whose eagerness in coll e cting is only
,

equalled by their kindness in imparting i n

formation to the compilers of th is book .

O n a large farm n e ar Portarlington ther e

once lived a M rs a strong minded
.
-
,

capable woman wh o manag e d all her a ffairs

,

for herself giving her orders and takin g

, ,

none from anybody In due time she died .

,

and the property p assed to th e next of—kin -

.

As soon however as the funeral w as ove r

, , ,

th e h ouse was nightly disturbed by strange

n oises pe o ple downst a irs wo uld hear rus h
55
 T RUE I RI SH GH O S T S T O R I ES
ings about in the upper rooms banging of ,

doors and the sound of heavy footsteps

,
.

T h e cups and saucers used to fall off th e

dresser and all t he pots and pans would
,

rattle .

This went on for some time till the people ,

could stand it no longer so th ey left th e ,

h ous e and put in a herd and his family .

The latter w as driven away after h e had

been in the house a fe w weeks Th is hap .

pened to several people until at length a ,

man named M r B took the h o use T h e

. .

noises went on as before until some one su g

gest e d getting the priest i n Accordingly .

t h e priest cam e and held a service in th e

,

late M rs s bedroom
.
’
Wh en this w as .

o ver
,
the door of the room was locked .

After that the noises were n ot heard till one

evening M r B came h ome from a fai r
.
,
“
forti fi e d no doubt with a little
, ,
Dutch
courage and declared th at even if the devil
,

were in it he would go into the locked room .

In spite of all his family could say or do h e ,

burst O pen the door and entered the room

, ,

but apparently saw nothing That nigh t .

pandemonium reigned in th e house th e ,

chairs were hurled about the china was ,

5 6
 TRUE I RI SH GH O ST STO R IES
man gentleman was stayi n g with this family .

T h ey asked h im in the morning h ow h e

had slept and he replied that he was dis
,

t u rb e d by a snoring in the room but h e ,

”
supposed it w as the cat .

’
A lady formerly resident in Queen s C o
,
.
,

but w h o n ow lives near D ublin sends th e ,

following clear and concise account of h er

o w n personal experiences in a haunted house

Some years ago my father mother sister

, , , ,

and myself went to live in a nice but rather

small house close to the town of in Queen s ’

Co . We liked the house as it w as con

,

v e n i e n tl
y and pleasantly situated and we ,

certainly never had a thought of ghosts or

haunted h ouses nor would my fat h er allow
,

any talk about such things in h is presence .

But w e were not long settled there when w e

were disturbed by the opening of the parlour
door every night regularly at the hour of
’
eleven o clock M y father and mother used
.

to retire to their room abou t ten o clock ’

while my sister an d I used to si t up reading .

We always declared that we would retir e

before t h e door open e d bu t we generally
,

o t so interested in our books that we would

g
forget until we would hear the handle of
5 8
 M O GH ’
S H ALF
the door turn and se e the door flung open
, .

W e tried in every way to accoun t for this ,

bu t we could fi n d no explanation and there ,

w as no possibility of any human agen t being

at work .

“
Some tim e after ligh t w as thrown on ,

th e subj ect We had visitors staying with

.

u s and in order to make room fo r them my

, ,

sister was asked to sle e p in th e parl our .

Sh e consented with out a though t of ghosts ,

and went to sleep quite happily but durin g

th e night she was awakened by some one
opening the door walking across th e ro om
, ,

an d disturbing th e fi re i ron s She suppos .

,

ing i t to be the servant called h er by name , ,

bu t got no answer then the person seemed

to come away from th e fi re p lace and walk ,

ou t of th e room Ther e was a fi re in th e

.

grate bu t though sh e heard the footsteps

, ,

she could se e no on e .

The next thing was that I was coming ,

downstairs a nd as I glanced towards the

,

hall door I saw standing by it a man in a

grey suit I went to my father and told
.

him H e asked in surpris e wh o let h im i n

.
,

as th e servan t was o ut a nd he himself had ,

a lr e ady lock e d bolt e d and chained the door

, ,

59
 T R UE I RI SH GH O S T S T O RIES
an hour previously Non e of u s had let.

him i n and when my father w e nt o u t to

,

t h e hall the man had disappe a red and th e ,

door w as as he had left i t .

Some little time after I h a d a V I SI t from

,

a lady who knew the place well and i n th e ,

course of conv e rsation sh e said

This is the house poo r M r used t o .

’
live i n .

Who is M r I ask e d
. .

Did you never hear of h im s h e re

plied .H e was a minist er w h o us e d to

‘

live in this house quite alone and was ,

murdered in this very parlour H is land .

lord used to visit him sometimes and on e ,

night he was seen coming i n about el e ven

o clock and was seen again leaving about
’

fi v e o clock in the morning W h en M r

’
. .

did not come o u t as usual the door w as ,

forced open and h e w as found lying dead

,

in th is room by the fender with h i s h ead ,

battered in with th e poker .

’

We l e ft th e house soon aft e r adds our ,

informant .

Th e following weird incidents o ccurred ,

apparently in the C o Kilk e nny to a M iss.

,

K B during tw o visits paid by h e r to

.

60
 M O GH
’
S HA LF
I r e land in 1 8 80 and 1 8 8 1 Th e house i n .

whi ch she experienced th e fo llowing w as

really a n old barrack long disused very old , ,

fashion e d and surrounded with a high wall

,

i t w as said that it had b e e n b u i lt during th e ‘

time o f C rom w e ll as a strongh o ld for his

'

men The only inhabitants of this w e r e

.

Captain C ( a retired offi ce r in charge of

the place ) M r s C ,
three daughters and
.
,

t w o servants T hey occupi e d th e cen tral

.

part of the building the mess—room b e ing ,

th eir drawing room M iss K B s bedroom

-
. . .
’

w as v e ry lofty a nd adj oined t w o others,

which were occupied by th e three daughters ,

E G a nd L
.
, .

T he fi rst r e collecti o n I have of a nything

”
strange writes M iss
,
that e ach night
’
I w as awakened a bout three o clock by a
tremendous noise apparently i n the n ext ,

suite of rooms which was empty and it , ,

sounded as if some hug e iron boxes and

other h e avy th ings were being th rown about
with great force This continued for abou t .

half an h our when in th e room underneath

,

( the kitchen ) I heard th e fi re being violently

poked a nd rak e d for several minutes and ,

this was immediately foll o wed by a m o st

61
 TRUE I RI S H GH O ST STO RIE S
terrible and distressing cough of a man v e ry ,

loud and violent It seemed as 1f th e e x

.

e rti on had brought o n a paroxysm which

he could not stop In large h ous e s in C o
. .

Kilkenny t h e fi re s are not lighted every day ,

owing to t h e slow burning property of th e

-

coal and it is only necessary to rak e i t up

,
’
every night about eleven o clock and in the ,

morn i ng it is still bright and clear C on se .

quently I wondered w h y i t was necessary

for Captain C to get up in the middle of
the night to stir it so viol ently .

A fe w days later M iss B said to E C . .

I h ear such strange nois e s every night— ar e

there any peopl e in th e adj oining part o f
the building She turned very pale and ,

looking earnestly at Miss B said Oh K .

, , .
,

I am so sorry you heard I h oped n o one bu t

.

myself had heard i t I could have given

.

worlds to have spoken to you last nigh t ,

but dared not move or speak K B . .

laughed at her for being so superstitious but ,

E declared that the place was h aunted a nd

.
,

told h er of a number o f weird things th at

had been seen and heard .

I n the following year 1 8 8 1 Miss K B

, , . .

paid another Visit to the barrack This .

62
 M O C H S H ALF ’

tim e there were two other visitors th ere— a

colonel and his wife Th ey o ccupied M iss .

B s former room while to h er was allotted

’
.
,

a huge bedroom on th e top of the h ouse ,

with a long corridor leading to it opposite

to this was another large r o om wh ic h was ,

o ccupied by the girls .

H er strange experiences commenced again .

’
One morning abou t four o clock I was
, ,

aw akened by a v e ry noisy martial footstep

ascending th e stairs and th en marching ,

quickly up and down the corridor outside

my room T hen suddenly the most viol e nt
.

coughing took pl ace th a t I ever heard ,

wh ich continued for some tim e while th e ,

quick heavy step continued i ts march At

, .

l a st the footsteps faded away in th e distan ce ,

and I th en recalled to mind the same cough

i ng after exertion last year In the morn .

ing a t breakfast sh e asked both Captain C

, ,

and the colonel had they been walking

about but both denied and also said they
, ,

h ad no cough Th e family looked very u m

.

c omfortable and afterwards E came up with

, .

te a rs in her e yes and sai d Oh K please

“
, ,
.
,

don t say a nything more about that dreadful

’

coughing ; we all hear i t often e sp e ci ,

63
 T R UE I RI S H GH O S T S T O RI ES
ally when anything terrible is about to

h ap p e n f
’

—
Some nights later the C s gave a dance .

When the guests had departed M iss B ,

.

went to her bedroom Th e moon w as

.

shining so beautifully that I w as abl e to read

my Bible by its ligh t an d had left the Bible
,

open on t h e window sill which w as a very

-
,

high on e and on which I sat to read h aving

, ,

had to climb the washstand to reach i t I .

went to bed and fell asle e p but was n ot

, ,

long so when I was suddenly awakened by

the strange feeling that some on e was in th e
room I opened my eyes and turned around
.
, ,

an d saw o n th e window sill in th e moon -

light a long very thin very dark fi gu re

, ,

bending over the Bible and apparently ,

earnestly scanning th e page A s if my move .

ment disturbed the fi gu re i t suddenly darted ,

u
p,
j umped of
f the window ledge on t o th e -

washstand then to the ground and fl i tte d

, ,

qui e tly across the room to the t a bl e where

”
my j ewellery was That was the last sh e
.

saw ofi t She though t it was some on e try

.

ing t o steal her j ewellery so waited till morn

,

ing but nothing was missin g

, I n th e .

morning sh e described to on e of the dau gh

64
 TRUE I RI SH G H O ST STO RI ES
Wilful she became engaged to a Sir
Tre v or Ashurst an d subsequently married
,

him O n the evening of their wedding day

.
-

t h e bride and bridegroom were walking on

the b at tle m e n ts w h e n sh e espied some fl ow e rs
,

growing on the rocks beneath She ex

pressed a wish for them and a sentry post e d ,

close by volunteered to climb down for them ,

provided Sir Trevor took his place during

h is absence H e assented and took th e
.
,

soldier s coat and musket while he went in

’

search of a rope Having obtained on e h e

.
,

commenced his descent but the task prov

ing longer t h an he expected Sir Trevor fell ,

asleep Meantime t h e governor visited th e

.

sentries as w as his c ustom and in th e course

, ,

of his rounds came to where Sir Trevor w as

asleep H e challenged him and on re ce i v
.
,

ing no answer perceived that h e was asleep ,

whereupon he drew a pistol and s h ot him

throug h the heart The body w as brought
.

i n and it was only th en the governor real

,

ised what had happen e d T h e bride wh o .

,

appears to have gone indoors before the

tragedy occurred then learned the fate that
,

befell her husband and in her distraction , ,

rushed from th e h ouse and flung h erself

66
 M O GH ’
S H ALF
over th e battlements I n despair at th e .

double tragedy h er father sho t h imself dur

,

ing th e night .

Th e above is from D r Craig s book al .

’

ready alluded to I n the Wide World M aga

.

z in e the legend di ffers slightly in details .

Acco rding to this the governor s name w as ’

Browne and i t w as his ow n son n ot h is

, ,

s o n i n law that h e s h ot
- -
,
while the incident
is said to have occurred abou t a hundred
and fi fty years ago .

“
Th e Wh ite Lady is the ghost of the
young bride Let u s see what accoun ts
.

there are of h er appearan ce A good many .

years ago Fort —M aj or Black wh o had served ,

in th e Peninsular Wa r gave h is ow n per ,

sonal experience to Dr Craig H e stated . .

that h e h ad gone to the hall door on e

summer evening an d saw a lady en tering ,

th e door and going up the stairs At fi rst h e .

thought sh e w as an offi ce r s wife but as h e ’

looked he observed she w as dressed in white

, ,

and in a very old— fashioned style Impelled .

by curiosity h e hastened upstairs after h er

, ,

and followed h er closely into one of the

rooms but on entering i t he could not fi n d
,

the slightest trace of anyone there O n .

67
 T R UE I RI SH GH O ST S T O R I ES
another occasion h e stated that two sergeants
were packing some cast stores One 0 1 .

t h em had his little daug h ter with him and ,

t h e child suddenly exclaimed Who is that

,

white lady wh o is bending over t h e banisters ,

and looking down at u s 3 Th e two m e n

looked u p but could see nothing bu t th e
, ,

child insisted that she had seen a lady in

white looking down and smiling at her ,

O n another occasion a sta ff offi c e r a ,

“
married man w as residing in th e Gover
,

nor s House
’
One nig h t as the nurse lay
awake— s h e and the children were in a room
w h ic h opened into what was known as the
W h ite Lady s apartment — she suddenly saw
’

a lady clot h ed in white glide to the bedside

o f the youngest child and after a little place
,

her hand upon its wrist At t h is the child

.

started in its sleep and cried out Oh ‘

, ,
”
take that cold hand from my wrist l th e
next moment the lady disappeared .

One night about the year 1 88 0 Captai n

, ,

M arvell H ull and Lieuten ant H artland were

going to the rooms occupied by the former
of fi ce r
. As they reac h ed a small landin g
t h ey saw distinctly in front of them a
woman in a white dress As they stoo d
.

68
 M O GH
’
S H ALF
there in awestruck silence she turned and
look e d towards them s h o w ing a face beauti ,

ful eno u gh but colourless as a corpse and

, ,

then passed on through a locked door .

B ut i t appears that this presence did not

always manifest itself in as harmless a manner .

Some years ago S urgeon L was quartered

at the fort One day he had been out
.

snipe shooting and as he entered the fort

-
,

t h e mess bugle rang o u t H e h astened to

-
.

h is rooms to dress but as he failed to put ,

in an appearance at mess on e of th e offi ce rs ,

went in search of him and found him lyin g ,

senseless on the fl o or Wh en he recovered .

consciousness he related his experience H e .

said h e had stooped down for the key of h i s

door which h e had placed fo r safety under
,

the mat wh e n in this position h e felt him

self violently dragged across th e h all and ,

fl u n g down a fligh t of steps With this .

agrees somewh at th e e xperience of a Captain

arv e s as r elated by him t o Captain M arvell
J ,

H ull Attracted by a strange rattling n oise

.

in h is bedroom he endeavoured t o open the

,

door of i t but found it seemingly locked

,
.

Suspecting a hoax h e called out wher e upon

, ,

a gust of wind passed him and some unseen ,

69
 T R UE I RI SH GH O ST STO RI ES
power flung him down the stairs and laid ,

him senseless at the bottom .

Near a seaside town in the south of Ire

land a group of small cottages w as built by
an old lady in on e of w h ich sh e lived wh ile
, ,

she let the others to her relatives I n pro .

cess of time all t h e occupants died the ,

cottages fell into ruin and were all pulled

,

down ( except the on e in w h ic h the old

lady h ad lived) the materials being used by
,

a farmer to build a large house which h e

hoped to let to summer visitors I t was .

shortly afterwards taken for t h ree years by

a gentleman for his family I t should be .

noted t h at the h ouse h ad very bare surround

ings ; there were no trees n ear or out ,

houses where people could be concealed .

Soon after the family came to the house

they began to h ear raps all over i t on doors , ,

windows and walls ; these raps varied in

,

nature sometimes being l ike a sledge

,

hammer loud and dying away and some

, ,

times quick and sharp tw o or t h ree or fi v e

,

in succession ; and all heard them One .

morning about 4 A M the mother h eard

. .
,

very loud knocking on the bedroom door ;

thinking it w as the servant wanting to go
70
 M OGH S
’
HA LF
to early mass sh e said Come i n but the
, , ,

knocking continued till the father was

awakened by i t ; h e got u p searched t h e ,

house but could fi n d no on e Th e servant s

,
.
’

door w as slig h tly open and h e saw that sh e ,

was sound asleep That morning a telegram

.

came announcin g th e death of a beloved

un cle j ust about the hour of the knocking .

Some time previous to this th e mother was

in the kitc h en wh en a loud explosion took
,

place beside h er startling h er very much

, ,

but no cause for it could be found nor ,

were any traces left Th is coincided wit h

.

the death of an aunt wife to the un cle wh o

,

died later .

O ne night th e mother wen t to h er b e d

room . Th e blind w as dra w n and the ,

shutters cl osed w h en suddenly a great crash

,

came as if a branch w as thrown at the

,

window and there w as a sound o f broken

,

glass She opened the shutters with the

.

expectation of fi n di n g t h e window smashed ,

but there was n ot even a crack i n i t Sh e .

’
entered the room n ext day at one o clock and ,

th e same crash took place being heard by ,

all in the h ouse she went in at 1 0 A M on . .

another day and the same thing happened

, ,

7 1
 T R UE I RI SH GH O ST STO RI ES
after which sh e refused to enter that room
again .

Another night after 1 1 P M the servan t

,
. .
,

was was h ing up in the kitch en when heavy ,

footsteps were heard by th e fath er and

mot h er going upstairs and across a lobby to ,

the servant s room the father searched the

’

house bu t could fi n d n o o n e After that

,
.

footsteps used to be heard regularly at that

h our though no o n e could ever be seen
,

walking about .

The tw o elder sisters slept together and ,

used to se e flames shooting up all over the

floor though there was no smell o r heat
,

this used to be seen tw o or three nights at a

time ch i e fly in th e on e room The fi rst
,
.

time the girls saw this on e of t h em got u p

and went to her father in alarm naturally ,

t h inking the room undern eath must be on

fi re .

The tw o boys were moved to the haunted

room ! which o n e P] where they slept in on e ,

large bed with i ts head near th e chimney

piece The elder boy aged about thirteen
.
, ,

put his watch on the mantelpiece awoke ,

about 2 A M and wishin g to ascertain the

. .
,

time put his h and up for his watch ; h e

,

7 2
 TRUE I RI SH GH O S T STO RI ES
less been kept aired and in good repair as a ,

caretaker w h o lived close by used to come

and look after it every day Th e fi rst nigh t
.

that t h e family settled there as th e clergy

,

man was going upstairs he heard a footstep

and the rustle ofa dress and as h e stood aside
,

a lady passed him entered a door facing th e

,

stairs and closed it after her I t was only

,
.

then he realised that her dress was very old

fas h ioned and that he had not been able to
,

enter t h at particular room Next day h e.

got assistance from a carpenter wh o wit h , ,

another man forced open th e door A mat

,
.

o f cobwebs fell as they did so and th e fl oor ,

and windows were thick with dust T h e .

men went across t h e room and as th e ,

clergyman followed them h e saw a small

w h ite bird flying round the ceiling ; at h i s
exclamation the men looked back and also
s aw i t . I t swooped fl e w out of th e door
, ,

and they did no t se e it again After that .

t h e family were alarmed by hearing noises

under the fl oor of that room every night .

At length the clergyman had th e boards

taken u p and the skeleton of a child was
,

found underneath S o old did the remains

.

appear that the coroner did not d e em it

 M O GH
’
S HALF
necessary to h old an inquest on th em s o th e ,

rector b uried them in the churchyard .

S trange noises continued as if some on e ,

were trying to force up the boards from

underneath Also a heavy ball w as h eard
.

rolling down the stairs and striking against

th e study door On e nigh t the t w o girls
.

woke up screaming and on the nurse run ,

ning up to th em the el der said she had seen

,

a great black dog with fi e ry eyes resting its

paws on her bed H er fath er ordered the
.

se rvants to sit constantly with them in the

evenings but notwithstanding t h e presen ce
, ,

of two women i n the n u rsery th e same ,

thing occurred Th e youn ger daughter

.

was so scared th at sh e never quite recovered .

Th e family left th e h ouse immediately .

The same correspondent sa ys : An old

ruined house in the hills of east C o Clare .

enj oyed the reputation of being desperately

haunted from at any rate 1 8 65 down to
’

, ,

its dismantling I will merely give the

.

experiences of my ow n relations as told by ,

them to me M y mother told h ow one

.

nigh t sh e and my father heard creaking and

grating as if a door were being fo rced O pen
,
.

The sound came from a passage in which

75
 TR UE I RI SH GH O ST STO R I ES
was a door nailed up and clamped with
iron bands A h eavy footstep came down
.

the passage and stopped at the bedroom

,

door for a moment ; no sound was h eard ,

’
and then t h e thing came through the
‘

room t o the foot of the bed It moved .

round th e bed they not daring to stir

,
.

The horrible unseen visitan t stopped and ,

they fe lt it watching them At last i t .

moved away they h eard it going u p the

,

passage the door crashed and all was silence

, , .

Lighting a candle my father examined the

,

room and found t h e door locked h e then

,

went along the passage but not a sound w as ,

to be heard anywh ere .

Strange noises like footsteps sobbing , ,

whispering grim laughter and shrieks were

, ,

often heard about the house O n one occa .

sion my eldest sister and a girl cousin drove

over to see t h e family and stayed the nigh t .

They and my t w o younger sisters were all

cro wded into a huge old fashioned bed and
,
-
,

carefully drew and tucked in th e curtains

all round My eldest sister awoke feeling a
.

cold wind blowing on her face and putting ,

o u t her hand found the curtains drawn back

and as they subsequently discovered wedged

, ,

76
 M OG H
’
S H ALF
between th e bed and th e wall Sh e reached .

for t h e match box and was about to lig h t

-
,

the candle when a h orrible mocking laugh

rang out close to the bed wh ich awakened ,

th e other girls Being al w ays a plucky

.

woman though then badly scared she struck

, ,

a match and searched th e room bu t nothing

, ,

w as to be seen T h e closed room w as said

.

to h ave been deserted after a murder and ,

its floor was supposed to be stain ed wit h

blood which no h uman power could wash
”
ou t
.

Another house in C o Clare n earer the .

,

estuary of th e Shannon which w as formerly ,

th e residence of th e D family but is ,

now pulled down h ad some extraordinary ,

tales told abou t it in which facts ( ifw e may

use the w ord ) were well supplemented by
legend To commence wi t h the former
. .

A lady writes My father and old M r .

D were fi rst cousins R ichard D asked .

my father would h e come and sit up wi t h

him one nigh t in order to see w h at mig h t
,

be seen Both were particularly sober men

. .

Th e annoyances in t h e h ouse were becomin g

unbearable M rs D— s work box used to
. .
’
-

b e thrown down t h e table cloth would be

,
-

77
 T R UE I RI SH GH O ST STO RI ES
whisked off t h e table the fender and fi re i ron s
,

would be hurled about the room and other ,

similar things would happen M r D and . .

my father went up to on e of th e bedrooms ,

w h ere a big fi re w as made u p They .

searc h ed every part of the room carefully ,

but nothing uncanny was to be seen or

found T h ey then placed t w o candles and
.

a brace of pistols on a small table betwe e n

them and waited Nothin g happened for
,
.

some time till all of a sudden a large black

,

dog walked o u t from under th e bed Both .

men fi re d and th e dog disappeared Th at

,
.

”
is all The family had to leave th e house
' .

N o w to the blending of fact with fi c ti on ,

of which we have already spoken : the

intelligent reader can decide in his own
mind which is which I t w as said that .

black magic had been practised in this

house at on e time and that in consequen ce
,

terrible and weird occurrences were quite

the order o f t h e day there When bein g .

cooked the hens used to scream and the

,

mutton used to bleat in the pot Black dogs .

were seen frequently The beds used to .

be l ifted u p and the occupants th e reof used

,

to be beaten black and blue by invisible ,

7 8
 M OGH ’
S H ALF
hands One particularly ghoulish tale was
.

told I t w as said that a monk ( l) was i n

.

love with one of th e daugh ters of th e h ouse ,

w h o was an exceedingly fat girl Sh e died .

unmarried and was bu ried in the family

,

vault S ome time later the vault w as again

.

opened for an intermen t and those wh o ,

en tered i t found that M iss D— s c ofli n h ad ’

been disturbed and the lid loosened Th ey

,
.

t h en saw that all the fat around h er heart

had been scooped a w ay
‘
.

Apropos of ineradicabl e blood on a floor ,

whic h is a not infre quent item in stories of

haunted houses it is said that a manifestation
,

of t h is nature forms the h aunting in a farm

h ouse in C o Limerick A ccording to our
. .

i nformants a ligh t must be kep t burning in

,

this house all night if by any chance i t is

forgotten or becomes quenched in the
, ,

mornin g the floor is covered with blood .

Th e story i s evi den tly much older than the

h ouse bu t n o tradition al explanation i s
,

g1v e n .

Two stories of haunted schools have been

sent to u s bot h on very good authority ;
,

these establishments lie within the geo

graphical limits of t h is Chapter but for ,

79
 T R UE I RI S H G H O S T STO RI ES
obvious reasons we cannot indicate their
,

locality more precisely though the names ,

of bot h are known to u s The fi rst of these .

was told to our corresponden t by the boy

Brown who w as in th e room bu t did n ot see
, ,

the ghost .

W h en Brown was about fi fte e n h e was

sent to School His brother told h i m .

not to be frightened at anything h e might

see or hear as the boys were sure to play
,

tricks on all n e w comers H e w as put t o

-
.

sleep in a room with anoth er new arrival a ,

boy named Smith from England I n th e , .

middle of t h e night Brown was roused from

his sleep by Smith crying ou t in great
alarm and asking w h o w as in th e room
,
.

Brown w h o was very angry at being waked

,

u told him not to be a fool — t h at there

p
,

was no one there Th e second nigh t Smith

.

roused h im again th is time in greater alarm

,

than the fi rst nigh t H e said he saw a man .

in cap and gown come into th e room W ith

a lamp and then pass righ t through the
,

wall Smith got ou t of h is bed and fell on

.
,

h is knees beside Brown beseeching him not ,

to go to sleep At fi rs t Brown t h ough t i t

.

w as all done to frig h ten him but h e then ,

80
 T R UE I RI S H GH O ST STO RIES
in, down at a table and began to read
sat ,
.

H e knew that h e was n ot on e of the m asters ,

and did n ot recognise him as on e of th e

boys The room had to be abandoned
.
.

The tradition is that many y e ars ago a

master was murdered in that room by on e
o f the students . T he fe w boys w h o ever
had th e courage to persist in sleeping in th e
room said if they stayed more than t w o o r
th ree nig h ts that th e furniture was moved ,

an d they h e ard Violen t nois e s .

The secon d sto ry was sen t to u s by th e

percipient herself and is therefore a fi rst
,

h and experience Considering that sh e w as

.

o nly a schoolgirl at th e time i t must be,

admitted th a t sh e made a most plucky

a ttempt to run th e ghost to e arth .

“
A good many years ago w h e n I fi rst ,

went to sch ool I did not believe in ghosts

, ,

but I then had an experienc e which caus e d

me to alter my opinion I was ordered.

with t w o other girls to sle e p m a small t op

room at the back of the house wh ich over
looked a garden which contained a ncient
apple tr e es
-
.

Suddenly in th e dead of night I was

a wakened ou t of my sleep by th e s o und of
82
 M O GH ’
S HALF
heavy footsteps as of a man wearing big
,

boots unlaced pacing c e aselessly up and

,

down a long corridor wh ich I kn e w w as

plainly Visible from the landing outsid e my
door as there was a large window at th e
,

farther end of i t and there was su ffi ci e n t

,

moonligh t to enable on e to se e its full lengt h .

After listening for about twenty minutes ,

my curiosity was aroused so I got up and ,

stood on the landin g The fo o tsteps still.

continued but I could see nothin g although

, ,

th e sounds actually reach ed the foot of th e

flig h t of stairs which led from the corridor
t o t h e l a nding on wh ich I w a s standing .

Suddenly th e footfall ceased pausing at my ,

end of th e corridor and I th en considered

,

it w as high time for me to retir e which I ,

accordingly did car e fully closing th e door

,

behind me .

“
To my horror the fo o tsteps ascended
the stairs and the b e droom door was violently
,

dashed back against a wash ing stand beside -

,

wh ich w as a bed the contents of the ewer

were spilled over th e occupant and the steps ,

advanced a fe w paces into th e room in my

direction A cold perspiration broke o ut
.

all over me I can n ot describe th e sens a tion .

83
 TRUE I RI SH G H O S T STO RI ES
—
It w as not actual fear i t was more than
that— I felt I had come in to con tact with
the Unknown .

What was about t o h appen All I

could do was to S peak I cried ou t Wh o ,

are you 3 What do you wan t Suddenly

the footsteps ceased I felt relieved and lay ,

awake till morning but n o further sound

,

reached my ears H ow or when my ghostly

.

visitant disappeared I never knew su ffi c e it

to say my story was no nightmare but an
, ,

actual fact of which there w as found su ffi

,

cient proof in the morning ; th e floor was

still saturated with water the door which , ,

we always carefully closed at night was wide ,

open and last but not least th e o ccupant o f

, , ,

t h e w e t bed h ad heard all t h at h ad happened ,

but feared to speak and lay awake till

,

morn i ng .

N atu rally w e r e lated our weird e xp e ri

,

ence to our schoolmates and i t w as only ,

then I learned from one of th e elder girls

that this g h ost had manifested itself for many
years in a similar fash ion to the inhabit a nts
of that room I t w as supposed to be th e
.

S pirit of a man wh o long ye a rs before had

, ,

o ccupied this apartment ( the house was

84
 TRUE IR I S H GH O S T S T O RI ES
have been suggested to the maids by neigh
bours w h o mig h t have some interest in get
ting rid of th e m I understand that my
.

friend th e parish priest spoke very forcibly

from the altar on the subj ect of spi r its say ,

ing that the only spirits he believed e ver

did any h arm to anyone were mention
ing a well known brand of th e wine of t h e
-

country Whether this priestly admonition

.

w as the cause or not for some time w e

,

heard no more tales of ghostly manifesta

ti o ns
.

After a while h owever my wife and I

, ,

began to he a r a noise which while in no ,

sense alarming has proved to be both re

,

markable and inexplicable I f we h appen .

to be sitting in the dining room after dinner

-
,

sometimes we hear what sounds like the

noise of a heavy coach rumbling up to the
hall door We h ave both heard this noise
.

h undreds of times between eigh t R M and .

midnigh t Sometimes we h ear i t several

.

times the same nigh t and th en perhaps w e

,
’
won t hear i t again for several months We .

h ear it best on calm nigh ts and as we ar e ,

nearly a quarter of a mil e from th e high

road it is di ffi c ult to account for especially
, ,

86
 ’
M O C H S HA L F
as th e noise appears to b e quite close to u s
—I mean not farther away than the h all
door I may mention that an Englishman
.

w as staying with u s a fe w years ago As .

we were sitting in the dining room on e -

night after di nner h e said A carriage h as ,

‘

’
j ust driven up to the door ; but we kn ew
’
i t w as only th e phantom coach for w e
‘
,

also heard i t Only once do I remember

.

hearing it while sittin g in the drawing

room S o much for th e sound of t h e
.
‘ ’

’
‘
phantom coach but n ow I must tell you
,

W hat I s aw with my ow n eyes as clearly as

I n ow se e th e paper on wh ich I am writing .

Some years ago in the middle of the summer ,

o n a scorch i ng h o t day I was out cutting,

some h ay opposite th e hall door j ust by the

t e nnis court I t w as between twelve and
.

’
one o clock I remember the time distin ctly
.
,

as my man had gone to his dinner shortly

b e fore The spot on wh ich I w a s com
.

m an de d a Vi e w of the avenu e from th e

entrance gate fo r about four hundr e d yards .

I h a ppened to look up from my occupation

for scyth ing is no e asy work — and I s aw
what I took to be a somewhat high dog
c a rt in which two p eo ple w er e seated turn
, ,

87
 TRU E I RI SH GH O S T S T O RI ES
ing in at the avenue gate As I h ad my .

co a t a nd waistcoat ofi and w as no t in a
’
,

s tate to receive visitors I got behind a n ewly ,

made hay cock and watched the vehicle

-

until it came to a bend in the avenue where

there is a clump of t r ees w h ich obscured it
from my View As it did n ot h o w ever re
.
, ,

appear I concluded th a t th e occupants had

,

either stopped for som e reason or had taken

by mistake a cart way leading to the back -

gate into the garden H astily putting on .

my coat I went down to the bend in th e

,

avenue but to m y surprise there was n oth ing

,

to be seen .

Returning to the Rectory I met my ,

ho u sekeeper who h a s b e en with me fo r

,

nearly twenty years and I told h er what I ,

had seen She then told me that about a

.

month before while I w as away from home

, ,

my man had on e day gone with th e trap t o

the station Sh e saw j u st as I did a trap
.
, ,

c oming up th e avenue until i t was lost to

sight owing to the interven tion of the

clump of trees As it did not come on sh e
.
,

w e nt down t o the bend bu t there w as n o ,

trap to be seen When th e man came in .

some half hour after my h ousekeep e r a sk e d

-
,

88
 T R UE I RI SH GH O ST STO R I ES
lamp and went to the back of the motor to
se e who was there but there was no on e to
,

be s e en and although I searched th e yard

,

wit h my lamp I could discover no on e

,
.

About a week later I heard th e footsteps

again under almost identical conditions bu t ,

I searched with the same futile result .

“
Before I stop I must tell you about a
,

curious presentiment which happened with

‘ ’

regard to a man I go t from the Queen s ’

County H e arrived on a Saturday evening

.
,

and on the following M onday morning I put

h im to sweep the avenue H e w as at h i s .

work w h en I wen t ou t in the m otor car at

about 1 0 30 A M Shortly after I left he left
-
. .

h is wheel barrow and tools on the avenu e

-

( j ust at the point where I s aw the spectral

gig disappear) and comin g up to the Rec ,

tory he told my housekeeper in a great stat e

,

of agitation that he was quite sure that h i s

brot h er with wh om he had always lived
, ,

was dead H e said h e must return home

.

at once My housekeeper advised him t o

.

wai t until I returned bu t he changed h is ,

clothes and packed his box saying h e must ,

catch the next train Just before I r e turned

.

’
home at 1 2 o clock a t e legram came saying
 M O GH ’
S H A LF
h is brot he r had died suddenly that morning ,

and that he w as to return at once O n my .

return I found h im almost in a state of

collaps e H e left by th e next train and I
.
,

n ever h eard of h im again .

K Castle is a h andsome blending of

an cient castle and modern dwelling house -
,

picturesquely situated among trees while the ,

steep glen mentioned below runs close beside

it
. I t has the r eputation of being h a unted ,

but as usual it is di ffi c u lt to get information

, , .

One gentleman to whom w e wrote stated

, ,

that he never saw or heard anyth ing worse

than a bat O n th e other hand a lady who
.
,

resided there a good many years ago gives ,

the following account o f her extraordinary

experiences therein
D E A R M R SEY M OU R
.
,

I enclose some account of our e x p e ri

e n ce s in K Castle I t would be better
.

not to mention names as th e pe o ple occu

,

i it h ave told me they are afraid of

py g n

their servants hearing anything and con ,

sequently giving notice T h ey them .

s e lves hear voices often but like me they, , ,

do not mind When fi rst w e went there

.

91
TRUE I RI SH GH O ST S T O RIES
we heard people talking but on looking ,

everywhere we could fi n d no on e Then .

on some nights w e heard fi gh t i n g in th e

glen beside the house We could h ear .

voices raised in anger and the clash of ,

steel no person w o uld venture there after

dusk .

One night I was sitting talking with

my governess I got u p said good night
, ,
-
,

and opened the door which w as on the top

,

of the back staircase As I did so I beard

.
,

some one ( a woman ) come slowly upstairs ,

walk past u s to a windo w a t the end of the

landing and then with a sh riek fall heavily
, .

As she passed it was bitterly cold and I ,

drew back into the room but did n ot say ,

anything as it might frighten th e gover

,

ness She asked me what w as the matter

.
,

as I looked so white Without answer .

ing I pushed her into h er room and then

, ,

searched the h ouse but with n o results

, .

Another night I was sleeping with my

little girl I awoke a nd saw a girl with
.
,

long fair h a ir standing at th e fi re p lace

, ,

o n e hand at her side the other on the ,

chimney piece Thinking at fi rst it was

-
.

my little girl I felt on the pillow to se e

,

9 2
 T R UE I RI SH GH O ST STO R IE S
every morning She also said th at a girl
.

often came into her bedroom and put her ,

h and o n her ( the cook s ) face and when

’

she would push h er away she would hear

“ ” ’
a girl s voice say Oh don t 1 t h ree times
’

,
.

I h ave often heard voices in the drawing

room which decidedly sounded as if an
,

old gentleman and a girl were talking .

Noises like furniture being moved were

frequently heard at night and strangers ,

staying with u s hav e often asked w h y the

servants turned out the rooms underneath
them at such an unusu a l hour The front .

door bell sometimes rang and I h ave gone

,

down but found no one Yours very

, .

sincerely,

Kilman Castle in the heart of Ir e land

,

-
the name is obviously a pseudonym — has
been described as p e rhaps the worst haunt e d
mansion in the British Isles That i t de .

serves this doubtful recommendation we ,

cannot say ; but at all events the ordinary

reader will be prepared to admit that it con
tains s u ffi ci e n t ghosts to satisfy th e most
greedy ghost hunter A couple of m o nths
-
.

94
 M OGH ’
S HA L F
ago th e pr es ent writer p a id a visit to this
castle and w as shown all over i t on e morn
,

ing b y the mistress of th e house w h o under , ,

th e n om de p lume of Andre w M erry h a s

published novels dealing with Irish life and ,

h as also contributed articles on the gh ostly

phenomena ofher house to the Occult R ev ie w
Dec 1 0 8 and Jan
( .
9 .

Th e place itself is a grim grey bar e , ,

buil ding Th e c e n tral portion in which is

.
,

the entranc e hall is a square castle of th e

-
,

usual type i t is built on a rock and a slight ,

b a tter from base to summit gives an added

appearance of strength and solidity On .

either side of the castle are more modern

wings on e of wh ich terminates in what is
,
’ ”
kn own as th e Pri e st s H ouse .

N ow to the ghosts Th e top stor e y of th e

.

central tower is a large well— lighted apart ,

”
ment called the Chapel having evidently
, ,

served that purpose in times past At on e end .

is what i s s a id to be an oublie tte n ow almost ,

fi lle d u p O ccasionally in the e v e n i n gs p e op le

.
,

walking along the roads or in the fi e lds se e

th e windows of this chapel lighted up for a
fe w seconds as if many lamps were suddenly
brought into i t T h is is certainly n ot du e
.

95
 TRUE I RI SH GH O ST STO R IE S
to serv a nts ; from o ur experience w e can
testify that i t is the last place on earth that
a domestic would enter after dark I t is .

also said that a treasure is buried somewhere

i n or around the castl e The legend runs .

that an ancestor was about to be taken to

D ublin on a charge ofre b e lli on and fearin g , ,

he would never return made the best of the ,

time left t o him by burying somewhere a

crock full of gold and j ewels Contrary to .

expectation h e did return bu t his lon g con

,

fi n e m e n t had turn ed his brain and he could ,

never rememb e r the spot wh ere h e had de

posited his treasure ye a rs before Some .

time ago a lady a M iss B who was decidedly

,
.
,

psychic was invited to Kilman Castle in th e

,

h ope t h at sh e would be abl e to locate the

whereabouts of this tr e asure I n this re .

spect sh e failed unfortunately bu t gave

, , ,

n evertheless a curious example ofher power

, .

As sh e walked through the hall with her

hostess she suddenly laid h e r h and upon the
,
“
bare stone wall and remarked ,
T here is ,
’
somet h ing uncanny h ere but I don t know ,
”
what it is . In that very spot some time ,

previo u sly tw o skeletons had be e n discov e red

,

walled u p .
 T R UE I RI S H GH O ST STO RIES
consequent deep impression made o n the
bedclothes .

Th e lady of the house states that sh e h as

a number of letters from friends i n which ,

they relate the supernatural experiences th ey

had while staying at th e Castle I n on e of .

these t h e writer a gentleman was awakened

, ,

one night by an extraordinary feeling of

intense cold at his h eart H e th en saw in
.

front of h im a tall female fi gu re clo thed ,

from head to foot in red and w ith its right

,

hand raised menacingly in th e air : the

ligh t which illuminated the fi gu re was from
within H e lit a match and sprang ou t 0 1
.
,

bed but the room w as empty H e wen t

,
.

back to bed and saw n oth ing more that

,

night except that several times th e same

,

cold feeling gripped his h eart t h ough to ,

the touch the flesh w as quite warm .

B ut o f all the ghosts in that well—haunted

h ouse t h e most unpleasant is that inexplicable
”
thing that is usually called I t The lady .

o f the h ouse described to th e present writer

her personal experience of this phantom .

H ig h up round o n e side of the hall runs a

gallery which connects with some of th e
bedrooms One evening s h e was in this
.

9 8
 M O GH
’
S HALF
gallery leaning on the balustrade and look ,

ing down into the h all Suddenly sh e felt

.

two h ands laid on her shoulders sh e turned

round sharply and saw I t standing close
,

beside her Sh e described i t as being human

.

in shape and about four feet high the eyes

,

were like t w o black holes in t h e face and ,

th e whol e fi gu re seemed as if it were made

o f grey cotton wool -
while it w as accom
,

an i e d by a most appalling sten ch such as

p ,

would come from a decaying human body .

Th e lady got a shock from wh ich s h e did

n o t recover for a long time .

99
 CHAPTER I V
P O LT E R G E I S T S

P OLTER GEI S I is the term assigned to those

’ ‘

apparently meaningless noises and move

ments of obj ects of which we from time to
time hear accounts The word is of course
.
, ,

German and may b e translat e d boisterou s

,
”
ghost . A poltergeist is seldom o r never
seen but contents itself by moving furniture
,

and other obj ects about in an extraordinary

manner often c o ntrary to the laws of gravi
,

t at i on ; s o metimes footsteps are heard but ,

nothing is visible while at other times,

vigorous rappings will be heard eit h er on

th e walls or floor of a room and in th e ,

manner in which th e raps are given a polter

geist h as often showed itself as having a
close connection with th e physical pheno
mena of spiritualism for cases have occurred
,

in which a poltergeist has given the exact

number of raps mentally asked for by som e
person present Another point that i s
.

1 00
 TRUE I RI S H GH O ST STO RI ES
and the other the kitchen The two other .

rooms upstairs were occupied by th e Red

monds and their servant respectively The .

bedroom in which the boarders slept was

large and contained t w o beds one at eac h
, ,

end of the room t wo men sleeping in on e

,

of them John Randall and George Sinnott

were the names of two but the name of ,

the third lodger is n o t known— h e seems

to have left the Redmonds very shortly
after the disturbances commen ced .

I t was on July 4 1 9 1 0 that John , ,

R andall w h o is a carpenter by trade went

, ,

to live at Enniscorthy and took rooms with ,

the R edmonds I n a signed statement now

.
,

in possession of Professor Barrett he tells ,

a graphic tale of what occurred e ach night

during the three weeks h e lodged in the
house and as a result of the poltergeist s
,
’

attentions he lost three quarters of a ston e -

in weight I t was on th e night of T hurs

.

d a y July 7 that the fi rst in cident occurred

, , ,

when the bedclothes were gently pulled off

h i s bed O f course h e naturally thought
.

it w as a j oke and shout e d to h i s com

,

panions to stop As n o on e could explai n

.

what was happening a match w as struck , ,

1 02
 POLTE RGEI STS
and the bedclothes were found to be at
the window from w hich th e other bed ( a
,

large piece of furniture which ordinarily

took tw o people t o move) had been rolled
j ust when the clothes h ad been taken off
’
Randall s bed Things were put straight
.

“ ”
and th e light blown ou t but Randall s , ,
’

’
account goes o n to say it wasn t long ,

until we heard some hammering in the

room— tap tap —tap like T h is lasted for a
- -
.

fe w minutes getting quicker and quicker

,
.

When it got very quick their bed started ,

to move out across the room We .

then struck a match and got the lamp W e .

searched the room th oroughly and could ,

fi n d n obody N obody h ad come in the

.

door We called the man of th e house

.

( Redmond ) ; he came into the room s aw ,

the bed and told u s to push it back and

,

get into bed (h e though t all th e time on e

of u s was pla ing th e trick on th e o ther
y ’
) .

I said I wo u ldn t stay in th e other bed by

myself so I got i n with th e others ; we
,

put o u t th e light again and i t h ad only ,

been a couple of minutes out when the bed

ran out o n the floor with the three of u s .

Rich a rd struck a match again and this time ,

1 03
 TRUE I RI SH GH OS T S T O RI ES
we all got up and put on our cl o thes ; we
’
had got a terrible fright and couldn t stick
it any longer We told the man of th e
.

house we would sit up in the room till

daylight D uring th e time we were sitting
.

in the room we could hear footsteps leaving

the kitchen and coming up the stai r s ; i t
would stop on the landing outside the door ,

and wouldn t come into the r oo m T h e

’
.

footsteps and noises conti nued through th e

”
house until daybreak .

The next nigh t th e footsteps an d noises

w e re continued but the unfortunate men
,

did not experience any oth e r annoyance .

O n the following day t h e men wen t home ,

and it i s to be hoped they were able to

make up for all the sleep they had l o st o n
the two pr e vious nigh ts They r e turned
.

o n t h e Sunday and from that nigh t till th ey

,

fi n ally left the house the men wer e dis

t u rb e d practically every nigh t O n M onday
.
,

1 1 th July the bed was continually running

ou t from the wall with i t s three occupants .

They k e p t th e lamp aligh t and a chair was

,

seen to danc e gaily out into the middle of

the floor O n th e followi n g Thursday we
.

r ead of the same happenings with th e addi

,

1 04
 TRUE I RI S H G H O ST STO R IES
Devereux came and stopped in the room
,

one night .

The experiences of M urphy and D evereux

on this nig h t are contained in a further
statement signed by M urphy and c orro b o
,

rated by Devereux They seem to have

.

gone to work in a business— like manner as ,

before taking their position s for the nigh t

they made a complete investigation of th e
bedroom and house so as to eliminate all
,

chance of trickery or fraud B y this time .

,

i t should be noted one of M rs Redmond s

,
.
’

lodgers had evidently su fi e re d enough from

the poltergeist as only two men are men
,
’
t i on e d in Murphy s statement o n e sleeping ,

in each bed The t w o investigators took

.

up their p o sition against the wall midway

between the tw o beds so that they had a ,

full view of t h e room an d th e occupants of

”
the beds . Th e night says M urphy w as
, ,

a clear starlight nig h t N o blind obstructed

, .

the vie w from outside and on e could se e ,

t h e outlines of the beds and their occupants

clearly
. At about a tapping was
h eard close at th e foo t of R a ndall s bed ’
.

My companion remarked that i t appeared

to be like th e noise of a rat eating at timber .

I OO
 P OLTE RGEI STS
’
Sinnott replied Y o u ll soon se e the rat it is
, .
’

T he tapping w e nt on slowly at fi rst

then th e speed gradually i ncreased to about
a hundred or a hundred and twenty per
minute the noise growing louder This
, .

continued for about fi v e minutes wh en it ,

stopped suddenly R an dall th e n spoke H e

. .

said The clothes are slipping off my bed

look at them sliding ofi Go od G od they ’
.
,

M r D evereux i m m e di
’
are going off me . .

ately struck a m atch w h ich h e had ready

,

in h is hand The bedclothes had partly

.

left the boy s bed having gone diagonally

’

towards the foot going out at th e left

,

corner and no t alone di d they seem to be

,

drawn off the bed but they appeared to be

,

a ctually going back under the bed m uch i n ,

th e same position on e would expect bed

cloth e s to be if a strong breeze were blowing
through th e r o om at th e time But then .

”
eve rything w as perfectly calm .

A search w as then made for wires or

strings but nothing of the sort could be
,

found Th e bedcloth es were pu t back and

.

th e ligh t extinguish ed For ten minutes .

silenc e reigned only to be broken by more

,

rapping which was followed by shouts from

1 07
 TRUE I RI SH GH O ST S T O RIES
Rand a ll H e w as told t o hold on t o t h e
.

clothes which were sliding off again B ut

,
.

this was of little use for h e w as h e ar d to ,

“ ”
I m going I m going I m gone
’ ’
cry,
’

, , ,

and when a ligh t was struck he was seen t o

sli de from the bed and all the bedclothes
with him Randall who with Sinnott had
.
, , ,

shown considerable strength of mind by

staying in the house under such trying
circumstances had evidently had enough of
,

ghostly hauntings for as he lay on the fl oor

, ,

trembling in e very l imb and bathed in per

’
spiration he exclaimed
,
Oh isn t this ,
’ ’
dreadful ? I can t stand i t ; I can t st a y
here any longer H e was eventually
.

persuaded to get back to bed Later o n .

more rapping occurred i n a di fferent

part of the room bu t it soon stopped , ,

and the rest of th e nigh t passed a way in

peace .

Randall and Sinnott went to th e ir homes

the next day and M r M urphy spen t from
, .

eleven till long past midnight in th e i r

vacated room but heard and saw n o thing
,

unusual H e states in conclusion that

.

Randall could not r e ach that part o f the

fl oor from which th e rappin g c a me on a ny
1 08
 TRUE I RI SH GH O ST S T O R IES
unseen hand the Bible moved out of the
,

room and seventeen pages torn out of i t

,
.

They could n ot keep a lamp or candl e in the

house so they went to their neighbours for
,
’
help and to quote the old farmer s words to
, ,

Professor Barrett Jack Flanigan came and

,

lent u s a lamp saying th e devil himself

,

woul d not steal i t as he had got the priest

,
” ”
to sprinkle i t with holy water B ut that .
,
“
the old man said did u s n o good eith er
, ,

for the next day it took away th at lamp

also.

Professor B arrett a t the invitation of M r

, .

Thomas Plunkett of Enniskillen went to ,

investigate H e got a full accoun t from the

.

farmer of the freakish tricks whi ch were

continually being played i n the house and ,

gives a graphic account of what he himself

observed After the children excep t the ,

boy had gone to b e d M aggie lay down on

, ,

t h e bed wit h out undressing so that her ,

hands and feet could be observed Th e rest .

o f u s sat round the kitchen fi re when faint ,

raps rapidly increasing i n loudness were

, ,

heard coming apparen t ly from the walls ,

the ceiling and variou s parts of th e inner

,

room the door of w h ic h w as open O n

, .

1 10
 P O LTE RGEI STS
enterin g th e bedr oo m with a ligh t th e
noises at fi rst ceased but recommenced wh en
,

I p ut the ligh t on the window— sill in the

kitc h en I h ad th e boy and his father by
.

my side and asked M r Plunkett t o look

,
.

round the h ouse outside Standing in th e .

do orw ay le adi n g t o th e b e droo m t h e noises re

,

commenced t h e light was gradually brough t

,

n earer and after much patience I was able

,

to bring the ligh t into th e bedroom whilst

the disturbances were still loudly going on .

At last I w as able to go up to the side of

t h e bed with the lighted candle in my hand
, ,

and closely observed each of the occupants

lying on the bed T h e younger children
.

were apparently asleep and M aggie was ,

motionless nevert h eless knocks were going ,

on everywhere aro und ; on the chairs the ,

bedstead the walls and ceiling T he closest

,

scrutiny failed to detect any movement on

t h e part of th ose present th at could accou nt
for the n oises w h ich were accompanied by
,

a scratching or tearing sou nd S uddenly a .

large pebble fell in my presen ce on to the bed ;

no o ne had moved to dislodge i t even if i t ,

had been placed for th e purpose Wh en I .

replaced the candle on th e window sill in the -

I I I
 TRUE I RI SH GH O S T S T O RIES
kitchen th e kn o cks became still louder like
, ,
’
those made by a heavy carpenter s hamm e r
”
driving nails into fl oori n g .

A couple of days afterwards th e Rev , .

M axwell Close M A a well known member

,
. .
,
-

o f the j oined Professor Barrett and

M r Plunkett and togeth er th e party of th ree
.
,

paid visits on tw o consecutive nights to

t h e haunted farm house and the noises were
-
,

repeated Complete search was made both

.
,

inside and outside of the h ouse bu t no cause ,

could be found When the party were leav

.

ing the old farmer was much perturbed that

,

th ey had n ot laid the ghost Wh en ques .

t i on e d h e said h e th o ug h t it was fairi es .

H e was asked if i t had answered t o questions

by raps and h e said h e had but it tells lies
as often as truth and oftener I think We
, ,
.

tried i t and i t only knocked at L M N

,
”
when we said t h e alphabet over Professor .

Barrett then tested i t by askin g mentally for

a certain number of raps and immediately ,

the actual number w as heard H e repeated .

this fou r times with a di fferent number each

time and with the same result
, .

Perhaps t h e most interesting part of this

particular case is at the end of Professor
1 12
 TRUE I RI SH GH O S T STO RI ES
m o tion and shortly a fterwards its contents
,

were hurled into th e kitchen wher e th e ,

inmat e s of the house with s o m e of th e ir

,

neighbours were assembled

,
.

The explanation given by some pe o pl e

o f this mysterious a f fair was as mysterious
as the affair itself I t w as said th a t many
.

y ea rs before the occurrences which we have

n ow related took place the farmer wh o ,

th e n o ccupied the premises in which t h e y

h appened was greatly annoyed by m i s
c h i e v ou s t r icks which were play e d upon him

by a company of fairi e s wh o had a habit of

holding t h eir rendezvous in h is h ouse T h e .

consequence was that this m a n had to l ea v e

the house which for a l o ng time stood a
,

ro ofl e ss ruin . After the l a pse of many

years an d wh e n th e story about th e di lap i
,

dated fabric h a ving been haunted had prob

ably been forgotten the people who then
,

j
o ccupied the a d oining lands unfortun a tely

took some of th e ston e s of th e old des e rted

m a nsion to r e pair th e ir own buildings At .

“
this the fairies o r g o od people w er e
, ,

much incens e d ; a nd th e y v e n t e d thei r di s

ple a sur e on th e offend e r in th e w a y we
h av e d e scrib e d .

1 14
 P OLTE RGEI S T S
A corresp o ndent from County Wexford ,

wh o desires to have his name suppress e d ,

“
w r ites as follows : Less th a n ten miles
from the town of C o Wexford lives a
.
,

small farmer named M wh o by dint of

t h rift and industry has reared a l a rge family
decently and comfortably .

“
Some tw e nty years ago M r M .

through the d e ath of a re lative fell i n for,

a l egacy of about a hundred pounds As .

h e w a s already in rather prosper o us circum

stances and as his old thatched dwelling
,

house w as n ot large enough to accomm o d a te

his increasi n g family h e resolved to S pend
,
”
th e money in building a n e w one .

N o t long aft e rwards building operations

commenced and in about a year h e had a
fi n e slated cottage or small fa rm —
,

,
house ,

erected and ready for occupation : so far

very well ; bu t it is little our friend M
a nticipated the troubles which were still
ahead of h im H e purchased som e n e w
.

furniture at t h e nearest town and on a ,

certain day he r emoved all the furnitur e

W hich the old house contained into th e
new one ; and in th e ev e ning the family
fo und th e mselves installed in the l a tter for
11 5
 TRUE I RI S H GH O ST S T O RIES
good as they thought Th ey all retired to
,
.

rest at their usual hour ; scarc e ly were th ey

snugly settled in bed w h en they heard
peculiar noises inside th e house As time .

passed th e din became terribl e —there was

sh u flli n g of feet slamming of doors pullin g
, ,

a bout of furniture and s o forth The man

, .

of the house got up to explore but could ,

se e nothing neither was anything disturbed

,
.

Th e door w as securely locked as he had left

it
. After a th orough investigatio n in which ,

his wife assisted he had to ow n h e could

,

fi n d no clue to the cause of th e disturb

ance . Th e coupl e went to bed again ,

and almost immediately th e racket re com

m e n ce d and continued more or less till
,

dawn .

Th e inmates were puz z led and fright

ened but determined to try wh ether th e
,

noise would be repeat e d the next nigh t

before telling their neighbours what had
happened B ut the pandemonium e xp e ri
.

e n c e d the fi rst night of their occupatio n was

as nothing compared with wh a t they had

t o endure the second nigh t and for several
succeeding nights Sleep w as impossible
.
,

and fi n ally M r M . a nd family 1 n t e rro r

1 16
 TRUE I R I S H GH O S T S T O R IES
t e e the substantial accuracy o f wh at I have
”
stated above .

Professor Barrett in the paper to which

,

we h ave already referred draws certain ,

conclusions from his study of this subj ect ;

one of th e chief of these is that the wide
spr e ad belief in fairies pixies gnomes , , ,

brownies & c probably rests on the va r ied

,
.
,
”
manifestations ofp olte rge i sts T he popular .

explanation o f the above story bears out

this conclusion and i t is further emphasiz e d
,

by the fo llowing which comes from Portar

,

li n gton : A man n ear that town h ad saved

fi v e hundred pounds and determined to build
,

a hous e with the money H e fi xe d on a .

certain spot and began to build very much

, ,

against the advice of his frie n ds w h o said ,

i t was on a fairy path and would bring h im

ill—
,

luck S o on the house was fi n i sh e d and

.
,

the owner mov e d i n ; but th e very fi rst

night h is t r oubles began for som e unseen ,

hand threw the furniture abou t and broke i t ,

while the man himself w as inj ur e d Being .

unwilling to lose th e value of h i s mo n e y he ,

tried t o m ake th e best of th ings But .

nigh t after nigh t th e disturbances c o ntinu e d ,

and li fe in the house was impossible ; the

1 1 8
 P OLTERGEI S T S
own e r chose the bett e r part of valour a nd
left N o tenant h as been found since and
.
,

the house stands empty a sil e n t testimony

,

to the power of the p o lterg e ist .

P olte rge i sti c phenomena from their very

n a ture le n d themselves to spurious re p rodu c
ti o n and imitation as witness the famous
,

c a se of Cock Lane and many other simila r

stories. At least on e well kn o wn case
-

occurred i n I reland and is interesting as

,

showing that where fraud is at work close ,

investigation will discover i t I t is related

.

that an old Royal Irish Constabulary pen

s i on e r who obtained a post as emergency
,

man during th e land troubles and who i n ,

1 8 2 w a s in ch a rge of an evicted farm in

9
the Passage East district w a s being con
,

ti n u all disturbed by furniture and crockery

y
bein g thrown a bout i n a mysterious manner .

R e p o rts were brought to the police and ,

they investigated th e matter ; but nothing

w as heard or s ee n b e y o nd kn ocking on an
inside wall of a b e droom i n which one of
th e sons was sleeping this knocking ceas e d
when the police were in th e b e droom and ,

n o search was made in th e boy s bed to se e ’

if h e had a stick Th e p o lic e therefore

.

1 19
 TRU E I RISH G H O S T S T O RI ES
could find no explanation th e noises con ,

t i n u e d night after night and ev e ntually th e

,

family left and went to live i n Waterford .

A gr ea t fu r ore was raised when it w a s l e arnt

that the h auntings had follow e d them and ,

again investigation w as made but it seems ,

t o have been more careful this time : an

eye was kept on the movements of th e
young son and at le a st tw o independent
,

witnesses saw him throwing things about

fi re i ro sn and j am pots — when he thought
-

h is father w as not looking I t seems to .

have been a plot between the mother and

’
son owing to the form e r s dislike to h er
’
husband s occupation which entailed gre a t
,

unpopularity and considerable personal risk .

’
Fearing for her ow n and her family s safety ,

the wife conceived of this plan to force her

husband to give up his post H er e Eorts .

were successful as the man soon resigned

,

his position and went to live elsewhere .

1

1
P rocee di ng s , S F R
. . .
 TRUE I RI SH G H OS T S TO RI ES

has been lost by a man telling his e xp e ri

e n ce s of a ghost he happens to have met
along some coun try lane and th e fact that
there are cases where an imaginative and
n ervous person has mistaken for a ghost a

white goat or a sheet hanging on a bush

’
only strengthens the sceptic s disbelief and
makes him blind to th e very large weigh t
of evid e nce that can be arrayed agains t
him Some day n o doubt psychologists and
.
, ,

scientists will be able to give u s a complete

a nd satisfactory explanation of these ab n or
mal apparitions but at pr e sent w e are ve ry
,

much in the dark and any e xplanation th at

,

may be put forward is nec e ssarily of a t e nta

t 1v e nature .

Th e following story is sent u s by M r J . .

J. Crowley o f the,
M unster and Leinster
Bank who writes as follows
,
Th e scene
is outside Clonmel on th e main road leading
,

up to a nic e old resid e nce on th e side of the

mountains called Lodge I happened .

to be visiting my fri e nds two other bank ,

’
men It was nigh t about eight o clock
.
, ,

moonl e ss and tolerably da rk and when

, ,

with in a quarter of a mile or perhaps l e ss of

a bridge over a small stre a m nea r th e house
1 22
 H A U NTED PLACES
I saw a girl dressed in whit e wearing a
, ,

bl a ck sash and long fl ow i n g hair walk in ,

the direction from me u p the culvert of the

bridge and disapp e ar down th e other side .

At the time I saw i t I th ought i t most

peculiar that I could distinguish a fi gu re so
far away and th ough t a ligh t of some sort
,

must be falling on the girl or that there ,

were som e p eo ple about a nd that some of

th e m h ad struck a match Wh en I got to
.

th e place I looked about but could fi n d n o

,

person th e re .

“
I related this story to my friends some
time a fter arriving and was then told th at
,

one of th e m had wakened up in his sleep a

few nights previously and had seen an iden
,

tical fi gu re standing at the foo t of his bed ,

and rush e d in frigh t from his room taking ,

refuge for the nigh t with th e other lodger .

T hey told th e story to their landlady and ,

learned from h er that this a pparition had

frequently been seen abou t t h e place and ,

was the spirit of one of h er daughters w h o

h ad died years previously rather young an d ,

who previous to her death h ad gone about

, ,

j ust as w e d e scribed th e fi gu re w e had se e n I .

h a d h eard nothing of this st o ry until afte r I

1 23
 T R U E I RI SH GH O S T S TO RIES

had seen the ghost and consequently i t c o uld

,

n ot be put down to hallucinati on or ov e r

imagination on my p a rt .

T he experiences of two constables o f th e

R oyal Irish Const a bulary wh ile on despatch
duty on e winter s nigh t i n the early eighties
’

has be e n sent u s by one of the men concerned ,

and provides interesting reading It was a .

fi n e moonlight night with a touch of frost ,

in the air when th e se tw o men set out to

,

march th e fi v e miles to the n ext barrack .

Brisk walkin g soon brought them near th eir

destination Th e barrack which they were
.

appro a ching was on the left side of th e roa d ,

and facing it o n the other side was a whit e

thorn hedge Th e road at this point was
.

wide and as the tw o constabl es got within

,

fi fty yards of th e barrack th ey saw a polic e ,

man step ou t from this hedge and move

across the road looking towards the two
,

men as h e did so H e w as plainly visible

.

to t h em both H e was bare headed (runs

.
-

the account) with h is tunic opened down

,

the front a stout built man black haired

,
-
,
-
,

pale full face an d short mutton chop

, ,
-

whiskers . They though t he was a newly

”
j o ined constable wh o w a s d o i ng guard
 T RU E I RI SH GH O S T S T O RI ES
its b e ing other than norm a l never enter e d
th e constables heads till t/zey bad got in to t/ze
’

barrack . When they found the d o or shut

and bolted their amazem e nt was caused by
,

indignation against an appa r ently unsoci a ble

or t h oughtless comrade and i t w as only
,

afterwa rds while discussing the whole thing

,

o n their homeward j ourney that it occurred,

to them that it would hav e be e n impossible

for any ordinary mortal to sh ut bolt and bar , ,

a door without making a sound

In the winter of 1 84 0 —
.

1 in the days ,

when snow and ice and all their a ttendan t

pleasures were more often in e vid e nce than
in these degenerate days a skating party w as
,

enj oying itself on the pond in the grounds

of the Castle near Rathfarnham C o Dublin ,
. .

Among the skat e rs w as a man w h o had with

him a very fi n e curly coated retri e ver d o g
-
.

T he pond w a s thronged with peopl e e nj oy

ing themselves when suddenly th e ice g ave
,

w ay b e neath h im and th e m a n fell into th e

,

water ; the dog went to his r escu e and ,

b o th were drowned A monument w as

.

erected to perpetuate the m e mory of the

dog s h e roic s e lf sacri fi ce but o nly the
’
-
,

pedestal n ow re mains The gh o st of th e

 HA U N T E D PLACES
dog i s said to haunt the grounds and th e
public road between th e castle gate and the
Dodder Bridge M any people h a v e seen
.

t h e phantom dog and th e story is well

,

known locally .

The ghost of a boy who w as murdered

by a Romany is said to haunt on e of th e
lodge gates of the Castle demesne and the ,

lodge keeper stat e s that he saw i t only a

-

short time ago Th e Ca stle however is

.
, ,

now in possession of Jesuit Fathers and ,

th e Supe r ior assures u s that there has been

no sign of a ghost for a long time his ex ,

planation being that th e place is so crowded

o ut with n ew buildings that even a ghost
would h a v e some di ffi cu lty in fi n di n g a
comfortable corner .

It is a fairly general b e li e fam on gst students

of supernatural phenomena that animals
have th e psych ic faculty developed to a
greater extent than we h ave T h ere are .

numerous stories wh ich tell of animals being

scared and frightened by something that i s
invisible to a human being an d th e explan a
,

tion giv e n is th a t the animal has see n a

g host which we cannot se e .A story th a t
is t o ld of a c e rtain spot near the villag e of
1 27
 TRUE I RI SH GH O ST S T O RI E S
G in C o Kilkenny supports this theo ry
.
, .

The account was sen t u s by th e eye witness -

of what occurred and runs a s follows

, I
was out for a walk on e evening near the town
of G about P M and w as crossing
. .
,

th e bridge that leads into the S C arlow .

district with a small wire haired t e rrier dog -

.

When we wer e ab ou t three —quart e rs of a

mile ou t the dog began to bark and yelp i n
,

a most vicious manner at nothing on th e

left hand side of th e roadway and near to a
-

straggling hedge I felt a bit creepy and

.

that someth ing w as wrong Th e dog kept .

on barking but I could at fi rst se e nothin g

, ,

but on looking cl osely for a fe w seconds I

believe I saw a small grey white obj ect -

vanish gradually and noiselessly in to th e

hedge N o soon e r h ad it vanished than the
.

dog ceased barking wagged h i s tail and, ,

seemed pleased with his successful e fforts .

T he narrator goes on t o say that he made

inquiri es when he got home and found th at ,

this spot on the ro a d had a very bad reputa

tion as people had frequently seen a gh ost
,

there while horses h ad often to be beaten

, ,

coaxed or led past the pl a ce T he e xplan a

, .

t ion locally curre n t i s th a t a suicid e w a s

1 28
 TRUE I RI SH GH O ST S T O RIES
h e ard nothing The road was not bordered
.

by trees or a h igh hedge so that it could not ,

have been som e trick of the moonlight On e .

o f the girls described th e appearance of the

fi gu re to a local workman w h o said I t is , ,

very like a tinker w h o was found dead i n

”
that forge about si x months ago .

Here is another story of a haunted spot

”
on a road where a ghost was seen not
, ,

at the W itching hour o f night no t when ,

evening s h adows len gth e n but in broad ,

daylig h t I t is sent to u s by the p ercipient

.
,

a lady wh o does not desir e to have her name

,

mentioned She w as walking along a country

.

road in th e vicini ty of Cork on e afternoon ,

and passed various people She then saw .

coming towards her a country woman dressed -

i n an old fashioned style This fi gu re ap

-
.

ro ach e d her and when it drew n ear su d

p , ,

de n ly staggered as if under th e i n fl u e n ce of
,

drink and disappeared ! She hastened to

,

the spot but searched in vain for any clue

,

to the mystery ; the road was bounded by

high walls and there was no gateway o r
,

gap through w h ich the fi gu re might slip .

M uch m ys ti fi e d sh e continued on h er way

, ,

and arrived at her destination She there .

1 0
3
 HA U NTED PLACES
mentioned what h ad occurred and was then ,

informed by an old resident in th e neighbour

h o o d that that woman had constantly been
seen up to twenty years before but not since ,

that dat e B y th e country people th e road

.
-

w as believed t o be haunted but the per ,

c i i e n t did not know this at th e tim e

p .

Th e following is sen t u s by M r T J . . .

W e strop p and h as points of its ow n which

,
“
are interesting ; h e states O n th e r oad
from Bray to W i n dgate s at th e Deerpark of ,

Ki lru ddy is a spot which whatever h e the

, ,

explanation is distinguished by weird sounds

,

and ( some say ) sigh ts I on on e o ccasion

.

was walking with a friend to catch the

’
train at Bray ab o ut eleven o clock on e even
ing some twenty fi v e years ago when we
-
,

b o th h e ard heavy st e ps and ru stli n g of bracken

in the Deerpark ap parently some one got
over the gate cr o ssed the road with heavy
,

steps and fell from the wall next Bray H ead ,

rustling and slightly groaning The night .

w as ligh tsome t h ough wi thout actual m oon

,

light and we could se e noth ing over the

,

wall wher e we had heard t h e n oise .

For several years aft e r I dismissed the

matter as a delusion ; but when I t o ld the
1 1
3
 T R UE I RI SH GH O ST STO RIES
story t o some c o usins they said that an o ther
,

relative ( n ow a F e llow of Trinity Colleg e ,

Dublin ) had h eard i t too and th at th e re was

,

a loc a l belief that i t was th e ghost of a

poacher mortally wounded by gamek e epers ,

w h o escaped across the ro ad and died beyon d

it
.
”
M r W e strop p afterwards got the rela
.

tive m e nti o ned abov e to tell his experience ,

and it corresponded with his ow n except ,

that th e ghost w as visible Th e clergyman

.

who w as rector of Greystones at that time

used to say t h at he had heard exactly similar
noises though h e had seen nothing .

The following story of an occurrence near

Dublin is sent u s by a lady who is a very
fi rm believer in ghosts O n a fi n e nigh t
.

some years ago tw o sisters were returnin g

h ome from th e th eatre They were walking
.

al o ng a v e ry lonely part of th e Ki m m age

Road ab o ut t w o miles beyond the tram
terminus and were chatting gaily as they
,

went when suddenly th ey heard the clink

, ,
”
clink of a chain coming towards them .

At fi rst they thought it w as a goat or a

donkey which had got loose and w as drag ,

ging its chain along the ground But they .

could se e nothing and could hear no noise

,

1
32
 TRU E I RI SH GH O ST STO RIES
and shive r a t the though t of having to pass
through a churchyard at dead of nigh t .

I t m ay be some encouragement to suc h to

state that ou t of a fairly large collection of
accounts of h aunt e d places only on e relates
,

to a churchyard The story i s t o ld by M r

. .

G H Millar of Edgeworthstown
. . During
“
the winter of h e writes I a ttended ,

a soir é e about fi v e miles from here I w as .

riding and on my w ay home about

,

P M
. I had to pass by the old ruins and
.

burial ground of Abbeyshrule

-
T h e road .

l e d round by two sides of the churchyard .

I t w as a brigh t mo o nlight n ight and as my ,

girth broke I was walking t h e h orse quit e

slowly As I passed the ruin I saw wh a t I
.
,

took t o be a policeman in a long ove r coat

h e was walking from th e centre of th e
churchyard towards th e corner and as far , ,

a s I could se e would be at the corner by

,

the time I would reach i t and we would ,

m e et Quite suddenly however he dis

.
, ,

appeared and I could se e no trace of him

, .

Soon after I ove r took a man wh o had left

the meeting long befor e m e I expr e ssed .

wonder that he had not be e n fa rther on ,

and h e e xplained that he w e n t a ro und ‘

1 34
 H A U N T ED PLACES
a bou t w ay to avoid passing the old abb e y ,

as he did no t wan t to se e The M onk On .

’

questioning him he t o ld me that a monk

,
”
was often s e en in the ch urchyar d .

A story told of a ghost which h aunts a

certain S pot o n an e state near the city o f
Waterford bears a certai n resemblance to
,

the last story for the reason that it was only

after th e e ncounter had taken place in both
cas e s that it w as known that anything o ut
of the ordinary had b e en seen I n th e .

early e ighties of l a st century Court near ,

Waterford was occupi e d by M r and M rs

,
. .

S and their family of tw o young boys and

a girl of twenty one y e ars of age Below
-
.

the house is a marshy glen with a big open

drain cut th r ough i t Late one evening th e
.

d a ughter w as out shooting rabbits near this

drain and saw as sh e though t h er half
, ,

br o ther standing by th e drain in a sailor

suit which like other small boys he w o re
,
.

Sh e called to him once or twice and to ,

h e r surprise got n o reply She went to .

wards him and when sh e got close h e

,

suddenly disappear e d T he next day sh e

.

a sked an old dependent wh o had lived ,

many years in the plac e if th e re was a ny

,

I 3S
 TRU E I RISH GH O S T STO RIES
thing curious about the gl e n H e r e plied .

“
at once : O h you me a n the little sailor
’ ”
man Sure h e won t do you any harm
.
,
.

This was the fi rst sh e had h eard of anything

of the s o rt bu t it was then foun d that none
,

o f the country people would -

g o th r ough

the glen after dusk .

Some time afterwards t wo sons of the

clergyman of the parish in wh ich Court
stands were out on e e vening fi sh i n g in th e
drain when on e of them sudd e nly said
, ,
’
What s that sailor doing t here ? Th e o the r
saw nothing and pr e sently the fi gure van
,

i sh e d At the time of th e appea r ance

neither had heard of M iss S— s e xperience
.

and n o on e has been able to explain i t as ,

there i s app a rently no tradition of any littl e

s a ilor man having been th ere in the fl e sh .

M r Joseph M C rossan a j ournalist on

.
‘
,

the sta t? of the Sfraéane h as sent

u s a cutting from that paper describing a

ghost which appeared to men w o rking in

an engine— house at S traban e railway station
o n two successive nigh ts in O ctober 1
9 3
1 .

The a rticle depicts very graphically th e

antics of th e ghost and th e fear of th e men
w h o saw i t M r M C rossan int e rvi e wed
. .
‘

1 36
 TR U E I RI SH GH OS T STO RIES
my face and I fell forward against the
,

engine Seven of u s saw the gh o st this

.

time O ur cloth e s and everything in th e

.

shed were tossed and thrown about .

The other engine cleaners wer e inter

-

’
vi ewed and corroborated Pinkerton s ac
count One of them stated th a t he saw
.

th e ghost run up and down a ladder leading

to a water tank and disappear into i t ,

while the S ignalman d e scribed h ow he struck

at the ghost with a crowbar but th e,

weapon seemed t o go thro ugh i t T h e .

S pirit fi n ally took h is depa r ture through

the window .

Th e details of this a ffair are v e ry much

on the lines of th e good ol d fashioned ghost
-

yarns But it is hard t o se e h ow so m a ny

.

men could labour under th e same delusion .

Th e suggestion that the whole t h ing was

a practical j oke may also be dismisse d for ,

if the apparition had flesh and bones th e

crowbar would h a ve soo n pr o ved i t Th e.

story g o es th a t a m a n was murdered ne a r

th e spot some time ago ; wh ether th ere is
any connection betw e en this crim e a nd th e
apparition it w o uld be h a rd to say H ow
.

ever we are not conc e rned with e xplan

,

1 38
 HA U NTED PLACES
at i on s
( for w h o as yet, can explain th e ,

supernatural i ) ; th e facts as stated hav e all

the appearance of truth .

M r Patrick Ry a n of P
. C o Limerick
, .
,

gives u s tw o stories as h e heard them related

by M r M ichael O D wye r of the same pl a ce
.
’
.

T h e former is evidently a very str o ng believer

i n supernatural phenom e na but h e realises ,

h ow strong is th e unbelief of many and i n ,

supp o rt of h is stories h e gives names of

sever a l pers o ns who will vouch for th e truth
of them With a fe w alterations we give
.
,

the story i n h is own words M r O Dwye r .

’

has related h ow one nigh t aft e r he h ad ,

carried th e mails to the train he went with ,

som e fodder for a heife r in a fi e ld close to

the railw a y station near to which w as a
cre a mery H e discovered t h e animal gra z
.

ing near th e cream er y although h ow sh e ca m e

to be there was a myst e ry as a broad trench ,

separated i t from th e rest of th e fi e ld which ,

i s only spanned by a plank used by pedes

t ri an s wh e n crossing the fi e ld
’
Perhaps .
‘
,

he said i n explanation i t w as that he rlzou/d,

‘

o th ere to h ear I t as about a quarter

’

g w .

t o tw e lve ( midnight ) a nd h a ving sea r ched

, ,

th e fi e ld i n v a in he w as retu r ning h o m e
, ,

I 39
 TRU E I RI SH GH O ST STO RI ES
when as h e crossed the plank h e espi e d the
, ,

h eifer br o wsing peacefully in th e afore

mentioned part o f the fi e ld which was near
the creamery H e gave he r th e fodder and
.

— Heavens ! was he su fi e ri n g from delusions ?

’

Surely his ears were n ot deceiving h im

from th e creamery funnel there arose a dense
volume of smoke mingled with the s h arp his
sing of steam and the r a ttling o f cans all as ,

if the creamery were working and i t w e re ,

broad daylight H is heifer became st a rtl e d

.

and bellowed frantically O Dwye r him .

’

self a man of nerves yet p o ssessing all th e

,

superstitions of the Celt was startled and r a n

,

without ce a sing to h is hom e near b y wh e r e ,

h e went quickly to bed .

“
O D w ye r is n ot th e only on e wh o has
’

s ee n this as I have be e n told by several of

,

my friends how they h eard i t Wh o kn o ws .

”
the mystery surrounding this a ffair l
Th e second story relat e s to a certain r a il
way st a tion in th e south o f I reland ; again
we use M r Ryan s ow n words
.
’ “
A n ea r
“
relativ e of mine ( h e writes) once had occa
sion to go to the mail train to meet a fri e nd .

While sitting talking to O Dwye r whom h e ’

,

met on th e platform h e h e a r d talking g o i n g

,

1 40
 TRU E I RI S H G H O S T STO RI ES
War when indulging in my favourit e sport
,

of wild fowl shooting that I wi tnessed the

-
,

following strange scen e I t w as a bitterly

.

cold night towards th e end of N ovemb e r o r

beginning of December ; the silvery mo o n
had su nk in the west sh ortly before midnigh t ;
the sport had been all that could be desired ,

when I began to realise that the blo o d was

fro z en in my veins and I was on the point
,

of starting for home when my attention

,

was drawn t o the barking of a dog close b y ,

which was followed in a fe w secon ds by the

l oud report of a musket th e ech o of which
,

had scarcely died away in the silent night ,

when several musket shots went off in

-

quick succession this seemed to be th e

signal for a regular fusillade of musketry ,

and it was quite evident from the nature of

the fi ri n g that t h ere was attack and defence
.

For th e life of m e I could not under

stand what it all meant ; not being super
s t i t i ou s I did not for a moment imagine i t

w as supernatural notwithstanding that my

,

courageous dog was crou ching i n abj ect

.

terror between my legs ; beads of p e rSp i ra

tion began to trickle down from my fore
head w h en suddenly there ar o se a flame as
,

14 2
 HAU NTED PLACE S
if a house were on fi re but I kne w from
,

the position of t h e bla z e ( which was only a

fe w h undred yards from where I stood) ,

that there w as no house there or any com ,

b u sti ble that would burn and what per

,

le x e d m e most was to se e pieces of burning

p
thatch and timber sparks fall h issing into
the water at my feet When the fi re seemed
.

a t its height th e fi ri n g appeared to weaken ,

and when the clear sound of a bugle fl oate d

out o n th e midnight air it suddenly ceased
, ,

and I could hear distinctly the sound of

cavalry coming at a canter their accoutre ,

ments j ingling quite plainly on the frosty

air in a very short time they arrived at the
scene of the fi gh t I though t it an eternity
.

until they took their departure which they ,

did at th e walk .

I t is needless to say that although the,

scene of thi s tu mult w as o n my nearest

w ay home I did n o t venture that way as
, , ,

although there are many people who would

sa
y that I never knew what fe ar w as I must ~
,

confess o n this occasion I w as t h oroughly

frightened .

At breakfast I got a good sound rating

from my father for staying o u t so late .

143
 T RU E I RI S H GH O ST S T O RIES
M y excuse was that I fell asl ee p and had
a h orrible dream which I r e lated When
, .

I fi n i sh e d I w as t old I had b e en dreaming

with my eyes open l— that I w a s n o t th e
fi rst person wh o h ad witnessed this strange
sig h t. H e then told me th e following
narrative I t w as towards th e end of th e
‘

seventeenth century th at a widow named

Sally M ackey and her three sons lived on
the outskirts of the little s e ttlement of th e
M ackeys A warrant was issued by the
.

Gov e rnment against th e th r e e sons for high

treason th e warrant being deliver e d for
,

execution to th e offi ce r in command of th e

infantry regiment stationed at Li fi ord A
'

company was told oil for the purpose of

:

e ffecting the arrest and the troops set out

,

fr o m Li fi ord at 1 1 R M
'

“ ‘
T h e c o ttage home of th e M ackey s
w as approached by a bridle path leading -
,

from th e main road to D erry which only ,

permitted the military to approach i n single

fi le ; they arrived ther e at m idnigh t and ,

the fi rst intimation th e inmates had of

danger was the barking and th e n the shoot
,

ing of the collie dog Possessing as they

,
.

did s e ver a l stand of arms th ey opened fi re

,

144
 C HAPTE R V I
A PP A R I T I O N S A T O R A FT E R D EAT H

IT has b e en said by a very e minent lit e r a ry

man that the accounts o f th e appearan ce of
people at or shortly after the moment of
death make very dull reading a s a general
r ule This may be they are certainly not
.

s o lengthy or full of detail

,
as th e accounts
,

of haunted h o uses — nor could such be ex

p e c te d
. I n ou r humble opinion h owever, ,

th e y are full of i n terest and open up p r oblems

,

o f telepat h y and though t transference to

-

which th e solutions may not be found for

y e ars to come That people h ave seen th e
.

image of a friend or r elative at th e moment

of dissolution sometimes in th e ordinary
,

garb of life sometimes with symbolical ac

,

c om an i m e n ts or th a t th ey h a ve be e n made
p ,

acquainted in some abnormal m anner with

th e fact th a t such a on e has passed away ,

seems to be demonstrated beyond all reason

abl e doubt B ut w e would hast e n to add that
.

146
 A P P A RI T I O N S AT DEA T H
su ch appearances a r e n ot a proof of existence
after death nor can they be r e garded in the
,

l igh t of special intervention s of a merciful

Providence Were they either they would
.

surely occur far oftener T h e question is .

,

Why do they occur at all P As it is th e .

,

maj ority of th e m seem to happen for no par

t i c u lar reason and are often seen by persons
,

w h o h a ve little or no c o nnection with the de

ceased no t by th eir nearest and dearest a s on e
, ,

might expect I t is supposed they are v eri

.

'

die d ! hallu cinations t e ones wh ich corre

,
. .

s o n d with obj ecti v e even ts a t a distance

p ,

and are caused by a telepathic impact con

v e e d from th e mind 0 1 an absent agent to
y
the mind o f the percipient .

From their nature they fall under di fferent

heads Th e maj ority of them occur at what
.

may most conveniently be described as the

time of de a th tho u gh h ow closely they ap
,

proximate in reality to th e instant of th e

Great Change it is impossible to say So w e .

h ave divided this chapter into three groups

( )
1 Appearances at the tim e of death ( as
explained above) .

( )
2 Appear a nces clearly f
a ter th e time of

death .

147
 T R U E I RI SH G H O S T S T O RIES

( 3) In this third group we h ope to give

three curious tales of app e aranc e s some time
éefore death .

G RO U P I
W e commence this group with stories in
which the phenomena connected with th e
respective deaths were n ot perceived as rep t e
se n tat i on s of th e human form I n the fi rs t
.

only sounds w e re heard I t is sen t as a .

personal exp e rience by th e Arch deacon of

Limerick V ery R e v J A H aydn L L D
, . . .
,
. .

I n th e year 1 87 9 there lived in th e p i ctu r

esque Village of Adare at a distance of about
,

eigh t or nine miles from my resid e nce a ,

District Inspector named with whom

I enj oyed a friendship of the most intimate
and fraternal kind At th e time I write of
.
,

M rs . w as expecting the arrival of thei r

third ch ild Sh e was a particularly tiny and
.

fragile woman and much anxiety w as fel t

,

as to the result of the impending event .

H e and she had very frequently spent pleasan t

days at my house with all the apartment s
,

of wh ich they w e r e thoroughly acqu a int e d

—a fa ct of import a nce in this narrative .

14 8
 T R U E I RIS H GH O ST S T O RIE S
do w n and wanted to S peak to me I sat up ,

in bed and called to her by name asking

, ,

what was the matter As there was n o .

reply and t h e sounds had ceased I struck a

, ,

match lighted a candle and opened th e

, ,

d o or N o on e w as visible or audible I
. .

went upstairs found all t h e doors shut and

,

everyone asleep Greatly puzzled I returned

.
,

to t h e study and wen t to b e d 1e av i n g the ,

candl e alig h t Immediately th e wh ole per

.

form an ce was circumstantially repeated but ,

2712} time th e handle of the door was grasped

by the invisible h and and p artly turned , ,

then relinquish ed I started out of bed an d

.

renewed my previous search with equally ,

futile results The clock struck eleven and

.
,

from that time all disturbances ceased .

O n Friday morning I received a letter

stating th a t M rs had died at about
.

midnight on the previous Wednesday I .

hastened off to Adare and had an intervie w

with my bereaved friend With o ne item .

of ou r conversation I will close H e told .

me that his wife sank rapidly on Wednesday ,

until when nigh t came on sh e became d e liri

ous Sh e spoke incoherently as if r e visiting
.
,

scenes and places once famili a r She th ough t .

1
5
0
 A P P A RI T I O N S AT DEATH
sh e
’
was in y our hous e h e said and w as ap
, ,

are n tl holding a c o nversation with as

p y y ou ,

s h e used to keep silenc e at intervals as if

’
listening to your replies I asked h im if he
.

could possibly remembe r the hour at wh ich

the imaginary conversation t o ok place H e .

replied that curiously enough he could tell

, ,

it a ccurately as he had looked at his watch

, ,

and foun d the time between half past ten -

and eleven o clock— the exact time of the

’

mysterious manifestations heard by me .

A lady s e nds the following personal e xp e ri

ence I had a cousin in th e country wh o
w as n o t very strong and on one occ a sion
,

s h e desired me to o to her and accompany

g ,

her to K I cons e nted to do s o and ,

arrang e d a day to go and meet her : this

was in th e month of Fe bru ary Th e even .

ing befor e I w as to go I w as sitting by th e

,

fi re in my small parlour about 5 P M . .

T here w as no ligh t in th e room except

what proceeded from the fi re Beside the .

fi re place was an armchair whe re my cousin ,

usually s at wh e n sh e was with me Sud .

de n ly that chair was illumin a t e d by a light

so int e ns e ly bright that it a ctually seem e d

to bed ue under i t though th e remainde r o f

'
,

1 5 1
 T RUE I RI SH GH O S T STO RI ES
—
the room remained in s e mi darkness . I
called ou t in amazement What has hap ,
‘

’
pened to the chair ? In a moment th e
light vanished and the chair w as as before
,
.

I n the morning I heard that my cousin had

died about t h e same time that I saw th e
”
light .

We n ow come to the ordinary type zle ,

.

where a fi gu re app e ars T he following tale .

illustrates a point we have already alluded

t o namely that the apparition is sometimes
, ,

seen by a disinterested person and n ot by ,

those whom on e would naturally expect

should see i t A lady writes as follows
.

At Island Magee is the Kn ow e h e ad Lonan ,

a long hilly narrow road bordered on

, , ,

eith er side by high thorn hedges and fi e lds -

.

Twenty years ago when I w as a young ,

girl I used to go to the post ofii ce at the

,
-

Kn ow e h e ad on Sunday mornings down th e

Lonan taking the dogs for the run One
, .

S unday a s I had go t to the top of the hill

o n my return j ourney I looked back a nd , ,

s aw a man walking rapidly after me but ,

still a good w ay off I h astened my steps.

,

for the day w as muddy and I did not want ,

h im t o see me in a bedraggl e d state But .

1 52
 TR U E I RI SH GH O S T STO RIES
self from the time I left h ome till I w e n t
down to Kn ow e h e ad Lonan .
’

Next day C D came to work for u s

. .
,

a nd I asked her who was the man w h o w as

standing beside h er after I passed her on
Sunday .

N ae b ody sh e replied I saw naebody ,

but
I t all seemed very strange and so th ey ,

thoug h t too About th ree weeks later new s

.

came that C D s only brother a sailor w as

. .
’

, ,
”
washed overboard that Sunday morning .

The following story is not a fi rst—hand

experience but is sent by the gentlem a n to
,

whom it w as related by th e percipient Th e .

latter said to him

“
I was sitting in this same chair I am in
at present one evening wh en I heard a ,

knock at th e front door I wen t myself to .

se e w h o was there and on opening the door

,

saw my o ld friend P Q st a nding outside. .

with his gun in his h and I w as surprised .

at seeing him but asked him to come in and

,

h a ve s o mething H e came inside th e porch

.

into the lampligh t a nd stood there for a

,

few momen ts then h e mutte re d s o meth in g

ab o ut being s o rry h e had disturb e d m e a nd ,

1
54
 A P P A RI T I O N S AT DEATH
that h e w as on h is w ay to see his brother ,

Colonel Q w h o lived about a mile farther

.
,

on . Wi thout any further explanatio n h e

walked away towards the gate into the dusk .

“
I w as greatly surprised and perplexed ,

but as he h ad gone I s a t down again by the

fi re Abou t an h our later a not he r knock
.

came to the door and I a g a in went ou t t o,

s e e w h o was th ere O n opening it I fo und.

P O s groom h olding a horse and h e a sked

’
. .
,

m e where h e was as h e h a d missed his way,

i n the dark and did no t know the locality

, .

I told him and th e n asked h im where he

,

was going a nd w h a nd he r e plied that h is

,

master was dead at h is ow n house about

nine miles a way ) and that h e had been sent
,
”
t o announce th e news to Colon e l Q .

M iss Grene of Grene Park C o Tipperary

, , .
,

relates a story which was told her by the

late M iss sister of a former Dean of
Cashel The latter an old lady stated that
.
, ,

one tim e sh e was staying with a friend in a

h ouse in th e suburbs of D ublin I n front .

of th e house w as the usual grass plot divided ,

into two by a short gravel path which l e d

down t o a g a te which open e d on to the
str ee t She a nd her friend were o n e day
.

I
SS
 T R UE I RI SH GH O S T S T O RI ES
engaged in needlework i n one of th e fron t
rooms when they h eard the gate opening
, ,

and on looking out the window they saw an

elderly gentleman of their acquaintance com
ing up the path As h e approached th e
.

door both exclaimed : Oh how good ,

of h im to come and see u s l As he was

n ot shown into the sitting room on e of them -
,

rang th e bell and said to the maid wh en

,

sh e appeared ,
You h ave not let M r S o a nd .
-

”
so in he is at the door for some little time .

Th e maid went t o the hall door and re ,

turned to say that there w as n o on e there .

Next day th ey learn t that he had died j ust

a t the hour t h at th ey had seen him comin g
up the path .

Th e follow i n g tale contains a cu ri ou s point .

A good many years ago the R ev H enry .

M orton now dead held a cur a cy i n Ireland

, , .

H e had to pass through the graveyard when

leaving hi s house to visit the parishioners .

One beautiful m oonlight nigh t h e was s e n t

for to Visit a sick p e rson and was a e com ,

an i e d by his brother a medical m a n wh o

p , ,

was staying with him After performin g .

the religious duty they return e d through

th e churchyard and wer e ch a tting a b o ut
,

1 56
 TRU E I RI S H GH O S T S T O RIES
known to i t T he girl
. w o ke up and recog
n i s e d h er father He . did n o t sp e ak b ut ,

g azed for a few momen ts at h is daught e r ,

and th en vanished N e xt morn ing a t e le

.

gram w as handed to h e r which communi

c at e d the s ad news th at her father had
died on th e previous ev e ning at th e h our
wh e n h e app e ared t o her .

Here is a story of a very old type I t .

occurred a good many years ago A gentle .

man named Miller resided in C o Wexford .

,

while his friend and former schoolfello w

lived in the North of I reland This l ong .

’
friendship led them to Visit at each other s
h o us e s fr o m time to time but for M r , .

M iller there was a deep shado w of sorrow

o ver these otherwise happy moments for , ,

wh ile h e enj oyed th e most enligh tened re f

li gi ou s opinions his frien d was an unbeliever

, .

T h e last time they were togethe r M r S cott .

said My dear fri e n d le t u s solemnly promise

, ,

that whichever of u s shall di e fi rst shall

appear t o th e oth er after death if it b e ,
” ”
possible . Le t i t be so if God will , ,

replied M r M iller One morn ing s o me

. .

’
time a fter about three o clock th e latter w as
, ,

aw a kened by a brilliant light in his bed

1
5 8
 A P P A RI T I O N S AT DEATH
ro o m ; h e imagined that the house must
be on fi re when h e felt what seemed to be
,

a hand laid on him and h eard his friend s

,
’

“
voice say distinctly There is a God j ust
, ,
”
but terrible in H is j udgments and all again ,

was dark M r M iller at o nce wrote down

. .

this remarkabl e e xp e rience Two days later .

h e receiv e d a letter announcing M r Scott s .

’

death on the night and at the hour that

, ,

h e had seen th e l igh t in his room .

The above leads u s o n to the famous

”
Beresford Ghost which is gen erally re
,

garded as h olding the sam e position relativ e

t o I rish ghosts that Dame Alice Kyt e le r
used to h old with r e spect to Irish witches
a nd wizards T he story is so well kn own
.
,

and h as been p ublished so often that only ,

a brief allusion is necessary with th e added ,

i nformation that the best version is t o be

found in Andrew Lang s D ream: and G/zartr ’

c hapter viii ( Silver Libr a ry Edition )

. .

L o rd Tyrone appeared after death on e night

to Lady B e resford at Gill H all in accord ,

ance with a promise (as in the last sto ry)

made in early life H e assur e d her that
.

the religion as rev e aled by J e sus Christ was

the o nly true one ( both he and Lady B er e s
I S9
 TRUE I RI SH GH OST STO R I ES
ford had been brough t up Deists) told h e r ,

th at she was eneeime and would bear a son

‘

and also foretold her second marriage and ,

the time of her death In proof wher e of

.

h e drew the bed hangings through an i r on

h ook wrote his name i n h er pocket — book ,

and finally placed a hand cold as marble o n

,

her wrist at which the sinews shrunk up

, .

To th e day of h er death Lady Beresford

wor e a black ribbon roun d h er wrist ; thi s
was taken off before h er burial and i t was ,

found th e nerves were withered and the ,

sinews shrunken as sh e had pr e viously de

,

scribed to her children .

G R OUP I I
We n ow come to some stories of appari
tions seen some time after the hour ofdeath .

Canon Ross Lewin of Limerick furnishe s

-
, ,

the followin g i nciden t in h is own family .

M y u n cle J oh n Dillon Ross L e win lieu

,
-
,

tenant in the 3oth Regiment was mortally ,

wounded a t I nkerman on November 5 ,

1 8 4 and di e d on the morning of the 6th

5 , .

H e appeared that night to his mother wh o ,

w as then on a visit in C o Limerick i n

.
,

1 60
 TR UE I RI SH GH O S T STO RI ES
passage outside the kitchen if the do o r ,

h appened to be open ! T h e n a r rator

. en

cl o sed a rough plan which made the whole

story perfectly clea n ] Sh e was standing
o n e day by herself at the table and th e ,

door was open This w as in broad daylight

.
,

about eleven o clock i n the morning in the

’

end of February or beginning of March Sh e .

was icing a cake and therefore w as hardly

,

thinking of ghosts Suddenly sh e looked

.

up from her work and glanced through the

,

open kitchen door into the passage leading

’
past t h e servants parlour into the dairy
She saw quite distinctly the fi gu re of th e
deceased cook pass towards the dairy ; sh e
was dressed in the ordinary costume sh e
used to wear in th e mornings and seemed ,

in every respect quite normal M y wife .

w as n ot at the moment in the least shocked

, ,

or su rprised bu t on the contrary s h e followed

, ,

and searc h ed in t h e dairy in to wh ich s h e ,

was j ust in time t o see her skirts disappear

”
ing Needless to say nothing was Visible
.
, .

Canon Courtenay M oore M A Rector ,

. .
,

of M itc h elstown contributes a personal ex

,

p e ri e n ce I t was about eight e en y e ars ago

—
.

I cannot fi x the exact date — that Samuel

1 62
 A P P A RI T I ON S A FTE R DEATH
Penrose returned to this parish from th e
A rgentine . H e was gettin g on s o well
abroad that h e would h ave remain ed th ere ,

but his wife fell ill and for her sake h e ,

returned to Ireland H e w as a carpenter .

by trade and h is former employer w as glad

,

to take him into h is serv i ce again Sam .

w as a very respectable man of sincere re

li gi ou s feel ings S oon after h is r e turn he
.

met with on e or two rather severe accidents ,

and had a stron g im pression that a fatal one

would happen him before long ; and so it
came to pass A sca ffolding gave way one
.

day and precipitated him on to a flagged

,

stone fl o or H e did n o t die immediately

.
,

but his inj uries proved fatal H e died in .

a Cork h ospital soon after h is admission

I wen t to Cork to offi ci at e at his funeral .

Abo ut noon the next day I was standing

at my hall door and th e form of poor Sam
, ,

the upper half of i t seemed to pass before,

me H e lo oked peaceful and happy — i t w as

.

a momentary vision but p e rfectly distinct,

.

Th e truncated appearance p uzzled me very

much until some time after I read a large
,

book by F W H Myers in which h e

. . .
,

made a sci e n ti fi c analysis and induction of

1 63
 TRU E I RI S H GH O ST S T O RIES
such phenomena and said that they wer e
,

almost universally seen in this half— length

form I d o not profess to explain what I
.

saw its messag e if it had a message seemed

, ,

to be that poor Sam was at last at rest and

”
in pe a ce .

A sto ry s o m e wh a t similar to the above

was related to u s i n wh ich the apparition
,

seems c er tainly t o h ave been sent with a

de fi n i te purpose Two maiden ladies
.
,

whom we shall call M iss A X and M iss . .

B Y lived together for a good many years

. .
, .

As one would naturally expect th ey were ,

close friends and had the most intimate

,

relations with each other both being ex ,

t re m e ly religious women I n process of .

ti m e M iss B Y died and after death M iss

. .
,

A X formed the impression for some

. .
,

unknown reason that all was not well with

—
,

her friend that in fact her soul was n ot at

, ,

rest This th o ught caused her great u n

.

easiness and trouble of mind One day sh e .

was sitting in her armchair thinking over

this and cryin g bitterly Sudde n ly sh e
, .

saw i n front o f her a brilliant light in th e ,

’
midst of which was her friend s fac e easily ,

recognisable but tran sfi gu re d and wearing

, ,

1 64
 TR U E I RI S H GH O ST STO RI ES
made themselves at home with the people
from the mainland wh o were temporarily
resident upon i t .

The old bar at its best w as never very

safe for navigation and this ev e ning it w as
,

in its element as with every storm it pre

,

sented one boiling seething mass of foam

, .

The inhabitants of th e island saw the frail

small boat from th e ship securely inside th e
bar and prophesied some dire calamity
,

should the captain and the tw o sailors

venture to return to th e ship that night .

But the captain and his companions h aving ,

secured su ffi ci e n t provisions decided ( as,

far as I can remember the story ) even in ,

spite of the entreaties of those on shore to ,

return to the ship The storm was i n cre as

.

ing an d what with their scanty knowledge

,

of th e intricacies o f the channel and th e ,

darkness of the night certain it w as th e

,

next morning their craft w as found wash ed

ashore o n th e island and the body of th e
,

captain w as discovered by the fi rst m an w h o

made the round of th e shore looking for
logs of timber or other useful articles
,

washed ashore from wrecks The bodies of .

the two sailors were never recovered and ,

1 66
 A P P A RI T I O N S A FTE R DEATH
word was s e nt imm e diately to the captain s ’

wife i n Derry wh o came in a fe w days and

,

gave directions for the disposal of her

’
husband 8 corpse .

Th e island was only temporarily in

h abited by a fe w people w h o had cattle and
h orses grazing there for some weeks in th e
year and after this catastrophe they felt
,

peculiarly lonely and s o ught refuge from

,

their thoughts by all spending th e evening

together in on e h ous e Th is particular .

evening th ey were all seated round the fi re

having a c h at when they heard st e ps ap
,

roach i n th e d o or T hough the approach

p g .

w as fi n e soft sand yet th e steps were aud

, ,

ible a s if coming on hard ground They .

knew th e re was no one on th e island save

the fe w wh o were sitting quietly round the
fi re and so in eage r expectation they faced
,

round to the door What was their amaze .

ment when the door op e ned and a tall , ,

broad shouldered man appeared and fi lle d

-

the whole doorway — and that man the

captain wh o had been buried several days
previ o usly H e wore the identical suit in
.

which he had often visited th e island and

“ ”
e ven the ch ees e cutter cap so c o mmon
-
,

1 67
 T RU E I RI SH G H O S T S T O R I ES
’
a feature of se a faring men s apparel was
-
,

not wanting All were struck dumb with

.

terror and a woman who s at in a c or ner

,

opposite the door exclaimed in I rish i n a

,

low voice to my father

’ ’
O God Patrick there s the captain
, .

M y fath e r r e covering from th e fi rst

,

shock when he saw feminine co u rage fi n d

,

ing expression in w o rds said in I rish to th e

,

a ar1 t1 on
pp
Come in l

They were so c e rtain of th e appea r ance

that they address e d him in his own l a nguage ,

as they inv a riably talked I rish in th e district

in those days But no s o oner h ad h e
.

uttered the invitation than the fi gu re with ,

o u t the least word o r sign moved back and , ,

disappeared from their view Th e y rushed .

o u t but could discover no sign of any living

,

person within th e con fi n e s of th e isl a nd .

Such is th e true account of an a cciden t ,

by which t h re e men lost th e ir lives ,

and the ghostly sequel in wh ich o ne of ,

them appeared to the eyes of fou r p e ople ,

two of wh om a re yet alive and can ,

vouch fo r the accuracy of this n a rr a

”
tiv e .
 TR U E I RIS H GH O S T S T O RI ES
at the window gazing o u t on the turbulen t
,

waters of the lake Sometimes a regular .

fog appeared caused by the terrible down

,

pour of rain and the fury of the gale .

During an occasional lull I could se e th e

islands plainly looming in the distance I n .

on e of these clear intervals th e time being ,

about P M fi v e friends of mine were

. .
,

reading in th e room in which I stood .

Quick ! quick 1 I cried ’

I s that a boat .

turned over ? M y friends all r a n to the

’

windows but could se e nothing I per

,
.

sisted h owever and said I t i s on its side

, , , ,

with the keel turned towards u s and it is ,

’
empty . Still none of my friends could se e
anything I th en ran ou t and got on e of
.
,

t h e men s e rvants to go down to a gate

-
,

about one hundred yards neare r the lak e

than where I stood H e had a powerful .

t e lescope and remained with great di ffi culty

,

in t h e teeth of the storm wit h his glass for

several minutes but could se e nothing
, .

When h e returned another man took his

place but h e also failed to see anything
, .

“
I seemed so distressed that those around
me kept g o ing backwards and forwards to
the windows and then ask e d me what was
,

1
7 0
 A P P A RI T IO N S BEFO RE DEATH
the size of the boat I had seen I gave .

them the exact si z e measuring by land ,

marks T h ey th e n assured me that I must

.

be absolutely wrong as it was on rare oc ,

casions that a party boat such as the on e ,

I d e scribed could venture on the lakes on

,

such a day Th e refore there w e re seven

.

persons w h o th ought I was wrong in what

I had se e n I still contended that I saw
.

the boat the length of wh ich I d e scribed

, ,

as plainly as possible .

The day wore o n and evening came ,

.

Th e i ncident was apparently more or less

forg o tten by all but me until at 8 A M on , . .

th e following morning when the maid ,

broug h t up tea her fi rst words were Ah

, ,
‘
,

m i ss is it n o t terrible ab o ut the accident

,
.

’
Naturally I said What a ccident M ary ?
,
‘
,

S h e replied Th ere were thirt e en people

,
‘

drowned y e sterday evening out of a four

oared boat . That proved that the boat I
’

had seen at P M was a vision fore. .

shadowing the wreck of the boat off Darby s

Garden at P M Th e position shape
. .
, ,

and si z e of th e boat seen by me were

identical with th e one that was l o st o n the
e vening of M a y 1 8 ,

17 1
 TRU E I RI SH G H O ST S T O RIES
The second story relates h ow a lady wit
n e sse d a Vision
( shall w e call i t
) of a suicide
a w e ek before the terrible deed was com
m i t te d This incident surely makes it clea r
.

th at such cannot be looked upon as special

i nterventions of Providen c e for if the lady ,

had recognised the man sh e might h ave ,

prevented his rash act M rs M acAlp i n e . .

says : I n June 1 8 89 I drove to Castle ,

blan e y in C 0 Monagh an to meet my

,
.
,

sister I expected h er at three o clock but ’

as she did not c o me by that train I put up ,

the horse and w e nt for a wal k in th e

demesn e At length bec o min g tired I sa t
.
,

down on a rock by the e dge of a lake M y .

attention w as quite t aken up with th e

beauty of the scene before me as it w as a ,
’
glorious summer s day Presently I felt a .

cold chill cr e ep through me a nd a curious ,

sti ffness came over my limbs as if I c o uld ,

not move t h ough wishing to do so I fel t

, .

frightened yet chain e d to the spot and as

, ,

if impelled to stare at the water straigh t

before me Gradually a black cloud se e med
.

t o rise and in th e midst o f it I saw a tall

,

man in a tweed suit j ump into the w a ter

, , ,

an d sink I n a m o m e nt the d ar kness was

.

17 2
 TRU E I RI SH GH O ST STO RIES
approached each other for our eyes met , ,

and sh e had the colour of o n e W h o had

risen from the grave I s e emed to feel my
.

hair stand on end for j ust as we were abou t

,

to pass each other s h e turn e d her face to

wards me and I gasped M y G od sh e i s
, ,
‘
,

dead and is going to speak to me

,
no
word was spoken and she passed on After
, .

proceeding a short di st an ce I looked back ,

and she continued on to Washingto n

Avenue wh ere sh e disappeared from me
, .

T h ere was no other person n ear at the

time and being so close I was well able to
, ,

note what she wore She held a sunshade .

over her head and the clothes hat 85 0

, , , ,

were those I knew so well before I left

Ireland I wrote home telling what I had
.

seen and asking if she w as dead I received

, .

a reply saying she w as not dead at the date

I saw her but had been asking if a letter
,

had come from me for some days before

h er death I t w as j ust t w o days before sh e
.

actually died that I had seen her .

 CH A PTE R V I I
B ANSH EE S AN D O T H E R, DE AT H -
WARN I N G S

OF all I rish ghosts fairies or bogles the

, , ,

Ban shee (sometimes called locally the B 0

h é é n th a is t h e best
'

or

known to th e general public indeed cross ,

Channel visitors would class her wit h pigs ,

potatoes and ot h er fauna and fl ora of Ire

,

land and would expect h e r to make mani

,

fest her presence to them as being on e of

the sigh ts of the country S he is a spirit .

with a lengthy pedigree— h ow lengthy no

man can say as i t s roots go back into the
,

dim mysterious past The most famous

,
.

Banshee of ancient times w as that attached

to the kingly house of O B ri e n Ai b h ill ’

, ,

wh o haunted t h e rock of C ragle a above

Killaloe near the old palace of Ki n cora
,
.

I n A D 1 0 1 4 was fough t th e battle of Clon

. .

tarf from wh ich th e aged king Brian Boru

, , ,

knew th at h e would never come away alive ,

for th e previous nigh t Ai bh i ll had appeared

to him to tell him of his impending fate .

I 7S
 TRU E I RI S H GH O ST STO RIES
The Banshee s method of foretelling death
’

in olden times di ffered from that adopted

by her at the present day : n ow she wails
and wrings her hands as a gener al rule but , ,

in the old I rish tales sh e is to be foun d

washing human heads and limbs or blood ,

stained clothes till the w a ter is all dyed

,

wit h human blood— this would take place

before a battle So it would seem that in
.

t h e course of centuries h er attribu tes and

characteristics have changed somewhat .

V ery di fferent descriptions are given of

he r personal appearance Sometimes sh e i s .

young and beautiful sometimes old and of a

,

fearsome appearance One writer describes.

her as a tall thin woman with uncovered

,

head and long h air that fl oate d round her

,

shoulders attired in som e th i n g which seemed

,

either a loose white cloak or a sheet thrown ,

”
hastily arou nd her uttering piercing cries
,
.

Another person a c o achman saw h er one

, ,

evening sitting o n a stile in the yard ; she

seemed to be a very small woman with blue ,

eyes long ligh t hair and wearing a red cloak

, , .

Other descriptions will be found in this

chapter B y the w ay i t does not seem to
.
,

be tr ue that the Ba n sh e e exclusively follows

1 7 6
 T R UE I RI S H GH O ST STO RIES
sh r ieks simil a r to that wh ich had fi rst
excited Lady Fan sh aw s attention I n th e
’
.

morning with i n fi n i te terror sh e communi

, ,

c at e d to her host what she had witnessed ,

and found h im prepared not only to cr e dit ,

“
but t o acco unt for th e superstition A .

“
near relation of my family said h e ex , ,

p i re d last nigh t in th is c a stle We d i s .

guised our certain expect a tion of the event

from you lest it should th row a cloud ov e r
,

th e cheerful r e ception wh ich was your due .

N ow before such an event happens in this

,

family or castl e the female spectre whom

,

you have seen is always visible Sh e is b e .

li e v e d to be th e spirit of a woman of
inferior rank wh o m one o f my ancestors
,

degraded h imself by mar rying and whom ,

afterwards to e xpiate the dishonour done

,

to h i s family he caused to be drowned in

,
”
th e m o at I n strictness this woman could
.

hardly be termed a Banshee The motiv e

for the haunting is akin to th a t in the
”
tal e of th e Scotch Drummer of Cortachy ,

where the spirit of th e murdered man

h aunts th e family out of r eveng e and ,

appears before a death .

M r T J W e stropp M A h as furnished
. . .
, . .
,

17 8
 BAN SH EES
the foll o wing story My matern a l grand
mother heard th e following tradition from
h er mother on e of the M iss Ross Lewins
,
-
,

who witnessed the occurrence Their father .

,

M r Harrison Ross —
. Lewin was away in ,

Dublin on law business a nd in h is absence,

the young people went off to spend the

evening with a frien d w h o lived some miles
away T he night was fi n e and lightsome
.

as t h ey were returning save at on e point

,

w h ere th e road ran between tre e s or high

hedges not far t o th e west of the old church
o f Ki lc h ri s t T h e latt e r like many similar
.
,

ruins was a simple oblong building with

, ,

long side — walls and high gables and at that ,

time it and its graveyard were unenclosed ,

a nd l a y in the open fi e lds As the party .

passed down the long dark lane th e y

suddenly heard in th e distance lo ud keening
and clapping of hands as the country ,

people were accustomed to do when lamen t

ing the dead Th e Ross Lewins hurried
.
-

on,
and came in sigh t of th e church on
‘

the side wall of which a littl e gray haired —

old woman clad in a dark cloak was run
, ,

n ing to and fro chanting and wailing and

, ,

th rowing u p her arms Th e girls w e r e .

I 79
 T R U E I RI S H G H O S T S T O RIES
very frightened but the young men ran ,

forward and surrounded the ruin and tw o ,

of them w e nt in to the church the appari ,

tion vanishing from the wall as they did

so. Th ey searched every nook and foun d ,

no one nor did anyone pass ou t All were

,
.

n ow well scared and got h ome as fast as

,

possible O n reaching their h ome thei r

.

mother opened th e do or and at once told ,

t h em that sh e w as i n terror about thei r

fath e r for as sh e sat looking out th e
, ,

window in the moonlight a huge raven ,

W ith fi e ry e yes lit on t h e sill and tapped ,

three times on th e glass T hey told her .

their story which only added to thei r

,

a nxiety and as th ey stood talking taps came

, ,

to the n earest window and they saw the ,

bird ag a in A few days later news r eached

.

them that M r Ross Lewin had died suddenly

.
-

in D ublin T h is occurred about

.

M r W e stropp also writes that th e siste r

.

of a fo r mer Roman Catholic Bishop told

his sisters that when sh e was a little girl
sh e went out one evening wi th some o ther

children for a walk Going down the road .

,

they passed th e gate of the principal demesne

n ear th e t o wn T her e was a r ock or l a rge
.
,

1 80
 T R U E I RI S H GH O S T STO RI ES
dentally fell hit his head against th e curb
,

ston e and neve r recovered consciousness

,
.

I n March 1 9 0 0 my mother was ve ry ,

ill and one evening th e nurse and I were

,

with her arranging h er bed We suddenly .

heard the most e xtraordinary wailing which ,

seemed to come in wav e s round and under

h er bed We natur a lly looked everywhere
.

to try and fi n d the cause but in vain The , .

n urse and I looked at on e another but made ,

no rem a rk as my mother did n ot seem to

,

h ear i t My sister was downstairs sitting

.

with my father She h eard i t and though t.

,

som e terrible thing had happened to her

little boy w h o w as in bed upstairs S he
,
.

rushed u p and found him sleeping quietly

, .

M y father did not hear i t In th e house .

next door they heard i r and ran downstairs , ,

thinkin g something had happened to the

servant but th e latter at once said to them ,
‘
Did you hear the Bansh ee ? M rs P .

’
must be dying .

A few years ago before 1 89 4 ) a

curi o us incident occurred in a public school
in connection with the belief in the Banshe e .

One of the boys happening to becom e ill , ,

was a t once pl ac e d in a room by himself ,

1 82
 BA N SH EES
where h e us e d to si t all d a y On one .

o ccasion as he was being visited by the

,

doctor h e suddenly started up from his seat

, ,

and affi rm e d that he heard somebody crying .

T h e doctor o f course who could hear or

, ,

se e nothing came to the conclusion that

,

th e illness h a d slightly a ffect e d his brain .

How e ver the boy wh o appeared quite

, ,

sensible still persisted that he heard some

,

on e cryin g an d furthermore said I t is the

, ,

Banshee as I have heard it befor e

,
Th e .

following morning the head master r e ceived -

a telegram saying that the boy s brother ’

had been accidentally shot dead .

1

T h at the Bansh e e is not c on fi n e d withi n

th e geographic a l limits of I reland but that ,

sh e can follow th e fortunes of a family

abroad and there foretell their death is
, ,

clearly shewn by th e following story A .

party of Visitors were gathered together on

the deck of a private yach t on on e of the
I talian lakes and during a lull in th e con
,

v e rsation on e of th em a Colonel said to the ,

Count wh o s that queer—

,
“ ’
o wner , ,
looking
woman you have on board ? Th e C o u nt
r eplied that there was nobody except th e
1 A G B r dl y N t
. . m I i ] S p
a e ,
ti ti p 9
o es on s a e r s : u e rs ons , . .

1 83
 TRU E I RI SH GH O S T STO RIES
ladies present and the stewardess but the
, ,

s peaker pr o tested th a t h e was correct and ,

suddenly with a scream of horror he placed

, ,

h is hands before his eyes and exclaimed , ,

Oh my God what a face

, , For some
time he w as overcome with t e rro r and at ,

length reluctantly looked u p and cried ,

’
Thank H eavens it s gone ,

What w as it asked the Count .

”
Nothing human replied the Colonel ,

nothing belonging to th is world I t w as .

a woman of n o earthly type with a queer ,

shaped gleaming face a mass of r e d hair

, , ,

and eyes that would have been beautiful bu t

for their expr e ssion wh ich was hellish , .

She h ad on a green hood after the fash ion ,

”
of an Irish peasant .

An American lady present suggested that

th e description tallied with t h at of th e
Bansh ee upon which th e Count said :
,

I am an O N e i ll— at least I am descended

’

from one M y family name is as you

.
,

know N e ilsi n i which little more than a

, , ,

century ago w as O N e ill,

My great ’
.

grandfather served in th e I rish Brigade and ,

o n its dissolution at the time of the Fr e nch

R e volution had the good fortune to esc a pe

1 84
 T R UE I RI SH G H O ST S T O RI ES
of that on e may b e regarded as pretty w e ll
”
certa i n .

We must n ow pass on from th e subj ect

of Banshees to the kindred one of H eadles s
”
Coaches th e belief in which i s W idespread
,

through th e country Apparen tly these

.

dread vehicl e s must be distinguished from

the phantom coaches of which numerou s ,

circumstantial tales are also told T he fi rst .

are harbingers of death and in this c on ,

n e c t i on are very often attached to certain

families ; the latter ap pear to be spectral

ph enomena pure and simple whos e appear ,

ance does no t necessarily portend evil or

de a th .

“
At a house in C o Limerick writes
.
,

M r T J W e st rop p
. . occurred th e remark
.
,

ably attested apparition of t h e headless coach

-

in Jun e 1 80 6 when M r R alph W e strop p

, .
,

my great grandfather lay dying T h e story

-
,
.

was told by his sons John William and , , ,

Ralph to their respective children w h o told

, ,

i t to me They had sent for the doctor

.
,

and were awaiting his arrival in the dusk .

As th ey sat on the steps they suddenly

heard a heavy rumbling and saw a h uge ,

dark co a ch driv e into the p a ved court befo re

1 86
 H EA DL ESS C OA CH ES
the do o r One of th e m wen t down t o
.

meet the doctor but the coach swept past,

h im and drov e down the avenue which

, ,

went straigh t between th e fences and hedges

to a gate Tw o of the young men ran after
.

the coach which they could hear rumbling

,

before them and suddenly came full tilt

,

against the avenue gate T h e nois e had .

stopped and th e y were surprised at no t

,

fi n di n g th e carriage The gate proved t o .

be locked and W hen they at last awoke the

,

lodge keeper h e showed them the keys under

-
,

his pillow the doctor arrived a little later ,

but could do nothing and the sick man died ,

”
a few h ours a ft e rwards .

Tw o oth er good stories come from C o .

Clare One n igh t i n April 1 82 1 two

.
,

servants were sitting up to rec e ive a son of

th e family C ornelius O C allagh an w h o had
,
’

travelled i n vain for his health and was re ,

turnin g home One of them H alloran .

, ,

said t h at the h eavy rumble of a coach

roused them T h e other s e rvant Burke
.
, ,

stood on th e top of the long flight of step s

wi th a lamp and sent H alloran down to
,

o pen the carriage door H e reached out .

h is h a nd to do so saw a sk e leton looking

,

1 87
 TRU E I RI SH G H O S T STO R IES
out gave on e yell and fell in a heap
, , .

When the badly scared Burke picked h imself

-

up there was n o sign or sound of any coach .

A littl e later the invalid arrived so ex ,

h au st e d that he died suddenly in the early

morning .

O n the n ight of December 1 1 18 6

7 , ,

a servant of t h e M ac N am aras w as goin g

his rounds at Ennistymon a beautiful spot ,

in a wooded glen with a broad stream fall

,

ing in a series of cascades I n the dark h e .

heard the rumbling of wh e els on the back

avenue and knowing from the hour and
, ,

place th at n o mortal vehicle could be com

ing concluded t h at it was th e death coach
, ,

and ran on opening th e gates before i t

, .

H e had j ust time to open the third gate ,

and throw himself on his face beside i t ,

when h e heard a coach go clanking past .

O n the following day Admiral Sir Burton

M acnamara died in London .

M r W e stropp i n forms u s that at sigh t

.

or sound of this coach all gates should be

thrown open and then it will not stop at
,

the house to call for a member ofthe family ,

bu t will only foretell the death of some

relative at a distance We hope ou r readers
.

1 88
 TRUE I RI S H G H O S T STO RIES
c ount of th is w a s giveh to the pr e sent writer
by a clergyman wh o declares that h e he a rd
,

i t in the middl e of th e night when one of

h is relatives pass e d away A death warning .
-

in the shape of a whit e owl follows th e

W e st rop p family This last appeared it
.
,

is said before a death in 1 9 0 9 but as M r

, , , .

T J W e st rop p remarks it would be more

. .
,

convincing if i t appeared at places where

th e white owl does n ot nest and fl y out
e very night N o doubt this list migh t be
.

drawn ou t t o much greater length .

A lady corresponden t states th a t h er

’
c ousin a Sir Patrick D un s n urse was
, ,

a ttending a cas e in the town of Wicklow .

H er patien t was a middle aged wom a n th e -

,

wife of a well to do sh opkeeper One - -

.

evening the nurse w as at h er tea in the

dining room beneath the sick room when
- -
,

s uddenly sh e heard a tremendous crash

overhead Fearing h er patien t h ad fallen
.

o u t of bed sh e hurri e d upstairs to fi n d her

, ,

do z ing quietly and th e re w as not th e least

,

s ign of any disturbance A memb e r of th e

.

family to whom sh e rel at e d th is told her

, ,

c almly that th a t noise was a lways h eard in

t h e ir h o use befo r e th e de a th of a ny of th e m ,

1
90
 DEATH WA R N I N G S -

an d that it was a sure sign that the inv al id

would not recover Contrary to the nurse s
.
’

e xpectations she died th e followin g day

, .

Knocking on th e door 1 3 another species

o f death warning
-
T he Rev D B Knox
. . . .

“
writ e s O n th e evening before th e wife
of a cler i cal friend ofm i n e died the knocker ,

of the hall door was loudly rapped All in

-
.

t he room heard i t Th e door w as opened

.
,

b ut there w as n o on e there Again the .

knocker was heard but no one was to be ,

s een when the door w as again opened A .

young man brother of the dying woman

, ,

went into the drawing room and looked -

,

th rough on e of the drawing room windows .

Th e full light of the moon fell on the door ,

and as he looked the knocker was again

l ifted and loudly rapped .

The following porten t occurs in a C o .

C ork family At one time the lady of the

.

h ouse lay ill and her tw o daughters were

,

arous e d on e nigh t by scr e ams proceeding

from their mother s room They rushed ’
.

i n and found h er sitting up in bed st a ring

, ,

at some obj ect unseen to them but which , ,

from the motion of her eyes appeared to be ,

m o ving a cross th e fl o or When she b e .

1 9 1
 T RU E I RI SH GH O S T S T O RIES
came calm sh e told th e m wh at they had ,

n ot known before that members of t h e,

family were sometimes warned of the de a th ,

or ap p roach i n g death of some other member ,

by th e appearance of a ball of fi re which ,

would pass slowly thro ugh the room ; thi s

phenomenon she had j ust witnessed A .

day or two afterwards th e mother heard of

th e death of h er brother who lived in t h e ,

Colonies .

A strange appearance known as th e ,

Scanlan Ligh ts is connected with th e

,

family of Scanlan of B allykn ockan e C 0 , .

Limerick and is seen frequently at th e

,

death of a member Th e traditional origin .

of th e lights is connected with a well — known

I rish legend wh ich w e give h ere b ri e fl y
,
.

Scanlan M or ( died A D King ofO ssory . .

,

from wh om the family claim descent w as ,

suspected of disa ffection by Ae dh mac Ain

mire Ard Righ of Ireland who cast him
,
-
,

into prison and load e d him with fetters

, .

Wh en S t C olu m ci lle attended th e Synod

.

of Drom C e at h e besought Ae dh to free h i s

,

captive but the Ard Righ ch urlishly re

,
-

fus e d ; whereupon C olu m ci lle declared that

h e should be freed and th a t that very nigh t
,

1 92
 T RU E I R I S H GH O ST S T O RI ES
b ee n seen in the shap e of balls of fi re of
”
various si z es . Th e above w as copied from
a private manuscript written some fe w y e ars
ago O ur correspondent further states
. I
also h ave met with four persons in this
county ! Limerick ] who have seen the ligh ts
on Kn ockfi e rn a near B allykn ockan e before
the death of a S canlan one of the four ,

being the late head of the family and

own e r William Scanlan J P who saw the
, ,
. .
,

flames on the h ill side on the day of his

-

’
aunt s death some years ago The last .

occasion was as late as 1 9 1 3 on the eve of ,

the death of a Scanlan related to th e presen t

”
owner of B allykn ockan e .

I n fron t of th e residence of the G

family in C o Galway there i s or formerly
.
,

was a round ring of grass surrounded by a

,

lo w evergreen h edge The lady wh o re

.

lated this story to ou r informan t stated that

one e vening dinner was kept waiting for
Mr G
. w h o w as absen t in town on
some business Sh e went ou t o n th e hall
.

door steps in order to se e if th e familiar

trot of the carriage horses could b e heard
coming down the road I t w as a brigh t .

moonlight night and as sh e st o od th ere sh e

,

1 94
 DEATH WA R NI N G S
-

h e ard a child crying with a peculiar whining

c r y and distinctly saw a small chil dlike
,

fi gu re runn ing round and round th e grass ring

i nside th e evergreen hedge and casting a ,

shadow in the moonlight Going into the .

h ouse sh e c asu ally m e n ti on e d this as a peculi a r

circumstance to M rs G . upon wh ich to ,

h er great surprise that lady n e arly fainted

, ,

a nd got into a terrible state of ne rvousness .

Recovering a little she told her that this

,

crying and fi gu re were always h e ard and

seen whenever any member met with an
accident or before a death A messenger
,
.

was immediately sent to me e t M r G .

w h o was found lying senseless on th e road as ,

the horses had taken frigh t and bolted fl in g ,

ing h im out and breakin g th e carriage pole

,
-
.

But of all th e death warnings in connec

-

tion with Irish families surely th e strangest

i s th e Gormanstown fo xes The crest of
.

that noble family is a running fox while ,

the same animal also forms one of the

supporters of the coat of a rms The story
- -
.

is that wh en the head of the h ous e is

,

dying th e foxes— no t sp e ctral foxes but ,

creatures offl e sh and blood— l e ave the coverts

an d congregat e at G o rmanstown Castle .

I 9S
 T R U E I RI SH G H O ST STO RI ES
Let u s se e wha t proof th ere i s o f this .

When J e n i c o the 1 2 th V iscount w as dying

, ,

in 1 8 60 foxes were seen abou t th e house

,

and m oving towards th e h ouse for some

days previously Just befor e h is death thre e
.

foxes were playing about and making a

noise cl o se to th e h o use and j ust in fron t ,
“
of th e C l oisters which are yew tre e s
,
-

planted and trained in that shape The .

H on M rs Farrell states as regards t h e

. .

same that the foxes came in pairs int o the

demesne and sat under the V iscount s bed
,
’

r o om window and barked and h owled all

,

nigh t N ext morning they were to be

.

fo und crouching about in the grass in fr o n t

and around the h ouse They walked th rough .

the poultry and never touched th e m Afte r .

the funeral they disappeared .

At th e death of Edward the 1 3th V is ,

count in 1 87 6 the foxes were also there H e

, , .

had been rather better one day but the foxes ,

a ppeared barking under th e window and

, ,

h e died that night contrary t o expectation .

O n O ctober 2 8 1 9 0 7 J e n i co the 1 4 th
, , ,

V iscount died in D ublin About 8 o clock

,
.
’

th a t night the coachman a nd gardener saw

two fo x e s nea r th e chap e l ( close to th e
1 96
 CH APTER V III

M I SC ELLA N EO US S UP E R NO R M A L EX PER I EN CES

TH E matter i n th is chapter does n ot seem ,

stric t ly speaking to come under the he a d of

,

any of the preceding on e s : i t contains n o

account of houses or pl a ces permanently
haunted o r of warnings of i m p e n di n g death
, .

Rather w e have gath ered up in it a n umber

of tales relative to th e appearance o f th e
“ ”
wraiths of living m e n or accounts of ,

visions strange apparitions or extraordinary

, ,

exp e ri e nces ; some few of th e se have a pur

pos e while the maj o rity are strangely aim
,

less and p u rp ose le ss som e th i n g is seen or

m

h e a rd th a t 1 8 all and no r e sults good or b a d

, , , ,

follow .

We c o mmence with on e which h ow e ver , ,

c e rtainly indicates a purpose which was ful

fi lle d I t is the experi e nce of M rs S eymour
. .
,

wife to one of th e compilers When sh e .

w a s a littl e girl sh e resided in Dubli n

a mongst th e m e mbers o f the family w as
1 9 8
 S U PE RNO RM AL EX P ERIENCES
h er p a ternal grandm o ther This old lady .

w as not as kind as she migh t have been to

her gran d daughter and consequently the
,

latter was somewhat afraid of her I n p ro .

cess of time th e grandmother died M rs . .

Seymour W h o w as then ab o ut eight years

,

of age had to pass th e door of t h e room

,

where the d e ath occurred in order to reach her

ow n bedroom which was a flight higher u
, p .

Past this door the ch ild used t o fl y in terror

with all possible speed O n on e occasion .
,

h ow e ver as sh e was preparing to make the

,

usu a l rush past she distinctly felt a hand

,

pl a ced on her shoulder and beca m e conscious,

o f a voi ce saying Don t be afraid Mary ’

, ,

From that day on the child n ever had the

least feeling of fe a r and alw ays walked ,

quietly past th e door .

Th e Rev D B Knox sends a curious

. . .

personal experience wh ich w as sh ared by

,

him with th ree o ther p e ople H e writes .

“
as follows : N ot very long ago my wife
a nd I were p re p ari n g to retire fo r the night .

A niece wh o was in the house w as i n her

, ,

bed ro om and th e door was O p e n The maid .

h a d j ust gon e to h e r room All four of .

us distinctly he a rd th e heavy step o f a

I 99
 TRU E I RI S H G H O ST STO RIES
man walking along the corridor app a rently ,

in the direction of the bathroom We .

searched th e wh ol e house immediately but ,

n o one was discove r ed N 0 thing unt o ward

.

happened excep t th e death of the maid s ’

moth er about a fortnigh t later I t w as a .

detached house so that the noise could n ot

,
”
have been made by th e neighbours .

“
I n the follo wing tale the doubl e or
wraith o f a living man w as seen by three
di fferen t p e opl e one of wh om our corre
, ,

s on de n t saw i t th rough a telescope Sh e

p , .

“
writes I n M ay 1 8 8 3 th e parish of
A w as vacant so M r D ,
the Dio .

cesan Curate us e d to come out to tak e

,

servi ce on Sundays One day there were .

two funerals to be taken the one at a grave ,

yard som e distance 0 11, th e other at A

churchyard My brother was at both the
.
,

far ofi one being taken th e fi rst Th e h ouse

'

-
.

we then liv e d in looked down towards A

churchyard which w as about a quarter of
,

a mile a w ay From an upper window my

.

sister and I saw two surpliced fi gu re s goin g

o u t t o meet th e c offi n and said Why , ,
‘
,

there are tw o clergy ! h aving supposed ’

that there would be only M r D I .

,

200
 TRU E I RI SH G HO ST S T O RIES
a Mr . OS and tw o ladies a M iss P
’

, .

O D
’
a nd her sister Miss M O D , .
’

She recognised the latter as h e r face w as ,

partly turned towards her and noted t h at ,

sh e w as dressed in a kni tted coat and ligh t ,

bl ue hat wh ile in her left hand she h eld a

,
’

bag or purse ; the other lady s back was

turned towards her As M rs M urnane was
. .

in a hurry to get her business done she de

t e rm i n e d to pass th em by without being
noticed but a numb er of people coming i n
,

the opposite direction blocked th e w a y and ,

compelled her to walk quite close to th e

group of four ; but they were so intent on
listening to what on e lady w as saying that
they took n o notice of h er The speaker .

ap peared to be M iss M O D and .

’

though M rs M u rnane did not actually hear

.

her sp eak as sh e passed her yet from their ,

attitudes th e oth er three seemed to be listen

ing to what sh e w as saying and sh e heard ,

her laug/z when righ t behind h er— n ot the

laugh of her sister P — and the laugh was
.

repeated after sh e had left the gr o up a little

beh ind .

S o far there i s nothing out ofthe common .

When M rs M urn a ne returned to her h o use

.

20 2
 S U PERN O R MAL EX P ERIEN CES
a bout an h our later sh e found her brother
Richard there before h er She casually men .

t i o n e d to him how sh e had passed him and

his three companions on the pavement To .

which he replied that she was quite correct

except in one point namely that there were
,

only tbree in the group as M O D was , .

’

re s e m as sh e had not come to Limerick at

‘
n ot
p ,

all that day She then described to him th e

.

exact position each on e of the four occupied ,

and the clothes w o rn by them ; to all of

wh ich facts h e assented except as to th e ,

p resence ofM i ss M O D .
’
Mrs M urnane .

“
adds That is all I can say in t h e matter
, ,

but most certainly the fourth person was in

the group as I both saw and heard her She
, .

wore th e same clothes I had seen on her

previously with the excepti on of th e hat ;
,

but the following Saturday she had on the

same coloured hat I had seen on her the
previ o us Saturday When I told h er about
.

it sh e w as as much m ysti fi e d as I was

a n d am . My brother stated that there
w as no laugh fr o m any of the three
”
present .

M rs G Kelly sends an e xp e rience of a

. .

wr a ith which seems in some mysterious

,

20 3
 T R UE I RI S H G H O ST STO RI ES
way to have been conj ured up in her mind
by the description sh e had heard and then ,

externalised She writes About four

years ago a musical friend of ours was
staying in the h ouse H e and my husband .

were playing and singing Dv orak s Sp ee tre r ’ ’

B ride a work which h e had studied with

,

the composer h imself Th is music app e aled .

very much to both and they were excited ,

and enthusiastic over i t O ur friend was giv .

ing many personal reminiscences of Dvorak ,

and h is method of explaining th e way h e

wanted his work done I was sitting b y an .
,

interested listener for some time O n get

, .

ing up at last and going into th e drawing

,

room I was startled and somewhat frightened

,

to fi n d a man standing there in a sh adowy

part of the room I saw him distinctly and
.
,

could describe his appearan ce accurately I

called ou t and the two men ran i n but a s
, ,

the apparition only lasted for a second they ,

were too late I described the man wh om

.

I had seen whereupon our friend exclaimed

, ,

Why th at w as Dvorak h imself

, At
that time I had never seen a picture of
D v orak but when our friend returned to
,

London he sent me on e which I recognised

204
 TRU E I RI SH G H O S T STO RIE S
That s my tal e— p e rfectly true and I would
’
,

give a good deal to be able t o control that

”
light and se e more if I could
,
.

Another curious Vision was seen by a

lady who is also a friend of both th e c o m
pilers One night sh e w as kneeling at her
.

bedside saying her prayers ( hers w as th e

only bed in the room ) when suddenly sh e
,

felt a distinct touch on her shoulder She .

turned round in the direction of the touch

and saw at the end of th e room a bed with ,

a pale indistinguishable fi gu re l a id therein

, ,

and what appeared to be a cl e rgyman stand

ing over i t About a week later sh e fe ll
.

into a long and dangerous illness .

An accoun t of a dream which implied an

extraordinary coincidence if coincidence it,

be and not h ing more was sent as follows by

,

a corresponden t wh o requested that no

,
“
names be published Th at which I am
.

about to relate has a peculiar interest for

me inasmuch as the central fi gu re in it w as
,

my o w n grand aunt and moreover th e

-
,

principal witness ( i f I may u se such a term )

was my father At th e period during which
.

this strange incident occurred my father w as

living with his aun t and som e other relatives
'

20 6
 S U PERN O RMAL EX P ERIENCES
On e morning at the breakfast table my -
,

gr a nd aunt announced that she had had a

-

most peculiar dream during the previous

night M y father w h o w as always v ery
.
,

in terested in that kind of thing took down ,

i n h i s notebook all th e particulars con cern

ing i t They were as follows
. .

My grand a unt dreamt that sh e was in

-

a cemetery wh ich sh e r e cognised as Glas

,

nevin and as sh e gazed at th e memorials of

,

the dead which lay so thick around one ,

stood ou t most conspicuously and caught ,

her eye for sh e saw clearly cut on the cold

,
’

wh ite stone e m zm e rzptzon ée arifl g lle r own

’

n a me

C LAR E S D
D ie d 1 4 th of March , 1 87 3
De arly lov e d an d e ve r m ou rn e d .

R -I -P

while to add to the peculiarity of i t the

, ,

date on the stone as given above was from ,

the day of her dream exactly a year in ,

advance .

M y grand aun t was n ot very nervous

-
,

and soon the dream faded from her mind .

M onths rolled b y and one morning at

,

20 7
 T R U E I RI S H G H O S T STORIES
breakfast it was noticed t h at my grand aun t -

had not appeared but as sh e w as a very,

religious woman it w as t hough t that sh e

h ad gone ou t to church H owever as s h e .
,

did n o t appear my father sen t someon e to

h er room to se e if sh e were there and as ,

n o answer was given to repeated knocking

t h e door w as opened and my grand — aun t ,

was found kneeling at her bedside dead , .

The day of her death w as M arch 1 4 ,

1 8 3 corresponding exactly with th e date

7 ,

seen i n her dream a twelvemonth before .

M y grand—aunt was buried in Glasnevin ,

and on h er tombstone ( a white marble slab)

was placed the inscription w h ich sh e h ad
”
read in h er dream Our correspondent .

sen t u s a photograph of th e stone and its

1 n sc r1 t1 on
p .

T he presen t Archdeacon of Limerick ,

V en J A Haydn LL D sends the

. . .
,
. .
,

following experi e nce : In the year 1 87 0

I was rector o f the little rural parish of
Chapel Russell One autumn day the rain
.

fell wit h a quiet steady a nd hopeless per

, ,

sistence from morning to nigh t Wearied .

at length from t h e gloom and tired of ,

reading and wri ting I determin e d t o walk,

20 8
 TR U E I RI S H GH OST S T O RI ES
,

a ppearanc e when I can thus r e call it aft e r

,

mor e than forty years .

“
Actuated by a desire to attract the
attention of the lady and induc e h e r to look
,

tow ar ds m e I noisily insert e d the key i n

,

t h e door and suddenly open e d it with a

,

rusty crack Turning round to se e th e

—
.

ef fect of my policy th e lady w as gone

v anished ! N ot y e t daunted I h urried to ,

the place which was n ot ten pac e s away

, ,

and closely searched th e stone a nd th e space

all round i t but utterly in vain there were
,

absolutely no traces of th e late presence of

a human being ! I m a y add that nothing
particular or remarkable followed t h e singu
lar apparition and that I nev e r he a rd any
,

t hing calcul a ted t o thr o w any ligh t on the

”
mystery .

Here is a story of a ghost who kn e w

what it wanted— and got it In the part
of C o . Wicklow from which my peopl e
” “
c ome , writes a M iss D there was a
family wh o were not exactly related but ,

o f c o urse of th e clan Many years ago a

.

y oung daughter aged about tw,

e nty died ,
.

Before her de a th sh e had direct e d her

par e nts t o bury h er in a cert a in gr a veyard .

210
 S U PE RN O R MAL EX P ERIEN CES
But for some reason they did not do so ,

and from that hour sh e gave them no

peace She appeared to th e m at all hours
.
,

especially when they went to the w e ll for

water So distracted were they th a t at
.
,

length they got permission to ex h ume the

remains and have them reinterred in the
desired grav e yard This they did by torch .

—
light a weird scene truly ! I can vouch
for the truth of th is latter portion at all ,

events as some of my ow n relatives were

,
”
present .

M r T J W e st rop p contributes a tale of

. . .

'

a ghost of an unusual type z e one which , . .

actually did communicate matt e rs of import

“
ance to h is family A lady who related .

many gh ost stories to me also told me h ow , ,

’
a fter her father s death the family could ,

n ot fi n d some papers or receipts of value .

One nigh t sh e awoke and heard a sound ,

which she at once recognised as th e foot

steps of her father w h o was lame Th e , .

door creaked a nd sh e prayed that she,

might be able to see h im Her prayer was .

granted : sh e saw h im distinctly h olding a

yellow parchment book tied with tape .

‘
F child s a id h e this is the book
,
’

,
‘

21 1
 T RU E I RI SH GH O ST S T O RI ES
your m o ther is looking for I t i s in th e .

third drawer of the cabinet near the cross

door tell your m o ther t o be more careful
I n con
’
in future ab o ut business p a pers .

t i n e n t he vanished and sh e at once a woke

,

her mother i n whose room sh e was sleep

,

ing w h o was very angry and ridicul e d the

,
’
story but th e girl s earnestness at length
,

impressed h er Sh e got u p w e n t to th e
.
,

o ld cabinet and at once found the missing

,
”
b o ok i n the third drawer .

Here is another tale of an e qually useful

“
and obliging ghost A gentl e man a
.
,
“
relative of my own writes a lady often
, ,

received warnings from h is dead father of

things that were abou t to happen Besides .

the farm on which he lived he had another ,

some miles away which adj oined a large

demesne O nce in a great storm a fi r tree
.
-

was blown down in the d e mesne and fell ,

into his fi e ld Th e woodran ger came to

.

him and told him h e migh t as well cut up

the tree and take it away Accordingly
, .

o ne d a y h e se t out for this purpose taking ,

with h im t w o men and a cart H e got .

into the fi e lds by a stil e while his men ,

went on to a g a te As he ap p oach e d a
.

212
 TRU E I RI S H GH O ST STO RIE S
The table spelt out the n ame of a Bishop
of th e Churc h of Ireland We asked think .
,

ing that th e answer was absurd as we kn e w ,

h im to be alive and well

Are you dead 3
Th e table answered Ye s .
’

We laughed at this and asked

Who will be appointed to th e dis
e n sar
p y
The table spelt ou t t h e name of a
stranger wh o was n ot one of the candidates
, ,

whereupon we left off thinking that th e ,

whole thing was nonsense .

The next morning I saw in th e p a pers

that the Bishop in question had died that
afternoon about tw o h ours before our meet
ing and a few days afterwards I saw the
,

name of the stranger as th e n ew disp e nsary

doctor I got such a sh ock that I d e ter
.

mined never to have anythin g to do with

”
t a bl e turning ag a in
-
.

Th e following extraordinary personal ex

e ri e n ce is s e nt by a lady well known to
p ,

th e present wri ter but who requests th a t all

,

names be o mitted Whatever explanation

.

we may giv e of i t the good faith of th e tale

,

i s beyond doubt .

2 14
 S U PER N O RMAL EX P E RIEN CES
Two or th ree months aft e r my father ~

in—
’
law s death my husband myself and three
, ,

small sons lived i n the west of I reland As .

my husband w as a young barrister he had ,

to be absent from home a good deal My .

th ree boys slept in my bedroom the eldest ,

being about four th e youngest some months

, .

A fi re w as kept up every night and with a ,

young child to look after I was naturally ,

awake more th an once during the night .

Fo r many nights I believed I distinctly saw

my fat h er— in —
law sitting by the fi re si de .

T his happened not once or twice but many

, ,

times H e was passionately fond of h i s

.

e ldest gran dson w h o lay sleeping calmly in his

,

cot Being so much alone probably made me

.

restless and uneasy though I n ever felt afi aid

,
'
.

I mentioned this strange thing to a friend

wh o h ad known and liked my fath e r—i n — law ,

and sh e advised me to have h i s soul l aid

‘
,
’

as she termed i t T hough I w as a Protes

.

tant and sh e w as a R oman Catholic (as had

also been my father i n law) yet I fell in
- -
,

with her suggestion She told me to give

.

a coin to th e next beggar that came to the

house telling h im ( or her) to pray for the rest
of M r S o—
,

. and—so s soul
’
A few days l a te r
.

215
 T R UE I RI S H GH O S T S T O RIES
a beggar w oman a nd her ch ildr e n came to
-

the door to whom I gave a coin and stated

,

my desire To my great surprise I learn e d

.

from her manner that such requests were not

u nusual .Well sh e went down on h er knees
,

on the steps and pray e d with apparent

,

earnestness and devotion that his soul migh t

fi n d repose Onc e again h e appeared and
.
,

seemed to say to me Why did you do ,

‘

that E
,
T 0 come and si t he r e w as th e
’
only comfort I had N ever again did he .

appear and strange to say after a lapse of

, ,

more than th irty years I h ave felt regret

a t my se lfi sh n e ss in interfering .

“
After h is death as he lay in th e h ous e ,

awaiting burial and I was in a house some ,

ten miles away I though t that h e came and

,

told me that I would have a hard life ,

which turned ou t only too truly I was .

then young and full of life with every

, ,
”
hope of a prosperous future .

O f all th e strang e beliefs to be found i n

Ireland that in the Black Dog is the most
widespread There is hardly a parish in
.

the country but could contribute some tale

rel a tive to this spectre though th e maj ority ,

o f these ar e short and devoid of inter e st , .

21 6
 TRU E I RI SH G HO ST S T O RIES
and when h e came to a point where th ere
was an entrance to a private place ( th e spot
was well known to me ) h e saw a black dog
,

sitting on the roadside At th e time h e

.

paid no attention to i t th inkin g it was an

,

o rdinary retriever but after h e h ad passed

,

on about t w o or three hundred yards h e

found th e dog was beside him and then h e ,

no ticed that its eyes were blood red H e -

.

stooped down and picked up some stones

,

in order to frighten it away but though h e,

threw the ston e s at it they did n ot inj ure i t ,

nor indeed did they seem to have any e ffect .

Suddenly after a fe w momen ts th e dog

, ,

vanished from his sight .

“ ’
Such was the labourer s tal e After .

some years during which time I had for

,
’
gotten altogether about the man s story some ,

friends of my own bought the place at th e

entrance to which the appari tion had been
seen. When my friends w e nt to reside
there I was a consta n t visitor at their ho use .

Soon after th eir arrival they b e gan to b e

troubled by th e appearance of a black dog .

Though I never saw it m yself i t appeared ,

to many members o f th e family Th e .

av e nue leading to th e h o use was a long o ne ,

21 8
 S U PE RN O RMAL EX P ERI E NCES
and it was customary for the dog to appear
and accompany people for the greater por
tion of the way Su ch an e ffect had this
.

on my friends that they soon gave up th e

h ouse and wen t to live elsewh ere T h is
, .

w as a curious c o rroboration of th e labourer s

’

”
tale.

As we have already stated in Chapter V I I ,

a distinction must be drawn between the so

call ed Headlerr Coach which portends death
, ,
‘
and the P /zcz ntam Coach which appears to ,

be a h armless sort of veh icle With regard .

to the latter w e give two tales below the ,

fi rst of which w as sent by a lady whose

father w as a cl e rgyman and a gold medal ,

list of Trinity College Dublin , .

Some years ago my family lived in C o .

D own Our house was some way o u t of

.

a fair—si z ed manufacturing town and h ad a ,

short avenue which ended in a gravel sweep

’
in fron t of th e hall door One winter s .

evening when my fath er was re turn i n g from

,

a sick call a carriage going at a s h arp pace

,

passed him on the avenue H e h u rried on .

,

thinking i t w as some particular friends but ,

when he reached the door no carriage was

to b e seen so h e conclud e d i t must h ave
,

21 9
 TRU E I RI SH GH O S T S T O RI ES
gone round to th e stables Th e servant .

who answered his ring said that no visitors

had been there and h e fe e ling cert a in that
, ,

the girl had made some mistake or that ,

some one els e had answered th e door came ,

into the drawing room t o make further -

in quiries N 0 Visitors h ad come h owev e r

.
, ,

though those sitting in t h e drawing room -

had also h eard the carriage drive u p .

My father was most positive as to wh at

he had seen v i z a closed carriage wit h
, .

lamps lit ; and let me say at once th at h e

was a clergyman wh o was known th rough
o u t the w h ole of th e nort h of Ireland as a

most level headed man and yet to th e day

-
,

of h is deat h he would insist that h e met

that carriage on our avenue .

O ne day in July one of our servan ts

was giv e n leave to go home for th e day ,

bu t w as told sh e must return by a certain

train For some reason sh e did no t com e
.

by i t but by a much later on e and rushed

, ,

into th e kitchen in a most penit e nt frame

’
of mind .I am so sorry to be lat e sh e
‘
,

told the cook especially as ther e were

,
‘

visitors I suppose th e y stayed to supper ,

as the y were so lat e going away fo r I m e t ,

220
 TRU E I RI S H GH O S T S T O RI ES
h our or so until h e cam e to a cross ro a d
,
-
,

down one arm of which he had to turn .

As he turned off h e heard the phantom

carriage dash by rapidly a long the str a igh t
road H e stated that other persons h ad
.

had similar exp e riences on the sam e road .

2 22
 CH A P T E R IX

LE G E N D A RY AN D A NC E S T R A L G HOS T S

W HA T E V E R explanations may be given of

th e vari o us stories told in ou r previous
chapters th e facts as stated therein are i n
,

almost every case vouched for on reliable

authority We now turn to stories of a
.

di fferen t kind most of which have n o e v i d

,

ence of any v alue in support of the fl ute ,

but which hav e been handed down from

gen e ration to generation and deserve o ur
,

r e spect if only for th eir antiquity We

, .

make no apology for giving them here for , ,

in additi o n t o the interesting reading they

provide they also serve a useful purpose as
,

a contrast to authenticated ghost stori e s .

Th e student of folklore will fi n d parallels

to some of th e m in the tales of oth e r
n ations.

Lord W a lter Fitzgerald s e nds u s the

following : Garrett oge ( or Gerald th e
younger) Fi tzgerald 1 1 th Earl of Kildare
, ,

223
 TR UE I RI SH G H O ST STO R IES
died in Lon don on the 1 6th N o vember
1 8 his body w as brought back to Ire
5 5 ;
’
land and interred in St Brigid s Cathedral
.
,

i n Kildar e H e was known as th e Wizard

.

’
Earl on account of his pr a ctising the
black art whereby he w as enabl ed to
,

t ransform himself int o other shapes either ,

bird o r beast according to h i s choic e ; so

notorious w as his supernatural power that
h e became the terror of t h e countryside .

H is wife the Countess h ad long wished

, ,

to se e some proof of his skill and had ,

frequen tly begged him to transform hims e lf

before h er but h e had steadily refus e d to
,

do so as he said i f h e did and she became

,

afraid he would be taken fro m her and she

, ,

w ould never se e him again Still sh e per

.

sisted and at last h e said he would do as

,

sh e wished on condition th a t sh e sh ould

fi rs t of all undergo three trials to test her
courag e ; to th is sh e willingly agreed I n .

th e fi rst tri a l the r iv e r Greese wh ich flows

,

past th e castle walls at a sign from th e

,

Earl ov e rfl ow e d its banks and flooded th e

b a nquetin g hall in which the Earl and
Coun tess w e re sitting . Sh e show e d n o
sign o f fear and a t the E a rl s command the
,
’

2 24
 T R U E I RI S H G H OST S T O RIES
I t is said that he and his knigh ts lie in
an enchant e d sleep with their h orses besid e
,

th e m in a cave under the Rath on the hill

,

o f M u lla h m ast which stands as th e crow

g , ,

fl i e s fi v e miles to the north of Kilkea Castl e

,
.

Once in seven years they are allowed to

issue forth th e y gallop round th e Curragh ,

thence across country to Kilkea Castle wh ere ,

they re —enter the h aunted wing an d then ,

return to the Rath of M u llagh m ast T h e .

Earl is easily recognised as he is mounted

on a wh ite charger shod with silver shoes
when these shoes are worn ou t the enchant
ment will be broken and he will issue
,

forth drive the foes of Ireland from the

,

land and reign for a seven tim e s seven

,

number of years over the vast estates of

his ancestors .

’
Sh ortly befor e 9 8 he w as seen on the
C urragh by a blacksmith wh o was crossing
i t in an ass cart from Athgarvan to Kildare
-
.

A fairy blast overtook h im and he h ad j ust

,
“ ”
time to say ,
God speed ye Gentl e men
“ ”
to th e invisible Good Peopl e when he ,

h e ard h ors e s galloping up behind him ;

pulling to one side of the road he looked
back and w as te rri fi e d at s e eing a troop of
226
 LE GEN DA RY G H b STS

knights fully armed led by on e on a w h ite

, ,

horse . T h e l e ader halted his men and ,

riding up to the blacksmith asked him to

examine his sh oes Almost helpless from
.

fear he stumbled ou t of the ass cart and -

looked at each shoe which was of silver , ,

and then informed the knight that all th e

nails were sound T he knight thanked
.

him rej oined his troop and galloped ofli

, ,

T he blacksmith in a half dazed state hastened

-

on to Kildare w h ere h e entered a public

,

h ouse ordered a noggin of whisky and

, ,

drank it neat When h e had thoroughly

come to himself h e told the men that were
present what had happened to him on the
C urragh ; on e old man w h o had listened
to h im said B y the m orti al ! man ye are ,

after s e eing G e rod ‘

This fully
explained the mystery G e rod Earla o r
.
,

E arl Gerald is the name by which the

,

Wi z ard Earl is known by the peasantry .

One other legen d i s told in connection

with th e Wizard Earl of a considerably
later date I t is said that a farmer was
ret u rning from a fair in Athy late one even
ing in the direction of B alli n tore and when ,

p assing within view of the Rath of M ullagh

2 27
 T RU E I RI S H G H O S T S T O RIES
mast he w a s astonished to se e a brigh t light
app a r e n tly issuing from i t Dismounting
.

fr o m his car he went to investigate O n .

approaching the R ath he noticed that th e

light was proceeding from a cave in wh ich
were sleeping several men in armour with ,

their h orses beside th em H e cautiously

.

crept up to the entrance and seeing th at

,

neither man nor beast stirred he grew bolder

and entered the chamber he then examined
th e saddlery on the h orses and th e armour
,

of the men an d plucking up courage began

,

slowly to draw a sword from i ts sheath as

’
he did so the owner s head began to rise and ,

h e heard a voice in Irish say Is th e time

,
”
yet come ? In terror the farmer as h e ,

sh oved the sword back replied It i s n ot

, , ,
”
you r H onour and th en fled fr o m t h e
,

place.

I t is said that if th e farmer had only

completely unsheath e d the sword th e e n
chantment would hav e been broken and ,

th e Earl would have come to h i s own

again.

I n 1 64 2 Wallstown Castle the seat of ,

the Wall fam i ly 1n County Co rk w as bu r nt

, ,

down by th e Cr o mwellian t r oops a nd Colone l ,

228
 T R UE I RI S H GH O S T S T O RI ES
th e p a rish H e died according to th e
.
,

w o rds of the i n crip t i on on 2 n d M ay 1 8 1 9

, ,
“
as a result of a sudden and awful visita
”
tion. A l ocal legend explains this visita
tion by stating that a ghost haunted th e
,

recto ry the visits of which had caus e d h is

,

family and servants to leave the h ouse .

The rector had tried to shoot it but failed

th en he w as told to u se a silver bullet h e
did s o and next morning was found dead
,

a t his h all door whil e a hide o us obj ect lik e

-

a devil made horrid noises ou t ofany window

th e servant man approached T his man .

was a dvised by som e Roman Catholic neigh

”
b ours to g e t the priest who would lay
,

the thing Th e priest arrived and with

.
,

th e h elp of a j ar of whisky the ghost became

quite civil till t h e last glass i n the j ar
, ,

which t h e priest was about to empty o u t

for h imself whereupon the ghost or devil
,

m ade himself as thin and long as a Lough

N e agh eel and slipped himself into the j ar
,

t o get th e last drops But the priest put

.

th e cork int o its place and h ammered it i n ,

and making th e sign of th e Cross on i t h e

, ,

had the evil th ing secur e d I t w as burie d

.

in th e cellar o f the r e ctory where on som e

,

2 30
 LEG EN DA RY GH OSTS
nights it can still b e h eard calling to b e
let out .

A story of a phantom rat which comes ,

from Limerick i s only on e of many which

,

show th e popular I rish belief in h auntings

by various animals Many years ago t h e .
,

legend runs a young man was making

,

frantic and unacceptable love to a girl At .

las t one day wh en he was following her in

,

th e street she turned on h im and pointing

, ,

t o a rat which some boys had j ust killed ,

“ ”
said I d as soon marry that rat as you
,
’
.

H e took her cruel words so much to heart

that h e pined aw a y an d died After his .

death the girl was haunt e d at n igh t b y a

rat an d in spite of th e co n stant watch of
,

her mother and sist e rs s h e was more than

once bitten T he priest was call e d in and
.

could do nothing so she determined to ,

emigrate A coastin g vessel w as about t o

.

start for Queenstown and her friends col , ,

l e e ting what money they could managed to ,

get her o n board Th e ship had j ust cast

.

of f from th e quay when shouts and screams

,

were heard u p the street The crowd .

sc a tter e d and a huge r at with fi e ry eyes

,

galloped down to t h e quay It sat up o n .

2 31
 T R U E I RI S H G H O S T S T O RIES
the edge screaming h ate S prang off and did, ,

no t reapp ear After that w e are told the

.
, ,

girl was never ag a in haunted .

A legend of the Ti rawle y family relates

how a former Lord Ti rawle y wh o w as a ,

very wild and reckless man was taken from ,

this world One evening it is said j ust as

.
, ,
’
the nobleman was preparing for a night s
carouse a carriag e drove up to his door a
, ,

stranger asked to see him and after a long ,

private conversati o n drove away as m yste ri

,

o u sl
y as he h a d come What e ver.words
had passed they had a wonderful e ffect o n
th e gay lord for his ways were immediately
,

changed and he lived the life of a reformed

,

man As time went on the e ffect of what

.

e ver awful warning the mysterious visitor

h ad given him wore off and h e began to ,

live a life e ven more wild and reckless than

before O n the anniversary of the visit h e
.

w as anxious and gloomy but h e tried to ,

make ligh t of i t T he day passed and at

.
,

nigh t there was high revelry in the banqu e t

ing hall O utside it was wet and stormy
.
,

when j ust before midnight the sound of

wheels was heard in the courtyard All .

th e riot st o pped ; the s er v a nts open e d th e

2 32
 T RUE I RI SH G H O S T STO RI ES
climbing the wall like a hug e S pider It .

us e d to crawl out on to the ceiling and ,

when it r e ached th e middle would materi

a lise into apparent bones holding on by its ,

hands an d feet ; i t would break i n pieces ,

and fi rst the skull and th e n the other bones

would fall on th e floor On e pers o n had .

th e courage to get up and try to s e ize a

bone but h i s hand passed th rough to th e
,

carpet though th e heap was visible for a

fe w seconds .

Th e followin g story can h ardly be called

legenda ry though i t m a certainly be termed
,
y
an cestral The writer s name is not given
.
’

but he is described as a rector an d R ural

Dean in the late Established Ch urch of
I reland and a J u sti ce of th e Peace for two
,

counties .I t h as this added interest that

it w as told to Queen V ictori a by the
M archioness of Ely .

“
Loftus Hall in County Wexford was
, ,

built on th e site of a stronghold erected by

R aymond one of S tron gb ow s followers
,
’
.

H is descendants fo r feit e d it in 1 64 1 and ,

the property subs e quently fell into th e hands

of th e L o ftus fa mily one o f wh om built
,

th e h ouse and other buildin gs About th e .

2 34
 A N CESTRA L G H O STS
m iddle of th e eigh teenth century there lived ,

at Loftus H all C h arles Tottenham a member ,

of th e I rish Parliament known to fame as ,

‘
Tottenham and his B oots owing to his ,
’

historic ride to the I rish capital in order to

give th e casting vote in a motion which
”

saved 4 to the I rish T reasury .

Th e second son Charles Tottenham

, ,

had t w o d a ughters Eli z abeth and Anne to

, ,

the latter of wh om ou r story relates H e .

came to live at Loftus Hall the old baronial ,

r esiden ce of th e family with h i s second ,

wife and the t w o above mentioned daughters

-

of h is fi rst wife Loftus H all was an old

.

rambling mansion with n o pretence to

,

beau ty : passag e s that led nowhere larg e ,

dreary ro o ms small closets various u n n e ce s

, ,

sary n ooks and corners pan e lled or wains ,

cotted walls and a tape s try e /zaméer Here

,
.

resided at t h e time my story commences

Charles Totten ham h is s e cond wife and
,

his daugh ter Ann e : Eli z abeth h i s second ,

daughter having been married The father

,
.

w as a c o ld aust e re man ; the ste pmother

such as that un amiable relation is generally
r e presented to be What and h ow great
the stat e of l o n ely solitude and depr e ssion
2 35
 T RU E I RI S H GH O S T ST O RIES
of mind of poor Anne must h av e been in
such a plac e without neighbours or any
,

h ome sympathy may easily be imagined

,
.

One w e t and stormy nigh t as they sat ,

i n the l a rge drawing room they were startled

-
,

by a loud knocking at th e o uter gate a most ,

surprising and unusual occurrenc e Pre .

se n tl
y the servant announced that a young
gentleman on h orseback w as there re qu e sti n g
lodging and shelter H e had lost h is way
.
,

h i s h orse w as knocked u p and he had been

,

guided by the only light which h e had seen .

Th e stranger w as admitted and refreshed ,

and proved h imself to be an agreeable com

panion and a fi n i sh e d gentleman — far t o o
agreeable for the lone scion of the H ouse of
Tottenham fo r a sad and mournful tale
,

follows and one whos e strange results con

,

tin n ed almost to the present day .

Much mystery has involved the story

at the pr e sent poin t and in truth th e matter
,

w as left i n such silence and obscuri ty that , ,

but for the acts of h er who was the chief

su fferer in i t th r o ugh several generations ,

nothing would n ow be known Th e fact .

,

I believe was— wh ich was n o t unnatural

,

—
unde r the circumstances that this lonely
2 36
 T RU E I RI S H G H O ST S T O RIES
and suddenly diving under the table to re
,

cover i t was t e rri fi e d to se e that her agre e

,

able partner had an unmistakably cloven

foot Her screams made h im aware of h e r
.

discovery and he at once vanished in a

,

thunder—clap leaving a brimstone sm e ll b e

hind h im The poor girl n e ver r e covered
.

from the shock lapsed from one fi t into ,

another and w as carried to the tap e stry

,

room from w h ich sh e n e v e r came forth

alive .

This story of h is Satanic maj esty got

abroad and many tales are told of h ow he
,

continued to Visit and disturb the house .

The noises the apparitions and disturbances

, ,

were innumerable and greatly distressed old ,

Charles Tottenham h is wife and servants , , .

I t i s said that they fi n ally determined to call

in th e services of their parish priest a Fathe r ,

Broders wh o armed with all the ex o rcisms

, ,

of the Churc h succeeded in c on fi n i n the

, g
operations of the evil spiri t to one r o om
t h e tapestry room .

H ere then we have traced from the dat e

, ,

o f th e unhappy girl s misfortune that th e

’

house w as disturbed by something supe r

’

n a tur al and that the family sough t th e a id

,

2 38
 AN CESTRA L GH O S T S
of the parish priest to abate i t and further ,

that the tapestry room w as t h e scene of t h is

V 1 s1 t at 1 0 n .

B ut th e matter was kept dark all re ,

ference to poor Anne w as avoided and the ,

belief was allowed to go abroad that it w as

Satan h imself who disturbed th e peace of
the family H er parents were re a dy to turn
.

aside the keen edg e of observatio n from her

fate preferring rather that it should be be
,

li e v e d that they were haun ted by the Devil ,

so that the story of h er wrongs should sink

i nto oblivion and be classed as an old wives

,
’

tale of h orns and h oofs Th e h arsh father .

and stepmother have long gone to t h e place

appoint e d for all living T he Loftus branch
.

o f the family are in possession of the Hall .

Y e t poor Anne has kept her tapestried cham

ber by n early the same means which com
e lle d her parents to call in t h e aid of the
p
parish priest so long ago .

But to my tale : About the end of the

last century my fath e r was invited by Mrs .

Tottenham to meet a large party at the

H all H e rode as w as then the custom
.
,

in I rel a nd with his pistols in his holsters

,
.

O n arriving he fo und the house full and ,

2 39
 T RU E I RI S H GH O S T S T O RIES
M rs To ttenh a m ap o logised to h im for
.

being obliged to assign to h im th e tapestry

chamb e r for the nigh t which howev e r he , , ,

gladly accepted never having heard a ny of

,

th e stories connected with i t .

H owever h e had scarcely covered him

,

self i n the bed when suddenly something

heavy leaped upon i t growling like a dog , .

The curtains were torn back and the ,

clothes stripped from th e bed Suppos .

ing that some of his companions were play

ing tricks he called ou t that h e would
,

sh oot them and seizing a pistol he fi re d

,

up th e chimney lest h e should wound on e

,

of th e m . H e then struck a ligh t and

searched th e room diligently but found ,

no sign o r mark of anyon e and the door ,

locked as h e had l e ft it on retiring to rest .

Next day he informed his hosts h ow h e

had b e en annoyed but they could only say
,

that th ey would n o t h ave put him in that

room if they had h ad any o ther to o ffer
him .

“
Years passed ou when th e Marquis of
,

Ely wen t to t h e H all to spend some time

ther e H i s valet was put to sleep in th e
.

tapest ry chambe r In the middle of th e

.

24 0
 T RUE I RI SH GH OS T S T O RI ES
la dy i n a sti ff dr e ss passed slowly through
t he ro om to one of the curious closets
already mentioned which was i n th e oppo
,

s ite corner . I rubbed my eyes Ev e ry .

possible e xplanation but the true on e oc

c urred t o my mind for the idea of a gh os t
,

did not for a mom e nt enter my head I .

q uickly reasoned myself into a sound sleep

a n d forgot th e matter .

The next nigh t I again sat up l a te in

my b e droom preparing a gun and am m u n i
,

t ion to go and shoot s e a— birds early n e xt

morning when the door again opened and
,

s hut in the same noiseless manner and the ,

s ame tall lady proc e eded to cross th e room

qui e tly a nd deliberately as before towards

t h e closet . I instantly rushed at her and ,

threw my right arm around her exclaiming ,

H a ! I h ave you n ow !
’
‘
To my utter
a stonishment my arm passed through her

a n d came with a thud against the bedpost ,

at which spot she th e n w as The fi gu re .

quickened i ts p a ce and as i t passed the

,

s kirt of its dress lapped against the curtain

a n d I m arke d distinctly the pattern of he r

g o wn — a sti ff brocaded silk .

T h e ghostly solution o f th e probl e m

24 2
 AN CESTRAL GH O S T S
did n ot yet ent er my mind H owev e r I .
,

told the story at breakfast next morning .

M y father who h ad himself su ffered from

,
’
th e lady s visit so lon g before never said a ,

word and i t passed as some folly of mine

, .

S o slight was the impression it made on me

at the time that though I slept many a
,

night after in the room I never thought ,

of watching or looking ou t for anything .

“
Years later I was again a guest at the
Hall Th e M arquis of Ely and his family
.
,

with a large retinue of servants fi lle d the ,

h ouse to ov e rfl ow i n g As I passed the

.

’
housekeepe r s room I h eard the valet say
What I to sleep in the tapestry chamber
Never ! I will leave my lord s service ’

b e fore I sleep there At once my former

experience in that room flashed upon my
mind I h ad never th ought of i t during
.

the interval and was still utterly ignorant

,

of Anne Tottenham : so when the house

keeper was gone I spoke to the val e t and
said Tell me why you will n o t sleep in
,
‘

the tapestry room as I have a p arti cu

,

lar reason for asking H e said Is it ‘

’
. ,

p ossible that you do n ot know that Miss

T ottenham passes through th a t room every
24 3
 T R UE I RI S H GH O S T STO RI E S
n ight and dressed in a sti ff fl ow e re d silk
, ,

dr e ss enters th e closet in t h e corner

, I
replied that I had n ever heard a word of
h er till n ow but that I had a fe w years
, ,

befo re twice seen a fi gu re exactly like

,

w h at he had described and passed my arm ,

through h er body Yes said h e t h at

.
‘
,
’

,
-

was M iss Tottenham and as is well known , , ,

she was c on fi n e d— mad— i n that room and ,

died there and they say was buried in , ,

that closet .

“
Time wore on and another generation
arose anoth er own er possessed the property
,

— th e gran dson of my friend In th e year .

18 h e being then a child came with

5
his mother the M archioness of Ely and
, ,

his tutor the Rev Charles Dale to th e

,
.
,

H all for th e bathin g season M r Dal e . .

w as no imaginative person — a solid st e ady

“

, ,

highly educated English clergyman wh o ,

had n ever ev en heard the name of M iss

Tottenham The tapestry room was his
.

bed— chamb e r One day in the late autumn

.

of that year I received a letter from the

u ncle of th e M arquis saying D o tell me , ,

what i t was y o u saw long ago i n th e tapestry

chamber for something strange must hav e
,

24 4
 TRU E I RI SH GH O ST S T O RIES
letter n ow before m e I make the following
extracts
For three weeks I experienced n o i n
convenien ce from the lady but on e night , ,

j ust before we were ab o ut to leave I had ,

s at up very late I t w as j ust one o cl ock ’

.

when I retired to my bedroom a very ,

beautiful moonligh t nigh t I locked my .

door and saw t h at the shutters were pro

,

perly fastened as I did every night I had

, .

not lain myself down more t h an about fi v e

minutes before something j umped o n th e
bed making a growling noise ; t h e b e d clothes -

were pulled off th ough I strongly resisted

the pull .I immediately sprang ou t of
bed lighted my candle looked into th e
, ,

closet and under the bed but saw n othing

, .
’

“
M r Dale goes on to say that h e e n
.

de av ou re d to account for it in some such

way as I had formerly done having n ever ,

up to that time heard one w o rd of th e lady

and h er doings in that room H e adds I .
,
‘

did n ot se e the lady or hear any noise but

the growling .
’

H e re then i s the written testimony of a

b e n e fi ce d English clergyman occupying the ,

r esponsibl e position of tutor to th e young

24 6
 A N CESTRAL G H O S T S
M arquis of Ely a most sober minded and
,
-

unimpressionabl e man H e repeats in

.

1 86 almost the very words of my father

7
when detailing his experience in that
room in l 7 9 o a man of whose existence
-

h e had never been cognisant and there ,

for e utterly ignorant of M iss Tottenham s ’

doings i n that ro o m nearly eig h ty years

befor e .

In the a utumn of 1 868 I was again in

the locality at Dunmore on th e opposite
, ,

side of the Waterford Estuary I went .

across to se e th e old place and what altera

tions Miss Tottenham had forced the p ro
ri e t o rs to make in th e tapestry chamber
p .

I foun d that the closet into which the poor

lady had always vanished was taken away ,

the room enlarged and two additional

,

windows put in th e old tapestry had gone

and a billiard table occupied the site of poor
-

’
Ann e s bed I took the old h ousekeeper
.

aside and ask e d h er to tell me h ow Miss

,

T ottenham bore these changes in her apart

ment . She looked quite frightened and
most anxious to avoid the qu e stion but at ,

length hurriedly r e pli e d Oh Mast e r

, ,

G e orge ! don t talk about h e r : last night

’

24 7
 T R U E I RI S H GH OS T S T O RIES
sh e mad e a h orrid n o is e kn o cking th e
billi a rd balls abo ut
-

“
I h ave thus tr a ced with strict a ccuracy
this most real a nd true tal e from th e days
,

o f Tottenham and h i s B o ots to thos e of

‘ ’

— —
h is great great g r andson Loftus H all h as
.

since been wholly rebuilt but I h ave n ot

,

h eard wheth e r poor Anne To ttenham h as

condescend e d to visit i t or is wh o lly banish ed
,
”
at last.

24 8
 TRU E I RI S H GH O S T STO R IE S
city w as each day taking its toll of the
un h appy citi z ens Th e wife of a man
.

livin g in M errion Square w as stricken down

and hastily buried in a churchyard i n Donny
brook whic h is n ow closed O n the nigh t .

after th e funeral on e of the city police o r ,

”
Charlies as they were then called passed ,

through the churchyard on his rounds .

When nearing th e centre h e w as alarmed to

h ear a sound coming from a grave close at
hand and turning saw a white apparition
, ,

si t up an d address him This was all h e .

waited for ; with a shriek h e dropped h is

lantern and staff and made o ff as fast as h is
~

legs would carry h im Th e apparition .

thereupon took up th e lamp and sta ff and ,

walked t o M errion Square t o th e house of

mourning w as admitted by th e servants an d
, ,

to the j oy of the wh ole h ousehold w as found

to be th e obj ect of their grief returned ,

Alcestis like from the grave

-
,
I t see m s .

that the epidemic w as so bad t h at th e bodies

of th e victims were in terred hastily and
without much care : the unfortunate lady
h ad really been in a state of coma or trance ,

and as the grave was lightly covered when ,

sh e came to sh e was able to force h er way

2
50
 M I S TAKEN I D EN T I TY
“
u
p and
, seeing th e Charlie passing she ,

called for assistance .

An occurrence which at fi rst had all t h e

appearance of partaking of the supernormal ,

and which was after w ards found to have a

curious explanation is related by Dean ,

Ovenden of S t Patrick s Cat h edral Dublin

.
’

, .

”
At Dunluce Rectory C o Antrim he , .
,

writes I h ad a strange experience There

, .

w as a force pump attached to the back wall

-

of th e house and many people drew water

,

from i t as it was better t h an any obtained

,

a t that time in Bushmills We used to notice .

,

when going to bed the sound of someone ,

working the pump All the servants denied .

that they ever used the pump between 1 1

P M .
and 1 2 midnight I often looked out
.
.

of the back window when I heard t h e

pump going but could not se e anyone I
,
.

tied threads to th e handle but althoug h ,

they were found unbroken in the morning

th e pumping continu e d sometimes only for ,

thre e or four moves of the handle O n .

many nights no pumping was heard The .

man servant sat up with a gun and the dog

- ,

but h e neither saw nor heard anything .

W e g a ve it up a s a bad j ob and still the ,

2 51
 T RU E I RI S H GH O S T S T O RI ES

pumping went on After about two ye a rs.

of this experience I was one night alo n e

,

in the h ouse I t was a calm and frosty

.

n igh t and I wen t to bed about P M . .

and lay awake ; suddenly the pump began

to work with great clearness a nd m e ch an i ,

cally I counted th e strokes : they w e r e

exactly twelve I exclaimed The dining
.
,
‘

room clock I sprang from bed and wen t

down and found that th e clock was fast
, ,

as it showed two minutes past twelve

o cl ock I se t back the hands t o 1
’
. and
lay in bed again and soon the pumper ,

began as usual The explanation was that

.

the vibration of th e rising and falling

hammer was carried up to the bedroom by
th e wall but the sound of th e hell was
,

never h eard I fo u nd afterwards that t h e

.

nights when there was no pumping wer e

a lways windy .

A man w as walking along a country

lane at nigh t and as he was coming round
a bend h e saw a c offi n on th e road in fron t
of him At fi rst h e though t i t was a
.

warning to him that h e was soon t o le a ve

th is world ; but after some hesitation h e ,

fi n ally summoned up courage to give th e

2 52
 TRU E I RI S H GH O S T S T O RIES
or other have gained some ill repute— th e -

Devil s Elbow a very nasty bit of r o ad

’
,

down in Ker r y is an instance in poin t

, .

Th e following story s h ows h ow prevalent

the idea is that the devil i s an active agent
in the a ffairs of this world .

A family living at A rdee C o Louth ,

.
,

were on e nigh t sitting reading in th e

parlour The tw o maids were amusin g
.

themselves at some card game in the kitchen .

S uddenly there w as a great commotion an d

—
th e w o girls both from the country
t
burst into the sitting room pale with fright
-
, ,

and almost speechless When they had .

recovered a certain amount they were asked ,

what w as the matter ; the cook i m m e di

“
ately exclaimed Oh si r ! th e devil t h e
, , ,

devil h e knocked three tim e s at the windo w

,

and frightened u s dreadfully and w e had ,

j ust time to throw the cards into the fi re

and run in here before he got u s On e .

of the family on h earing this immediately

, ,

went ou t to se e wh at had caused all this

trepidation and found a swallow with a
,

br o ken neck lying on the kitchen window

sill Th e poor bird had evidently se e n th e
.

ligh t in th e room and in its e fforts to get

,

2 54
 M I S T A KE N I D EN T I TY
near i t h ad broke n its neck against the
glass of th e window .

An amusing account of a pse u do haunting -

comes from County T ipperary and shows ,

how extraordinarily strong is the country

’
man s belief in supernatural phenomen a .

Th e incidents related occurred only a very

short time ago A farmer i n the Vicinity
.

of Thurles died leaving be h ind him a young

widow The latter lived alone after her
.

h usband s death and about three months

’

after the funeral sh e was startled one night

by loud knocking at th e door O n opening .

the door she was shocked at seeing the

o utline of a man dress e d in a shroud In a .

solemn voice h e asked her did she know

who he w as : o n receiving a reply in the
n egative h e said th at he w as her late
,

h usband and that he wanted £ 1 0 to get

into heaven The t e rri fi ed woman said she
.

had n ot go t the money but promised to,

have it ready if he would call again the

“ ”
next night Th e
. apparition agreed ,

then withdrew and the distracted woman

,

went to bed wondering h ow sh e was to

raise the money When morning came
.

she did not take long in telling h e r friends

2 55
 TR U E I RI S H G H O ST S T O RI ES
of h er experien ce in the h ope that they,

would be able to h elp h er T heir advic e .

,

h owever was that sh e sh ould tell the police

, ,
“
and sh e did so Th at nigh t th e appari
.

”
ti on returned at th e promised hour and ,

ask e d for his money Th e amount was .

h anded to h im and in a low sepulch ral

,

voice h e said N ow I leave this earth and

,

o to heaven U n fortunately as h e was

g .
,

l eaving a sergean t and a constable of th e

,

R I Constabulary stopped him questioned

. .
,

h im and hauled him off to the barracks t o

,

S pend th e remainder of th e nigh t in th e

cell where n o doubt h e decided that the
,

h a unting game h as i t s trials .

1

An occurrenc e of ve ry m uch th e same

description took place in County Clare
about three years ago Again the departed .

h usband returns to h is sorrowing wife sits ,

by the fi re with her ch atting n o do ub t of ,

old times and befor e h e leaves for th e other

,
’
world is regaled with pig s head and
plenty of whi sky T he visi t is r epe a ted
.

th e n e xt n igh t and a r e quest made for

,

money t o play cards with down below th e

wife willi n gly gives him the money Again .

Ev e n i ng Te leg rap /z for D e c . 1 0 , 1 9 1 3.

2
56
 T RU E I RI SH G H O S T S T O RIES
lace n c , which c o uld o nly be accounted
p y
for by the idea th e y ent e rtained th at the
money was destroyed through spiritual
interv e ntion — that there were ghosts in the
question and that th e destruction of the
,

money was to be taken as a warni n g directed

against a matrimonial arrangement into ,

wh ich Michael M cFau l was about to

”
enter. Th e accused girl was servant to
t h e M c Fau ls who discharged her a fe w
,

days after the fi re but before this she had

been into Derry and S pent a night there ;
during h er stay she tried to change three
2 0 notes with the help of a fri e nd But
£ .

change was r e fused and she h ad to a bandon

,
“
th e attempt I f some of the money w as
.

burned some of it was certainly 1 n existence

,

three days later to the amou nt of 660

, 1
.

O n e thing was manifest and that was that ,

an incredible amount of superstition ap

e are d to prevail amongst families in that
p
neigh b o urhood when the loss of su ch a su m
as this could be attributed to anything but
larc e ny and i t could for a moment be s ug
,

gested that it was due to spiritual i n te rv e n

tion to i ndicate that a certain course should
”
be abandoned .

2 58
 C O NC L U SI O N
T he foregoing tal es have been inserted ,

n o t in order that they may throw ridicule

o n the rest of th e book but that they may

,

act as a wh olesome corrective If a ll ghost .

stories could be subj ected to such rigid

examination it is probable that th e m ystery
i n many of them would be capable of
equally simple solution— yet a remnant
would be left .

And h e re though i t may seem somewhat

,

belated w e must o ffer an apology for t h e

,

“ “ ”
use o f the terms ghost and g h ost
”
story
. The book includes suc h di fferent
items as h auntings death — warnings visions
, , ,

and hallucinations some of which obviously

,

can no more be attributed to discarnate

spirits than can the present writer s power ’

o f guiding h is pen along the lines of a

page whether others of t h ese must be laid
to the credit of such unseen i n fl u e n ce s is
j ust t h e question But in trut h t h ere was
.

”
no other expression than ghost stories
which we could h ave used or whic h could ,

have conveyed t o our readers wit h in ,

reasonable verbal limits as they glanced at ,

i ts cover o r at an advertisement of i t a
, ,

general idea of th e contents of this book .

2 59
 TR U E I RI SH GH O ST S T O RI ES
T he day will certainly c o m e whe n before ,

the steady advance ofsci e n ti fi c 1 n v e sti gati on ,

a nd th e consequ e nt i n fl u e n c i n g of public
“ ”
opinion the word
, gh ost will b e re
legated to limbo and its place taken by a
,

n umber of expressions corresponding t o the

results obtained from the analysis of pheno
m e na hi therto grouped under this collectiv e
title That day is approaching An d so
. .
,

though we have used the term th roughout

the pages of this book it must n ot therefore
,

be assumed that we necessarily believe in

”
ghosts or that we are bound t o th e
,

theory that all or any of the unusual

, ,

h app e nings therein recorded are due t o th e

action of visitants from the Otherworld .

We may n ow anticip a te one or t wo

possible points of criticism It might be .

alleged th a t th e publication of su ch a book

as this w o uld tend to sh ow that th e Irish
n ation w as e nslav e d in sup e rstition With .

out stopping to review the question as to

what s h ould or sh o uld n ot be classed as
, ,
“ ”
superstition w e would r ej oin by glee
,

fully p o int i ng to a leading articl e in th e

I ris h s e: o f Jan 2 7 1 9 1 4 wh ich give s
.
, ,

a short acc o unt of a lecture by M r Lovet t .

2 60
 TRU E I RI SH GH O ST S T O RI ES
s on de n thas n ever read or heard a ghost
p
story save of the Christmas maga z ine type
, ,

else he would be aware that th e abov e

theatri cal display i s 7701 an integral part of
‘

”
the ghostly repertoire ; and also that
persons who are n et housemaids and wh o
, ,

can n ot be classed as timid or hysterical but ,

who on the other h and are exceedingly

, ,

sober minded courageous and level h eaded

-
, ,
-
,

have h ad experiences ( and been frig h tened

by them t oo which cann ot be explained
on ordinary grounds B ut on th e main
.

point o u r corresponden t is begging th e

question or at least assuming as fully proved
,

a conclusion wh ich is very far from being

so . Is h e quite sure t h at the only explana
tion of these strange sig h ts and weird noises
is th at they are brought about by th e actio n
of departed spirits ( w e naturally exclude
cases of deliberate fraud which in reality are
,

very un usual) ? And if so what m e aning ,

“ ”
would h e put upon the word spirits ?
An d even if it be granted that th e pheno
men a are caused by the inhabitants of an
o ther world why should it be impossible to
,

accep t such a theory because of its apparent

,

incompatibility with any conception o f an

2 62
 CO NC L U SIO N
—
All Wise Creator of whose workings we are
,

so profoundly ignorant P Are t h ere not

many things in t h e material world whic h to
t/ze lim ited lz ume m m ind of our correspondent
must seem pu z zling meaningless useless
, , ,

and even harmful ? H e does not therefore

condemn t h ese ofi h an d ; he is content to
’

suspend j udgment is he not P W h y cannot

,

h e adopt the same attitude with respect to

psychic phenomena P Our correspondent
might here make the obvious retort t h at it
i s we who are begging th e question n ot h e
, ,

because such happenings as are described in

this book h ave no existence apart from the
imaginative or inventive faculties of certain
persons This would be equivalent to say
.

ing bluntly that a considerable number of

pe o ple in I reland are eit h er liars or fools or
,

both This point we shall deal with later on

.
.

Our correspondent belongs to a type which

kn o ws nothing at all about psychical research ,

and is not aware that some of the cleverest

scientists and deepest thinkers of the day
h a v e interested thems e lves in such problems .

T h ey h av e n o t found the answer to many of

them—goodness knows if they ever W 111 th 1 s
sid e of th e grave —but a t least they have
2 63
 T RU E I RI SH GH O ST S T O RI ES
h elped to broaden and de e pen our knowledg e
of ourselves our surroundings and o ur God
, ,
.

They hav e revealed to u s profunditi e s in

human p e rson ali ty h i th e rto unsuspected th e y ,

h ave suggested means of communication

between mind and mind almost incredible ,

and ( i n t h e writer s opinion at least ) these

’

points have a very important b e aring on ou r

conceptions of the fi n al state of mankind i n
the world to come and so they are p re p ari n g
,

the way for that fi n e r and more ethical con

c e ti on of God and His C reation which will
p
be th e heri tage of g e nerations yet unborn .

’
The materialist s day is far spent and i ts ,

s u n n ears th e horizon .

Ano ther obj ection to the study of the

subjects deal t with m this book is that w e
are designedly left in ignorance of the u n
seen world by a Wise Creator and therefore
,

that it is grossly presumptuous n ot to say ,

impious on th e part of man to mak e any

,

attemp t to probe into questions which he

has not been intended to study Which is .

equival e nt to saying that i t i s impious to

rid e a bicycle b e c a use man was obviously
,

created a pedestrian This migh t be tru e if

.

we wer e con fi n e d within a s e lf cont a in e d

-

2 64
 T RUE I R I S H G H O S T S T O RI ES
i n g e neral avoided o ffering explanations of or
, ,

t h eories to account for the di fferent stories , .

H ere someth ing may be said on this point .

As w e have already pointed out th e expres ,

sion ghost stories covers a mul titude of

di fferent phenomena M any of these may .

”
be explained as h allucinations which does ,

n ot imply that they are simply the e ffe ct of

i m agination and n o thing more T he mind .

receives the h allucination as if it came

through the channels of sense and accord ,

i n gly externalises th e impression seeking i ts ,

source in th e world outsid e itself whereas in ,

all hallucinations the source is within the

mind and is not derived from an impression
,

received thr o ugh the recognised organ of

”
se nse .
1

M any of these h allucinations a r e t e rmed

v e r ifi e d ] or truth telling because they coin
,
-
,

cide with real events occurring to another

person Illustrations of th is will be found
.

in Ch apter V I from wh ich it would appear

,

that a dying person ( though the power is

not n e cessarily c on fi n e d to such ) o ccasionally
has the fa culty of telepathic a lly communi
cating with anoth e r the latt e r r e c e ives th e
P r f S i r W B rr tt P y /
'
1
o . . lR a / p e ,
s e z z ca es e a r c z , . 1 1 1.

2 66
 CON C L U SI ON
impression and externalises i t and so sees
, ,
”
a ghost to use t h e popular expression
, .

Some hallucinations are auaztery t e sounds

'
’ '

. .
,

are heard whic h apparently do n ot corre

s on d to any obj ective reality I n com p re
p .

h e n si ble though i t may appear it may be ,

possibl e for sou nds and very loud ones too

, ,

to be heard by one or more persons the ,

said sounds being p urely hallucinatory and ,

not causing any disturbance in t h e atmo

sphere .

Some of the incidents may be explained

as due to telepathy that myster i ous power
,

by wh ich mind can communicate with mind ,

th ough what telepat h y is or throug h w h at,

medium i t is propagated no one can tell as

,

yet Belief in this force is increasing b e

.
,

cause as Professor Sir W Barrett remarks

, .

H ostili ty to a n e w idea arises largely from

”
its being unrelated to existing knowledg e ,

and as telepat h y seems to the ordinary

,

person to be analogous to wireless telegraphy ,

i t i s therefore accepted or at least not ,

l a ughed at though how far the analogy

,

r e ally holds good is not at all certain .

Again there i s the question of haunted

h ous e s and pl a ces to accounts ofwhich the
,

2 67
 TRU E I R I S H G H O S T S T O RI ES
fi rst fi v e chapters o f this bo o k are devoted .

Th e actual evide n ce for many of th e se m a y

n ot come up to the rigorous standard se t by
the but it is beyond all doub t that
person s w h o ar e n e it he r fo ols liars no r
, ,

drunkards fi rm ly believe that they h ave s e en

and heard the things related in th ese chapt e rs
( not to speak of Chapters V I —V I I I ) or that,

t h ey have been told such by those i n wh ose

statements they place implicit c on fi de n ce ;
while so certain are they that they are
telling the truth that t h ey hav e n ot only
written down th e stories for the c o mpil e rs ,

but have given t h eir names and addresses as

well though not always for publication
,
.

Can w e contemptuously fling aside su ch a

weight of evidence as unworthy of even a
cursory examination ? This would hardly
b e a rational attitude to adopt V ari o us .

th eories to accoun t for these strange haunt

ings have been formulated which may be
,

found on pp 1 9 9 2 0 0 of Sir Willi a m

.
-

Barrett s P sy chical Rereare /z and so need not

’

b e given here .

Yet when all is said and don e the very

, ,

formulating of theories so far from solving

,

problems only raises furth e r and mo re com

,

2 68
 T RU E I RI SH GH O ST S T O R IES
n ot suggest ? F o r it is obviou s that w e
hav e n ow arrived at one of those interesting
periods in the history of human thoug h t
which might b e described as the return of
th e pendulum We are in th e proc e ss o f
.

em e rging from a very materialistic age ,

when men eith e r refused t o believ e anything

that was contrary to their normal e xp e ri
ence or else leavened their spiritual doctrines
,

and beliefs with the leaven of materialism .

The pendulum h as swung to i ts h ighest

point in this respect and is n ow com m e n c
,

ing to return so perhaps th e intellectual

,

danger of the future will be th at men ,

i nstead of believing t oo little will believe ,

too much N ow is th e time for laying a

.

careful foundation Psychical research

.
,

spiritualism and th e like ar e n o t ends in

, ,

t h emselves they are only means to an e nd

,
.

At the presen t state of though t the trans i ,

ti on from the old to the n e w from th e

I
,

lower to t h e h igher it is inevitable that

,

th e r e must be confusion and doubt and ,

the earnest thinker must be prepar e d to

susp e nd j udgment on many points ; but
at a later stage when all absurdity err o r
, , ,

and fraud n ow so closely connected with

,

27 0
 C ON C L U SI ON
psychical research in its v a rious branches
,

will have been swept away Trut h will

,

emerge and lift th e human race t o a purer

and loftier c o nc e ption of God and His
universe.

27 1
 T R UE I RI S H GH O ST S T O RIES
M A R S H S LI B RARY
’
, 15 Ra th g r
a , 18

Mi t ch e l s t own 1 62 , Ra th m in e s, 1 9

M on ag han C o 50 , .
,

Mullag h m as t, R ath of, S TR AB A N E . 1 36

N O R T H or I R E LAN D, 35, 37 T I PP E R A R Y, C c .
, 8 5, 1 55. 2 55

P A S S A GE EA S T , 1 19 WA LL S T OW N C A S T LE 2 28 ,

P or t
a rli n gt on , 55, 57 , 1 18 Wat e rfor d C c 1 35
,
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W e s t m e at h C c , 32
,
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QUEEN S
’
Co .
, 58, 1 89 W e xford C o 1 1 5 1 58
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W i ckl ow C c , 1 89 2 1 0
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R A T H FA R N H A M C A S T LE , 1 26 t own of
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0

TH E EN D

Pri n te d b y B ALL AN TYN E, H A N S ON Co .

Pau l s Work, Edi nb urgh

’
at

a rc o m EN G LA N D .
 BY S T
.
J D
. . S EY MOU R

I RI SH WITCH C RAFT AND

DEM O NOLO GY
ne t
5 3 .

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