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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of True Irish Ghost Stories, by St John D Seymour
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: True Irish Ghost Stories
+
+Author: St John D Seymour
+
+Release Date: November 20, 2004 [EBook #14099]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUE IRISH GHOST STORIES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Clare Boothby, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        TRUE IRISH GHOST STORIES
+
+                              COMPILED BY
+
+                        ST JOHN D. SEYMOUR, B.D.
+
+            AUTHOR OF "IRISH WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY" ETC.
+
+                                  AND
+
+                      HARRY L. NELIGAN, D.I.R.I.C.
+
+                                 1914
+
+
+
+
+TO THREE LIVELY POLTERGEISTS W----, J----, AND G----, THIS BOOK IS
+DEDICATED BY THE COMPILERS
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+This book had its origin on this wise. In my _Irish Witchcraft and
+Demonology_, published in October 1913, I inserted a couple of famous
+17th century ghost stories which described how lawsuits were set on foot
+at the instigation of most importunate spirits. It then occurred to me
+that as far as I knew there was no such thing in existence as a book of
+Irish ghost stories. Books on Irish fairy and folk-lore there were in
+abundance--some of which could easily be spared--but there was no book of
+ghosts. And so I determined to supply this sad omission.
+
+In accordance with the immortal recipe for making hare-soup I had first
+to obtain my ghost stories. Where was I to get them from? For myself I
+knew none worth publishing, nor had I ever had any strange experiences,
+while I feared that my friends and acquaintances were in much the
+same predicament. Suddenly a brilliant thought struck me. I wrote out a
+letter, stating exactly what I wanted, and what I did _not_ want, and
+requesting the readers of it either to forward me ghost stories, or else
+to put me in the way of getting them: this letter was sent to the
+principal Irish newspapers on October 27, and published on October 29,
+and following days.
+
+I confess I was a little doubtful as to the result of my experiment, and
+wondered what response the people of Ireland would make to a letter which
+might place a considerable amount of trouble on their shoulders. My mind
+was speedily set at rest. On October 30, the first answers reached me.
+Within a fortnight I had sufficient material to make a book; within a
+month I had so much material that I could pick and choose--and more was
+promised. Further on in this preface I give a list of those persons whose
+contributions 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 majority of whom were utter strangers
+to me, who went to the trouble of sitting down and writing out page after
+page of stories. I cannot forget their kindness, and I am only sorry that
+I could not make use of more of the matter that was sent to me. As one
+would expect, this material varied in value and extent. Some persons
+contributed incidents, of little use by themselves, but which worked in
+as helpful illustrations, while others forwarded budgets of stories,
+long and short. To sift the mass of matter, and bring the various
+portions of it into proper sequence, would have been a lengthy and
+difficult piece of work had I not been ably assisted by Mr. Harry L.
+Neligan, D.I.; but I leave it as a pleasant task to the Higher Critic to
+discover what portions of the book were done by him, and what should be
+attributed to me.
+
+Some of the replies that reached me were sufficiently amusing. One
+gentleman, who carefully signed himself "Esquire," informed me that he
+was "after" reading a great book of ghost stories, but several letters of
+mine failed to elicit any subsequent information. Another person offered
+to _sell_ me ghost stories, while several proffered tales that had been
+worked up comically. One lady addressed a card to me as follows:
+
+"THE REVD. ----
+
+(Name and address lost of the clergyman whose letter appeared lately in
+_Irish Times, re_ "apparitions")
+
+CAPPAWHITE."
+
+As the number of clergy in the above village who deal in ghost stories is
+strictly limited, the Post Office succeeded in delivering it safely. I
+wrote at once in reply, and got a story. In a letter bearing the Dublin
+postmark a correspondent, veiled in anonymity, sent me a religious tract
+with the curt note, "_Re_ ghost stories, will you please read this." I
+did so, but still fail to see the sender's point of view. Another person
+in a neighbouring parish declared that if I were their rector they would
+forthwith leave my church, and attend service elsewhere. There are many,
+I fear, who adopt this attitude; but it will soon become out of date.
+
+Some of my readers may cavil at the expression, "_True_ Ghost Stories."
+For myself I cannot guarantee the genuineness of a single incident in
+this book--how could I, as none of them are my own personal experience?
+This at least I _can_ vouch for, that the majority of the stories were
+sent to me as first or second-hand experiences by ladies and gentlemen
+whose statement on an ordinary matter of fact would be accepted without
+question. And further, in order to prove the _bona fides_ of this book, I
+make the following offer. The original letters and documents are in my
+custody at Donohil Rectory, and I am perfectly willing to allow any
+responsible person to examine them, subject to certain restrictions,
+these latter obviously being that names of people and places must not be
+divulged, for I regret to say that in very many instances my
+correspondents have laid this burden upon me. This is to be the more
+regretted, because the use of blanks, or fictitious initials, makes
+a story appear much less convincing than if real names had been employed.
+
+Just one word. I can imagine some of my readers (to be numbered by the
+thousand, I hope) saying to themselves: "Oh! Mr. Seymour has left out
+some of the best stories. Did he never hear of such-and-such a haunted
+house, or place?" Or, "I could relate an experience better than anything
+he has got." If such there be, may I beg of them to send me on their
+stories with all imagined speed, as they may be turned to account at
+some future date.
+
+I beg to return thanks to the following for permission to make use of
+matter in their publications: Messrs. Sealy, Bryers, and Walker,
+proprietors of the _New Ireland Review_; the editor of the _Review of
+Reviews_; the editor of the _Proceedings_ of the Society for Psychical
+Research; the editor of the _Journal_ of the American S.P.R.; the editor
+of the _Occult Review_, and Mr. Elliott O'Donnell; Messrs. Longmans,
+Green and Co., and Mrs. Andrew Lang; the editor of the _Wide World
+Magazine_; the representatives of the late Rev. Dr. Craig.
+
+In accordance with the promise made in my letter, I have now much
+pleasure in giving the names of the ladies and gentlemen who have
+contributed to, or assisted in, the compilation of this book, and as well
+to assure them that Mr. Neligan and I are deeply grateful to them for
+their kindness.
+
+Mrs. S. Acheson, Drumsna, Co. Roscommon; Mrs. M. Archibald, Cliftonville
+Road, Belfast; J.J. Burke, Esq., U.D.C., Rahoon, Galway; Capt. R.
+Beamish, Passage West, Co. Cork; Mrs. A. Bayly, Woodenbridge, Co.
+Wicklow; R. Blair, Esq., South Shields; Jas. Byrne, Esq.,
+Castletownroche, Co. Cork; Mrs. Kearney Brooks, Killarney; H. Buchanan,
+Esq., Inishannon, Co. Cork; J.A. Barlow, Esq., Bray, Co. Wicklow; J.
+Carton, Esq., King's Inns Library, Dublin; Miss A. Cooke, Cappagh House,
+Co. Limerick; J.P.V. Campbell, Esq. _Solicitor_, Dublin; Rev. E.G.S.
+Crosthwait, M.A., Littleton, Thurles; J. Crowley, Esq., Munster and
+Leinster Bank, Cashel; Miss C.M. Doyle, Ashfield Road, Dublin; J. Ralph
+Dagg, Esq., Baltinglass; Gerald A. Dillon, Esq., Wicklow; Matthias and
+Miss Nan Fitzgerald, Cappagh House, Co. Limerick; Lord Walter Fitzgerald,
+Kilkea Castle; Miss Finch, Rushbrook, Co. Cork; Rev. H.R.B. Gillespie,
+M.A., Aghacon Rectory, Roscrea; Miss Grene, Grene Park, Co. Tipperary;
+L.H. Grubb, Esq. J.P., D.L., Ardmayle, Co. Tipperary; H. Keble Gelston,
+Esq., Letterkenny; Ven. J.A. Haydn, LL.D., Archdeacon of Limerick; Miss
+Dorothy Hamilton, Portarlington; Richard Hogan, Esq., Bowman St.,
+Limerick; Mrs. G. Kelly, Rathgar, Dublin; Miss Keefe, Carnahallia, Doon;
+Rev. D.B. Knox, Whitehead, Belfast; Rev. J.D. Kidd, M.A., Castlewellan;
+E.B. de Lacy, Esq., Marlboro' Road, Dublin; Miss K. Lloyd, Shinrone,
+King's Co.; Canon Lett, M.A., Aghaderg Rectory; T. MacFadden, Esq.,
+Carrigart, Co. Donegal; Wm. Mackey, Esq., Strabane; Canon Courtenay
+Moore, M.A., Mitchelstown, Co. Cork; J. McCrossan, Esq., _Journalist_,
+Strabane; G.H. Miller, Esq., J.P., Edgeworthstown; Mrs. P.C.F. Magee,
+Dublin; Rev. R.D. Paterson, B.A., Ardmore Rectory; E.A. Phelps, Esq.,
+Trinity College Library; Mrs. Pratt, Munster and Leinster Bank,
+Rathkeale; Miss Pim, Monkstown, Co. Dublin; Miss B. Parker, Passage West,
+Co. Cork; Henry Reay, Esq., Harold's Cross, Dublin; M.J. Ryan, Esq.,
+Taghmon, Co. Wexford; P. Ryan, Esq., Nicker, Pallasgrean; Canon
+Ross-Lewin, Kilmurry, Limerick; Miss A. Russell, Elgin Road, Dublin;
+Lt.-Col. the Hon. F. Shore, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny; Mrs. Seymour,
+Donohil Rectory; Mrs. E.L. Stritch, North Great Georges St., Dublin;
+M.C.R. Stritch, Esq., Belturbet; Very Rev. the Dean of St. Patrick's.
+D.D.; Mrs. Spratt, Thurles; W.S. Thompson, Esq., Inishannon, Co. Cork;
+Mrs, Thomas, Sandycove, Dublin; Mrs. Walker, Glenbeigh, Co. Kerry; Miss
+Wolfe, Skibbereen, Co. Cork; Mrs. E. Welsh, Nenagh; T.J. Westropp, Esq.,
+M.A., M.R.I.A., Sandymount, Dublin; Mrs. M.A. Wilkins, Rathgar, Dublin;
+John Ward, Esq., Ballymote; Mrs. Wrench, Ballybrack, Co. Dublin; Miss
+K.E. Younge, Upper Oldtown, Rathdowney.
+
+ST. JOHN D. SEYMOUR.
+
+DONOHIL RECTORY,
+
+CAPPAWHITE, TIPPERARY,
+_February 2_, 1914.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAP.
+
+   I. HAUNTED HOUSES IN OR NEAR DUBLIN
+  II. HAUNTED HOUSES IN CONN'S HALF
+ III. HAUNTED HOUSES IN MOGH'S HALF
+  IV. POLTERGEISTS
+   V. HAUNTED PLACES
+  VI. APPARITIONS AT OR AFTER DEATH
+ VII. BANSHEES, AND OTHER DEATH-WARNINGS
+VIII. MISCELLANEOUS SUPERNORMAL EXPERIENCES
+  IX. LEGENDARY AND ANCESTRAL GHOSTS
+   X. MISTAKEN IDENTITY--CONCLUSION
+
+
+
+
+TRUE IRISH GHOST STORIES
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+HAUNTED HOUSES IN OR NEAR DUBLIN
+
+
+Of all species of ghostly phenomena, that commonly known as "haunted
+houses" appeals most to the ordinary person. There is something very
+eerie in being shut up within the four walls of a house with a ghost. The
+poor human being is placed at such a disadvantage. If we know that a
+gateway, or road, or field has the reputation of being haunted, we can in
+nearly every case make a detour, and so avoid the unpleasant locality.
+But the presence of a ghost in a house creates a very different state of
+affairs. It appears and disappears at its own sweet will, with a total
+disregard for our feelings: it seems to be as much part and parcel of the
+domicile as the staircase or the hall door, and, consequently, nothing
+short of leaving the house or of pulling it down (both of these solutions
+are not always practicable) will free us absolutely from the unwelcome
+presence.
+
+There is also something so natural, and at the same time so unnatural, in
+seeing a door open when we know that no human hand rests on the knob, or
+in hearing the sound of footsteps, light or heavy, and feeling that it
+cannot be attributed to the feet of mortal man or woman. Or perhaps a
+form appears in a room, standing, sitting, or walking--in 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. Or perhaps we are asleep in bed. The room is shrouded
+in darkness, and our recumbent attitude, together with the weight of
+bed-clothes, hampers our movements and probably makes us more cowardly. A
+man will meet pain or danger boldly if he be standing upright--occupying
+that erect position which is his as Lord of Creation; but his courage
+does not well so high if he be supine. We are awakened suddenly by the
+feel that some superhuman Presence is in the room. We are transfixed with
+terror, we cannot find either the bell-rope or the matches, while we
+_dare_ not leap out of bed and make a rush for the door lest we should
+encounter we know not what. In an agony of fear, we feel it moving
+towards us; it approaches closer, and yet closer, to the bed, and--for
+what may or may not then happen we must refer our readers to the pages of
+this book.
+
+But the sceptical reader will say: "This is all very well, but--there are
+_no_ haunted houses. All these alleged strange happenings are due to a
+vivid imagination, or else to rats and mice." (The question of deliberate
+and conscious fraud may be rejected in almost every instance.) This
+simple solution has been put forward so often that it should infallibly
+have solved the problem long ago. But will such a reader explain how it
+is that the noise made by rats and mice can resemble slow, heavy
+footsteps, or else take the form of a human being seen by several
+persons; or how our imagination can cause doors to open and shut, or else
+create a conglomeration of noises which, physically, would be beyond the
+power of ordinary individuals to reproduce? Whatever may be the ultimate
+explanation, we feel that there is a great deal in the words quoted by
+Professor Barrett: "In spite of all reasonable scepticism, it is
+difficult to avoid accepting, at least provisionally, the conclusion that
+there are, in a certain sense, haunted houses, _i.e._ that there are
+houses in which similar quasi-human apparitions have occurred at
+different times to different inhabitants, under circumstances which
+exclude the hypothesis of suggestion or expectation."
+
+We must now turn to the subject of this chapter. Mrs. G. Kelly, a lady
+well known in musical circles in Dublin, sends as her own personal
+experience the following tale of a most quiet haunting, in which the
+spectral charwoman (!) does not seem to have entirely laid aside all her
+mundane habits.
+
+"My first encounter with a ghost occurred about twenty years ago. On that
+occasion I was standing in the kitchen of my house in ---- Square, when a
+woman, whom I was afterwards to see many times, walked down the stairs
+into the room. Having heard the footsteps outside, I was not in the least
+perturbed, but turned to look who it was, and found myself looking at a
+tall, stout, elderly woman, wearing a bonnet and old-fashioned mantle.
+She had grey hair, and a benign and amiable expression. We stood gazing
+at each other while one could count twenty. At first I was not at all
+frightened, but gradually as I stood looking at her an uncomfortable
+feeling, increasing to terror, came over me. This caused me to retreat
+farther and farther back, until I had my back against the wall, and then
+the apparition slowly faded.
+
+"This feeling of terror, due perhaps to the unexpectedness of her
+appearance, always overcame me on the subsequent occasions on which I
+saw her. These occasions numbered twelve or fifteen, and I have seen her
+in every room in the house, and at every hour of the day, during a period
+of about ten years. The last time she appeared was ten years ago. My
+husband and I had just returned from a concert at which he had been
+singing, and we sat for some time over supper, talking about the events
+of the evening. When at last I rose to leave the room, and opened the
+dining-room door, I found my old lady standing on the mat outside with
+her head bent towards the door in the attitude of listening. I called
+out loudly, and my husband rushed to my side. That was the last time I
+have seen her."
+
+"One peculiarity of this spectral visitant was a strong objection to
+disorder or untidyness of any kind, or even to an alteration in the
+general routine of the house. For instance, she showed her disapproval of
+any stranger coming to sleep by turning the chairs face downwards on the
+floor in the room they were to occupy. I well remember one of our guests,
+having gone to his room one evening for something he had forgotten,
+remarking on coming downstairs again, 'Well, you people have an
+extraordinary manner of arranging your furniture! I have nearly broken my
+bones over one of the bedroom chairs which was turned down on the floor.'
+As my husband and I had restored that chair twice already to its proper
+position during the day, we were not much surprised at his remarks,
+although we did not enlighten him. The whole family have been disturbed
+by a peculiar knocking which occurred in various rooms in the house,
+frequently on the door or wall, but sometimes on the furniture, quite
+close to where we had been sitting. This was evidently loud enough to be
+heard in the next house, for our next-door neighbour once asked my
+husband why he selected such curious hours for hanging his pictures.
+Another strange and fairly frequent occurrence was the following. I had
+got a set of skunk furs which I fancied had an unpleasant odour, as this
+fur sometimes has; and at night I used to take it from my wardrobe and
+lay it on a chair in the drawing-room, which was next my bedroom. The
+first time that I did this, on going to the drawing-room I found, to my
+surprise, my muff in one corner and my stole in another. Not for a moment
+suspecting a supernatural agent, I asked my servant about it, and she
+assured me that she had not been in the room that morning. Whereupon I
+determined to test the matter, which I did by putting in the furs late at
+night, and taking care that I was the first to enter the room in the
+morning. I invariably found that they had been disturbed."
+
+The following strange and pathetic incident occurred in a well-known
+Square in the north side of the city. In or about a hundred years ago a
+young officer was ordered to Dublin, and took a house there for himself
+and his family. He sent on his wife and two children, intending to join
+them in the course of a few days. When the latter and the nurse arrived,
+they found only the old charwoman in the house, and she left shortly
+after their arrival. Finding that something was needed, the nurse went
+out to purchase it. On her return she asked the mother were the children
+all right, as she had seen two ghostly forms flit past her on the
+door-step! The mother answered that she believed they were, but on going
+up to the nursery they found both the children with their throats cut.
+The murderer was never brought to justice, and no motive was ever
+discovered for the crime. The unfortunate mother went mad, and it is said
+that an eerie feeling still clings to the house, while two little heads
+are sometimes seen at the window of the room where the deed was
+committed.
+
+A most weird experience fell to the lot of Major Macgregor, and was
+contributed by him to _Real Ghost Stories_, the celebrated Christmas
+number of the _Review of Reviews_. He says: "In the end of 1871 I went
+over to Ireland to visit a relative living in a Square in the north side
+of Dublin. In January 1872 the husband of my relative fell ill. I sat up
+with him for several nights, and at last, as he seemed better, I went to
+bed, and directed the footman to call me if anything went wrong. I soon
+fell asleep, but some time after was awakened by a push on the left
+shoulder. I started up, and said, 'Is there anything wrong?' I got no
+answer, but immediately received another push. I got annoyed, and said
+'Can you not speak, man! and tell me if there is anything wrong.' Still
+no answer, and I had a feeling I was going to get another push when I
+suddenly turned round and caught a human hand, warm, plump, and soft. I
+said, 'Who are you?' but I got no answer. I then tried to pull the person
+towards me, but could not do so. I then said, 'I _will_ know who you
+are!' and having the hand tight in my right hand, with my left I felt the
+wrist and arm, enclosed, as it seemed to me, in a tight-fitting sleeve of
+some winter material with a linen cuff, but when I got to the elbow all
+trace of an arm ceased. I was so astounded that I let the hand go, and
+just then the clock struck two. Including the mistress of the house,
+there were five females in the establishment, and I can assert that the
+hand belonged to none of them. When I reported the adventure, the
+servants exclaimed, 'Oh, it must have been the master's old Aunt Betty,
+who lived for many years in the upper part of that house, and had died
+over fifty years before at a great age.' I afterwards heard that the room
+in which I felt the hand had been considered haunted, and very curious
+noises and peculiar incidents occurred, such as the bed-clothes torn off,
+&c. One lady got a slap in the face from some invisible hand, and when
+she lit her candle she saw as if something opaque fell or jumped off
+the bed. A general officer, a brother of the lady, slept there two
+nights, but preferred going to a hotel to remaining the third night. He
+never would say what he heard or saw, but always said the room was
+uncanny. I slept for months in the room afterwards, and was never in the
+least disturbed."
+
+A truly terrifying sight was witnessed by a clergyman in a school-house a
+good many years ago. This cleric was curate of a Dublin parish, but
+resided with his parents some distance out of town in the direction of
+Malahide. It not infrequently happened that he had to hold meetings in
+the evenings, and on such occasions, as his home was so far away, and as
+the modern convenience of tramcars was not then known, he used to sleep
+in the schoolroom, a large bare room, where the meetings were held. He
+had made a sleeping-apartment for himself by placing a pole across one
+end of the room, on which he had rigged up two curtains which, when drawn
+together, met in the middle. One night he had been holding some meeting,
+and when everybody had left he locked up the empty schoolhouse, and went
+to bed. It was a bright moonlight night, and every object could be seen
+perfectly clearly. Scarcely had he got into bed when he became conscious
+of some invisible presence. Then he saw the curtains agitated at one end,
+as if hands were grasping them on the outside. In an agony of terror he
+watched these hands groping along outside the curtains till they reached
+the middle. The curtains were then drawn a little apart, and a Face
+peered in--an awful, evil Face, with an expression of wickedness and hate
+upon it which no words could describe. It looked at him for a few
+moments, then drew back again, and the curtains closed. The clergyman
+had sufficient courage left to leap out of bed and make a thorough
+examination of the room, but, as he expected, he found no one. He dressed
+himself as quickly as possible, walked home, and never again slept a
+night in that schoolroom.
+
+The following tale, sent by Mr. E. B. de Lacy, contains a most
+extraordinary and unsatisfactory element of mystery. He says: "When I was
+a boy I lived in the suburbs, and used to come in every morning to school
+in the city. My way lay through a certain street in which stood a very
+dismal semi-detached house, which, I might say, was closed up regularly
+about every six months. I would see new tenants coming into it, and then
+in a few months it would be 'To let' again. This went on for eight or
+nine years, and I often wondered what was the reason. On inquiring one
+day from a friend, I was told that it had the reputation of being
+haunted.
+
+"A few years later I entered business in a certain office, and one day it
+fell to my lot to have to call on the lady who at that particular period
+was the tenant of the haunted house. When we had transacted our business
+she informed me that she was about to leave. Knowing the reputation of
+the house, and being desirous of investigating a ghost-story, I asked her
+if she would give me the history of the house as far as she knew it,
+which she very kindly did as follows:
+
+"About forty years ago the house was left by will to a gentleman
+named ----. He lived in it for a short time, when he suddenly went mad,
+and had to be put in an asylum. Upon this his agents let the house to a
+lady. Apparently nothing unusual happened for some time, but a few months
+later, as she went down one morning to a room behind the kitchen, she
+found the cook hanging by a rope attached to a hook in the ceiling. After
+the inquest the lady gave up the house.
+
+"It was then closed up for some time, but was again advertised 'To let,'
+and a caretaker, a woman, was put into it. One night about one o'clock, a
+constable going his rounds heard some one calling for help from the
+house, and found the caretaker on the sill of one of the windows holding
+on as best she could. He told her to go in and open the hall door and let
+him in, but she refused to enter the room again. He forced open the door
+and succeeded in dragging the woman back into the room, only to find she
+had gone mad.
+
+"Again the house was shut up, and again it was let, this time to a lady,
+on a five-years' lease. However, after a few months' residence, she
+locked it up, and went away. On her friends asking her why she did so,
+she replied that she would rather pay the whole five years' rent than
+live in it herself, or allow anyone else to do so, but would give no
+other reason.
+
+"'I believe I was the next person to take this house,' said the lady who
+narrated the story to me (_i.e._ Mr. de Lacy). 'I took it about eighteen
+months ago on a three years' lease in the hopes of making money by taking
+in boarders, but I am now giving it up because none of them will stay
+more than a week or two. They do not give any definite reason as to why
+they are leaving; they are careful to state that it is not because they
+have any fault to find with me or my domestic arrangements, but they
+merely say _they do not like the rooms_! The rooms themselves, as you can
+see, are good, spacious, and well lighted. I have had all classes of
+professional men; one of the last was a barrister, and he said that he
+had no fault to find except that _he did not like the rooms_! I myself do
+not believe in ghosts, and I have never seen anything strange here or
+elsewhere; and if I had known the house had the reputation of being
+haunted, I would never have rented it."
+
+Marsh's library, that quaint, old-world repository of ponderous tomes, is
+reputed to be haunted by the ghost of its founder, Primate Narcissus
+Marsh. He is said to frequent the inner gallery, which contains what was
+formerly his own private library: he moves in and out among the cases,
+taking down books from the shelves, and occasionally throwing them down
+on the reader's desk as if in anger. However, he always leaves things in
+perfect order. The late Mr. ----, who for some years lived in the
+librarian's rooms underneath, was a firm believer in this ghost, and said
+he frequently heard noises which could only be accounted for by the
+presence of a nocturnal visitor; the present tenant is more sceptical.
+The story goes that Marsh's niece eloped from the Palace, and was married
+in a tavern to the curate of Chapelizod. She is reported to have written
+a note consenting to the elopement, and to have then placed it in one of
+her uncle's books to which her lover had access, and where he found it.
+As a punishment for his lack of vigilance, the Archbishop is said to be
+condemned to hunt for the note until he find it--hence the ghost.
+
+The ghost of a deceased Canon was seen in one of the Dublin cathedrals
+by several independent witnesses, one of whom, a lady, gives her own
+experience as follows: "Canon ---- was a personal friend of mine, and
+we had many times discussed ghosts and spiritualism, in which he was a
+profound believer, having had many supernatural experiences himself.
+It was during the Sunday morning service in the cathedral that I saw
+my friend, who had been dead for two years, sitting inside the
+communion-rails. I was so much astonished at the flesh-and blood
+appearance of the figure that I took off my glasses and wiped them with
+my handkerchief, at the same time looking away from him down the church.
+On looking back again he was still there, and continued to sit there for
+about ten or twelve minutes, after which he faded away. I remarked a
+change in his personal appearance, which was, that his beard was longer
+and whiter than when I had known him--in fact, such a change as would
+have occurred _in life_ in the space of two years. Having told my
+husband of the occurrence on our way home, he remembered having heard
+some talk of an appearance of this clergyman in the cathedral since his
+death. He hurried back to the afternoon service, and asked the robestress
+if anybody had seen Canon ----'s ghost. She informed him that _she_ had,
+and that he had also been seen by one of the sextons in the cathedral. I
+mention this because in describing his personal appearance she had
+remarked the same change as I had with regard to the beard."
+
+Some years ago a family had very uncanny experiences in a house in
+Rathgar, and subsequently in another in Rathmines. These were
+communicated by one of the young ladies to Mrs. M. A. Wilkins, who
+published them in the _Journal_ of the American S.P.R.,[1] from which
+they are here taken. The Rathgar house had a basement passage leading to
+a door into the yard, and along this passage her mother and the children
+used to hear dragging, limping steps, and the latch of the door rattling,
+but no one could ever be found when search was made. The house-bells were
+old and all in a row, and on one occasion they all rang, apparently of
+their own accord. The lady narrator used to sleep in the back drawing
+room, and always when the light was put out she heard strange noises, as
+if some one was going round the room rubbing paper along the wall, while
+she often had the feeling that a person was standing beside her bed. A
+cousin, who was a nurse, once slept with her, and also noticed these
+strange noises. On one occasion this room was given up to a very
+matter-of-fact young man to sleep in, and next morning he said that the
+room was very strange, with queer noises in it.
+
+[Footnote 1: For September 1913.]
+
+Her mother also had an extraordinary experience in the same house. One
+evening she had just put the baby to bed, when she heard a voice calling
+"mother." She left the bedroom, and called to her daughter, who was in a
+lower room, "What do you want?" But the girl replied that she had _not_
+called her; and then, in her turn, asked her mother if _she_ had been in
+the front room, for she had just heard a noise as if some one was trying
+to fasten the inside bars of the shutters across. But her mother had been
+upstairs, and no one was in the front room. The experiences in the
+Rathmines house were of a similar auditory nature, _i.e._ the young
+ladies heard their names called, though it was found that no one in the
+house had done so.
+
+Occasionally it happens that ghosts inspire a law-suit. In the
+seventeenth century they were to be found actively urging the adoption of
+legal proceedings, but in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries they
+play a more passive part. A case about a haunted house took place in
+Dublin in the year 1885, in which the ghost may be said to have won. A
+Mr. Waldron, a solicitor's clerk, sued his next-door neighbour, one
+Mr. Kiernan, a mate in the merchant service, to recover £500 for damages
+done to his house.
+
+Kiernan altogether denied the charges, but asserted that Waldron's house
+was notoriously haunted. Witnesses proved that every night, from August
+1884 to January 1885, stones were thrown at the windows and doors, and
+extraordinary and inexplicable occurrences constantly took place.
+
+Mrs. Waldron, wife of the plaintiff, swore that one night she saw one of
+the panes of glass of a certain window cut through with a diamond, and a
+white hand inserted through the hole. She at once caught up a bill-hook
+and aimed a blow at the hand, cutting off one of the fingers. This finger
+could not be found, nor were any traces of blood seen.
+
+A servant of hers was sorely persecuted by noises and the sound of
+footsteps. Mr. Waldron, with the aid of detectives and policemen,
+endeavoured to find out the cause, but with no success. The witnesses
+in the case were closely cross-examined, but without shaking their
+testimony. The facts appeared to be proved, so the jury found for
+Kiernan, the defendant. At least twenty persons had testified on oath to
+the fact that the house had been known to have been haunted.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Sights and Shadows_, p. 42 ff.]
+
+Before leaving the city and its immediate surroundings, we must relate
+the story of an extraordinary ghost, somewhat lacking in good manners,
+yet not without a certain distorted sense of humour. Absolutely
+incredible though the tale may seem, yet it comes on very good authority.
+It was related to our informant, Mr. D., by a Mrs. C., whose daughter he
+had employed as governess. Mrs. C., who is described as "a woman of
+respectable position and good education," heard it in her turn from her
+father and mother. In the story the relationship of the different persons
+seems a little involved, but it would appear that the initial A belongs
+to the surname both of Mrs. C.'s father and grandfather.
+
+This ghost was commonly called "Corney" by the family, and he answered to
+this though it was not his proper name. He disclosed this latter to Mr.
+C.'s mother, who forgot it. Corney made his presence manifest to the
+A---- family shortly after they had gone to reside in ---- Street in the
+following manner. Mr. A---- had sprained his knee badly, and had to use a
+crutch, which at night was left at the head of his bed. One night his
+wife heard some one walking on the lobby, thump, thump, thump, as if
+imitating Mr. A----. She struck a match to see 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
+usual habitat, the coal-cellar off the kitchen. His voice sounded as if
+it came out of an empty barrel.
+
+He was very troublesome, and continually played practical jokes on the
+servants, who, as might be expected, were in terror of their lives of
+him; so much so that Mrs. A---- could hardly induce them to stay with
+her. They used to sleep in a press-bed in the kitchen, and in order to
+get away from Corney, they asked for a room at the top of the house,
+which was given to them. Accordingly the press-bed was moved up there.
+The first night they went to retire to bed after the change, the doors of
+the press were flung open, and Corney's voice said, "Ha! ha! you devils,
+I am here before you! I am not confined to any particular part of this
+house."
+
+Corney was continually tampering with the doors, and straining locks
+and keys. He only manifested himself in material form to two persons;
+to ----, who died with the fright, and to Mr. A---- (Mrs. C.'s father)
+when he was about seven years old. The latter described him to his mother
+as a naked man, with a curl on his forehead, and a skin like a
+clothes-horse(!).
+
+One day a servant was preparing fish for dinner. She laid it on the
+kitchen table while she went elsewhere for something she wanted. When she
+returned the fish had disappeared. She thereupon began to cry, fearing
+she would be accused of making away with it. The next thing she heard was
+the voice of Corney from the coal-cellar saying, "There, you blubbering
+fool, is your fish for you!" and, suiting the action to the word, the
+fish was thrown out on the kitchen floor.
+
+Relatives from the country used to bring presents of vegetables, and
+these were often hung up by Corney like Christmas decorations round the
+kitchen. There was one particular press in the kitchen he would not allow
+anything into. He would throw it out again. A crock with meat in pickle
+was put into it, and a fish placed on the cover of the crock. He threw
+the fish out.
+
+Silver teaspoons were missing, and no account of them could be got until
+Mrs. A---- asked Corney to confess if he had done anything with them. He
+said, "They are under the ticking in the servants' bed." He had, so he
+said, a daughter in ---- Street, and sometimes announced that he was
+going to see her, and would not be here to-night.
+
+On one occasion he announced that he was going to have "company" that
+evening, and if they wanted any water out of the soft-water tank, to take
+it before going to bed, as he and his friends would be using it.
+Subsequently that night five or six distinct voices were heard, and next
+morning the water in the tank was as black as ink, and not alone that,
+but the bread and butter in the pantry were streaked with the marks of
+sooty fingers.
+
+A clergyman in the locality, having heard of the doings of Corney, called
+to investigate the matter. He was advised by Mrs. A---- to keep quiet,
+and not to reveal his identity, as being the best chance of hearing
+Corney speak. He waited a long time, and as the capricious Corney
+remained silent, he left at length. The servants asked, "Corney, why did
+you not speak?" and he replied, "I could not speak while that good man
+was in the house." The servants sometimes used to ask him where he was.
+He would reply, "The Great God would not permit me to tell you. I was a
+bad man, and I died the death." He named the room in the house in which
+he died.
+
+Corney constantly joined in any conversation carried on by the people of
+the house. One could never tell when a voice from the coal-cellar would
+erupt into the dialogue. He had his likes and dislikes: he appeared to
+dislike anyone that was not afraid of him, and would not talk to them.
+Mrs. C.'s mother, however, used to get good of him by coaxing. An uncle,
+having failed to get him to speak one night, took the kitchen poker, and
+hammered at the door of the coal-cellar, saying, "I'll make you speak";
+but Corney wouldn't. Next morning the poker was found broken in two. This
+uncle used to wear spectacles, and Corney used to call him derisively,
+"Four-eyes." An uncle named Richard came to sleep one night, and
+complained in the morning that the clothes were pulled off him. Corney
+told the servants in great glee, "I slept on Master Richard's feet all
+night."
+
+Finally Mr. A---- made several attempts to dispose of his lease, but with
+no success, for when intending purchasers were being shown over the house
+and arrived at Corney's domain, the spirit would begin to speak and
+the would-be purchaser would fly. They asked him if they changed house
+would he trouble them. He replied, "No! but if they throw down this
+house, I will trouble the stones."
+
+At last Mrs. A---- appealed to him to keep quiet, and not to injure
+people who had never injured him. He promised that he would do so, and
+then said, "Mrs. A----, you will be all right now, for I see a lady in
+black coming up the street to this house, and she will buy it." Within
+half an hour a widow called and purchased the house. Possibly Corney is
+still there, for our informant looked up the Directory as he was writing,
+and found the house marked "Vacant."
+
+Near Blanchardstown, Co. Dublin, is a house, occupied at present, or up
+to very recently, by a private family; it was formerly a monastery, and
+there are said to be secret passages in it. Once a servant ironing in the
+kitchen saw the figure of a nun approach the kitchen window and look in.
+Our informant was also told by a friend (now dead), who had it from the
+lady of the house, that once night falls, no doors can be kept closed.
+If anyone shuts them, almost immediately they are flung open again with
+the greatest violence and apparent anger. If left open there is no
+trouble or noise, but light footsteps are heard, and there is a vague
+feeling of people passing to and fro. The persons inhabiting the house
+are matter-of-fact, unimaginative people, who speak of this as if it were
+an everyday affair. "So long as we leave the doors unclosed they don't
+harm us: why should we be afraid of them?" Mrs. ---- said. Truly a most
+philosophical attitude to adopt!
+
+A haunted house in Kingstown, Co. Dublin, was investigated by Professor
+W. Barrett and Professor Henry Sidgwick. The story is singularly well
+attested (as one might expect from its being inserted in the pages of the
+_Proceedings S.P.R._[3]), as the apparition was seen on three distinct
+occasions, and by three separate persons who were all personally known to
+the above gentlemen. The house in which the following occurrences took
+place is described as being a very old one, with unusually thick walls.
+The lady saw her strange visitant in her bedroom. She says: "Disliking
+cross-lights, I had got into the habit of having the blind of the back
+window drawn and the shutters closed at night, and of leaving the blind
+raised and the shutters opened towards the front, liking to see the trees
+and sky when I awakened. Opening my eyes now one morning, I saw right
+before me (this occurred in July 1873) the figure of a woman, stooping
+down and apparently looking at me. Her head and shoulders were wrapped in
+a common woollen shawl; her arms were folded, and they were also wrapped,
+as if for warmth, in the shawl. I looked at her in my horror, and dared
+not cry out lest I might move the awful thing to speech or action. Behind
+her head I saw the window and the growing dawn, the looking-glass upon
+the toilet-table, and the furniture in that part of the room. After what
+may have been only seconds--of the duration of this vision I cannot
+judge--she raised herself and went backwards towards the window, stood at
+the toilet-table, and gradually vanished. I mean she grew by degrees
+transparent, and that through the shawl and the grey dress she wore I saw
+the white muslin of the table-cover again, and at last saw that only in
+the place where she had stood." The lady lay motionless with terror until
+the servant came to call her. The only other occupants of the house at
+the time were her brother and the servant, to neither of whom did she
+make any mention of the circumstance, fearing that the former would laugh
+at her, and the latter give notice.
+
+[Footnote 3: July 1884, p. 141.]
+
+Exactly a fortnight later, when sitting at breakfast, she noticed
+that her brother seemed out of sorts, and did not eat. On asking
+him if anything were the matter, he answered, "I have had a horrid
+nightmare--indeed it was no nightmare: I saw it early this morning, just
+as distinctly as I see you." "What?" she asked. "A villainous-looking
+hag," he replied, "with her head and arms wrapped in a cloak, stooping
+over me, and looking like this--" He got up, folded his arms, and put
+himself in the exact posture of the vision. Whereupon she informed him of
+what she herself had seen a fortnight previously.
+
+About four years later, in the same month, the lady's married sister and
+two children were alone in the house. The eldest child, a boy of about
+four or five years, asked for a drink, and his mother went to fetch it,
+desiring him to remain in the dining-room until her return. Coming back
+she met the boy pale and trembling, and on asking him why he left the
+room, he replied, "Who is that woman--who is that woman?" "Where?" she
+asked. "That old woman who went upstairs," he replied. So agitated was
+he, that she took him by the hand and went upstairs to search, but no one
+was to be found, though he still maintained that a woman went upstairs. A
+friend of the family subsequently told them that a woman had been killed
+in the house many years previously, and that it was reported to be
+haunted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+HAUNTED HOUSES IN CONN'S HALF
+
+
+From a very early period a division of Ireland into two "halves"
+existed. This was traditionally believed to have been made by Conn
+the Hundred-fighter and Mogh Nuadat, in A.D. 166. The north was in
+consequence known as Conn's Half, the south as Mogh's Half, the line of
+division being a series of gravel hills extending from Dublin to Galway.
+This division we have followed, except that we have included the whole
+of the counties of West Meath and Galway in the northern portion. We had
+hoped originally to have had _four_ chapters on Haunted Houses, one for
+each of the four provinces, but, for lack of material from Connaught, we
+have been forced to adopt the plan on which Chapters I-III are arranged.
+
+Mrs. Acheson, of Co. Roscommon, sends the following: "Emo House, Co.
+Westmeath, a very old mansion since pulled down, was purchased by my
+grandfather for his son, my father. The latter had only been living in it
+for a few days when knocking commenced at the hall door. Naturally he
+thought it was someone playing tricks, or endeavouring to frighten him
+away. One night he had the lobby window open directly over the door. The
+knocking commenced, and he looked out: it was a very bright night, and as
+there was no porch he could see the door distinctly; the knocking
+continued, but he did not see the knocker move. Another night he sat up
+expecting his brother, but as the latter did not come he went to bed.
+Finally the knocking became so loud and insistent that he felt sure his
+brother must have arrived. He went downstairs and opened the door, but no
+one was there. Still convinced that his brother was there and had gone
+round to the yard to put up his horse, he went out; but scarcely had he
+gone twenty yards from the door when the knocking recommenced behind his
+back. On turning round he could see no one."
+
+"After this the knocking got very bad, so much so that he could not rest.
+All this time he did not mention the strange occurrence to anyone. One
+morning he went up through the fields between four and five o'clock. To
+his surprise he found the herd out feeding the cattle. My father asked
+him why he was up so early. He replied that he could not sleep. 'Why?'
+asked my father. 'You know why yourself, sir--the knocking.' He then
+found that this man had heard it all the time, though he slept at the end
+of a long house. My father was advised to take no notice of it, for it
+would go as it came, though at this time it was continuous and very loud;
+and so it did. The country people said it was the late resident who could
+not rest."
+
+"We had another curious and most eerie experience in this house. A former
+rector was staying the night with us, and as the evening wore on we
+commenced to tell ghost-stories. He related some remarkable experiences,
+and as we were talking the drawing-room door suddenly opened as wide as
+possible, and then slowly closed again. It was a calm night, and at any
+rate it was a heavy double door which never flies open however strong the
+wind may be blowing. Everyone in the house was in bed, as it was after 12
+o'clock, except the three persons who witnessed this, viz. myself, my
+daughter, and the rector. The effect on the latter was most marked. He
+was a big, strong, jovial man and a good athlete, but when he saw the
+door open he quivered like an aspen leaf."
+
+A strange story of a haunting, in which nothing was seen, but in which
+the same noises were heard by different people, is sent by one of the
+percipients, who does not wish to have her name disclosed. She says:
+"When staying for a time in a country house in the North of Ireland some
+years ago I was awakened on several nights by hearing the tramp, tramp,
+of horses' hoofs. Sometimes it sounded as if they were walking on
+paving-stones, while at other times I had the impression that they were
+going round a large space, and as if someone was using a whip on them. I
+heard neighing, and champing of bits, and so formed the impression that
+they were carriage horses. I did not mind it much at first, as I thought
+the stables must be near that part of the house. After hearing these
+noises several times I began to get curious, so one 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 the house, and so
+it would be impossible for me to hear any noises in that quarter; at any
+rate there was only one farm horse left, and this was securely fastened
+up every night. Also there were no cobble-stones round the yard. I
+mentioned what I had heard to the people of the house, but as they would
+give me no satisfactory reply I passed it over. I did not hear these
+noises every night."
+
+"One night I was startled out of my sleep by hearing a dreadful
+disturbance in the kitchen. It sounded as if the dish-covers were being
+taken off the wall and dashed violently on the flagged floor. At length I
+got up and opened the door of my bedroom, and just as I did so an
+appalling crash resounded through the house. I waited to see if there was
+any light to be seen, or footstep to be heard, but nobody was stirring.
+There was only one servant in the house, the other persons being my host,
+his wife, and a baby, who had all retired early. Next morning I described
+the noises in the kitchen to the servant, and she said she had often
+heard them. I then told her about the tramping of horses: she replied
+that she herself had never heard it, but that other persons who had
+occupied my room had had experiences similar to mine. I asked her was
+there any explanation; she said No, except that a story was told of a
+gentleman who had lived there some years ago, and was very much addicted
+to racing and gambling, and that he was shot one night in that house. For
+the remainder of my visit I was removed to another part of the house, and
+I heard no more noises."
+
+A house in the North of Ireland, near that locality which is eternally
+famous as having furnished the material for the last trial for witchcraft
+in the country, is said to be haunted, the reason being that it is built
+on the site of a disused and very ancient graveyard. It is said that when
+some repairs were being carried out nine human skulls were unearthed. It
+would be interesting to ascertain how many houses in Ireland are
+traditionally said to be built on such unpleasant sites, and if they all
+bear the reputation of being haunted. The present writer knows of one, in
+the South, which is so situated (and this is supported, to a certain
+extent, by documentary evidence from the thirteenth century down) and
+which in consequence has an uncanny reputation. But concerning the above
+house it has been found almost impossible to get any information. It is
+said that strange noises were frequently heard there, which sometimes
+seemed as if cartloads of stones were being run down one of the gables.
+On one occasion an inmate of the house lay dying upstairs. A friend went
+up to see the sick person, and on proceeding to pass through the bedroom
+door was pressed and jostled as if by some unseen person hurriedly
+leaving the room. On entering, it was found that the sick person had just
+passed away.
+
+An account of a most unpleasant haunting is contributed by Mr. W. S.
+Thompson, who vouches for the substantial accuracy of it, and also
+furnishes the names of two men, still living, who attended the "station."
+We give it as it stands, with the comment that some of the details seem
+to have been grossly exaggerated by local raconteurs. In the year 1869 a
+ghost made its presence manifest in the house of a Mr. M---- in Co.
+Cavan. In the daytime it resided in the chimney, but at night it left its
+quarters and subjected the family to considerable annoyance. During the
+day they could cook nothing, as showers of soot would be sent down the
+chimney on top of every pot and pan that was placed on the fire. At night
+the various members of the family would be dragged out of bed by the
+hair, and pulled around the house. When anyone ventured to light a lamp
+it would immediately be put out, while chairs and tables would be sent
+dancing round the room. At last matters reached such a pitch that the
+family found it impossible to remain any longer in the house. The night
+before they left Mrs. M---- was severely handled, and her boots left
+facing the door as a gentle hint for her to be off. Before they departed
+some of the neighbours went to the house, saw the ghost, and even
+described to Mr. Thompson what they had seen. According to one man it
+appeared in the shape of a human being with a pig's head with long tusks.
+Another described it as a horse with an elephant's head, and a headless
+man seated on its back. Finally a "station" was held at the house by
+seven priests, at which all the neighbours attended. The station
+commenced after sunset, and everything in the house had to be uncovered,
+lest the evil spirit should find any resting-place. A free passage was
+left out of the door into the street, where many people were kneeling.
+About five minutes after the station opened a rumbling noise was heard,
+and a black barrel rolled out with an unearthly din, though to some
+coming up the street it appeared in the shape of a black horse with
+a bull's head, and a headless man seated thereon. From this time the
+ghost gave no further trouble.
+
+The same gentleman also sends an account of a haunted shop in which
+members of his family had some very unpleasant experiences. "In October
+1882 my father, William Thompson, took over the grocery and spirit
+business from a Dr. S---- to whom it had been left by will. My sister was
+put in charge of the business, and she slept on the premises at night,
+but she was not there by herself very long until she found things amiss.
+The third night matters were made so unpleasant for her that she had to
+get up out of bed more dead than alive, and go across the street to Mrs.
+M----, the servant at the R.I.C. barrack, with whom she remained until
+the morning. She stated that as she lay in bed, half awake and half
+asleep, she saw a man enter the room, who immediately seized her by the
+throat and well-nigh choked her. She had only sufficient strength left to
+gasp 'Lord, save me!' when instantly the man vanished. She also said that
+she heard noises as if every bottle and glass in the shop was smashed to
+atoms, yet in the morning everything would be found intact. My brother
+was in charge of the shop one day, as my sister had to go to Belturbet to
+do some Christmas shopping. He expected her to return to the shop that
+night, but as she did not do so he was preparing to go to bed about
+1 A.M., when suddenly a terrible noise was heard. The light was
+extinguished, and the tables and chairs commenced to dance about the
+floor, and some of them struck him on the shins. Upon this he left the
+house, declaring that he had seen the Devil!" Possibly this ghost had
+been a rabid teetotaller in the flesh, and continued to have a dislike to
+the publican's trade after he had become discarnate. At any rate the
+present occupants, who follow a different avocation, do not appear to be
+troubled.
+
+Ghosts are no respecters of persons or places, and take up their quarters
+where 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 haunted police-barrack has been sent to us--nay, in its
+proper place we shall relate the appearance of a deceased member of the
+"Force," uniform and all! The following personal experiences are
+contributed by an ex-R.I.C. constable, who requested that all names
+should be suppressed. "The barrack of which I am about to speak has now
+disappeared, owing to the construction of a new railway line. It was a
+three-storey house, with large airy apartments and splendid
+accommodation. This particular night I was on guard. After the constables
+had retired to their quarters I took my palliasse downstairs to the
+day-room, and laid it on two forms alongside two six-foot tables which
+were placed end to end in the centre of the room."
+
+"As I expected a patrol in at midnight, and as another had to be sent out
+when it arrived, I didn't promise myself a very restful night, so I threw
+myself on the bed, intending to read a bit, as there was a large lamp
+on the table. Scarcely had I commenced to read when I felt as if I was
+being pushed off the bed. At first I thought I must have fallen asleep,
+so to make sure, I got up, took a few turns around the room, and then
+deliberately lay down again and took up my book. Scarcely had I done so,
+when the same thing happened, and, though I resisted with all my
+strength, I was finally landed on the floor. My bed was close to the
+table, and the pushing came from that side, so that if anyone was playing
+a trick on me they could not do so without being under the table: I
+looked, but there was no visible presence there. I felt shaky, but
+changed my couch to another part of the room, and had no further
+unpleasant experience. 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 night, long afterwards, we were all asleep in the dormitory, when we
+were awakened in the small hours of the morning by the guard rushing
+upstairs, dashing through the room, and jumping into a bed in the
+farthest corner behind its occupant. There he lay gasping, unable to
+speak for several minutes, and even then we couldn't get a coherent
+account of what befel him. It appears he fell asleep, and suddenly awoke
+to find himself on the floor, and a body rolling over him. Several men
+volunteered to go downstairs with him, but he absolutely refused to leave
+the dormitory, and stayed there till morning. Nor would he even remain
+downstairs at night without having a comrade with him. It ended in his
+applying for an exchange of stations."
+
+"Another time I returned off duty at midnight, and after my comrade, a
+married Sergeant, had gone outside to his quarters I went to the kitchen
+to change my boots. There was a good fire on, and it looked so
+comfortable that I remained toasting my toes on the hob, and enjoying my
+pipe. The lock-up was a lean-to one-storey building off the kitchen, and
+was divided into two cells, one opening into the kitchen, the other into
+that cell. I was smoking away quietly when I suddenly heard inside the
+lock-up a dull, heavy thud, just like the noise a drunken man would make
+by crashing down on all-fours. I wondered who the prisoner could be, as I
+didn't see anyone that night who seemed a likely candidate for free
+lodgings. However as I heard no other sound I decided I would tell the
+guard in order that he might look after him. As I took my candle from the
+table I happened to glance at the lock-up, and, to my surprise, I saw
+that the outer door was open. My curiosity being roused, I looked inside,
+to find the inner door also open. There was nothing in either cell,
+except the two empty plank-beds, and these were immovable as they were
+firmly fixed to the walls. I betook myself to my bedroom much quicker
+than I was in the habit of doing."
+
+"I mentioned that this barrack was demolished owing to the construction
+of a new railway line. It was the last obstacle removed, and in the
+meantime workmen came from all points of the compass. One day a powerful
+navvy was brought into the barrack a total collapse from drink, and
+absolutely helpless. After his neckwear was loosened he was carried to
+the lock-up and laid on the plank-bed, the guard being instructed to
+visit him periodically, lest he should smother. He was scarcely half an
+hour there--this was in the early evening--when the most unmerciful
+screaming brought all hands to the lock-up, to find the erstwhile
+helpless man standing on the plank-bed, and grappling with a, to us,
+invisible foe. We took him out, and he maintained that a man had tried to
+choke him, and was still there when we came to his relief. The strange
+thing was, that he was shivering with fright, and perfectly sober, though
+in the ordinary course of events he would not be in that condition for at
+least seven or eight hours. The story spread like wildfire through the
+town, but the inhabitants were not in the least surprised, and one old
+man told us that many strange things happened in that house long before
+it became a police-barrack."
+
+A lady, who requests that her name be suppressed, relates a strange sight
+seen by her sister in Galway. The latter's husband was stationed in that
+town about seventeen years ago. One afternoon he was out, and she was
+lying on a sofa in the drawing-room, when suddenly from behind a screen
+(where there was no door) came a little old woman, with a small shawl
+over her head and shoulders, such as the country women used to wear. She
+had a most diabolical expression on her face. She seized the lady by the
+hand, and said: "I will drag you down to Hell, where I am!" The lady
+sprang up in terror and shook her off, when the horrible creature again
+disappeared behind the screen. The house was an old one, and many stories
+were rife amongst the people about it, the one most to the point being
+that the apparition of an old woman, who was supposed to have poisoned
+someone, used to be seen therein. Needless to say, the lady in question
+never again sat by herself in the drawing-room.
+
+Two stories are told about haunted houses at Drogheda, the one by A.G.
+Bradley in _Notes on some Irish Superstitions_ (Drogheda, 1894), the
+other by F.G. Lee in _Sights and Shadows_ (p. 42). As both appear to be
+placed at the same date, _i.e._ 1890, it is quite possible that they
+refer to one and the same haunting, and we have so treated them
+accordingly. The reader, if he wishes, can test the matter for himself.
+
+This house, which was reputed to be haunted, was let to a tailor and his
+wife by the owner at an annual rent of £23. They took possession in due
+course, but after a very few days they became aware of the presence of a
+most unpleasant supernatural lodger. One night, as the tailor and his
+wife were preparing to retire, they were terrified at seeing the foot of
+some invisible person kick the candlestick off the table, and so quench
+the candle. Although it was a very dark night, and the shutters were
+closed, the man and his wife could see everything in the room just as
+well as if it were the middle of the day. All at once a woman entered the
+room, dressed in white, carrying something in her hand, which she threw
+at the tailor's wife, striking her with some violence, and then vanished.
+While this was taking place on the first floor, a most frightful noise
+was going on overhead in the room where the children and their nurse were
+sleeping. The father immediately rushed upstairs, and found to his horror
+the floor all torn up, the furniture broken, and, worst of all, the
+children lying senseless and naked on the bed, and having the appearance
+of having been severely beaten. As he was leaving the room with the
+children in his arms he suddenly remembered that he had not seen the
+nurse, so he turned back with the intention of bringing her downstairs,
+but could find her nowhere. The girl, half-dead with fright, and very
+much bruised, had fled to her mother's house, where she died in a few
+days in agony.
+
+Because of these occurrences they were legally advised to refuse to pay
+any rent. The landlady, however, declining to release them from their
+bargain, at once claimed a quarter's rent; and when this remained for
+some time unpaid, sued them for it before Judge Kisby. A Drogheda
+solicitor appeared for the tenants, who, having given evidence of the
+facts concerning the ghost in question, asked leave to support their
+sworn testimony by that of several other people. This, however, was
+disallowed by the judge. It was admitted by the landlady that nothing on
+one side or the other had been said regarding the haunting when the house
+was let. A judgment was consequently entered for the landlady, although
+it had been shown indirectly that unquestionably the house had had the
+reputation of being haunted, and that previous tenants had been much
+inconvenienced.
+
+This chapter may be concluded with two stories dealing with haunted
+rectories. The first, and mildest, of these is contributed by the present
+Dean of St. Patrick's; it is not his own personal experience, but was
+related to him by a rector in Co. Monaghan, where he used to preach on
+special occasions. The rector and his daughters told the Dean that they
+had often seen in that house the apparition of an old woman dressed in a
+drab cape, while they frequently heard noises. On one evening the rector
+was in the kitchen together with the cook and the coachman. All three
+heard noises in the pantry as if vessels were being moved. Presently they
+saw the old woman in the drab cape come out of the pantry and move up the
+stairs. The rector attempted to follow her, but the two servants held him
+tightly by the arms, and besought him not to do so. But hearing the
+children, who were in bed, screaming, he broke from the grip of the
+servants and rushed upstairs. The children said that they had been
+frightened by seeing a strange old woman coming into the room, but she
+was now gone. The house had a single roof, and there was no way to or
+from the nursery except by the stairs. The rector stated that he took to
+praying that the old woman might have rest, and that it was now many
+years since she had been seen. A very old parishioner told him that when
+she was young she remembered having seen an old woman answering to the
+rector's description, who had lived in the house, which at that time was
+not a rectory.
+
+The second of these, which is decidedly more complex and mystifying,
+refers to a rectory in Co. Donegal. It is sent as the personal experience
+of one of the percipients, who does not wish to have his name disclosed.
+He says: "My wife, children, and myself will have lived here four years
+next January (1914). From the first night that we came into the house
+most extraordinary noises have been heard. Sometimes they were inside
+the house, and seemed as if the furniture was being disturbed, and the
+fireirons knocked about, or at other times as if a dog was running up and
+down stairs. Sometimes they were external, and resembled 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 go on for six months,
+and then everything would be quiet for three months or so, when the
+noises would commence again. My dogs--a fox-terrier, a boar-hound, and a
+spaniel--would make a terrible din, and would bark at something in the
+hall we could not see, backing away from it all the time.
+
+"The only thing that was ever _seen_ was as follows: One night my
+daughter went down to the kitchen about ten o'clock for some hot water.
+She saw a tall man, with one arm, carrying a lamp, who walked out of the
+pantry into the kitchen, and then through the kitchen wall. Another
+daughter saw the same man walk down one evening from the loft, and go
+into the harness-room. She told me, and I went out immediately, but could
+see nobody. Shortly after that my wife, who is very brave, heard a knock
+at the hall door in the dusk. Naturally thinking it was some friend, she
+opened the door, and there saw standing outside the self-same man. He
+simply looked at her, and walked through the wall into the house. She got
+such a shock that she could not speak for several hours, and was ill for
+some days. That is eighteen months ago, and he has not been seen since,
+and it is six months since we heard any noises." Our correspondent's
+letter was written on 25th November 1913. "An old man nearly ninety died
+last year. He lived all his life within four hundred yards of this house,
+and used to tell me that seventy years ago the parsons came with bell,
+book, and candle to drive the ghosts out of the house." Evidently they
+were unsuccessful. In English ghost-stories it is the parson who performs
+the exorcism successfully, while in Ireland such work is generally
+performed by the priest. Indeed a tale was sent to us in which a ghost
+quite ignored the parson's efforts, but succumbed to the priest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+HAUNTED HOUSES IN MOGH'S HALF
+
+
+The northern half of Ireland has not proved as prolific in stories of
+haunted houses as the southern portion: the possible explanation of this
+is, not that the men of the north are less prone to hold, or talk about,
+such beliefs, but that, as regards the south half, we have had the good
+fortune to happen upon some diligent collectors of these and kindred
+tales, whose eagerness in collecting is only equalled by their kindness
+in imparting information to the compilers of this book.
+
+On a large farm near Portarlington there once lived a Mrs. ----, a
+strong-minded, capable woman, who managed all her affairs for herself,
+giving her orders, and taking none from anybody. In due time she died,
+and the property passed to the next-of-kin. As soon, however, as the
+funeral was over, the house was nightly disturbed by strange noises:
+people downstairs would hear rushings about in the upper rooms, banging
+of doors, and the sound of heavy footsteps. The cups and saucers used to
+fall off the dresser, and all the pots and pans would rattle.
+
+This went on for some time, till the people could stand it no longer,
+so they left the house and put in a herd and his family. The latter was
+driven away after he had been in the house a few weeks. This happened
+to several people, until at length a man named Mr. B---- took the house.
+The noises went on as before until some one suggested getting the priest
+in. Accordingly the priest came, and held a service in the late
+Mrs. ----'s bedroom. When this was over, the door of the room was locked.
+After that the noises were not heard till one evening Mr. B---- came home
+from a fair, fortified, no doubt, with a little "Dutch courage," and
+declared that even if the devil were in it he would go into the locked
+room. In spite of all his family could say or do, he burst open the door,
+and entered the room, but apparently saw nothing. That night pandemonium
+reigned in the house, the chairs were hurled about, the china was broken,
+and the most weird and uncanny sounds were heard. Next day the priest
+was sent for, the room again shut up, and nothing has happened from that
+day to this.
+
+Another strange story comes from the same town. "When I was on a visit to
+a friend in Portarlington," writes a lady in the _Journal_ of the
+American S.P.R.[4] "a rather unpleasant incident occurred to me. At about
+two o'clock in the morning I woke up suddenly, for apparently no reason
+whatever; however, I quite distinctly heard snoring coming from under or
+in the bed in which I was lying. It continued for about ten minutes,
+during which time I was absolutely limp with fright. The door opened,
+and my friend entered the bedroom, saying, 'I thought you might want me,
+so I came in.' Needless to say, I hailed the happy inspiration that sent
+her to me. I then told her what I had heard; she listened to me, and then
+to comfort (!) me said, 'Oh, never mind; _it is only grandfather_! He
+died in this room, and a snoring is heard every night at two o'clock, the
+hour at which he passed away.' Some time previously a German gentleman
+was staying with this family. They asked him in the morning how he had
+slept, and he replied that he was disturbed by a snoring in the room, but
+he supposed it was the cat."
+
+[Footnote 4: For September, 1913.]
+
+A lady, formerly resident in Queen's Co., but who now lives near Dublin,
+sends the following clear and concise account of her own 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 was
+conveniently and pleasantly situated, and we certainly never had a
+thought of ghosts or haunted houses, nor would my father allow
+any talk about such things in his presence. But we were not long settled
+there when we were disturbed by the opening of the parlour door every
+night regularly at the hour of eleven o'clock. My father and mother used
+to retire to their room about ten o'clock, while my sister and I used to
+sit up reading. We always declared that we would retire before the door
+opened, but we generally got so interested in our books that we would
+forget until we would hear the handle of the door turn, and see the door
+flung open. We tried in every way to account for this, but we could find
+no explanation, and there was no possibility of any human agent being
+at work.
+
+"Some time after, light was thrown on the subject. We had visitors
+staying with us, and in order to make room for them, my sister was asked
+to sleep in the parlour. She consented without a thought of ghosts,
+and went to sleep quite happily; but during the night she was awakened by
+some one opening the door, walking across the room, and disturbing the
+fireirons. She, supposing it to be the servant, called her by name, but
+got no answer: then the person seemed to come away from the fireplace,
+and walk out of the room. There was a fire in the grate, but though she
+heard the footsteps, she could see no one.
+
+"The next thing was, that I was coming downstairs, and 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. He asked in surprise who let him in, as the
+servant was out, and he himself had already locked, bolted, and chained
+the door an hour previously. None of us had let him in, and when my
+father went out to the hall the man had disappeared, and the door was as
+he had left it.
+
+"Some little time after, I had a visit from a lady who knew the place
+well, and in the course of conversation she said:
+
+"'This is the house poor Mr. ---- used to live in.'
+
+"'Who is Mr. ----?' I asked.
+
+"'Did you never hear of him?' she replied. 'He was a minister who used to
+live in this house quite alone, and was murdered in this very parlour.
+His landlord used to visit him sometimes, and one night he was seen
+coming in about eleven o'clock, and was seen again leaving about five
+o'clock in the morning. When Mr. ---- did not come out as usual, the door
+was forced open, and he was found lying dead in this room by the fender,
+with his head battered in with the poker.'
+
+"We left the house soon after," adds our informant.
+
+The following weird incidents occurred, apparently in the Co. Kilkenny,
+to a Miss K. B., during two visits paid by her to Ireland in 1880 and
+1881. The house in which she experienced the following was really an old
+barrack, long disused, very old-fashioned, and surrounded with a high
+wall: it was said that it had been built during the time of Cromwell
+as a stronghold for his men. The only inhabitants of this were Captain
+C---- (a retired officer in charge of the place), Mrs. C----, three
+daughters, and two servants. They occupied the central part of the
+building, the mess-room being their drawing-room. Miss K. B.'s bedroom
+was very lofty, and adjoined two others which were occupied by the three
+daughters, E., G., and L.
+
+"The first recollection I have of anything strange," writes Miss B., "was
+that each night I was awakened about three o'clock by a tremendous noise,
+apparently in the next suite of rooms, which was empty, and it sounded as
+if some huge iron boxes and other heavy things were being thrown about
+with great force. This continued for about half an hour, when in the room
+underneath (the kitchen) I heard the fire being violently poked and raked
+for several minutes, and this was immediately followed by a most terrible
+and distressing cough of a man, very loud and violent. It seemed as if
+the exertion had brought on a paroxysm which he could not stop. In large
+houses in Co. Kilkenny the fires are not lighted every day, owing to the
+slow-burning property of the coal, and it is only necessary to rake it up
+every night about eleven o'clock, and in the morning it is still bright
+and clear. Consequently I wondered why it was necessary for Captain
+C---- to get up in the middle of the night to stir it so violently."
+
+A few days later Miss B. said to E. C.: "I hear such strange noises every
+night--are there any people in the adjoining part of the building?" She
+turned very pale, and looking earnestly at Miss B., said, "Oh K., I am so
+sorry you heard. I hoped no one but myself had heard it. I could have
+given worlds to have spoken to you last night, but dared not move or
+speak." K. B. laughed at her for being so superstitious, but E. declared
+that the place was haunted, and told her of a number of weird things that
+had been seen and heard.
+
+In the following year, 1881, Miss K. B. paid another visit to the
+barrack. This time there were two other visitors there--a colonel and his
+wife. They occupied Miss B.'s former room, while to her was allotted a
+huge bedroom on the top of the house, with a long corridor leading to it;
+opposite to this was another large room, which was occupied by the girls.
+
+Her strange experiences commenced again. "One morning, about four
+o'clock, I was awakened by a very noisy martial footstep ascending the
+stairs, and then marching quickly up and down the corridor outside
+my room. Then suddenly the most violent coughing took place that I ever
+heard, which continued for some time, while the quick, heavy step
+continued its march. At last the footsteps faded away in the distance,
+and I then recalled to mind the same coughing after exertion last year."
+In the morning, at breakfast, she asked both Captain C---- and the
+colonel had they been walking about, but both denied, and also said they
+had no cough. The family looked very uncomfortable, and afterwards E.
+came up with tears in her eyes, and said, "Oh K., please don't say
+anything more about that dreadful coughing; we all hear it often,
+especially when anything terrible is about to happen."
+
+Some nights later the C----s gave a dance. When the guests had departed,
+Miss B. went to her bedroom. "The moon was shining so beautifully that I
+was able to read my Bible by its light, and had left the Bible open on
+the window-sill, which was a very high one, and on which I sat to read,
+having had to climb the washstand to reach it. I went to bed, and fell
+asleep, but was not long so when I was suddenly awakened by the strange
+feeling that some one was in the room. I opened my eyes, and turned
+around, and saw on the window-sill in the moonlight a long, very thin,
+very dark figure bending over the Bible, and apparently earnestly
+scanning the page. As if my movement disturbed the figure, it suddenly
+darted up, jumped off the window-ledge on to the washstand, then to the
+ground, and flitted quietly across the room to the table where my
+jewellery was." That was the last she saw of it. She thought it was some
+one trying to steal her jewellery, so waited till morning, but nothing
+was missing. In the morning she described to one of the daughters, G.,
+what she had seen, and the latter told her that something always happened
+when that appeared. Miss K. B. adds that nothing did happen. Later on she
+was told that a colonel had cut his throat in that very room.
+
+Another military station, Charles Fort, near Kinsale, has long had the
+reputation of being haunted. An account of this was sent to the _Wide
+World Magazine_ (Jan. 1908), by Major H. L. Ruck Keene, D.S.O.; he
+states that he took it from a manuscript written by a Captain Marvell
+Hull about the year 1880. Further information on the subject of the
+haunting is to be found in Dr. Craig's _Real Pictures of Clerical Life in
+Ireland_.
+
+Charles Fort was erected in 1667 by the Duke of Ormonde. It is said to be
+haunted by a ghost known as the "White Lady," and the traditional account
+of the reason for this haunting is briefly as follows: Shortly after the
+erection of the fort, a Colonel Warrender, a severe disciplinarian, was
+appointed its governor. He had a daughter, who bore the quaint Christian
+name of "Wilful"; she became engaged to a Sir Trevor Ashurst, and
+subsequently married him. On the evening of their wedding-day the bride
+and bridegroom were walking on the battlements, when she espied some
+flowers growing on the rocks beneath. She expressed a wish for them, and
+a sentry posted close by volunteered to climb down for them, provided Sir
+Trevor took his place during his absence. He assented, and took the
+soldier's coat and musket while he went in search of a rope. Having
+obtained one, he commenced his descent; but the task proving longer than
+he expected, Sir Trevor fell asleep. Meantime the governor visited the
+sentries, as was his custom, and in the course of his rounds came to
+where Sir Trevor was asleep. He challenged him, and on receiving no
+answer perceived that he was asleep, whereupon he drew a pistol and shot
+him through the heart. The body was brought in, and it was only then the
+governor realised what had happened. The bride, who appears to have gone
+indoors before the tragedy occurred, then learned the fate that befell
+her husband, and in her distraction, rushed from the house and flung
+herself over the battlements. In despair at the double tragedy, her
+father shot himself during the night.
+
+The above is from Dr. Craig's book already alluded to. In the _Wide World
+Magazine_ the legend differs slightly in details. According to this the
+governor's name was Browne, and it was his own son, not his son-in-law,
+that he shot; while the incident is said to have occurred about a hundred
+and fifty years ago.
+
+The "White Lady" is the ghost of the young bride. Let us see what
+accounts there are of her appearance. A good many years ago Fort-Major
+Black, who had served in the Peninsular War, gave his own personal
+experience to Dr. Craig. He stated that he had gone to the hall door one
+summer evening, and saw a lady entering the door and going up the stairs.
+At first he thought she was an officer's wife, but as he looked, he
+observed she was dressed in white, and in a very old-fashioned style.
+Impelled by curiosity, he hastened upstairs after her, and followed her
+closely into one of the rooms, but on entering it he could not find the
+slightest trace of anyone there. On another occasion he stated that two
+sergeants were packing some cast stores. One of them had his little
+daughter with him, and the child suddenly exclaimed, "Who is that white
+lady who is bending over the banisters, and looking down at us?" The two
+men looked up, but could see nothing, but the child insisted that she had
+seen a lady in white looking down and smiling at her.
+
+On another occasion a staff officer, a married man, was residing in the
+"Governor's House." One night as the nurse lay awake--she and the
+children were in a room which opened into what was known as the White
+Lady's apartment--she suddenly saw a lady clothed in white glide to the
+bedside of the youngest child, and after a little place her hand upon its
+wrist. At this the child started in its sleep, and cried out, "Oh! take
+that cold hand from my wrist!" the next moment the lady disappeared.
+
+One night, about the year 1880, Captain Marvell Hull and Lieutenant
+Hartland were going to the rooms occupied by the former officer. As they
+reached a small landing they saw distinctly in front of them a woman in a
+white dress. As they stood there in awestruck silence she turned and
+looked towards them, showing a face beautiful enough, but colourless as a
+corpse, and then passed on through a locked door.
+
+But it appears that this presence did not always manifest itself in as
+harmless a manner. Some years ago Surgeon L---- was quartered at the
+fort. One day he had been out snipe-shooting, and as he entered the fort
+the mess-bugle rang out. He hastened to his rooms to dress, but as he
+failed to put in an appearance at mess, one of the officers went in
+search of him, and found him lying senseless on the floor. When he
+recovered consciousness he related his experience. He said he had stooped
+down for the key of his door, which he had placed for safety under the
+mat; when in this position he felt himself violently dragged across the
+hall, and flung down a flight of steps. With this agrees somewhat the
+experience of a Captain Jarves, as related by him to Captain Marvell
+Hull. Attracted by a strange rattling noise in his bedroom, he
+endeavoured to open the door of it, but found it seemingly locked.
+Suspecting a hoax, he called out, whereupon a gust of wind passed him,
+and some unseen power flung him down the stairs, and laid him senseless
+at the bottom.
+
+Near a seaside town in the south of Ireland a group of small cottages was
+built by an old lady, in one of which she lived, while she let the others
+to her relatives. In process of time all the occupants died, the cottages
+fell into ruin, and were all pulled down (except the one in which the old
+lady had lived), the materials being used by a farmer to build a large
+house which he hoped to let to summer visitors. It was shortly afterwards
+taken for three years by a gentleman for his family. It should be noted
+that the house had very bare surroundings; there were no trees near, or
+outhouses where people could be concealed. Soon after the family came to
+the house they began to hear raps all over it, on doors, windows, and
+walls; these raps varied in nature, sometimes being like a sledgehammer,
+loud and dying away, and sometimes quick and sharp, two or three or five
+in succession; and all heard them. One morning about 4 A.M., the mother
+heard very loud knocking on the bedroom door; thinking it was the servant
+wanting to go to early mass, she said, "Come in," but the knocking
+continued till the father was awakened by it; he got up, searched the
+house, but could find no one. The servant's door was slightly open, and
+he saw that she was sound asleep. That morning a telegram came announcing
+the death of a beloved uncle just about the hour of the knocking. Some
+time previous to this the mother was in the kitchen, when a loud
+explosion took place beside her, startling her very much, but no cause
+for it could be found, nor were any traces left. This coincided with the
+death of an aunt, wife to the uncle who died later.
+
+One night the mother went to her bedroom. The blind was drawn, and the
+shutters closed, when suddenly a great crash came, as if a branch was
+thrown at the window, and there was a sound of broken glass. She opened
+the shutters with the expectation of finding the window smashed, but
+there was not even a crack in it. She entered the room next day at one
+o'clock, and the same crash took place, being heard by all in the house:
+she went in at 10 A.M. on another day, and the same thing happened,
+after which she refused to enter that room again.
+
+Another night, after 11 P.M., the servant was washing up in the kitchen,
+when heavy footsteps were heard by the father and mother going upstairs,
+and across a lobby to the servant's room; the father searched the house,
+but could find no one. After that footsteps used to be heard regularly at
+that hour, though no one could ever be seen walking about.
+
+The two elder sisters slept together, and used to see flames shooting up
+all over the floor, though there was no smell or heat; this used to be
+seen two or three nights at a time, chiefly in the one room. The first
+time the girls saw this one of them got up and went to her father in
+alarm, naturally thinking the room underneath must be on fire.
+
+The two boys were moved to the haunted room [which one?], where they
+slept in one large bed with its head near the chimneypiece. The elder
+boy, aged about thirteen, put his watch on the mantelpiece, awoke about
+2 A.M., and wishing to ascertain the time, put his hand up for his watch;
+he then felt a deathly cold hand laid on his. For the rest of that night
+the two boys were terrified by noises, apparently caused by two people
+rushing about the room fighting and knocking against the bed. About 6
+A.M. they went to their father, almost in hysterics from terror, and
+refused to sleep there again. The eldest sister, not being nervous, was
+then given that room; she was, however, so disturbed by these noises that
+she begged her father to let her leave it, but having no other room to
+give her, he persuaded her to stay there, and at length she got
+accustomed to the noise, and could sleep in spite of it. Finally the
+family left the house before their time was up.[5]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Journal of American S.P.R._ for September 1913.]
+
+Mr. T.J. Westropp, to whom we are indebted for so much material, sends a
+tale which used to be related by a relative of his, the Rev. Thomas
+Westropp, concerning experiences in a house not very far from the city of
+Limerick. When the latter was appointed to a certain parish he had some
+difficulty in finding a suitable house, but finally fixed on one which
+had been untenanted for many years, but had nevertheless been kept aired
+and in good repair, as a caretaker who lived close by used to come and
+look after it every day. The first night that the family settled there,
+as the clergyman was going upstairs he heard a footstep and the rustle of
+a dress, and as he stood aside a lady passed him, entered a door facing
+the stairs, and closed it after her. It was only then he realised that
+her dress was very old-fashioned, and that he had not been able to enter
+that particular room. Next day he got assistance from a carpenter, who,
+with another man, forced open the door. A mat of cobwebs fell as they did
+so, and the floor and windows were thick with dust. The men went across
+the room, and as the clergyman followed them he saw a small white bird
+flying round the ceiling; at his exclamation the men looked back and also
+saw it. It swooped, flew out of the door, and they did not see it again.
+After that the family were alarmed by hearing noises under the floor of
+that room every night. At length the clergyman had the boards taken up,
+and the skeleton of a child was found underneath. So old did the remains
+appear that the coroner did not deem it necessary to hold an inquest on
+them, so the rector buried them in the churchyard. Strange noises
+continued, as if some one were trying to force up the boards from
+underneath. Also a heavy ball was heard rolling down the stairs and
+striking against the study door. One night the two girls woke up
+screaming, and on the nurse running up to them, the elder said she had
+seen a great black dog with fiery eyes resting its paws on her bed. Her
+father ordered the servants to sit constantly with them in the evenings,
+but, notwithstanding the presence of two women in the nursery, the same
+thing occurred. The younger daughter was so scared that she never quite
+recovered. The family left the house immediately.
+
+The same correspondent says: "An old ruined house in the hills of east
+Co. Clare enjoyed the reputation of being 'desperately haunted' from, at
+any rate, 1865 down to its dismantling. I will merely give the
+experiences of my own relations, as told by them to me. My mother told
+how one night she and my father heard creaking and grating, as if a door
+were being forced open. The sound came from a passage in which was a door
+nailed up and clamped with iron bands. A heavy footstep came down
+the passage, and stopped at the bedroom door for a moment; no sound was
+heard, and then the 'thing' came through the room to the foot of the bed.
+It moved round the bed, they not daring to stir. The horrible unseen
+visitant stopped, and they _felt_ it watching them. At last it moved
+away, they heard it going up the passage, the door crashed, and all was
+silence. Lighting a candle, my father examined the room, and found the
+door locked; he then went along the passage, but not a sound was to be
+heard anywhere.
+
+"Strange noises like footsteps, sobbing, whispering, grim laughter, and
+shrieks were often heard about the house. On one occasion my eldest
+sister and a girl cousin drove over to see the family and stayed the
+night. They and my two younger sisters were all crowded into a huge,
+old-fashioned bed, and carefully drew and tucked in the curtains all
+round. My eldest sister awoke feeling a cold wind blowing on her face,
+and putting out her hand found the curtains drawn back and, as they
+subsequently discovered, wedged between the bed and the wall. She reached
+for the match-box, and was about to light the candle when a horrible
+mocking laugh rang out close to the bed, which awakened the other girls.
+Being always a plucky woman, though then badly scared, she struck a
+match, and searched the room, but nothing was to be seen. The closed room
+was said to have been deserted after a murder, and its floor was supposed
+to be stained with blood which no human power could wash out."
+
+Another house in Co. Clare, nearer the estuary of the Shannon, which was
+formerly the residence of the D---- family, but is now pulled down, had
+some extraordinary tales told about it in which facts (if we may use the
+word) were well supplemented by legend. To commence with the former.
+A lady writes: "My father and old Mr. D---- were first cousins. Richard
+D---- asked my father would he come and sit up with him one night, in
+order to see what might be seen. Both were particularly sober men. The
+annoyances in the house were becoming unbearable. Mrs. D----'s work-box
+used to be thrown down, the table-cloth would be whisked off the table,
+the fender and fireirons would be hurled about the room, and other
+similar things would happen. Mr. D---- and my father went up to one of
+the bedrooms, where a big fire was made up. They searched every part of
+the room carefully, but nothing uncanny was to be seen or found. They
+then placed two candles and a brace of pistols on a small table between
+them, and waited. Nothing happened for some time, till all of a sudden a
+large black dog walked out from under the bed. Both men fired, and the
+dog disappeared. That is all! The family had to leave the house."
+
+Now to the blending of fact with fiction, of which we have already
+spoken: the intelligent reader can decide in his own mind which is which.
+It was said that black magic had been practised in this house at one
+time, and that in consequence terrible and weird occurrences were quite
+the order of the day there. When being 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 lifted up, and the occupants thereof used to be
+beaten black and blue, by invisible hands. One particularly ghoulish tale
+was told. It was said that a monk (!) was in love with one of the
+daughters of the house, who was an exceedingly fat girl. She died
+unmarried, and was buried in the family vault. Some time later the vault
+was again opened for an interment, and those who entered it found that
+Miss D----'s coffin had been disturbed, and the lid loosened. They
+then saw that all the fat around her heart had been scooped away.
+
+Apropos of ineradicable blood on a floor, which is a not infrequent item
+in stories of haunted houses, it is said that a manifestation of this
+nature forms the haunting in a farmhouse in Co. Limerick. According to
+our informants, a light must be kept burning in this house all night; if
+by any chance it is forgotten, or becomes quenched, in the morning the
+floor is covered with blood. The story is evidently much older than the
+house, but no traditional explanation is given.
+
+Two stories of haunted schools have been sent to us, both on very good
+authority; these establishments lie within the geographical limits of
+this chapter, but for obvious reasons, we cannot indicate their locality
+more precisely, though the names of both are known to us. The first of
+these was told to our correspondent by the boy Brown, who was in the
+room, but did _not_ see the ghost.
+
+When Brown was about fifteen he was sent to ---- School. His brother told
+him not to be frightened at anything he might see or hear, as the boys
+were sure to play tricks on all new-comers. He was put to sleep in a room
+with another new arrival, a boy named Smith, from England. In the middle
+of the night Brown was roused from his sleep by Smith crying out in great
+alarm, and asking who was in the room. Brown, who was very angry at being
+waked up, told him not to be a fool--that there was no one there. The
+second night Smith roused him again, this time in greater alarm than the
+first night. He said he saw a man in cap and gown come into the room with
+a lamp, and then pass right through the wall. Smith got out of his bed,
+and fell on his knees beside Brown, beseeching him not to go to sleep. At
+first Brown thought it was all done to frighten him, but he then saw that
+Smith was in a state of abject terror. Next morning they spoke of the
+occurrence, and the report reached the ears of the Head Master, who sent
+for the two boys. Smith refused to spend another night in the room. Brown
+said he had seen or heard nothing, and was quite willing to sleep there
+if another fellow would sleep with him, but he would not care to remain
+there alone. The Head Master then asked for volunteers from the class of
+elder boys, but not one of them would sleep in the room. It had always
+been looked upon as "haunted," but the Master thought that by putting in
+new boys who had not heard the story they would sleep there all right.
+
+Some years after, Brown revisited the place, and found that another
+attempt had been made to occupy the room. A new Head Master who did not
+know its history, thought it a pity to have the room idle, and put a
+teacher, also new to the school, in possession. When this teacher came
+down the first morning, he asked who had come into his room during the
+night. He stated that a man in cap and gown, having books under his arm
+and a lamp in his hand, came in, sat down at a table, and began to read.
+He knew that he was not one of the masters, and did not recognise him as
+one of the boys. The room had to be abandoned. The tradition is that many
+years ago a master was murdered in that room by one of the students. The
+few boys who ever had the courage to persist in sleeping in the room said
+if they stayed more than two or three nights that the furniture was
+moved, and they heard violent noises.
+
+The second story was sent to us by the percipient herself, and is
+therefore a firsthand experience. Considering that she was only a
+schoolgirl at the time, it must be admitted that she made a most plucky
+attempt to run the ghost to earth.
+
+"A good many years ago, when I first went to school, I did not believe in
+ghosts, but I then had an experience which caused me to alter my opinion.
+I was ordered with two other girls to sleep in a small top room at the
+back of the house which overlooked a garden which contained ancient
+apple-trees.
+
+"Suddenly in the dead of night I was awakened out of my sleep by the
+sound of heavy footsteps, as of a man wearing big boots unlaced, pacing
+ceaselessly up and down a long corridor which I knew was plainly visible
+from the landing outside my door, as there was a large window at the
+farther end of it, and there was sufficient moonlight to enable one to
+see its full length. After listening for about twenty minutes, my
+curiosity was aroused, so I got up and stood on the landing. The
+footsteps still continued, but I could see nothing, although the sounds
+actually reached the foot of the flight of stairs which led from the
+corridor to the landing on which I was standing. Suddenly the footfall
+ceased, pausing at my end of the corridor, and I then considered it was
+high time for me to retire, which I accordingly did, carefully closing
+the door behind me.
+
+"To my horror the footsteps ascended the stairs, and the bedroom door was
+violently dashed back against a washing-stand, beside which was a bed;
+the contents of the ewer were spilled over the occupant, and the steps
+advanced a few paces into the room in my direction. A cold perspiration
+broke out all over me; I cannot describe the sensation. It was not actual
+fear--it was more than that--I felt I had come into contact with the
+Unknown.
+
+"What was about to happen? All I could do was to speak; I cried out, "Who
+are you? What do you want?" Suddenly the footsteps ceased; I felt
+relieved, and lay awake till morning, but no further sound reached my
+ears. How or when my ghostly visitant disappeared I never knew; suffice
+it to say, my story was no nightmare, but an actual fact, of which there
+was found sufficient proof in the morning; the floor was still saturated
+with water, the door, which we always carefully closed at night, was wide
+open, and last, but not least, the occupant of the wet bed had heard all
+that had happened, but feared to speak, and lay awake till morning.
+
+"Naturally, we related our weird experience to our schoolmates, and it
+was only then I learned from one of the elder girls that this ghost had
+manifested itself for many years in a similar fashion to the inhabitants
+of that room. It was supposed to be the spirit of a man who, long years
+before, had occupied this apartment (the house was then a private
+residence), and had committed suicide by hanging himself from an old
+apple tree opposite the window. Needless to say, the story was hushed up,
+and we were sharply spoken to, and warned not to mention the occurrence
+again.
+
+"Some years afterwards a friend, who happened at the time to be a boarder
+at this very school, came to spend a week-end with me. She related an
+exactly similar incident which occurred a few nights previous to her
+visit. My experience was quite unknown to her."
+
+The following account of strange happenings at his glebe-house has been
+sent by the rector of a parish in the diocese of Cashel: "Shortly after
+my wife and I came to live here, some ten years ago, the servants
+complained of hearing strange noises in the top storey of the Rectory
+where they sleep. One girl ran away the day after she arrived, declaring
+that the house was haunted, and that nothing would induce her to sleep
+another night in it. So often had my wife to change servants on this
+account that at last I had to speak to the parish priest, as I suspected
+that the idea of 'ghosts' might have been suggested to the maids by
+neighbours who might have some interest in getting rid of them. I
+understand that my friend the parish priest spoke very forcibly from the
+altar on the subject of spirits, saying that the only spirits he believed
+ever did any harm to anyone were ----, mentioning a well-known brand of
+the wine of the country. Whether this priestly admonition was the cause
+or not, for some time we heard no more tales of ghostly manifestations.
+
+"After a while, however, my wife and I began to hear a noise which, while
+in no sense alarming, has proved to be both remarkable and inexplicable.
+If we happen 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 have both heard this noise hundreds of times between eight P.M.
+and midnight. Sometimes we hear it several times the same night, and then
+perhaps we won't hear it again for several months. We hear it best on
+calm nights, and as we are nearly a quarter of a mile from the high
+road, it is difficult to account for, especially as the noise appears to
+be quite close to us--I mean not farther away than the hall-door. I may
+mention that an Englishman was staying with us a few years ago. As we
+were sitting in the dining-room one night after dinner he said, 'A
+carriage has just driven up to the door'; but we knew it was only the
+'phantom coach,' for we also heard it. Only once do I remember hearing it
+while sitting in the drawing-room. So much for the 'sound' of the
+'phantom coach,' but now I must tell you what I _saw_ with my own eyes as
+clearly as I now see the paper on which I am writing. Some years ago in
+the middle of the summer, on a scorching hot day, I was out cutting
+some hay opposite the hall door just by the tennis court. It was between
+twelve and one o'clock. I remember the time distinctly, as my man had
+gone to his dinner shortly before. The spot on which I was commanded
+a view of the avenue from the entrance gate for about four hundred yards.
+I happened to look up from my occupation--for scything is no easy
+work--and I saw what I took to be a somewhat high dogcart, in which two
+people were seated, turning in at the avenue gate. As I had my coat and
+waistcoat off, and was not in a state to receive visitors, I got behind a
+newly-made hay-cock and watched the vehicle until it came to a bend in
+the avenue where there is a clump of trees which obscured it from my
+view. As it did not, however, reappear, I concluded that the occupants
+had either stopped for some reason or had taken by mistake a cart-way
+leading to the back gate into the garden. Hastily putting on my coat, I
+went down to the bend in the avenue, but to my surprise there was nothing
+to be seen.
+
+"Returning to the Rectory, I met my housekeeper, who has been with me for
+nearly twenty years, and I told her what I had seen. She then told me
+that about a month before, while I was away from home, my man had one day
+gone with the trap to the station. She saw, just as I did, a trap coming
+up the avenue until it was lost to sight owing to the intervention of the
+clump of trees. As it did not come on, she went down to the bend, but
+there was no trap to be seen. When the man came in some half-hour after,
+my housekeeper asked him if he had come half-way up the avenue and turned
+back, but he said he had only that minute come straight from the station.
+My housekeeper said she did not like to tell me about it before, as she
+thought I 'would have laughed at her.' Whether the 'spectral gig' which I
+saw and the 'phantom coach' which my wife and I have often heard are one
+and the same I know not, but I do know that what I saw in the full blaze
+of the summer sun was not inspired by a dose of the spirits referred to
+by my friend the parish priest.
+
+"Some time during the winter of 1912, I was in the motor-house one dark
+evening at about 6 P.M. I was working at the engine, and as the car was
+'nose in' first, I was, of course, at the farthest point from the door.
+I had sent my man down to the village with a message. He was gone about
+ten minutes when I heard heavy footsteps enter the yard and come over to
+the motor-house. I 'felt' that there was some one in the house quite
+close to me, and I said, 'Hullo, ----, what brought you back so soon,' as
+I knew he could not have been to the village and back. As I got no reply,
+I took up my electric lamp and went to the back of the motor to see who
+was there, but there was no one to be seen, and although I searched the
+yard with my lamp, I could discover no one. About a week later I heard
+the footsteps again under almost identical conditions, but 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 got from the Queen's County. He arrived
+on a Saturday evening, and on the following Monday morning I put him to
+sweep the avenue. He was at his work when I went out in the motor car at
+about 10:30 A.M. Shortly after I left he left his wheel-barrow and tools
+on the avenue (just at the point where I saw the 'spectral gig'
+disappear) and, coming up to the Rectory, he told my housekeeper in a
+great state of agitation that he was quite sure that his brother, with
+whom he had always lived, was dead. He said he must return home at once.
+My housekeeper advised him to wait until I returned, but he changed his
+clothes and packed his box, saying he must catch the next train. Just
+before I returned home at 12 o'clock, a telegram came saying his brother
+had died suddenly that morning, and that he was to return at once. On my
+return I found him almost in a state of collapse. He left by the next
+train, and I never heard of him again."
+
+K---- Castle is a handsome blending of ancient castle and modern
+dwelling-house, picturesquely situated among trees, while the steep glen
+mentioned below runs close beside it. It has the reputation of being
+haunted, but, as usual, it is difficult to get information. One
+gentleman, to whom we wrote, stated that he never saw or heard anything
+worse than a bat. On the other hand, a lady who resided there a good many
+years ago, gives the following account of her extraordinary experiences
+therein:
+
+DEAR MR. SEYMOUR,
+
+I enclose some account of our experiences in K---- Castle. It would be
+better not to mention names, as the people occupying it have told me they
+are afraid of their servants hearing anything, and consequently giving
+notice. They themselves hear voices often, but, like me, they do not
+mind. When first we went there we heard people talking, but on looking
+everywhere we could find no one. Then on some nights we heard fighting in
+the glen beside the house. We could hear voices raised in anger, and the
+clash of steel: no person would venture there after dusk.
+
+One night I was sitting talking with my governess, I got up, said
+good-night, and opened the door, which was on the top of the back
+staircase. As I did so, I _heard_ some one (a woman) come slowly
+upstairs, walk past us to a window at the end of the landing, and then
+with a shriek fall heavily. As she passed it was bitterly cold, and I
+drew back into the room, but did not say anything, as it might frighten
+the governess. She asked me what was the matter, as I looked so white.
+Without answering, I pushed her into her room, and then searched the
+house, but with no results.
+
+Another night I was sleeping with my little girl. I awoke, and saw a girl
+with long, fair hair standing at the fireplace, one hand at her side, the
+other on the chimney-piece. Thinking at first it was my little girl, I
+felt on the pillow to see if she were gone, but she was fast asleep.
+There was no fire or light of any kind in the room.
+
+Some time afterwards a friend was sleeping there, and she told me that
+she was pushed out of bed the whole night. Two gentlemen to whom I had
+mentioned this came over, thinking they would find out the cause. In the
+morning when they came down they asked for the carriage to take them to
+the next train, but would not tell what they had heard or seen.
+Another person who came to visit her sister, who was looking after the
+house before we went in, slept in this room, and in the morning said she
+must go back that day. She also would give no information.
+
+On walking down the corridor, I have heard a door open, a footstep cross
+before me, and go into another room, _both_ doors being closed at the
+time. An old cook I had told me that when she went into the hall in the
+morning, a gentleman would come down the front stairs, take a plumed hat
+off the stand, and vanish _through_ the hall door. This she saw nearly
+every morning. She also said that a girl often came into her bedroom, and
+put her hand on her (the cook's) face; and when she would push her away
+she would hear a girl's voice say, "Oh don't!" three times. I have 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 us have often asked
+why the servants turned out the rooms underneath them at such an unusual
+hour. The front-door bell sometimes rang, and I have gone down, but found
+no one.
+
+Yours very sincerely,
+F.T.
+
+"Kilman" Castle, in the heart of Ireland--the name is obviously a
+pseudonym--has been described as perhaps the worst haunted mansion in the
+British Isles. That it deserves this doubtful recommendation, we cannot
+say; but at all events the ordinary reader will be prepared to admit that
+it contains sufficient "ghosts" to satisfy the most greedy ghost-hunter.
+A couple of months ago the present writer paid a visit to this castle,
+and was shown all over it one morning by the mistress of the house, who,
+under the _nom de plume_ of "Andrew Merry" has published novels dealing
+with Irish life, and has also contributed articles on the ghostly
+phenomena of her house to the _Occult Review_ (Dec. 1908 and Jan. 1909).
+
+The place itself is a grim, grey, bare building. The central portion, in
+which is the entrance-hall, is a square castle of the usual type; it is
+built on a rock, and a slight batter from base to summit gives an added
+appearance of strength and solidity. On either side of the castle are
+more modern wings, one of which terminates in what is known as the
+"Priest's House."
+
+Now to the ghosts. The top storey of the central tower is a large,
+well-lighted apartment, called the "Chapel," having evidently served that
+purpose in times past. At one end is what is said to be an _oubliette_,
+now almost filled up. Occasionally in the evenings, people walking along
+the roads or in the fields see the windows of this chapel lighted up for
+a few seconds as if many lamps were suddenly brought into it. This is
+certainly _not_ due to servants; from our experience we can testify that
+it is the last place on earth that a domestic would enter after dark. It
+is also said that a treasure is buried somewhere in or around the castle.
+The legend runs that an ancestor was about to be taken to Dublin on a
+charge of rebellion, and, fearing he would never return, made the best of
+the time left to him by burying somewhere a crock full of gold and
+jewels. Contrary to expectation, he _did_ return; but his long
+confinement had turned his brain, and he could never remember the spot
+where he had deposited his treasure years before. Some time ago a lady, a
+Miss B., who was decidedly psychic, was invited to Kilman Castle in the
+hope that she would be able to locate the whereabouts of this treasure.
+In this respect she failed, unfortunately, but gave, nevertheless, a
+curious example of her power. As she walked through the hall with her
+hostess, she suddenly laid her hand upon the bare stone wall, and
+remarked, "There is something uncanny here, but I don't know what it is."
+In that very spot, some time previously, two skeletons had been
+discovered walled up.
+
+The sequel to this is curious. Some time after, Miss B. was either trying
+automatic writing, or else was at a séance (we forget which), when a
+message came to her from the Unseen, stating that the treasure at Kilman
+Castle was concealed in the chapel under the tessellated pavement near
+the altar. But this spirit was either a "lying spirit," or else a most
+impish one, for there is no trace of an altar, and it is impossible to
+say, from the style of the room, where it stood; while the tessellated
+pavement (if it exists) is so covered with the debris of the former
+roof that it would be almost impossible to have it thoroughly cleared.
+
+There is as well a miscellaneous assortment of ghosts. A monk with
+tonsure and cowl walks in at one window of the Priest's House, and out at
+another. There is also a little old man, dressed in the antique garb
+of a green cut-away coat, knee breeches, and buckled shoes: he is
+sometimes accompanied by an old lady in similar old-fashioned costume.
+Another ghost has a penchant for lying on the bed beside its lawful and
+earthly occupant; nothing is seen, but a great weight is felt, and a
+consequent deep impression made on the bedclothes.
+
+The lady of the house states that she has a number of letters from
+friends, in which they relate the supernatural experiences they had while
+staying at the Castle. In one of these the writer, a gentleman, was
+awakened one night by an extraordinary feeling of intense cold at his
+heart. He then saw in front of him a tall female figure, clothed from
+head to foot in red, and with its right hand raised menacingly in the
+air: the light which illuminated the figure was from within. He lit a
+match, and sprang out of bed, but the room was empty. He went back to
+bed, and saw nothing more that night, except that several times the same
+cold feeling gripped his heart, though to the touch the flesh was quite
+warm.
+
+But of all the ghosts in that well-haunted house the most unpleasant is
+that inexplicable thing that is usually called "It." The lady of the
+house described to the present writer her personal experience of this
+phantom. High up round one side of the hall runs a gallery which connects
+with some of the bedrooms. One evening she was in this gallery leaning on
+the balustrade, and looking down into the hall. Suddenly she felt two
+hands laid on her shoulders; she turned round sharply, and saw "It"
+standing close beside her. She described it as being human in shape, and
+about four feet high; the eyes were like two black holes in the face, and
+the whole figure seemed as if it were made of grey cotton-wool, while it
+was accompanied by a most appalling stench, such as would come from a
+decaying human body. The lady got a shock from which she did not recover
+for a long time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+POLTERGEISTS
+
+
+Poltergeist is the term assigned to those apparently meaningless noises
+and movements of objects of which we from time to time hear accounts. The
+word is, of course, German, and may be translated "boisterous ghost." A
+poltergeist is seldom or never seen, but contents itself by moving
+furniture and other objects about in an extraordinary manner, often
+contrary to the laws of gravitation; sometimes footsteps are heard, but
+nothing is visible, while at other times vigorous rappings will be heard
+either on the walls or floor of a room, and in the manner in which the
+raps are given a poltergeist has often showed itself as having a close
+connection with the physical phenomena of spiritualism, for cases have
+occurred in which a poltergeist has given the exact number of raps
+mentally asked for by some person present. Another point that is worthy
+of note is the fact that the hauntings of a poltergeist are generally
+attached to a certain individual in a certain spot, and thus differ from
+the operations of an ordinary ghost.
+
+The two following incidents related in this chapter are taken from a
+paper read by Professor Barrett, F.R.S., before the Society for Psychical
+Research.[6] In the case of the first anecdote he made every possible
+inquiry into the facts set forth, short of actually being an eye-witness
+of the phenomena. In the case of the second he made personal
+investigation, and himself saw the whole of the incidents related. There
+is therefore very little room to doubt the genuineness of either story.
+
+[Footnote 6: _Proceedings_, August 1911, pp. 377-95.]
+
+In the year 1910, in a certain house in Court Street, Enniscorthy, there
+lived a labouring man named Redmond. His wife took in boarders to
+supplement her husband's wages, and at the time to which we refer there
+were three men boarding with her, who slept in one room above the
+kitchen. The house consisted of five rooms--two on the ground-floor, of
+which one was a shop and the other the kitchen. The two other rooms
+upstairs were occupied by the Redmonds and their servant respectively.
+The bedroom in which the boarders slept was large, and contained two
+beds, one at each end of the room, two men sleeping in one of them; John
+Randall and George Sinnott were the names of two, but the name of the
+third lodger is not known--he seems to have left the Redmonds very
+shortly after the disturbances commenced.
+
+It was on July 4, 1910, that John Randall, who is a carpenter by trade,
+went to live at Enniscorthy, and took rooms with the Redmonds. In a
+signed statement, now in possession of Professor Barrett, he tells a
+graphic tale of what occurred each night during the three weeks he lodged
+in the house, and as a result of the poltergeist's attentions he lost
+three-quarters of a stone in weight. It was on the night of Thursday,
+July 7, that the first incident occurred, when the bedclothes were gently
+pulled off his bed. Of course he naturally thought it was a joke, and
+shouted to his companions to stop. As no one could explain what was
+happening, a match was struck, and the bedclothes were found to be at the
+window, from which the other bed (a large piece of furniture which
+ordinarily took two people to move) had been rolled just when the clothes
+had been taken off Randall's bed. Things were put straight and the light
+blown out, "but," Randall's account goes on to say, "it wasn't long until
+we heard some hammering in the room--tap-tap-tap-like. This lasted for a
+few 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. We searched the room thoroughly, and could find nobody.
+Nobody had come in the door. We called the man of the house (Redmond); he
+came into the room, saw the bed, and told us to push it back and get into
+bed (he thought all the time one of us was playing the trick on the
+other). I said I wouldn't stay in the other bed by myself, so I got in
+with the others; we put out the light again, and it had only been a
+couple of minutes out when the bed ran out on the floor with the three of
+us. Richard struck a match again, and this time we all got up and put on
+our clothes; we had got a terrible fright and couldn't stick it any
+longer. We told the man of the house we would sit up in the room till
+daylight. During the time we were sitting in the room we could hear
+footsteps leaving the kitchen and coming up the stairs; it would stop on
+the landing outside the door, and wouldn't come into the room. The
+footsteps and noises continued through the house until daybreak."
+
+The next night the footsteps and noises were continued, but the
+unfortunate men did not experience any other annoyance. On the following
+day the men went home, and it is to be hoped they were able to make up
+for all the sleep they had lost on the two previous nights. They returned
+on the Sunday, and from that night till they finally left the house the
+men were disturbed practically every night. On Monday, 11th July the bed
+was continually running out from the wall with its three occupants. They
+kept the lamp alight, and a chair was seen to dance gaily out into the
+middle of the floor. On the following Thursday we read of the same
+happenings, with the addition that one of the boarders was lifted out
+of the bed, though he felt no hand near him. It seems strange that they
+should have gone through such a bad night exactly a week from the night
+the poltergeist started its operations. So the account goes on; every
+night that they slept in the room the hauntings continued, some nights
+being worse than others. On Friday, 29th July, "the bed turned up on one
+side and threw us out on the floor, and before we were thrown out, the
+pillow was taken from under my head three times. When the bed rose up, it
+fell back without making any noise. This bed was so heavy, it took both
+the woman and the girl to pull it out from the wall without anybody in
+it, and there were only three castors on it." The poltergeist must have
+been an insistent fellow, for when the unfortunate men took refuge in the
+other bed, they had not been long in it before it began to rise, but
+could not get out of the recess it was in unless it was taken to pieces.
+
+"It kept very bad," we read, "for the next few nights. So Mr. Murphy,
+from the _Guardian_ office, and another man named Devereux, came and
+stopped in the room one night."
+
+The experiences of Murphy and Devereux on this night are contained in a
+further statement, signed by Murphy and corroborated by Devereux. They
+seem to have gone to work in a business-like manner, as before taking
+their positions for the night they made a complete investigation of the
+bedroom and house, so as to eliminate all chance of trickery or fraud. By
+this time, it should be noted, one of Mrs. Redmond's lodgers had
+evidently suffered enough from the poltergeist, as only two men are
+mentioned in Murphy's statement, one sleeping in each bed. The two
+investigators took up their position against the wall midway between the
+two beds, so that they had a full view of the room and the occupants of
+the beds. "The night," says Murphy, "was a clear, starlight night. No
+blind obstructed the view from outside, and one could see the outlines of
+the beds and their occupants clearly. At about 11.30 a tapping was heard
+close at the foot of Randall's bed. My companion remarked that it
+appeared to be like the noise of a rat eating at timber.
+
+"Sinnott replied, 'You'll soon see the rat it is.' The tapping went on
+slowly at first ... then the speed gradually increased to about a hundred
+or a hundred and twenty per minute, the noise growing louder. This
+continued for about five minutes, when it stopped suddenly. Randall then
+spoke. He said: 'The clothes are slipping off my bed: look at them
+sliding off. Good God, they are going off me.' Mr. Devereux immediately
+struck a match, which he had ready in his hand. The bedclothes had partly
+left the boy's bed, having gone diagonally towards the foot, going out at
+the left corner, and not alone did they seem to be drawn off the bed, but
+they appeared to be actually going back under the bed, much in the same
+position one would expect bedclothes to be if a strong breeze were
+blowing through the room at the time. But then everything was perfectly
+calm."
+
+A search was then made for wires or strings, but nothing of the sort
+could be found. The bedclothes were put back and the light extinguished.
+For ten minutes silence reigned, only to be broken by more rapping which
+was followed by shouts from Randall. He was told to hold on to the
+clothes, which were sliding off again. But this was of little use, for he
+was heard to cry, "I'm going, I'm going, I'm gone," and when a light was
+struck he was seen to slide 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 floor, trembling in
+every limb and bathed in perspiration, he exclaimed: "Oh, isn't this
+dreadful? I can't stand it; I can't stay here any longer." He was
+eventually persuaded to get back to bed. Later on more rapping occurred
+in a different part of the room, but it soon stopped, and the rest of the
+night passed away in peace.
+
+Randall and Sinnott went to their homes the next day, and Mr. Murphy
+spent from eleven till long past midnight in their vacated room, but
+heard and saw nothing unusual. He states in conclusion that "Randall
+could not reach that part of the floor from which the rapping came on any
+occasion without attracting my attention and that of my comrade."
+
+The next case related by Professor Barrett occurred in County Fermanagh,
+at a spot eleven miles from Enniskillen and about two miles from the
+hamlet of Derrygonelly, where there dwelt a farmer and his family of four
+girls and a boy, of whom the eldest was a girl of about twenty years of
+age named Maggie. His cottage consisted of three rooms, the kitchen, or
+dwelling-room, being in the centre, with a room on each side used as
+bedrooms. In one of these two rooms Maggie slept with her sisters, and it
+was here that the disturbances occurred, generally after they had all
+gone to bed, when rappings and scratchings were heard which often lasted
+all night. Rats were first blamed, but when things were moved by some
+unseen agent, and boots and candles thrown out of the house, it was seen
+that something more than the ordinary rat was at work. The old farmer,
+who was a Methodist, sought advice from his class leader, and by his
+directions laid an open Bible on the bed in the haunted room, placing a
+big stone on the book. But the stone was lifted off by an unseen hand,
+the Bible moved out of the room, and seventeen pages torn out of it. They
+could not keep a lamp or candle 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 us a lamp, saying the devil himself
+would not steal it, as he had got the priest to sprinkle it with holy
+water." "But that," the old man said, "did us no good either, for the
+next day it took away that lamp also."
+
+Professor Barrett, at the invitation of Mr. Thomas Plunkett of
+Enniskillen, went to investigate. He got a full account from the farmer
+of the freakish tricks which were continually being played in the house,
+and gives a graphic account of what he himself observed: "After the
+children, except the boy, had gone to bed, Maggie lay down on the bed
+without undressing, so that her hands and feet could be observed. The
+rest of us sat round the kitchen fire, when faint raps, rapidly
+increasing in loudness, were heard coming apparently from the walls,
+the ceiling, and various parts of the inner room, the door of which was
+open. On entering the bedroom with a light the noises at first ceased,
+but recommenced when I put the light on the window-sill in the kitchen. I
+had the boy and his father by my side, and asked Mr. Plunkett to look
+round the house outside. Standing in the doorway leading to the bedroom,
+the noises recommenced, the light was gradually brought nearer, and after
+much patience I was able to bring the light into the bedroom whilst the
+disturbances were still loudly going on. At last I was able to go up to
+the side of the bed, with the lighted candle in my hand, and closely
+observed each of the occupants lying on the bed. The younger children
+were apparently asleep, and Maggie was motionless; nevertheless, knocks
+were going on everywhere around; on the chairs, the bedstead, the walls
+and ceiling. The closest scrutiny failed to detect any movement on the
+part of those present that could account for the noises, which were
+accompanied by a scratching or tearing sound. Suddenly a large pebble
+fell in my presence on to the bed; no one had moved to dislodge it, even
+if it had been placed for the purpose. When I replaced the candle on the
+window-sill in the kitchen, the knocks became still louder, like those
+made by a heavy carpenter's hammer driving nails into flooring."
+
+A couple of days afterwards, the Rev. Maxwell Close, M.A., a well-known
+member of the S.P.R., joined Professor Barrett and Mr. Plunkett, and
+together the party of three paid visits on two consecutive nights to the
+haunted farm-house, and the noises were repeated. Complete search was
+made, both inside and outside of the house, but no cause could be found.
+When the party were leaving, the old farmer was much perturbed that they
+had not "laid the ghost." When questioned he said he thought it was
+fairies. He was asked if it had answered to questions by raps and he said
+he had; "but it tells lies as often as truth, and oftener, I think. We
+tried it, and it only knocked at L M N when we said the alphabet over."
+Professor Barrett then tested it by asking mentally for a certain number
+of raps, and immediately the actual number was heard. He repeated this
+four times with a different number each time, and with the same result.
+
+Perhaps the most interesting part of this particular case is at the end
+of Professor Barrett's account, when, at the request of the old farmer,
+Mr. Maxwell Close read some passages from Scripture, followed by the
+Lord's Prayer, to an accompaniment of knockings and scratches, which were
+at first so loud that the solemn words could hardly be heard, but which
+gradually ceased as they all knelt in prayer. And since that night no
+further disturbance occurred.
+
+Another similar story comes from the north of Ireland. In the year 1866
+(as recorded in the _Larne Reporter_ of March 31 in that year), two
+families residing at Upper Ballygowan, near Larne, suffered a series of
+annoyances from having stones thrown into their houses both by night and
+by day. Their neighbours came in great numbers to sympathise with them in
+their affliction, and on one occasion, after a volley of stones had been
+poured into the house through the window, a young man who was present
+fired a musket in the direction of the mysterious assailants. The reply
+was a loud peal of satanic laughter, followed by a volley of stones and
+turf. On another occasion a heap of potatoes, which was in an inner
+apartment of one of the houses, was seen to be in commotion, and shortly
+afterwards its contents were hurled into the kitchen, where the inmates
+of the house, with some of their neighbours, were assembled.
+
+The explanation given by some people of this mysterious affair was as
+mysterious as the affair itself. It was said that many years before the
+occurrences which we have now related took place, the farmer who then
+occupied the premises in which they happened was greatly annoyed by
+mischievous tricks which were played upon him by a company of fairies who
+had a habit of holding their rendezvous in his house. The consequence was
+that this man had to leave the house, which for a long time stood a
+roofless ruin. After the lapse of many years, and when the story about
+the dilapidated fabric having been haunted had probably been forgotten,
+the people who then occupied the adjoining lands unfortunately took some
+of the stones of the old deserted mansion to repair their own buildings.
+At this the fairies, or "good people," were much incensed; and they
+vented their displeasure on the offender in the way we have described.
+
+A correspondent from County Wexford, who desires to have his name
+suppressed, writes as follows: "Less than ten miles from the town
+of ----, Co. Wexford, lives a small farmer named M----, who by dint of
+thrift and industry has reared a large family decently and comfortably.
+
+"Some twenty years ago Mr. M----, through the death of a relative, fell
+in for a legacy of about a hundred pounds. As he was already in rather
+prosperous circumstances, and as his old thatched dwelling-house was not
+large enough to accommodate his increasing family, he resolved to spend
+the money in building a new one.
+
+"Not long afterwards building operations commenced, and in about a year
+he had a fine slated cottage, or small farm-house, erected and ready for
+occupation: so far very well; but it is little our friend M----
+anticipated the troubles which were still ahead of him. He purchased some
+new furniture at the nearest town, and on a certain day he removed all
+the furniture which the old house contained into the new one; and in the
+evening the family found themselves installed in the latter for good, as
+they thought. They all retired to rest at their usual hour; scarcely were
+they snugly settled in bed when they heard peculiar noises inside the
+house. As time passed the din became terrible--there was shuffling of
+feet, slamming of doors, pulling about of furniture, and so forth. The
+man of the house got up to explore, but could see nothing, neither was
+anything disturbed. The door was securely locked as he had left it. After
+a thorough investigation, in which his wife assisted, he had to own he
+could find no clue to the cause of the disturbance. The couple went to
+bed again, and almost immediately the racket recommenced, and continued
+more or less till dawn.
+
+"The inmates were puzzled and frightened, but determined to try whether
+the noise would be repeated the next night before telling their
+neighbours what had happened. But the pandemonium experienced the first
+night of their occupation was as nothing compared with what they had
+to endure the second night and for several succeeding nights. Sleep was
+impossible, and finally Mr. M---- and family in terror abandoned their
+new home, and retook possession of their old one.
+
+"That is the state of things to this day. The old house has been repaired
+and is tenanted. The new house, a few perches off, facing the public
+road, is used as a storehouse. The writer has seen it scores of times,
+and its story is well known all over the country-side. Mr. M---- is
+disinclined to discuss the matter or to answer questions; but it is said
+he made several subsequent attempts to occupy the house, but always
+failed to stand his ground when night came with its usual rowdy
+disturbances.
+
+"It is said that when building operations were about to begin, a little
+man of bizarre appearance accosted Mr. M---- and exhorted him to build on
+a different site; otherwise the consequences would be unpleasant for him
+and his; while the local peasantry allege that the house was built across
+a fairy pathway between two _raths_, and that this was the cause of the
+trouble. It is quite true that there are two large _raths_ in the
+vicinity, and the haunted house is directly in a bee-line between them.
+For myself I offer no explanation; but I guarantee the substantial
+accuracy of what I have stated above."
+
+Professor Barrett, in the paper to which we have already referred, draws
+certain conclusions from his study of this subject; one of the chief of
+these is that "the widespread belief in fairies, pixies, gnomes,
+brownies, etc., probably rests on the varied manifestations of
+poltergeists." The popular explanation of the above story bears out this
+conclusion, and it is further emphasized by the following, which comes
+from Portarlington: A man near that town had saved five hundred pounds,
+and determined to build a house with the money. He fixed on a certain
+spot, and began to build, very much against the advice of his friends,
+who said it was on a fairy path, and would bring him ill-luck. Soon the
+house was finished, and the owner moved in; but the very first night his
+troubles began, for some unseen hand threw the furniture about and broke
+it, while the man himself was injured. Being unwilling to lose the value
+of his money, he tried to make the best of things. But night after night
+the disturbances continued, and life in the house was impossible; the
+owner chose the better part of valour and left. No tenant has been found
+since, and the house stands empty, a silent testimony to the power of the
+poltergeist.
+
+Poltergeistic phenomena from their very nature lend themselves to
+spurious reproduction and imitation, as witness the famous case of Cock
+Lane and many other similar stories. At least one well-known case
+occurred in Ireland, and is interesting as showing that where fraud is at
+work, close investigation will discover it. It is related that an old
+Royal Irish Constabulary pensioner, who obtained a post as emergency man
+during the land troubles, and who in 1892 was in charge of an evicted
+farm in the Passage East district, was being continually disturbed by
+furniture and crockery being thrown about in a mysterious manner. Reports
+were brought to the police, and they investigated the matter; but nothing
+was heard or seen beyond knocking on an inside wall of a bedroom in which
+one of the sons was sleeping; this knocking ceased when the police were
+in the bedroom, and no search was made in the boy's bed to see if he had
+a stick. The police therefore could find no explanation, the noises
+continued night after night, and eventually the family left and went to
+live in Waterford. A great furore was raised when it was learnt that the
+hauntings had followed them, and again investigation was made, but it
+seems to have been more careful this time: an eye was kept on the
+movements of the young son, and at least two independent witnesses saw
+him throwing things about--fireirons and jam-pots--when he thought his
+father was not looking. It seems to have been a plot between the mother
+and son owing to the former's dislike to her husband's occupation, which
+entailed great unpopularity and considerable personal risk. Fearing for
+her own and her family's safety, the wife conceived of this plan to force
+her husband to give up his post. Her efforts were successful, as the man
+soon resigned his position and went to live elsewhere.[7]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Proceedings_, S.P.R.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HAUNTED PLACES
+
+
+That houses are haunted and apparitions frequently seen therein are
+pretty well established facts. The preceding chapters have dealt with
+this aspect of the subject, and, in view of the weight of evidence to
+prove the truth of the stories told in them, it would be hard for anyone
+to doubt that there is such a thing as a haunted house, whatever
+explanation maybe given of "haunting." We now turn to another division of
+the subject--the outdoor ghost who haunts the roadways, country lanes,
+and other places. Sceptics on ghostly phenomena are generally pretty full
+of explanations when they are told of a ghost having been seen in a
+particular spot, and the teller may be put down as hyper-imaginative, or
+as having been deluded by moonlight playing through the trees; while
+cases are not wanting where a reputation for temperance has been lost by
+a man telling his experiences of a ghost he happens to have met along
+some country lane; and the fact that there are cases where an imaginative
+and nervous 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 the very large weight of evidence that can be arrayed against
+him. Some day, no doubt, psychologists and scientists will be able to
+give us a complete and satisfactory explanation of these abnormal
+apparitions, but at present we are very much in the dark, and any
+explanation that may be put forward is necessarily of a tentative nature.
+
+The following story is sent us by Mr. J. J. Crowley, of the Munster and
+Leinster Bank, who writes as follows: "The scene is outside Clonmel, on
+the main road leading up to a nice old residence on the side of the
+mountains called ---- Lodge. I happened to be visiting my friends, two
+other bank men. It was night, about eight o'clock, moonless, and
+tolerably dark, and when within a quarter of a mile or perhaps less of
+a bridge over a small stream near the house I saw a girl, dressed in
+white, wearing a black sash and long flowing hair, walk in the direction
+from me up the culvert of the bridge and disappear down the other side.
+At the time I saw it I thought it most peculiar that I could distinguish
+a figure so far away, and thought a light of some sort must be falling on
+the girl, or that there were some people about and that some of them had
+struck a match. When I got to the place I looked about, but could find no
+person there.
+
+"I related this story to my friends some time after arriving, and was
+then told that one of them had wakened up in his sleep a few nights
+previously, and had seen an identical figure standing at the foot of his
+bed, and rushed in fright from his room, taking refuge for the night with
+the other lodger. They told the story to their landlady, and learned from
+her that this apparition had frequently been seen about the place, and
+was the spirit of one of her daughters who had died years previously
+rather young, and who, previous to her death, had gone about just as we
+described the figure we had seen. I had heard nothing of this story until
+after I had seen the ghost, and consequently it could not be put down to
+hallucination or over-imagination on my part."
+
+The experiences of two constables of the Royal Irish Constabulary while
+on despatch duty one winter's night in the early eighties has been sent
+us by one of the men concerned, and provides interesting reading. It was
+a fine moonlight night, with a touch of frost in the air, when these two
+men set out to march the five miles to the next barrack. Brisk walking
+soon brought them near their destination. The barrack which they were
+approaching was on the left side of the road, and facing it on the other
+side was a whitethorn hedge. The road at this point was wide, and as the
+two constables got within fifty yards of the barrack, they saw a
+policeman step out from this hedge and move across the road, looking
+towards the two men as he did so. He was plainly visible to them both.
+"He was bare-headed" (runs the account), "with his tunic opened down the
+front, a stout-built man, black-haired, pale, full face, and short
+mutton-chop whiskers." They thought he was a newly-joined constable who
+was doing "guard" and had come out to get some fresh air while waiting
+for a patrol to return. As the two men approached, he disappeared into
+the shadow of the barrack, and apparently went in by the door; to their
+amazement, when they came up they found the door closed and bolted, and
+it was only after loud knocking that they got a sleepy "All right" from
+some one inside, and after the usual challenging were admitted. There
+was no sign of the strange policeman when they got in, and on inquiry
+they learnt that no new constable had joined the station. The two men
+realised then that they had seen a ghost, but refrained from saying
+anything about it to the men at the station--a very sensible precaution,
+considering the loneliness of the average policeman's life in this
+country.
+
+Some years afterwards the narrator of the above story learnt that a
+policeman had been lost in a snow-drift near this particular barrack.
+Whether this be the explanation we leave to others: the facts as stated
+are well vouched for. There is no evidence to support the theory of
+hallucination, for the apparition was so vivid that the idea of its being
+other than normal never entered the constables' heads _till they had got
+into the barrack_. When they found the door shut and bolted, their
+amazement was caused by indignation against an apparently unsociable
+or thoughtless comrade, and it was only afterwards, while discussing the
+whole thing on their homeward journey, that it occurred to them that it
+would have been impossible for any ordinary mortal to shut, bolt, and bar
+a door without making a sound.
+
+In the winter of 1840-1, in the days when snow and ice and all their
+attendant pleasures were more often in evidence than in these degenerate
+days, a skating party was enjoying itself on the pond in the grounds of
+the Castle near Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin. Among the skaters was a man who
+had with him a very fine curly-coated retriever dog. The pond was
+thronged with people enjoying themselves, when suddenly the ice gave
+way beneath him, and the man fell into the water; the dog went to his
+rescue, and both were drowned. A monument was erected to perpetuate the
+memory of the dog's heroic self-sacrifice, but only the pedestal now
+remains. The ghost of the dog is said to haunt the grounds and the public
+road between the castle gate and the Dodder Bridge. Many people have seen
+the phantom dog, and the story is well known locally.
+
+The ghost of a boy who was murdered by a Romany is said to haunt one of
+the lodge gates of the Castle demesne, and the lodge-keeper states that
+he saw it only a short time ago. The Castle, however, is now in
+possession of Jesuit Fathers, and the Superior assures us that there has
+been no sign of a ghost for a long time, his explanation being that the
+place is so crowded out with new buildings "that even a ghost would have
+some difficulty in finding a comfortable corner."
+
+It is a fairly general belief amongst students of supernatural phenomena
+that animals have the psychic faculty developed to a greater extent than
+we have. There are numerous stories which tell of animals being scared
+and frightened by something that is invisible to a human being, and the
+explanation given is that the animal has seen a ghost which we cannot
+see. A story that is told of a certain spot near the village of G----, in
+Co. Kilkenny, supports this theory. The account was sent us by the
+eye-witness of what occurred, and runs as follows: "I was out for a walk
+one evening near the town of G---- about 8.45 P.M., and was crossing the
+bridge that leads into the S. Carlow district with a small wire-haired
+terrier dog. When we were about three-quarters of a mile out, the dog
+began to bark and yelp in a most vicious manner at 'nothing' on the
+left-hand side of the roadway and near to a straggling hedge. I felt a
+bit creepy and that something was wrong. The dog kept on barking, but I
+could at first see nothing, but on looking closely for a few seconds I
+believe I saw a small grey-white object vanish gradually and noiselessly
+into the hedge. No sooner had it vanished than the dog ceased barking,
+wagged his tail, and seemed pleased with his successful efforts." The
+narrator goes on to say that he made inquiries when he got home, and
+found that this spot on the road had a very bad reputation, as people had
+frequently seen a ghost there, while horses had often to be beaten,
+coaxed, or led past the place. The explanation locally current is that a
+suicide was buried at the cross-roads near at hand, or that it may be the
+ghost of a man who is known to have been killed at the spot.
+
+The following story has been sent us by the Rev. H.R.B. Gillespie, to
+whom it was told by one of the witnesses of the incidents described
+therein. One bright moonlight night some time ago a party consisting of a
+man, his two daughters, and a friend were driving along a country road in
+County Leitrim. They came to a steep hill, and all except the driver got
+down to walk. One of the two sisters walked on in front, and after her
+came the other two, followed closely by the trap. They had not gone far,
+when those in rear saw a shabbily-dressed man walking beside the girl who
+was leading. But she did not seem to be taking any notice of him, and,
+wondering what he could be, they hastened to overtake her. But just when
+they were catching her up the figure suddenly dashed into the shadow of a
+disused forge, which stood by the side of the road, and as it did so the
+horse, which up to this had been perfectly quiet, reared up and became
+unmanageable. The girl beside whom the figure had walked had seen and
+heard nothing. The road was not bordered by trees or a high hedge, so
+that it could not have been some trick of the moonlight. One of the girls
+described the appearance of the figure to a local workman, who said, "It
+is very like a tinker who was found dead in that forge about six months
+ago."
+
+Here is another story of a haunted spot on a road, where a "ghost" was
+seen, not at the witching hour of night, not when evening shadows
+lengthen, but in broad daylight. It is sent to us by the percipient,
+a lady, who does not desire to have her name mentioned. She was walking
+along a country road in the vicinity of Cork one afternoon, and passed
+various people. She then saw coming towards her a country-woman dressed
+in an old-fashioned style. This figure approached her, and when it drew
+near, suddenly staggered, as if under the influence 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 or gap through which the figure might slip. Much mystified, she
+continued on her way, and arrived at her destination. She there mentioned
+what had occurred, and was then informed by an old resident in the
+neighbourhood that that woman had constantly been seen up to twenty years
+before, but not since that date. By the country-people the road was
+believed to be haunted, but the percipient did not know this at the time.
+
+The following is sent us by Mr. T. J. Westropp, and has points of its own
+which are interesting; he states: "On the road from Bray to Windgates, at
+the Deerpark of Kilruddy, is a spot which, whatever be the explanation,
+is distinguished by weird sounds and (some say) sights. I on one occasion
+was walking with a friend to catch the train at Bray about eleven o'clock
+one evening some twenty-five years ago, when we both heard heavy steps
+and rustling of bracken in the Deerpark; apparently some one got over the
+gate, crossed the road with heavy steps and fell from the wall next Bray
+Head, rustling and slightly groaning. The night was lightsome, though
+without actual moonlight, and we could see nothing over the wall where we
+had heard the noise.
+
+"For several years after I dismissed the matter as a delusion; but when I
+told the story to some cousins, they said that another relative (now a
+Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin) had heard it too, and that there was
+a local belief that it was the ghost of a poacher mortally wounded by
+gamekeepers, who escaped across the road and died beyond it." Mr.
+Westropp afterwards got the relative mentioned above to tell his
+experience, and it corresponded with his own, except that the ghost was
+visible. "The clergyman who was rector of Greystones at that time used to
+say that he had heard exactly similar noises though he had seen nothing."
+
+The following story of an occurrence near Dublin is sent us by a lady who
+is a very firm believer in ghosts. On a fine night some years ago two
+sisters were returning home from the theatre. They were walking along a
+very lonely part of the Kimmage Road about two miles beyond the tram
+terminus, and were chatting gaily as they went, when suddenly they heard
+the "clink, clink" of a chain coming towards them. At first they thought
+it was a goat or a donkey which had got loose, and was dragging its chain
+along the ground. But they could see nothing, and could hear no noise but
+the clink of the chain, although the road was clear and straight. Nearer
+and nearer came the noise, gradually getting louder, and as it passed
+them closely they distinctly felt a blast or whiff of air. They were
+paralysed with an indefinable fear, and were scarcely able to drag
+themselves along the remaining quarter of a mile to their house. The
+elder of the two was in very bad health, and the other had almost to
+carry her. Immediately she entered the house she collapsed, and had
+to be revived with brandy.
+
+An old woman, it seems, had been murdered for her savings by a tramp near
+the spot where this strange occurrence took place, and it is thought that
+there is a connection between the crime and the haunting of this part of
+the Kimmage Road. Whatever the explanation may be, the whole story bears
+every evidence of truth, and it would be hard for anyone to disprove it.
+
+Churchyards are generally considered to be the hunting-ground of all
+sorts and conditions of ghosts. People who would on all other occasions,
+when the necessity arises, prove themselves to be possessed of at any
+rate a normal amount of courage, turn pale and shiver at the thought of
+having to pass through a churchyard at dead of night. It may be some
+encouragement to such to state that out of a fairly large collection of
+accounts of haunted places, only one relates to a churchyard. The story
+is told by Mr. G. H. Millar of Edgeworthstown: "During the winter of
+1875," he writes, "I attended a soiree about five miles from here. I was
+riding, and on my way home about 11.30 P.M. I had to pass by the old
+ruins and burial-ground of Abbeyshrule. The road led round by two sides
+of the churchyard. It was a bright moonlight night, and as my girth broke
+I was walking the horse quite slowly. As I passed the ruin, I saw what I
+took to be a policeman in a long overcoat; he was walking from the centre
+of the churchyard towards the corner, and, as far as I could see, would
+be at the corner by the time I would reach it, and we would meet. Quite
+suddenly, however, he disappeared, and I could see no trace of him. Soon
+after I overtook a man who had left the meeting long before me. I
+expressed wonder that he had not been farther on, and he explained that
+he went a 'round-about' way to avoid passing the old abbey, as he did not
+want to see 'The Monk.' On questioning him, he told me that a monk was
+often seen in the churchyard."
+
+A story told of a ghost which haunts a certain spot on an estate near the
+city of Waterford, bears a certain resemblance to the last story for the
+reason that it was only after the encounter had taken place in both cases
+that it was known that anything out of the ordinary had been seen. In the
+early eighties of last century ---- Court, near Waterford, was occupied
+by Mr. and Mrs. S---- and their family of two young boys and a girl of
+twenty-one years of age. Below the house is a marshy glen with a big open
+drain cut through it. Late one evening the daughter was out shooting
+rabbits near this drain and saw, as she thought, her half-brother
+standing by the drain in a sailor suit, which like other small boys he
+wore. She called to him once or twice, and to her surprise got no reply.
+She went towards him, and when she got close he suddenly disappeared. The
+next day she asked an old dependent, who had lived many years in the
+place, if there was anything curious about the glen. He replied at once:
+"Oh! you mean the little sailor man. Sure, he won't do you any harm."
+This was the first she had heard of anything of the sort, but it was then
+found that none of the country-people would go through the glen after
+dusk.
+
+Some time afterwards two sons of the clergyman of the parish in
+which ---- Court stands were out one evening fishing in the drain, when
+one of them suddenly said, "What's that sailor doing there?" The other
+saw nothing, and presently the figure vanished. At the time of the
+appearance neither had heard of Miss S----'s experience, and no one has
+been able to explain it, as there is apparently no tradition of any
+"little sailor man" having been there in the flesh.
+
+Mr. Joseph M'Crossan, a journalist on the staff of the _Strabane
+Chronicle_, has sent us a cutting from that paper describing a ghost
+which appeared to men working in an engine-house at Strabane railway
+station on two successive nights in October 1913. The article depicts
+very graphically the antics of the ghost and the fear of the men who saw
+it. Mr. M'Crossan interviewed one of these men (Pinkerton by name), and
+the story as told in his words is as follows: "Michael Madden, Fred
+Oliphant, and I were engaged inside a shed cleaning engines, when, at
+half-past twelve (midnight), a knocking came to all the doors, and
+continued without interruption, accompanied by unearthly yells. The three
+of us went to one of the doors, and saw--I could swear to it without
+doubt--the form of a man of heavy build. I thought I was about to faint.
+My hair stood high on my head. We all squealed for help, when the
+watchman and signalman came fast to our aid. Armed with a crowbar, the
+signalman made a dash at the 'spirit,' but was unable to strike down the
+ghost, which hovered about our shed till half-past two. It was moonlight,
+and we saw it plainly. There was no imagination on our part. We three
+cleaners climbed up the engine, and hid on the roof of the engine, lying
+there till morning at our wit's end. The next night it came at half-past
+one. Oliphant approached the spirit within two yards, but he then
+collapsed, the ghost uttering terrible yells. I commenced work, but the
+spirit 'gazed' into my face, and I fell forward against the engine. Seven
+of us saw the ghost this time. Our clothes and everything in the shed
+were tossed and thrown about."
+
+The other engine-cleaners were interviewed and corroborated Pinkerton's
+account. One of them stated that he saw the ghost run up and down a
+ladder leading to a water tank and disappear into it, while the signalman
+described how he struck at the ghost with a crowbar, but the weapon
+seemed to go through it. The spirit finally took his departure through
+the window.
+
+The details of this affair are very much on the lines of the good
+old-fashioned ghost yarns. But it is hard to see how so many men could
+labour under the same delusion. The suggestion that the whole thing was
+a practical joke may also be dismissed, for if the apparition had flesh
+and bones the crowbar would have soon proved it. The story goes that a
+man was murdered near the spot some time ago; whether there is any
+connection between this crime and the apparition it would be hard to say.
+However, we are not concerned with explanations (for who, as yet, can
+explain the supernatural?); the facts as stated have all the appearance
+of truth.
+
+Mr. Patrick Ryan, of P----, Co. Limerick, gives us two stories as he
+heard them related by Mr. Michael O'Dwyer of the same place. The former
+is evidently a very strong believer in supernatural phenomena, but he
+realises how strong is the unbelief of many, and in support of his
+stories he gives names of several persons who will vouch for the truth
+of them. With a few alterations, we give the story in his own words: "Mr.
+O'Dwyer has related how one night, after he had carried the mails to the
+train, he went with some fodder for a heifer in a field close to the
+railway station near to which was a creamery. He discovered the animal
+grazing near the creamery although how she came to be there was a
+mystery, as a broad trench separated it from the rest of the field,
+which is only spanned by a plank used by pedestrians when crossing the
+field. 'Perhaps,' he said in explanation, 'it was that he _should_ go
+there to hear.' It was about a quarter to twelve (midnight), and, having
+searched the field in vain, he was returning home, when, as he crossed
+the plank, he espied the heifer browsing peacefully in the aforementioned
+part of the field which was near the creamery. He gave her the fodder
+and--Heavens! was he suffering from delusions? Surely his ears were not
+deceiving him--from the creamery funnel there arose a dense volume of
+smoke mingled with the sharp hissing of steam and the rattling of cans,
+all as if the creamery were working, and it were broad daylight. His
+heifer became startled and bellowed frantically. O'Dwyer, himself a man
+of nerves, yet possessing all the superstitions of the Celt, was startled
+and ran without ceasing to his home near by, where he went quickly to
+bed.
+
+"O'Dwyer is not the only one who has seen this, as I have been told by
+several of my friends how they heard it. Who knows the mystery
+surrounding this affair!"
+
+The second story relates to a certain railway station in the south of
+Ireland; again we use Mr. Ryan's own words: "A near relative of mine" (he
+writes) "once had occasion to go to the mail train to meet a friend.
+While sitting talking to O'Dwyer, whom he met on the platform, he heard
+talking going on in the waiting-room. O'Dwyer heard it also, and they
+went to the door, but saw nothing save for the light of a waning moon
+which filtered in through the window. Uncertain, they struck matches, but
+saw nothing. Again they sat outside, and again they heard the talking,
+and this time they did not go to look, for they knew about it. In the
+memory of the writer a certain unfortunate person committed suicide on
+the railway, and was carried to the waiting-room pending an inquest. He
+lay all night there till the inquest was held next day. 'Let us not look
+further into the matter,' said O'Dwyer, and my relative having
+acquiesced, he breathed a shuddering prayer for the repose of the dead."
+
+The following story, which has been sent as a personal experience by Mr.
+William Mackey of Strabane, is similar in many ways to an extraordinary
+case of retro-cognitive vision which occurred some years ago to two
+English ladies who were paying a visit to Versailles; and who published
+their experiences in a book entitled, _An Adventure_ (London, 1911). Mr.
+Mackey writes: "It was during the severe winter of the Crimean War, when
+indulging in my favourite sport of wild-fowl shooting, that I witnessed
+the following strange scene. It was a bitterly cold night towards the end
+of November or beginning of December; the silvery moon had sunk in the
+west shortly before midnight; the sport had been all that could be
+desired, when I began to realise that the blood was frozen in my veins,
+and I was on the point of starting for home, when my attention was drawn
+to the barking of a dog close by, which was followed in a few seconds by
+the loud report of a musket, the echo of which had scarcely died away in
+the silent night, when several musket-shots went off in quick succession;
+this seemed to be the signal for a regular fusillade of musketry, and it
+was quite evident from the nature of the firing that there was attack and
+defence.
+
+"For the life of me I could not understand what it all meant; not being
+superstitious I did not for a moment imagine it was supernatural,
+notwithstanding that my courageous dog was crouching in abject terror
+between my legs; beads of perspiration began to trickle down from my
+forehead, when suddenly there arose a flame as if a house were on fire,
+but I knew from the position of the blaze (which was only a few hundred
+yards from where I stood), that there was no house there, or any
+combustible that would burn, and what perplexed me most was to see pieces
+of burning thatch and timber sparks fall hissing into the water at my
+feet. When the fire seemed at its height the firing appeared to weaken,
+and when the clear sound of a bugle floated out on the midnight air, it
+suddenly ceased, and I could hear distinctly the sound of cavalry coming
+at a canter, their accoutrements jingling quite plainly on the frosty
+air; in a very short time they arrived at the scene of the fight. I
+thought it an eternity until they took their departure, which they
+did at the walk.
+
+"It is needless to say that, although the scene of this tumult was on my
+nearest way home, I did not venture that way, as, although there are many
+people who would say that I never knew what fear was, I must confess on
+this occasion I was thoroughly frightened.
+
+"At breakfast I got a good sound rating from my father for staying out so
+late. My excuse was that I fell asleep and had a horrible dream, which I
+related. When I finished I was told I had been dreaming with my eyes
+open!--that I was not the first person who had witnessed this strange
+sight. He then told me the following narrative: 'It was towards the end
+of the seventeenth century that a widow named Sally Mackey and her three
+sons lived on the outskirts of the little settlement of the Mackeys. A
+warrant was issued by the Government against the three sons for high
+treason, the warrant being delivered for execution to the officer in
+command of the infantry regiment stationed at Lifford. A company was told
+off for the purpose of effecting the arrest, and the troops set out from
+Lifford at 11 P.M.
+
+"'The cottage home of the Mackeys was approached by a bridle-path,
+leading from the main road to Derry, which only permitted the military to
+approach in single file; they arrived there at midnight, and the first
+intimation the inmates had of danger was the barking, and then the
+shooting, of the collie dog. Possessing as they did several stand of
+arms, they opened fire on the soldiers as they came in view and killed
+and wounded several; it was the mother, Sally Mackey, who did the
+shooting, the sons loading the muskets. Whether the cottage went on fire
+by accident or design was never known; it was only when the firing from
+the cottage ceased and the door was forced open that the officer in
+command rushed in and brought out the prostrate form of the lady, who was
+severely wounded and burned. All the sons perished, but the soldiers
+suffered severely, a good many being killed and wounded.
+
+"'The firing was heard by the sentries at Lifford, and a troop of cavalry
+was despatched to the scene of conflict, but only arrived in time to see
+the heroine dragged from the burning cottage. She had not, however, been
+fatally wounded, and lived for many years afterwards with a kinsmen. My
+father remembered conversing with old men, when he was a boy, who
+remembered her well. She seemed to take a delight in narrating incidents
+of the fight to those who came to visit her, and would always finish up
+by making them feel the pellets between the skin and her ribs.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+APPARITIONS AT OR AFTER DEATH
+
+
+It has been said by a very eminent literary man that the accounts of the
+appearance of people at or shortly after the moment of death make very
+dull reading as a general rule. This may be; they are certainly not so
+lengthy, or full of detail, as the accounts of haunted houses--nor could
+such be expected. In our humble opinion, however, they are full of
+interest, and open up problems of telepathy and thought-transference to
+which the solutions may not be found for years to come. That people have
+seen the image of a friend or relative at the moment of dissolution,
+sometimes in the ordinary garb of life, sometimes with symbolical
+accompaniments, or that they have been made acquainted in some abnormal
+manner with the fact that such a one has passed away, seems to be
+demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt. But we would hasten to add that
+such appearances are not a proof of existence after death, nor can they
+be regarded in the light of special interventions of a merciful
+Providence. Were they either they would surely occur far oftener. The
+question is, Why do they occur at all? As it is, the majority of them
+seem to happen for no particular reason, and are often seen by persons
+who have little or no connection with the deceased, not by their nearest
+and dearest, as one might expect. It is supposed they are _veridical_
+hallucinations, _i.e._ ones which correspond with objective events at a
+distance, and are caused by a telepathic impact conveyed from the mind of
+an absent agent to the mind of the percipient.
+
+From their nature they fall under different heads. The majority of them
+occur at what may most conveniently be described as the time of death,
+though how closely they approximate in reality to the instant of the
+Great Change it is impossible to say. So we have divided this chapter
+into three groups:
+
+(1) Appearances at the time of death (as explained above).
+
+(2) Appearances clearly _after_ the time of death.
+
+(3) In this third group we hope to give three curious tales of
+appearances some time _before_ death.
+
+
+GROUP I
+
+We commence this group with stories in which the phenomena connected with
+the respective deaths were not perceived as representations of the human
+form. In the first only sounds were heard. It is sent as a personal
+experience by the Archdeacon of Limerick, Very Rev. J. A. Haydn, LL.D.
+"In the year 1879 there lived in the picturesque village of Adare, at a
+distance of about eight or nine miles from my residence, a District
+Inspector named ----, with whom I enjoyed a friendship of the most
+intimate and fraternal kind. At the time I write of, Mrs. ---- was
+expecting the arrival of their third child. She was a particularly tiny
+and fragile woman, and much anxiety was felt as to the result of the
+impending event. He and she had very frequently spent pleasant days
+at my house, with all the apartments of which they were thoroughly
+acquainted--a fact of importance in this narrative.
+
+"On Wednesday, October 17, 1879, I had a very jubilant letter from my
+friend, announcing that the expected event had successfully happened on
+the previous day, and that all was progressing satisfactorily. On the
+night of the following Wednesday, October 22, I retired to bed at about
+ten o'clock. My wife, the children, and two maid-servants were all
+sleeping upstairs, and I had a small bed in my study, which was on the
+ground floor. The house was shrouded in darkness, and the only sound that
+broke the silence was the ticking of the hall-clock.
+
+"I was quietly preparing to go to sleep, when I was much surprised at
+hearing, with the most unquestionable distinctness, the sound of light,
+hurried footsteps, exactly suggestive of those of an active, restless
+young female, coming in from the hall door and traversing the hall. They
+then, apparently with some hesitation, followed the passage leading to
+the study door, on arriving at which they stopped. I then heard the sound
+of a light, agitated hand apparently searching for the handle of the
+door. By this time, being quite sure that my wife had come down and
+wanted to speak to me, I sat up in bed, and called to her by name, asking
+what was the matter. As there was no reply, and the sounds had ceased, I
+struck a match, lighted a candle, and opened the door. No one was visible
+or audible. I went upstairs, found all the doors shut and everyone
+asleep. Greatly puzzled, I returned to the study and went to bed, leaving
+the candle alight. Immediately the whole performance was circumstantially
+repeated, but _this_ time the handle of the door was grasped by the
+invisible hand, and _partly_ turned, then relinquished. I started out of
+bed and renewed my previous search, with equally futile results. The
+clock struck eleven, and from that time all disturbances ceased.
+
+"On Friday morning I received a letter stating that Mrs. ---- had died at
+about midnight on the previous Wednesday. I hastened off to Adare and had
+an interview with my bereaved friend. With one item of our conversation I
+will close. He told me that his wife sank rapidly on Wednesday, until
+when night came on she became delirious. She spoke incoherently, as if
+revisiting scenes and places once familiar. 'She thought she was in
+_your_ house,' he said, 'and was apparently holding a conversation with
+_you_, as she used to keep silence at intervals as if listening to your
+replies.' I asked him if he could possibly remember the hour at which
+the imaginary conversation took place. He replied that, curiously enough,
+he could tell it accurately, as he had looked at his watch, and found the
+time between half-past ten and eleven o'clock--the exact time of the
+mysterious manifestations heard by me."
+
+A lady sends the following personal experience: "I had a cousin in the
+country who was not very strong, and on one occasion she desired me to go
+to her, and accompany her to K----. I consented to do so, and arranged a
+day to go and meet her: this was in the month of February. The evening
+before I was to go, I was sitting by the fire in my small parlour about
+5 P.M. There was no light in the room except what proceeded from the
+fire. Beside the fireplace was an armchair, where my cousin usually sat
+when she was with me. Suddenly that chair was illuminated by a light
+so intensely bright that it actually seemed to _heave_ under it, though
+the remainder of the room remained in semi-darkness. I called out in
+amazement, 'What has happened to the chair?' In a moment the light
+vanished, and the chair was as before. In the morning I heard that my
+cousin had died about the same time that I saw the light."
+
+We now come to the ordinary type, _i.e._ where a figure appears. The
+following tale illustrates a point we have already alluded to, namely,
+that the apparition is sometimes seen by a disinterested person, and
+_not_ by those whom one would naturally expect should see it. A lady
+writes as follows: "At Island Magee is the Knowehead Lonan, a long,
+hilly, narrow road, bordered on either side by high thorn-hedges and
+fields. Twenty years ago, when I was a young girl, I used to go to the
+post-office at the Knowehead on Sunday mornings down the Lonan, taking
+the dogs for the run. One Sunday as I had got to the top of the hill
+on my return journey, I looked back, and saw a man walking rapidly after
+me, but still a good way off. I hastened my steps, for the day was muddy,
+and I did not want him to see me in a bedraggled state. But he seemed to
+come on so fast as to be soon close behind me, and I wondered he did not
+pass me, so on we went, I never turning to look back. About a quarter of
+a mile farther on I met A. B. on 'Dick's Brae,' on her way to church or
+Sunday school, and stopped to speak to her. I wanted to ask who the man
+was, but he seemed to be so close that I did not like to do so, and
+expected he had passed. When I moved on, I was surprised to find he was
+still following me, while my dogs were lagging behind with downcast heads
+and drooping tails.
+
+"I then passed a cottage where C. D. was out feeding her fowls. I spoke
+to her, and then feeling that there was no longer anyone behind, looked
+back, and saw the man standing with her. I would not have paid any
+attention to the matter had not A. B. been down at our house that
+afternoon, and I casually asked her:
+
+"'Who was the man who was just behind me when I met you on Dick's Brae?'
+
+"'What man?' said she; and noting my look of utter astonishment, added,
+'I give you my word I never met a soul but yourself from the time I left
+home till I went down to Knowehead Lonan.'
+
+"Next day C. D. came to work for us, and I asked her who was the man who
+was standing beside her after I passed her on Sunday.
+
+"'Naebody!' she replied,' I saw naebody but yoursel'.'
+
+"It all seemed very strange, and so they thought too. About three weeks
+later news came that C. D.'s only brother, a sailor, was washed overboard
+that Sunday morning."
+
+The following story is not a first-hand experience, but is sent by the
+gentleman to whom it was related by the percipient. The latter said to
+him:
+
+"I was sitting in this same chair I am in at present one evening, when I
+heard a knock at the front door. I went myself to see who was there, and
+on opening the door saw my old friend P. Q. standing outside with his gun
+in his hand. I was surprised at seeing him, but asked him to come in and
+have something. He came inside the porch into the lamplight, and stood
+there for a few moments; then he muttered something about being sorry he
+had disturbed me, and that he was on his way to see his brother, Colonel
+Q., who lived about a mile farther on. Without any further explanation he
+walked away towards the gate into the dusk.
+
+"I was greatly surprised and perplexed, but as he had gone I sat down
+again by the fire. About an hour later another knock came to the door,
+and I again went out to see who was there. On opening it I found P. Q.'s
+groom holding a horse, and he asked me where he was, as he had missed his
+way in the dark, and did not know the locality. I told him, and then
+asked him where he was going, and why, and he replied that his master was
+dead (at his own house about nine miles away), and that he had been sent
+to announce the news to Colonel Q."
+
+Miss Grene, of Grene Park, Co. Tipperary, relates a story which was told
+her by the late Miss ----, sister of a former Dean of Cashel. The latter,
+an old lady, stated that one time she was staying with a friend in a
+house in the suburbs of Dublin. In front of the house was the usual grass
+plot, divided into two by a short gravel path which led down to a gate
+which opened on to the street. She and her friend were one day engaged in
+needlework in one of the front rooms, when they heard the gate opening,
+and on looking out the window they saw an elderly gentleman of their
+acquaintance coming up the path. As he approached the door both
+exclaimed: "Oh, how good of him to come and see us!" As he was not shown
+into the sitting-room, one of them rang the bell, and said to the maid
+when she appeared, "You have not let Mr. So-and-so in; he is at the door
+for some little time." The maid went to the hall door, and returned to
+say that there was no one there. Next day they learnt that he had died
+just at the hour that they had seen him coming up the path.
+
+The following tale contains a curious point. A good many years ago the
+Rev. Henry Morton, now dead, held a curacy in Ireland. He had to pass
+through the graveyard when leaving his house to visit the parishioners.
+One beautiful moonlight night he was sent for to visit a sick person, and
+was accompanied by his brother, a medical man, who was staying with him.
+After performing the religious duty they returned through the churchyard,
+and were chatting about various matters when to their astonishment a
+figure passed them, both seeing it. This figure left the path, and went
+in among the gravestones, and then disappeared. They could not understand
+this at all, so they went to the spot where the disappearance took place,
+but, needless to say, could find nobody after the most careful search.
+Next morning they heard that the person visited had died just after their
+departure, while the most marvellous thing of all was that the burial
+took place at the very spot where they had seen the phantom disappear.
+
+The Rev. D. B. Knox communicates the following: In a girls'
+boarding-school several years ago two of the boarders were sleeping
+in a large double-bedded room with two doors. About two o'clock in the
+morning the girls were awakened by the entrance of a tall figure in
+clerical attire, the face of which they did not see. They screamed in
+fright, but the figure moved in a slow and stately manner past their
+beds, and out the other door. It also appeared to one or two of the other
+boarders, and seemed to be looking for some one. At length it reached the
+bed of one who was evidently known to it. The girl woke up and recognised
+her father. He did not speak, but gazed for a few moments at his
+daughter, and then vanished. Next morning a telegram was handed to her
+which communicated the sad news that her father had died on the previous
+evening at the hour when he appeared to her.
+
+Here is a story of a very old type. It occurred a good many years ago. A
+gentleman named Miller resided in Co. Wexford, while his friend and
+former schoolfellow lived in the North of Ireland. This long friendship
+led them to visit at each other's houses from time to time, but for Mr.
+Miller there was a deep shadow of sorrow over these otherwise happy
+moments, for, while he enjoyed the most enlightened religious opinions,
+his friend was an unbeliever. The last time they were together Mr. Scott
+said, "My dear friend, let us solemnly promise that whichever of us shall
+die first shall appear to the other after death, if it be possible." "Let
+it be so, if God will," replied Mr. Miller. One morning some time after,
+about three o'clock, the latter was awakened by a brilliant light in his
+bedroom; he imagined that the house must be on fire, when he felt what
+seemed to be a hand laid on him, and heard his friend's voice say
+distinctly, "There is a God, just but terrible in His judgments," and all
+again was dark. Mr. Miller at once wrote down this remarkable experience.
+Two days later he received a letter announcing Mr. Scott's death on the
+night, and at the hour, that he had seen the light in his room.
+
+The above leads us on to the famous "Beresford Ghost," which is generally
+regarded as holding the same position relative to Irish ghosts that Dame
+Alice Kyteler used to hold with respect to Irish witches and wizards. The
+story is so well known, and has been published so often, that only a
+brief allusion is necessary, with the added information that the best
+version is to be found in Andrew Lang's _Dreams and Ghosts_, chapter
+viii. (Silver Library Edition). Lord Tyrone appeared after death one
+night to Lady Beresford at Gill Hall, in accordance with a promise (as in
+the last story) made in early life. He assured her that the religion as
+revealed by Jesus Christ was the only true one (both he and Lady
+Beresford had been brought up Deists), told her that she was _enceinte_
+and would bear a son, and also foretold her second marriage, and the time
+of her death. In proof whereof he drew the bed-hangings through an iron
+hook, wrote his name in her pocket-book, and finally placed a hand cold
+as marble on her wrist, at which the sinews shrunk up. To the day of her
+death Lady Beresford wore a black ribbon round her wrist; this was taken
+off before her burial, and it was found the nerves were withered, and the
+sinews shrunken, as she had previously described to her children.
+
+
+GROUP II
+
+We now come to some stories of apparitions seen some time after the hour
+of death. Canon Ross-Lewin, of Limerick, furnishes the following incident
+in his own family. "My uncle, John Dillon Ross-Lewin, lieutenant in the
+30th Regiment, was mortally wounded at Inkerman on November 5, 1854, and
+died on the morning of the 6th. He appeared that night to his mother, who
+was then on a visit in Co. Limerick, intimating his death, and indicating
+where the wound was. The strangest part of the occurrence is, that when
+news came later on of the casualties at Inkerman, the first account as to
+the wound did _not_ correspond with what the apparition indicated to his
+mother, but the final account did. Mrs. Ross-Lewin was devoted to her
+son, and he was equally attached to her; she, as the widow of a field
+officer who fought at Waterloo, would be able to comprehend the battle
+scene, and her mind at the time was centred on the events of the Crimean
+War."
+
+A clergyman, who desires that all names be suppressed, sends the
+following: "In my wife's father's house a number of female servants were
+kept, of whom my wife, before she was married, was in charge. On one
+occasion the cook took ill with appendicitis, and was operated on in the
+Infirmary, where I attended her as hospital chaplain. She died, however,
+and was buried by her friends. Some days after the funeral my wife was
+standing at a table in the kitchen which was so placed that any person
+standing at it could see into the passage outside the kitchen, if the
+door happened to be open. [The narrator enclosed a rough plan which made
+the whole story perfectly clear.] She was standing one day by herself at
+the table, and the door was open. This was in broad daylight, about
+eleven o'clock in the morning in the end of February or beginning of
+March. She was icing a cake, and therefore was hardly thinking of ghosts.
+Suddenly she looked up from her work, and glanced through the open
+kitchen door into the passage leading past the servants' parlour into the
+dairy. She saw quite distinctly the figure of the deceased cook pass
+towards the dairy; she was dressed in the ordinary costume she used to
+wear in the mornings, and seemed in every respect quite normal. My wife
+was not, at the moment, in the least shocked or surprised, but on the
+contrary she followed, and searched in the dairy, into which she was just
+in time to see her skirts disappearing. Needless to say, nothing was
+visible."
+
+Canon Courtenay Moore, M.A., Rector of Mitchelstown, contributes a
+personal experience. "It was about eighteen years ago--I cannot fix the
+exact date--that Samuel Penrose returned to this parish from the
+Argentine. He was getting on so well abroad that he would have remained
+there, but his wife fell ill, and for her sake he returned to Ireland. He
+was a carpenter by trade, and his former employer was glad to take him
+into his service again. Sam was a very respectable man of sincere
+religious feelings. Soon after his return he met with one or two rather
+severe accidents, and had a strong impression that a fatal one would
+happen him before long; and so it came to pass. A scaffolding gave way
+one day, and precipitated him on to a flagged stone floor. He did not die
+immediately, but his injuries proved fatal. He died in a Cork hospital
+soon after his admission: I went to Cork to officiate at his funeral.
+About noon the next day I was standing at my hall door, and the form of
+poor Sam, the upper half of it, seemed to pass before me. He looked
+peaceful and happy--it was a momentary vision, but perfectly distinct.
+The truncated appearance puzzled me very much, until some time after I
+read a large book by F.W.H. Myers, in which he made a scientific analysis
+and induction of such phenomena, and said that they were almost
+universally seen in this half-length form. I do not profess to explain
+what I saw: its message, if it had a message, seemed to be that poor Sam
+was at last at rest and in peace."
+
+A story somewhat similar to the above was related to us, in which the
+apparition seems certainly to have been sent with a definite purpose. Two
+maiden ladies, whom we shall call Miss A. X. and Miss B. Y., lived
+together for a good many years. As one would naturally expect, they were
+close friends, and had the most intimate relations with each other, both
+being extremely religious women. In process of time Miss B. Y. died, and
+after death Miss A. X. formed the impression, for some unknown reason,
+that all was not well with her friend--that, in fact, her soul was not at
+rest. This thought caused her great uneasiness and trouble of mind. One
+day she was sitting in her armchair thinking over this, and crying
+bitterly. Suddenly she saw in front of her a brilliant light, in the
+midst of which was her friend's face, easily recognisable, but
+transfigured, and wearing a most beatific expression. She rushed towards
+it with her arms outstretched, crying, "Oh! B., why have you come?" At
+this the apparition faded away, but ever after Miss A. N. was perfectly
+tranquil in mind with respect to her friend's salvation.
+
+This group may be brought to a conclusion by a story sent by Mr. T.
+MacFadden. It is not a personal experience, but happened to his father,
+and in an accompanying letter he states that he often heard the latter
+describe the incidents related therein, and that he certainly saw the
+ghost.
+
+"The island of Inishinny, which is the scene of this story, is one of the
+most picturesque islands on the Donegal coast. With the islands of Gola
+and Inismaan it forms a perfectly natural harbour and safe anchorage for
+ships during storms. About Christmas some forty or fifty years ago a
+small sailing-ship put into Gola Roads (as this anchorage is called)
+during a prolonged storm, and the captain and two men had to obtain
+provisions from Bunbeg, as, owing to their being detained so long, their
+supply was almost exhausted. They had previously visited the island on
+several occasions, and made themselves at home with the people from the
+mainland who were temporarily resident upon it.
+
+"The old bar at its best was never very safe for navigation, and this
+evening it was in its element, as with every storm it presented one
+boiling, seething mass of foam. The inhabitants of the island saw the
+frail small boat from the ship securely inside the bar, and prophesied
+some dire calamity should the captain and the two sailors venture to
+return to the ship that night. But the captain and his companions, having
+secured sufficient 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 increasing, and what with their scanty knowledge
+of the intricacies of the channel, and the darkness of the night, certain
+it was the next morning their craft was found washed ashore on the
+island, and the body of the captain was discovered by the first man who
+made the round of the shore looking for logs of timber, or other useful
+articles washed ashore from wrecks. The bodies of the two sailors were
+never recovered, and word was sent immediately to the captain's wife in
+Derry, who came in a few days and gave directions for the disposal of her
+husband's corpse.
+
+"The island was only temporarily inhabited by a few people who had cattle
+and horses grazing there for some weeks in the year, and after this
+catastrophe they felt peculiarly lonely, and sought refuge from their
+thoughts by all spending the evening together in one house. This
+particular evening they were all seated round the fire having a chat,
+when they heard steps approaching the door. Though the approach was
+fine, soft sand, yet the steps were audible as if coming on hard ground.
+They knew there was no one on the island save the few who were sitting
+quietly round the fire, and so in eager expectation they faced round to
+the door. What was their _amazement_ when the door opened, and a tall,
+broad-shouldered man appeared and filled the whole doorway--and that man
+the captain who had been buried several days previously. He wore the
+identical suit in which he had often visited the island and even the
+"cheese-cutter" cap, so common a feature of sea-faring men's apparel, was
+not wanting. All were struck dumb with terror, and a woman who sat in a
+corner opposite the door, exclaimed in Irish in a low voice to my father:
+
+"'O God! Patrick, there's the captain.'
+
+"My father, recovering from the first shock, when he saw feminine courage
+finding expression in words, said in Irish to the apparition:
+
+"'Come in!'
+
+"They were so certain of the appearance that they addressed him in his
+own language, as they invariably talked Irish in the district in those
+days. But no sooner had he uttered the invitation than the figure,
+without the least word or sign, moved back, and disappeared from their
+view. They rushed out, but could discover no sign of any living
+person within the confines of the island. Such is the true account of an
+accident, by which three men lost their lives, and the ghostly sequel, in
+which one of them appeared to the eyes of four people, two of whom are
+yet alive, and can vouch for the accuracy of this narrative."
+
+
+GROUP III
+
+We now come to the third group of this chapter, in which we shall relate
+two first-hand experiences of tragedies being actually witnessed some
+time before they happened, as well as a reliable second-hand story of an
+apparition being seen two days before the death occurred. The first of
+these is sent by a lady, the percipient, who desires that her name be
+suppressed; with it was enclosed a letter from a gentleman who stated
+that he could testify to the truth of the following facts:
+
+"The morning of May 18, 1902, was one of the worst that ever dawned in
+Killarney. All through the day a fierce nor'-wester raged, and huge
+white-crested waves, known locally as 'The O'Donoghue's white horses,'
+beat on the shores of Lough Leane. Then followed hail-showers such as I
+have never seen before or since. Hailstones quite as large as small
+marbles fell with such rapidity, and seemed so hard that the glass in the
+windows of the room in which I stood appeared to be about to break into
+fragments every moment. I remained at the window, gazing out on the
+turbulent waters of the lake. Sometimes a regular fog appeared, caused by
+the terrible downpour of rain and the fury of the gale.
+
+"During an occasional lull I could see the islands plainly looming in the
+distance. In one of these clear intervals, the time being about 12.30
+P.M., five friends of mine were reading in the room in which I stood.
+'Quick! quick!' I cried. 'Is that a boat turned over?' My friends all ran
+to the windows, but could see nothing. I persisted, however, and said,
+'It is on its side, with the keel turned towards us, and it is empty.'
+Still none of my friends could see anything. I then ran out, and got one
+of the men-servants to go down to a gate, about one hundred yards nearer
+the lake than where I stood. He had a powerful telescope, and remained
+with great difficulty in the teeth of the storm with his glass for
+several minutes, but could see nothing. When he returned another man took
+his place, but he also failed to see anything.
+
+"I seemed so distressed that those around me kept going backwards and
+forwards to the windows, and then asked me what was the size of the boat
+I had seen. I gave them the exact size, measuring by landmarks. They then
+assured me that I must be absolutely wrong, as it was on rare occasions
+that a 'party' boat, such as the one I described, could venture on the
+lakes on such a day. Therefore there were seven persons who thought I was
+wrong in what I had seen. I still contended that I saw the boat, the
+length of which I described, as plainly as possible.
+
+"The day wore on, and evening came. The incident was apparently more or
+less forgotten by all but me, until at 8 A.M. on the following morning,
+when the maid brought up tea, her first words were, 'Ah, miss, is it not
+terrible about the accident!' Naturally I said, 'What accident, Mary?'
+She replied, 'There were thirteen people drowned yesterday evening out of
+a four-oared boat.' That proved that the boat I had seen at 12.30 P.M.
+was a vision foreshadowing the wreck of the boat off Darby's Garden at
+5.30 P.M. The position, shape, and size of the boat seen by me were
+identical with the one that was lost on the evening of May 18, 1902."
+
+The second story relates how a lady witnessed a vision (shall we call it)
+of a suicide a week before the terrible deed was committed. This incident
+surely makes it clear that such cannot be looked upon as special
+interventions of Providence, for if the lady had recognised the man, she
+might have prevented his rash act. Mrs. MacAlpine says: "In June 1889, I
+drove to Castleblaney, in Co. Monaghan, to meet my sister: I expected her
+at three o'clock, but as she did not come by that train, I put up the
+horse and went for a walk in the demesne. At length becoming tired, I sat
+down on a rock by the edge of a lake. My attention was quite taken up
+with the beauty of the scene before me, as it was a glorious summer's
+day. Presently I felt a cold chill creep through me, and a curious
+stiffness came over my limbs, as if I could not move, though wishing to
+do so. I felt frightened, yet chained to the spot, and as if impelled to
+stare at the water straight before me. Gradually a black cloud seemed
+to rise, and in the midst of it I saw a tall man, in a tweed suit, jump
+into the water, and sink. In a moment the darkness was gone, and I again
+became sensible of the heat and sunshine, but I was awed, and felt eerie.
+This happened about June 25, and on July 3 a Mr.----, a bank clerk,
+committed suicide by drowning himself in the lake.[8]"
+
+[Footnote 8: _Proceedings S.P.R._, x. 332.]
+
+The following incident occurred in the United States, but, as it is
+closely connected with this country, it will not seem out of place to
+insert it here. It is sent by Mr. Richard Hogan as the personal
+experience of his sister, Mrs. Mary Murnane, and is given in her own
+words.
+
+"On the 4th of August 1886, at 10.30 o'clock in the morning, I left my
+own house, 21 Montrose St., Philadelphia, to do some shopping. I had not
+proceeded more than fifty yards when on turning the corner of the street
+I observed my aunt approaching me within five or six yards. I was greatly
+astonished, for the last letter I had from home (Limerick) stated that
+she was dying of consumption, but the thought occurred to me that she
+might have recovered somewhat, and come out to Philadelphia. This opinion
+was quickly changed as we approached each other, for our eyes met, and
+she had the colour of one who had risen from the grave. I seemed to feel
+my hair stand on end, for just as we were about to pass each other she
+turned her face towards me, and I gasped, 'My God, she is dead, and is
+going to speak to me!' but no word was spoken, and she passed on. After
+proceeding a short distance I looked back, and she continued on to
+Washington Avenue, where she disappeared from me. There was no other
+person near 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, etc.,
+were those I knew so well before I left Ireland. I wrote home telling
+what I had seen, and asking if she was dead. I received a reply saying
+she was not dead at the date I saw her, but had been asking if a letter
+had come from me for some days before her death. It was just two days
+before she actually died that I had seen her."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+BANSHEES, AND OTHER DEATH-WARNINGS
+
+
+Of all Irish ghosts, fairies, or bogles, the Banshee (sometimes called
+locally the "Boh[-e][-e]ntha" or "Bank[-e][-e]ntha") is the best known to
+the general public: indeed, cross-Channel visitors would class her with
+pigs, potatoes, and other fauna and flora of Ireland, and would expect
+her to make manifest her presence to them as being one of the sights of
+the country. She is a spirit with a lengthy pedigree--how lengthy no man
+can say, as its roots go back into the dim, mysterious past. The most
+famous Banshee of ancient times was that attached to the kingly house of
+O'Brien, Aibhill, who haunted the rock of Craglea above Killaloe, near
+the old palace of Kincora. In A.D. 1014 was fought the battle of
+Clontarf, from which the aged king, Brian Boru, knew that he would never
+come away alive, for the previous night Aibhill had appeared to him to
+tell him of his impending fate. The Banshee's method of foretelling death
+in olden times differed from that adopted by her at the present day: now
+she wails and wrings her hands, as a general rule, but in the old Irish
+tales she is to be found washing human heads and limbs, or bloodstained
+clothes, till the water is all dyed with human blood--this would take
+place before a battle. So it would seem that in the course of centuries
+her attributes and characteristics have changed somewhat.
+
+Very different descriptions are given of her personal appearance.
+Sometimes she is young and beautiful, sometimes old and of a fearsome
+appearance. One writer describes her as "a tall, thin woman with
+uncovered head, and long hair that floated round her shoulders, attired
+in something which seemed either a loose white cloak, or a sheet thrown
+hastily around her, uttering piercing cries." Another person, a coachman,
+saw her one evening sitting on a stile in the yard; she seemed to be a
+very small woman, with blue eyes, long light hair, and wearing a red
+cloak. Other descriptions will be found in this chapter. By the way, it
+does not seem to be true that the Banshee exclusively follows families of
+Irish descent, for the last incident had reference to the death of a
+member of a Co. Galway family English by name and origin.
+
+One of the oldest and best-known Banshee stories is that related in the
+_Memoirs_ of Lady Fanshaw.[9] In 1642 her husband, Sir Richard, and she
+chanced to visit a friend, the head of an Irish sept, who resided in his
+ancient baronial castle, surrounded with a moat. At midnight she was
+awakened by a ghastly and supernatural scream, and looking out of bed,
+beheld in the moonlight a female face and part of the form hovering at
+the window. The distance from the ground, as well as the circumstance
+of the moat, excluded the possibility that what she beheld was of this
+world. The face was that of a young and rather handsome woman, but pale,
+and the hair, which was reddish, was loose and dishevelled. The dress,
+which Lady Fanshaw's terror did not prevent her remarking accurately,
+was that of the ancient Irish. This apparition continued to exhibit
+itself for some time, and then vanished with two shrieks similar to that
+which had first excited Lady Fanshaw's attention. In the morning, with
+infinite terror, she communicated to her host what she had witnessed,
+and found him prepared not only to credit, but to account for the
+superstition. "A near relation of my family," said he, "expired last
+night in this castle. We disguised our certain expectation of the event
+from you, lest it should throw a cloud over the cheerful reception which
+was your due. Now, before such an event happens in this family or castle,
+the female spectre whom you have seen is always visible. She is believed
+to be the spirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my ancestors
+degraded himself by marrying, and whom afterwards, to expiate the
+dishonour done to his family, he caused to be drowned in the moat." In
+strictness this woman could hardly be termed a Banshee. The motive for
+the haunting is akin to that in the tale of the Scotch "Drummer of
+Cortachy," where the spirit of the murdered man haunts the family out of
+revenge, and appears before a death.
+
+[Footnote 9: Scott's _Lady of the Lake_, notes to Canto III (edition of
+1811).]
+
+Mr. T.J. Westropp, M.A., has furnished the following story: "My maternal
+grandmother heard the following tradition from her mother, one of the
+Miss Ross-Lewins, who witnessed the occurrence. Their father, Mr.
+Harrison Ross-Lewin, was away in Dublin on law business, and in his
+absence the young people went off to spend the evening with a friend who
+lived some miles away. The night was fine and lightsome as they were
+returning, save at one point where the road ran between trees or high
+hedges not far to the west of the old church of Kilchrist. The latter,
+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, and lay in the open fields. As the party passed down the long
+dark lane they suddenly heard in the distance loud keening and clapping
+of hands, as the country-people were accustomed to do when lamenting
+the dead. The Ross-Lewins hurried on, and came in sight of the church, on
+the side wall of which a little gray-haired old woman, clad in a dark
+cloak, was running to and fro, chanting and wailing, and throwing up her
+arms. The girls were very frightened, but the young men ran forward and
+surrounded the ruin, and two of them went into the church, the apparition
+vanishing from the wall as they did so. They searched every nook, and
+found no one, nor did anyone pass out. All were now well scared, and got
+home as fast as possible. On reaching their home their mother opened the
+door, and at once told them that she was in terror about their father,
+for, as she sat looking out the window in the moonlight, a huge raven
+with fiery eyes lit on the sill, and tapped three times on the glass.
+They told her their story, which only added to their anxiety, and as they
+stood talking, taps came to the nearest window, and they saw the
+bird again. A few days later news reached them that Mr. Ross-Lewin had
+died suddenly in Dublin. This occurred about 1776."
+
+Mr. Westropp also writes that the sister of a former Roman Catholic
+Bishop told his sisters that when she was a little girl she went out one
+evening with some other children for a walk. Going down the road, they
+passed the gate of the principal demesne near the town. There was a rock,
+or large stone, beside the road, on which they saw something. Going
+nearer, they perceived it to be a little dark, old woman, who began
+crying and clapping her hands. Some of them attempted to speak to her,
+but got frightened, and all finally ran home as quickly as they could.
+Next day the news came that the gentleman, near whose gate the Banshee
+had cried, was dead, and it was found on inquiry that he had died at the
+very hour at which the children had seen the spectre.
+
+A lady who is a relation of one of the compilers, and a member of a Co.
+Cork family of English descent, sends the two following experiences of a
+Banshee in her family. "My mother, when a young girl, was standing
+looking out of the window in their house at Blackrock, near Cork. She
+suddenly saw a white figure standing on a bridge which was easily visible
+from the house. The figure waved her arms towards the house, and my
+mother heard the bitter wailing of the Banshee. It lasted some seconds,
+and then the figure disappeared. Next morning my grandfather was walking
+as usual into the city of Cork. He accidentally fell, hit his head
+against the curbstone, and never recovered consciousness.
+
+"In March 1900, my mother was very ill, and one evening the nurse and I
+were with her arranging her bed. We suddenly heard the most extraordinary
+wailing, which seemed to come in waves round and under her bed. We
+naturally looked everywhere to try and find the cause, but in vain. The
+nurse and I looked at one another, but made no remark, as my mother did
+not seem to hear it. My sister was downstairs sitting with my father. She
+heard it, and thought some terrible thing had happened to her little boy,
+who was in bed upstairs. She rushed up, and found him sleeping quietly.
+My father did not hear it. In the house next door they heard it, and ran
+downstairs, thinking something had happened to the servant; but the
+latter at once said to them, 'Did you hear the Banshee? Mrs. P---- must
+be dying.'"
+
+A few years ago (_i.e._ before 1894) a curious incident occurred in a
+public school in connection with the belief in the Banshee. One of the
+boys, happening to become ill, was at once placed in a room by himself,
+where he used to sit all day. On one occasion, as he was being visited by
+the doctor, he suddenly started up from his seat, and affirmed that he
+heard somebody crying. The doctor, of course, who could hear or see
+nothing, came to the conclusion that the illness had slightly affected
+his brain. However, the boy, who appeared quite sensible, still persisted
+that he heard someone crying, and furthermore said, "It is the Banshee,
+as I have heard it before." The following morning the head-master
+received a telegram saying that the boy's brother had been accidentally
+shot dead.[10]
+
+[Footnote 10: A.G. Bradley, _Notes on some Irish Superstitions_, p. 9.]
+
+That the Banshee is not confined within the geographical limits of
+Ireland, but that she can follow the fortunes of a family abroad, and
+there foretell their death, is clearly shewn by the following story. A
+party of visitors were gathered together on the deck of a private yacht
+on one of the Italian lakes, and during a lull in the conversation one of
+them, a Colonel, said to the owner, "Count, who's that queer-looking
+woman you have on board?" The Count replied that there was nobody except
+the ladies present, and the stewardess, but the speaker protested that he
+was correct, and suddenly, with a scream of horror, he placed his hands
+before his eyes, and exclaimed, "Oh, my God, what a face!" For some
+time he was overcome with terror, and at length reluctantly looked up,
+and cried:
+
+"Thank Heavens, it's gone!"
+
+"What was it?" asked the Count.
+
+"Nothing human," replied the Colonel--"nothing belonging to this world.
+It was a woman of no earthly type, with a queer-shaped, gleaming face, a
+mass of red hair, and eyes that would have been beautiful but for their
+expression, which was hellish. She had on a green hood, after the fashion
+of an Irish peasant."
+
+An American lady present suggested that the description tallied with that
+of the Banshee, upon which the Count said:
+
+"I am an O'Neill--at least I am descended from one. My family name is, as
+you know, Neilsini, which, little more than a century ago, was O'Neill.
+My great-grandfather served in the Irish Brigade, and on its dissolution
+at the time of the French Revolution had the good fortune to escape the
+general massacre of officers, and in company with an O'Brien and a
+Maguire fled across the frontier and settled in Italy. On his death his
+son, who had been born in Italy, and was far more Italian than Irish,
+changed his name to Neilsini, by which name the family has been known
+ever since. But for all that we are Irish."
+
+"The Banshee was yours, then!" ejaculated the Colonel. "What exactly does
+it mean?"
+
+"It means," the Count replied solemnly, "the death of some one very
+nearly associated with me. Pray Heaven it is not my wife or daughter."
+
+On that score, however, his anxiety was speedily removed, for within two
+hours he was seized with a violent attack of angina pectoris, and died
+before morning.[11]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Occult Review_ for September, 1913.]
+
+Mr. Elliott O'Donnell, to whose article on "Banshees" we are indebted for
+the above, adds: "The Banshee never manifests itself to the person whose
+death it is prognosticating. Other people may see or hear it, but the
+fated one never, so that when everyone present is aware of it but one,
+the fate of that one may be regarded as pretty well certain."
+
+We must now pass on from the subject of Banshees to the kindred one of
+"Headless Coaches," the belief in which is widespread through the
+country. Apparently these dread vehicles must be distinguished from
+the phantom coaches, of which numerous circumstantial tales are also
+told. The first are harbingers of death, and in this connection are very
+often attached to certain families; the latter appear to be spectral
+phenomena pure and simple, whose appearance does not necessarily portend
+evil or death.
+
+"At a house in Co. Limerick," writes Mr. T.J. Westropp, "occurred the
+remarkably-attested apparition of the headless coach in June 1806, when
+Mr. Ralph Westropp, my great-grandfather, lay dying. The story was told
+by his sons, John, William, and Ralph, to their respective children, who
+told it to me. They had sent for the doctor, and were awaiting his
+arrival in the dusk. As they sat on the steps they suddenly heard a heavy
+rumbling, and saw a huge dark coach drive into the paved court before
+the door. One of them went down to meet the doctor, but the coach swept
+past him, and drove down the avenue, which went straight between the
+fences and hedges to a gate. Two of the young men ran after the coach,
+which they could hear rumbling before them, and suddenly came full tilt
+against the avenue gate. The noise had stopped, and they were surprised
+at not finding the carriage. The gate proved to be locked, and when they
+at last awoke the lodge-keeper, he showed them the keys under
+his pillow; the doctor arrived a little later, but could do nothing, and
+the sick man died a few hours afterwards."
+
+Two other good stories come from Co. Clare. One night in April 1821, two
+servants were sitting up to receive a son of the family, Cornelius
+O'Callaghan, who had travelled in vain for his health, and was returning
+home. One of them, Halloran, said that the heavy rumble of a coach roused
+them. The other servant, Burke, stood on the top of the long flight of
+steps with a lamp, and sent Halloran down to open the carriage door. He
+reached out his hand to do so, saw a skeleton looking out, gave one yell,
+and fell in a heap. When the badly-scared Burke picked himself up there
+was no sign or sound of any coach. A little later the invalid arrived, so
+exhausted that he died suddenly in the early morning.
+
+On the night of December 11, 1876, a servant of the MacNamaras was going
+his rounds at Ennistymon, a beautiful spot in a wooded glen, with a broad
+stream falling in a series of cascades. In the dark he heard the rumbling
+of wheels on the back avenue, and, knowing from the hour and place that
+no mortal vehicle could be coming, concluded that it was the death coach,
+and ran on, opening the gates before it. He had just time to open the
+third gate, and throw himself on his face beside it, when he heard a
+coach go clanking past. On the following day Admiral Sir Burton Macnamara
+died in London.
+
+Mr. Westropp informs us that at sight 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 of the family, but will only foretell the death of some relative
+at a distance. We hope our readers will carefully bear in mind this
+simple method of averting fate.
+
+We may conclude this chapter with some account of strange and varied
+death-warnings, which are attached to certain families and foretell the
+coming of the King of Terrors.
+
+In a Co. Wicklow family a death is preceded by the appearance of a
+spectre; the doors of the sitting-room open and a lady dressed in white
+satin walks across the room and hall. Before any member of a certain
+Queen's Co. family died a looking-glass was broken; while in a branch of
+that family the portent was the opening and shutting of the avenue gate.
+In another Queen's Co. family approaching death was heralded by the cry
+of the cuckoo, no matter at what season of the year it might occur. A
+Mrs. F---- and her son lived near Clonaslee. One day, in mid-winter,
+their servant heard a cuckoo; they went out for a drive, the trap jolted
+over a stone, throwing Mrs. F---- out, and breaking her neck. The ringing
+of all the house-bells is another portent which seems to be attached to
+several families. In another the aeolian harp is heard at or before
+death; an account of this was given to the present writer by a clergyman,
+who declares that he heard it in the middle of the night when one of his
+relatives passed away. A death-warning in the shape of a white owl
+follows the Westropp family. This last appeared, it is said, before a
+death in 1909, but, as Mr. T. J. Westropp remarks, it would be more
+convincing if it appeared at places where the white owl does _not_ nest
+and fly out every night. No doubt this list might be drawn out to much
+greater length.
+
+A lady correspondent states that her cousin, a Sir Patrick Dun's
+nurse, was attending a case in the town of Wicklow. Her patient was
+a middle-aged woman, the wife of a well-to-do shopkeeper. One evening the
+nurse was at her tea in the dining-room beneath the sick-room, when
+suddenly she heard a tremendous crash overhead. Fearing her patient had
+fallen out of bed, she hurried upstairs, to find her dozing quietly, and
+there was not the least sign of any disturbance. A member of the family,
+to whom she related this, told her calmly that that noise was always
+heard in their house before the death of any of them, and that it was a
+sure sign that the invalid would not recover. Contrary to the nurse's
+expectations, she died the following day.
+
+Knocking on the door is another species of death-warning. The Rev.
+D. B. Knox writes: "On the evening before the wife of a clerical friend
+of mine died, the knocker of the hall-door was loudly rapped. All in
+the room heard it. The door was opened, but there was no one there.
+Again the knocker was heard, but no one was to be seen when the door
+was again opened. A young man, brother of the dying woman, went into
+the drawing-room, and looked through one of the drawing-room windows.
+The full light of the moon fell on the door, and as he looked the knocker
+was again lifted and loudly rapped."
+
+The following portent occurs in a Co. Cork family. At one time the lady
+of the house lay ill, and her two daughters were aroused one night by
+screams proceeding from their mother's room. They rushed in, and found
+her sitting up in bed, staring at some object unseen to them, but which,
+from the motion of her eyes, appeared to be moving across the floor. When
+she became calm she told them, what they had not known before, that
+members of the family were sometimes warned of the death, or approaching
+death, of some other member by the appearance of a ball of fire, which
+would pass slowly through the room; this phenomenon she had just
+witnessed. A day or two afterwards the mother heard of the death of her
+brother, who lived in the Colonies.
+
+A strange appearance, known as the "Scanlan Lights," is connected with
+the family of Scanlan of Ballyknockane, Co. Limerick, and is seen
+frequently at the death of a member. The traditional origin of the lights
+is connected with a well-known Irish legend, which we give here briefly.
+Scanlan Mor (died A.D. 640), King of Ossory, from whom the family claim
+descent, was suspected of disaffection by Aedh mac Ainmire, Ard-Righ of
+Ireland, who cast him into prison, and loaded him with fetters. When St.
+Columcille attended the Synod of Drom Ceat, he besought Aedh to free his
+captive, but the Ard-Righ churlishly refused; whereupon Columcille
+declared that he should be freed, and that that very night he should
+unloose his (the Saint's) brogues. Columcille went away, and that night a
+bright pillar of fire appeared in the air, and hung over the house where
+Scanlan was imprisoned. A beam of light darted into the room where he
+lay, and a voice called to him, bidding him rise, and shake off his
+fetters. In amazement he did so, and was led out past his guards by an
+angel. He made his way to Columcille, with whom he was to continue that
+night, and as the Saint stooped down to unloose his brogues Scanlan
+anticipated him, as he had prophesied.[12]
+
+[Footnote 12: Canon Carrigan, in his _History of the Diocese of Ossory_
+(I. 32 intro.), shows that this legend should rather be connected
+with Scanlan son of Ceannfaeladh.]
+
+Such appears to be the traditional origin of the "Scanlan lights." Our
+correspondent adds: "These are always seen at the demise of a member of
+the family. We have ascertained that by the present head of the family
+(Scanlan of Ballyknockane) they were seen, first, as a pillar of fire
+with radiated crown at the top; and secondly, inside the house, by the
+room being lighted up brightly in the night. By other members of the
+family now living these lights have been seen in the shape of balls of
+fire of various sizes." The above was copied from a private manuscript
+written some few years ago. Our correspondent further states: "I also
+have met with four persons in this county [Limerick] who have seen the
+lights on Knockfierna near Ballyknockane before the death of a Scanlan,
+one of the four being the late head of the family and owner, William
+Scanlan, J.P., who saw the flames on the hill-side on the day of his
+aunt's death some years ago. The last occasion was as late as 1913, on
+the eve of the death of a Scanlan related to the present owner of
+Ballyknockane."
+
+In front of the residence of the G---- family in Co. Galway there is, or
+formerly was, a round ring of grass surrounded by a low evergreen hedge.
+The lady who related this story to our informant stated that one evening
+dinner was kept waiting for Mr. G----, who was absent in town on some
+business. She went out on the hall-door steps in order to see if the
+familiar trot of the carriage horses could be heard coming down the road.
+It was a bright moonlight night, and as she stood there she heard a child
+crying with a peculiar whining cry, and distinctly saw a small childlike
+figure running round and round the grass ring inside the evergreen hedge,
+and casting a shadow in the moonlight. Going into the house she casually
+mentioned this as a peculiar circumstance to Mrs. G----, upon which, to
+her great surprise, that lady nearly fainted, and got into a terrible
+state of nervousness. Recovering a little, she told her that this crying
+and figure were always heard and seen whenever any member met with an
+accident, or before a death. A messenger was immediately sent to meet Mr.
+G----, who was found lying senseless on the road, as the horses had taken
+fright and bolted, flinging him out, and breaking the carriage-pole.
+
+But of all the death-warnings in connection with Irish families surely
+the strangest is the Gormanstown foxes. The crest of that noble family is
+a running fox, while the same animal also forms one of the supporters of
+the coat-of-arms. The story is, that when the head of the house is dying
+the foxes--not spectral foxes, but creatures of flesh and blood--leave
+the coverts and congregate at Gormanstown Castle.
+
+Let us see what proof there is of this. When Jenico, the 12th Viscount,
+was dying in 1860, foxes were seen about the house and moving towards the
+house for some days previously. Just before his death three foxes were
+playing about and making a noise close to the house, and just in front of
+the "cloisters," which are yew-trees planted and trained in that shape.
+The Hon. Mrs. Farrell states as regards the same that the foxes came in
+pairs into the demesne, and sat under the Viscount's bedroom window, and
+barked and howled all night. Next morning they were to be found crouching
+about in the grass in front and around the house. They walked through
+the poultry and never touched them. After the funeral they disappeared.
+
+At the death of Edward, the 13th Viscount, in 1876, the foxes were also
+there. He had been rather better one day, but the foxes appeared, barking
+under the window, and he died that night contrary to expectation.
+
+On October 28, 1907, Jenico, the 14th Viscount, died in Dublin. About 8
+o'clock that night the coachman and gardener saw two foxes near the
+chapel (close to the house), five or six more round the front of the
+house, and several crying in the "cloisters." Two days later the Hon.
+Richard Preston, R.F.A., was watching by his father's body in the above
+chapel. About 3 A.M. he became conscious of a slight noise, which seemed
+to be that of a number of people walking stealthily around the chapel on
+the gravel walk. He went to the side door, listened, and heard outside
+a continuous and insistent snuffling or sniffing noise, accompanied by
+whimperings and scratchings at the door. On opening it he saw a
+full-grown fox sitting on the path within four feet of him. Just in the
+shadow was another, while he could hear several more moving close by in
+the darkness. He then went to the end door, opposite the altar, and on
+opening it saw two more foxes, one so close that he could have touched it
+with his foot. On shutting the door the noise continued till 5 A.M., when
+it suddenly ceased.[13]
+
+[Footnote 13: _New Ireland Review_ for April 1908, by permission of
+the publishers, Messrs Sealy Bryers, & Walker.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+MISCELLANEOUS SUPERNORMAL EXPERIENCES
+
+
+The matter in this chapter does not seem, strictly speaking, to come
+under the head of any of the preceding ones: it contains no account of
+houses or places permanently haunted, or of warnings of impending death.
+Rather we have gathered up in it a number of tales relative to the
+appearance of the "wraiths" of living men, or accounts of visions,
+strange apparitions, or extraordinary experiences; some few of these
+have a purpose, while the majority are strangely aimless and
+purposeless--something is seen or heard, that is all, and no results,
+good or bad, follow.
+
+We commence with one which, however, certainly indicates a purpose which
+was fulfilled. It is the experience of Mrs. Seymour, wife to one of the
+compilers. When she was a little girl she resided in Dublin; amongst the
+members of the family was her paternal grandmother. This old lady was not
+as kind as she might have been to her grand-daughter, and consequently
+the latter was somewhat afraid of her. In process of time the grandmother
+died. Mrs. Seymour, who was then about eight years of age, had to pass
+the door of the room where the death occurred in order to reach her own
+bedroom, which was a flight higher up. Past this door the child used to
+fly in terror with all possible speed. On one occasion, however, as she
+was preparing to make the usual rush past, she distinctly felt a hand
+placed on her shoulder, and became conscious of a voice saying, "Don't be
+afraid, Mary!" From that day on the child never had the least feeling of
+fear, and always walked quietly past the door.
+
+The Rev. D. B. Knox sends a curious personal experience, which was shared
+by him with three other people. He writes as follows: "Not very long ago
+my wife and I were preparing to retire for the night. A niece, who was in
+the house, was in her bedroom and the door was open. The maid had just
+gone to her room. All four of us distinctly heard the heavy step of a
+man walking along the corridor, apparently in the direction of the
+bathroom. We searched the whole house immediately, but no one was
+discovered. Nothing untoward happened except the death of the maid's
+mother about a fortnight later. It was a detached house, so that the
+noise could not have been made by the neighbours."
+
+In the following tale the "double" or "wraith" of a living man was seen
+by three different people, one of whom, our correspondent, saw it through
+a telescope. She writes: "In May 1883 the parish of A---- was vacant, so
+Mr. D----, the Diocesan Curate, used to come out to take service on
+Sundays. One day there were two funerals to be taken, the one at a
+graveyard some distance off, the other at A---- churchyard. My brother
+was at both, the far-off one being taken the first. The house we then
+lived in looked down towards A---- churchyard, which was about a quarter
+of a mile away. From an upper window my sister and I saw _two_ surpliced
+figures going out to meet the coffin, and said, 'Why, there are two
+clergy!' having supposed that there would be only Mr. D----. I, being
+short-sighted, used a telescope, and saw the two surplices showing
+between the people. But when my brother returned he said, 'A strange
+thing has happened. Mr. D---- and Mr. W----(curate of a neighbouring
+parish) took the far-off funeral. I saw them both again at A----, but
+when I went into the vestry I only saw Mr. W----. I asked where Mr.
+D---- was, and he replied that he had left immediately after the first
+funeral, as he had to go to Kilkenny, and that he (Mr. W----) had come on
+_alone_ to take the funeral at A----.'"
+
+Here is a curious tale from the city of Limerick of a lady's "double"
+being seen, with no consequent results. It is sent by Mr. Richard Hogan
+as the personal experience of his sister, Mrs. Mary Murnane. On Saturday,
+October 25, 1913, at half-past four o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. Hogan
+left the house in order to purchase some cigarettes. A quarter of an hour
+afterwards Mrs. Murnane went down the town to do some business. As she
+was walking down George Street she saw a group of four persons standing
+on the pavement engaged in conversation. They were: her brother, a Mr.
+O'S----, and two ladies, a Miss P. O'D----, and her sister, Miss M.
+O'D----. She recognised the latter, as her face was partly turned towards
+her, and noted that she was dressed in a knitted coat, and light blue
+hat, while in her left hand she held a bag or purse; the other lady's
+back was turned towards her. As Mrs. Murnane was in a hurry to get her
+business done she determined to pass them by without being noticed, but a
+number of people coming in the opposite direction blocked the way, and
+compelled her to walk quite close to the group of four; but they were so
+intent on listening to what one lady was saying that they took no notice
+of her. The speaker appeared to be Miss M. O'D----, and, though Mrs.
+Murnane did not actually hear her _speak_ as she passed her, yet from
+their attitudes the other three seemed to be listening to what she was
+saying, and she heard her _laugh_ when right behind her--not the laugh of
+her sister P.--and the laugh was repeated after she had left the group a
+little behind.
+
+So far there is nothing out of the common. When Mrs. Murnane returned to
+her house about an hour later she found her brother Richard there before
+her. She casually mentioned to him how she 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 _three_ in the
+group, as M. O'D---- _was not present_ as she had not come to Limerick at
+all that day. She then described to him the exact position each one of
+the four occupied, and the clothes worn by them; to all of which facts he
+assented, except as to the presence of Miss M. O'D----. Mrs. Murnane
+adds, "That is all I can say in the matter, but most certainly the fourth
+person was in the group, as I both saw and heard her. She wore the same
+clothes I had seen on her previously, with the exception of the hat;
+but the following Saturday she had on the same coloured hat I had seen on
+her the previous Saturday. When I told her about it she was as much
+mystified as I was and am. My brother stated that there was no laugh from
+any of the three present."
+
+Mrs. G. Kelly sends an experience of a "wraith," which seems in some
+mysterious way to have been conjured up in her mind by the description
+she had heard, and then externalised. She writes: "About four years ago a
+musical friend of ours was staying in the house. He and my husband
+were playing and singing Dvorak's _Spectre's Bride_, a work which he had
+studied with the composer himself. This music appealed very much to both,
+and they were excited and enthusiastic over it. Our friend was giving
+many personal reminiscences of Dvorak, and his method of explaining the
+way he wanted his work done. I was sitting by, an interested listener,
+for some time. On getting up at last, and going into the drawing-room,
+I was startled and somewhat frightened to find a man standing there in a
+shadowy part of the room. I saw him distinctly, and could describe his
+appearance accurately. I called out, and the two men ran in, but as
+the apparition only lasted for a second, they were too late. I described
+the man whom I had seen, whereupon our friend exclaimed, 'Why, that was
+Dvorak himself!' At that time I had never seen a picture of Dvorak, but
+when our friend returned to London he sent me one which I recognised
+as the likeness of the man whom I had seen in our drawing-room."
+
+A curious vision, a case of second sight, in which a quite unimportant
+event, previously unknown, was revealed, is sent by the percipient, who
+is a lady well known to both the compilers, and a life-long friend of one
+of them. She says: "Last summer I sent a cow to the fair of Limerick, a
+distance of about thirteen miles, and the men who took her there the day
+before the fair left her in a paddock for the night close to Limerick
+city. I awoke up very early next morning, and was fully awake when I saw
+(not with my ordinary eyesight, but apparently _inside_ my head) a light,
+an intensely brilliant light, and in it I saw the back gate being opened
+by a red-haired woman and the cow I had supposed in the fair walking
+through the gate. I then knew that the cow must be home, and going to the
+yard later on I was met by the wife of the man who was in charge in a
+great state of excitement. 'Oh law! Miss,' she exclaimed, 'you'll be mad!
+Didn't Julia [a red-haired woman] find the cow outside the lodge gate as
+she was going out at 4 o'clock to the milking!' That's my tale--perfectly
+true, and I would give a good deal to be able to control that light, and
+see more if I could."
+
+Another curious vision was seen by a lady who is also a friend of both
+the compilers. One night she was kneeling at her bedside saying her
+prayers (hers was the only bed in the room), when suddenly she felt a
+distinct touch on her shoulder. She turned round in the direction of the
+touch and saw at the end of the room a bed, with a pale,
+indistinguishable figure laid therein, and what appeared to be a
+clergyman standing over it. About a week later she fell into a long and
+dangerous illness.
+
+An account of a dream which implied an extraordinary coincidence, if
+coincidence it be and nothing more, was sent as follows by a
+correspondent, who requested that no names be published. "That which I am
+about to relate has a peculiar interest for me, inasmuch as the central
+figure in it was my own grand-aunt, and moreover the principal witness
+(if I may use such a term) was my father. At the period during which
+this strange incident occurred my father was living with his aunt and
+some other relatives.
+
+"One morning at the breakfast-table, my grand-aunt announced that she had
+had a most peculiar dream during the previous night. My father, who was
+always very interested in that kind of thing, took down in his notebook
+all the particulars concerning it. They were as follows.
+
+"My grand-aunt dreamt that she was in a cemetery, which she recognised as
+Glasnevin, and as she gazed at the memorials of the dead which lay so
+thick around, one stood out most conspicuously, and caught her eye, for
+she saw clearly cut on the cold white stone _an inscription bearing her
+own name:_
+
+CLARE S.D--
+Died 14th of March, 1873
+Dearly loved and ever mourned.
+R.I.P.
+
+while, to add to the peculiarity of it, the date on the stone as given
+above was, from the day of her dream, exactly a year in advance.
+
+"My grand-aunt was not very nervous, and soon the dream faded from her
+mind. Months rolled by, and one morning at breakfast it was noticed that
+my grand-aunt had not appeared, but as she was a very religious woman it
+was thought that she had gone out to church. However, as she did not
+appear my father sent someone to her room to see if she were there, and
+as no answer was given to repeated knocking the door was opened, and my
+grand-aunt was found kneeling at her bedside, dead. The day of her death
+was March 14, 1873, corresponding exactly with the date seen in her dream
+a twelvemonth before. My grand-aunt was buried in Glasnevin, and on her
+tombstone (a white marble slab) was placed the inscription which she had
+read in her dream." Our correspondent sent us a photograph of the stone
+and its inscription.
+
+The present Archdeacon of Limerick, Ven. J. A. Haydn, LL.D., sends the
+following experience: "In the year 1870 I was rector of the little rural
+parish of Chapel Russell. One autumn day the rain fell with a quiet,
+steady, and hopeless persistence from morning to night. Wearied at length
+from the gloom, and tired of reading and writing, I determined to walk
+to the church about half a mile away, and pass a half-hour playing the
+harmonium, returning for the lamp-light and tea.
+
+"I wrapped up, put the key of the church in my pocket, and started.
+Arriving at the church, I walked up the straight avenue, bordered with
+graves and tombs on either side, while the soft, steady rain quietly
+pattered on the trees. When I reached the church door, before putting
+the key in the lock, moved by some indefinable impulse, I stood on the
+doorstep, turned round, and looked back upon the path I had just trodden.
+My amazement may be imagined when I saw, seated on a low, tabular
+tombstone close to the avenue, a lady with her back towards me. She was
+wearing a black velvet jacket or short cape, with a narrow border of
+vivid white: her head, and luxuriant jet-black hair, were surmounted by a
+hat of the shape and make that I think used to be called at that time
+a "turban"; it was also of black velvet, with a snow-white wing or
+feather at the right-hand side of it. It may be seen how deliberately and
+minutely I observed the appearance, when I can thus recall it after
+more than forty years.
+
+"Actuated by a desire to attract the attention of the lady, and induce
+her to look towards me, I noisily inserted the key in the door, and
+suddenly opened it with a rusty crack. Turning round to see the effect of
+my policy--the lady was gone!--vanished! Not yet daunted, I hurried to
+the place, which was not ten paces away, and closely searched the stone
+and the space all round it, but utterly in vain; there were absolutely no
+traces of the late presence of a human being! I may add that nothing
+particular or remarkable followed the singular apparition, and that I
+never heard anything calculated to throw any light on the mystery."
+
+Here is a story of a ghost who knew what it wanted--and got it! "In the
+part of Co. Wicklow from which my people come," writes a Miss D----,
+"there was a family who were not exactly related, but of course of the
+clan. Many years ago a young daughter, aged about twenty, died. Before
+her death she had directed her parents to bury her in a certain
+graveyard. But for some reason they did not do so, and from that hour she
+gave them no peace. She appeared to them at all hours, especially when
+they went to the well for water. So distracted were they, that at length
+they got permission to exhume the remains and have them reinterred in the
+desired graveyard. This they did by torchlight--a weird scene truly! I
+can vouch for the truth of this latter portion, at all events, as some of
+my own relatives were present."
+
+Mr. T. J. Westropp contributes a tale of a ghost of an unusual type,
+_i.e._ one which actually did communicate matters of importance to his
+family. "A lady who related many ghost stories to me, also told me how,
+after her father's death, the family could not find some papers or
+receipts of value. One night she awoke, and heard a sound which she at
+once recognised as the footsteps of her father, who was lame. The door
+creaked, and she prayed that she might be able to see him. Her prayer was
+granted: she saw him distinctly holding a yellow parchment book tied with
+tape. 'F----, child,' said he, 'this is the book your mother is looking
+for. It is in the third drawer of the cabinet near the cross-door; tell
+your mother to be more careful in future about business papers.'
+Incontinent he vanished, and she at once awoke her mother, in whose room
+she was sleeping, who was very angry and ridiculed the story, but the
+girl's earnestness at length impressed her. She got up, went to the old
+cabinet, and at once found the missing book in the third drawer."
+
+Here is another tale of an equally useful and obliging ghost. "A
+gentleman, a relative of my own," writes a lady, "often received warnings
+from his dead father of things that were about to happen. Besides the
+farm on which he lived, he had another some miles away which adjoined a
+large demesne. Once in a great storm a fir-tree was blown down in the
+demesne, and fell into his field. The woodranger came to him and told him
+he might as well cut up the tree, and take it away. Accordingly one day
+he set out for this purpose, taking with him two men and a cart. He got
+into the fields by a stile, while his men went on to a gate. As he
+approached a gap between two fields he saw, standing in it, his father as
+plainly as he ever saw him in life, and beckoning him back warningly.
+Unable to understand this, he still advanced, whereupon his father looked
+very angry, and his gestures became imperious. This induced him to turn
+away, so he sent his men home, and left the tree uncut. He subsequently
+discovered that a plot had been laid by the woodranger, who coveted his
+farm, and who hoped to have him dispossessed by accusing him of stealing
+the tree."
+
+A clergyman in the diocese of Clogher gave a personal experience of
+table-turning to the present Dean of St. Patrick's, who kindly sent
+the same to the writer. He said: "When I was a young man, I met
+some friends one evening, and we decided to amuse ourselves with
+table-turning. The local dispensary was vacant at the time, so we said
+that if the table would work we should ask who would be appointed as
+medical officer. As we sat round it touching it with our hands it began
+to knock. We said:
+
+"'Who are you?'
+
+"The table spelt out the name of a Bishop of the Church of Ireland. We
+asked, thinking that the answer was absurd, as we knew him to be alive
+and well:
+
+"'Are you dead?'
+
+"The table answered 'Yes.'
+
+"We laughed at this and asked:
+
+"'Who will be appointed to the dispensary?'
+
+"The table spelt out the name of a stranger, who was not one of the
+candidates, whereupon we left off, thinking that the whole thing was
+nonsense.
+
+"The next morning I saw in the papers that the Bishop in question had
+died that afternoon about two hours before our meeting, and a few days
+afterwards I saw the name of the stranger as the new dispensary doctor. I
+got such a shock that I determined never to have anything to do with
+table-turning again."
+
+The following extraordinary personal experience is sent by a lady, well
+known to the present writer, but who requests that all names be omitted.
+Whatever explanation we may give of it, the good faith of the tale is
+beyond doubt.
+
+"Two or three months after my father-in-law's death my husband, myself,
+and three small sons lived in the west of Ireland. As my husband was a
+young barrister, he had to be absent from home a good deal. My three boys
+slept in my bedroom, the eldest being about four, the youngest some
+months. A fire was kept up every night, and with a young child to look
+after, I was naturally awake more than once during the night. For many
+nights I believed I distinctly saw my father-in-law sitting by the
+fireside. This happened, not once or twice, but many times. He was
+passionately fond of his eldest grandson, who lay sleeping calmly in his
+cot. Being so much alone probably made me restless and uneasy, though I
+never felt _afraid_. I mentioned this strange thing to a friend who had
+known and liked my father-in-law, and she advised me to 'have his soul
+laid,' as she termed it. Though I was a Protestant and she was a Roman
+Catholic (as had also been my father-in-law), yet I fell in with her
+suggestion. She told me to give a coin to the next beggar that came to
+the house, telling him (or her) to pray for the rest of Mr. So-and-so's
+soul. A few days later a beggar-woman and her children came to the door,
+to whom I gave a coin and stated my desire. To my great surprise I
+learned from her manner that such requests were not unusual. Well, she
+went down on her knees on the steps, and prayed with apparent earnestness
+and devotion that his soul might find repose. Once again he appeared, and
+seemed to say to me, 'Why did you do that, E----? To come and sit here
+was the only comfort I had.' Never again did he appear, and strange to
+say, after a lapse of more than thirty years I have felt regret at my
+selfishness in interfering.
+
+"After his death, as he lay in the house awaiting burial, and I was in a
+house some ten miles away, I thought that he came and told me that I
+would have a hard life, which turned out only too truly. I was then
+young, and full of life, with every hope of a prosperous future."
+
+Of all the strange beliefs to be found in Ireland that in the Black Dog
+is the most widespread. There is hardly a parish in the country but could
+contribute some tale relative to this spectre, though the majority of
+these are short, and devoid of interest. There is said to be such a dog
+just outside the avenue gate of Donohill Rectory, but neither of the
+compilers have had the good luck to see it. It may be, as some hold,
+that this animal was originally a cloud or nature-myth; at all events, it
+has now descended to the level of an ordinary haunting. The most
+circumstantial story that we have met with relative to the Black Dog is
+that related as follows by a clergyman of the Church of Ireland, who
+requests us to refrain from publishing his name.
+
+"In my childhood I lived in the country. My father, in addition to his
+professional duties, sometimes did a little farming in an amateurish sort
+of way. He did not keep a regular staff of labourers, and consequently
+when anything extra had to be done, such as hay-cutting or harvesting, he
+used to employ day-labourers to help with the work. At such times I used
+to enjoy being in the fields with the men, listening to their
+conversation. On one occasion I heard a labourer remark that he had once
+seen the devil! Of course I was interested and asked him to give me his
+experience. He said he was walking along a certain road, and when he came
+to a point where there was an entrance to a private place (the spot was
+well known to me), he saw a black dog sitting on the roadside. At the
+time he paid no attention to it, thinking it was an ordinary retriever,
+but after he had passed on about two or three hundred yards he found the
+dog was beside him, and then he noticed that its eyes were blood-red. He
+stooped down, and picked up some stones in order to frighten it away, but
+though he threw the stones at it they did not injure it, nor indeed did
+they seem to have any effect. Suddenly, after a few moments, the dog
+vanished from his sight.
+
+"Such was the labourer's tale. After some years, during which time I had
+forgotten altogether about the man's story, some friends of my own bought
+the place at the entrance to which the apparition had been seen. When my
+friends went to reside there I was a constant visitor at their house.
+Soon after their arrival they began to be troubled by the appearance of a
+black dog. Though I never saw it myself, it appeared to many members of
+the family. The avenue leading to the house was a long one, and it was
+customary for the dog to appear and accompany people for the greater
+portion of the way. Such an effect had this on my friends that they soon
+gave up the house, and went to live elsewhere. This was a curious
+corroboration of the labourer's tale."
+
+As we have already stated in Chapter VII, a distinction must be drawn
+between the so-called _Headless_ Coach, which portends death, and the
+_Phantom_ Coach, which appears to be a harmless sort of vehicle. With
+regard to the latter we give two tales below, the first of which was sent
+by a lady whose father was a clergyman, and a gold medallist of Trinity
+College, Dublin.
+
+"Some years ago my family lived in Co. Down. Our house was some way out
+of a fair-sized manufacturing town, and had a short avenue which ended in
+a gravel sweep in front of the hall door. One winter's evening, when my
+father was returning from a sick call, a carriage going at a sharp pace
+passed him on the avenue. He hurried on, thinking it was some particular
+friends, but when he reached the door no carriage was to be seen, so he
+concluded it must have gone round to the stables. The servant who
+answered his ring said that no visitors had been there, and he, feeling
+certain that the girl had made some mistake, or that some one else had
+answered the door, came into the drawing-room to make further inquiries.
+No visitors had come, however, though those sitting in the drawing-room
+had also heard the carriage drive up.
+
+"My father was most positive as to what he had seen, viz. a closed
+carriage with lamps lit; and let me say at once that he was a clergyman
+who was known throughout the whole of the north of Ireland as a most
+level-headed man, and yet to the day of his death he would insist that he
+met that carriage on our avenue.
+
+"One day in July one of our servants was given leave to go home for the
+day, but was told she must return by a certain train. For some reason she
+did not come by it, but by a much later one, and rushed into the kitchen
+in a most penitent frame of mind. 'I am so sorry to be late,' she told
+the cook, 'especially as there were visitors. I suppose they stayed to
+supper, as they were so late going away, for I met the carriage on the
+avenue.' The cook thereupon told her that no one had been at the house,
+and hinted that she must have seen the ghost-carriage, a statement that
+alarmed her very much, as the story was well known in the town, and
+car-drivers used to whip up their horses as they passed our gate, while
+pedestrians refused to go at all except in numbers. We have often _heard_
+the carriage, but these are the only two occasions on which I can
+positively assert that it was _seen_."
+
+The following personal experience of the phantom coach was given to the
+present writer by Mr. Matthias Fitzgerald, coachman to Miss Cooke, of
+Cappagh House, Co. Limerick. He stated that one moonlight night he was
+driving along the road from Askeaton to Limerick when he heard coming up
+behind him the roll of wheels, the clatter of horses' hoofs, and the
+jingling of the bits. He drew over to his own side to let this carriage
+pass, but nothing passed. He then looked back, but could see nothing, the
+road was perfectly bare and empty, though the sounds were perfectly
+audible. This continued for about a quarter of an hour or so, until he
+came to a cross-road, down one arm of which he had to turn. As he turned
+off he heard the phantom carriage dash by rapidly along the straight
+road. He stated that other persons had had similar experiences on the
+same road.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+LEGENDARY AND ANCESTRAL GHOSTS
+
+
+Whatever explanations may be given of the various stories told in our
+previous chapters, the facts as stated therein are in almost every case
+vouched for on reliable authority. We now turn to stories of a different
+kind, most of which have no evidence of any value in support of the
+_facts_, but which have been handed down from generation to generation,
+and deserve our respect, if only for their antiquity. We make no apology
+for giving them here, for, in addition to the interesting reading they
+provide, they also serve a useful purpose as a contrast to authenticated
+ghost stories. The student of folklore will find parallels to some of
+them in the tales of other nations.
+
+Lord Walter Fitzgerald sends us the following: "Garrett oge" (or Gerald
+the younger) "Fitzgerald, 11th Earl of Kildare, died in London on the
+16th November 1585; his body was brought back to Ireland and interred in
+St. Brigid's Cathedral, in Kildare. He was known as 'the Wizard Earl' on
+account of his practising the black art, whereby he was enabled to
+transform himself into other shapes, either bird or beast according to
+his choice; so notorious was his supernatural power that he became the
+terror of the countryside.
+
+"His wife, the Countess, had long wished to see some proof of his skill,
+and had frequently begged him to transform himself before her, but he had
+steadily refused to do so, as he said if he did and she became afraid, he
+would be taken from her, and she would never see him again. Still she
+persisted, and at last he said he would do as she wished on condition
+that she should first of all undergo three trials to test her courage; to
+this she willingly agreed. In the first trial the river Greese, which
+flows past the castle walls, at a sign from the Earl overflowed its banks
+and flooded the banqueting hall in which the Earl and Countess were
+sitting. She showed no sign of fear, and at the Earl's command the river
+receded to its normal course. At the second trial a huge eel-like monster
+appeared, which entered by one of the windows, crawled about among the
+furniture of the banqueting hall, and finally coiled itself round the
+body of the Countess. Still she showed no fear, and at a nod from the
+Earl the animal uncoiled itself and disappeared. In the third test an
+intimate friend of the Countess, long since dead, entered the room, and
+passing slowly by her went out at the other end. She showed not the
+slightest sign of fear, and the Earl felt satisfied that he could place
+his fate in her keeping, but he again warned her of his danger if she
+lost her presence of mind while he was in another shape. He then turned
+himself into a black bird, flew about the room, and perching on the
+Countess's shoulder commenced to sing. Suddenly a black cat appeared from
+under a chest, and made a spring at the bird; in an agony of fear for its
+safety the Countess threw up her arms to protect it and swooned away.
+When she came to she was alone, the bird and the cat had disappeared, and
+she never saw the Earl again."
+
+It is said that he and his knights lie in an enchanted sleep, with their
+horses beside them, in a cave under the Rath on the hill of Mullaghmast,
+which stands, as the crow flies, five miles to the north of Kilkea
+Castle. Once in seven years they are allowed to issue forth; they gallop
+round the Curragh, thence across country to Kilkea Castle, where they
+re-enter the haunted wing, and then return to the Rath of Mullaghmast.
+The Earl is easily recognised as he is mounted on a white charger shod
+with silver shoes; when these shoes are worn out the enchantment will be
+broken, and he will issue forth, drive the foes of Ireland from the land,
+and reign for a seven times seven number of years over the vast estates
+of his ancestors.
+
+Shortly before '98 he was seen on the Curragh by a blacksmith who was
+crossing it in an ass-cart from Athgarvan to Kildare. A fairy blast
+overtook him, and he had just time to say, "God speed ye Gentlemen"
+to the invisible "Good People," when he heard horses galloping up behind
+him; pulling to one side of the road he looked back and was terrified at
+seeing a troop of knights, fully armed, led by one on a white horse. The
+leader halted his men, and riding up to the blacksmith asked him to
+examine his shoes. Almost helpless from fear he stumbled out of the
+ass-cart and looked at each shoe, which was of silver, and then informed
+the knight that all the nails were sound. The knight thanked him,
+rejoined his troop, and galloped off. The blacksmith in a half-dazed
+state hastened on to Kildare, where he entered a public-house, ordered a
+noggin of whisky, and drank it neat. When he had thoroughly come to
+himself he told the men that were present what had happened to him on the
+Curragh; one old man who had listened to him said: "By the mortial! man,
+ye are after seeing 'Gerod Earla.'" This fully explained the mystery.
+Gerod Earla, or Earl Gerald, is the name by which the Wizard Earl is
+known by the peasantry.
+
+One other legend is told in connection with the Wizard Earl of a
+considerably later date. It is said that a farmer was returning from a
+fair in Athy late one evening in the direction of Ballintore, and when
+passing within view of the Rath of Mullaghmast he was astonished to see a
+bright light apparently issuing from it. Dismounting from his car he went
+to investigate. On approaching the Rath he noticed that the light was
+proceeding from a cave in which were sleeping several men in armour, with
+their horses beside them. He cautiously crept up to the entrance, and
+seeing that neither man nor beast stirred he grew bolder and entered the
+chamber; he then examined the saddlery on the horses, and the armour of
+the men, and plucking up courage began slowly to draw a sword from its
+sheath; as he did so the owner's head began to rise, and he heard a voice
+in Irish say, "Is the time yet come?" In terror the farmer, as he shoved
+the sword back, replied, "It is not, your Honour," and then fled from the
+place.
+
+It is said that if the farmer had only completely unsheathed the sword
+the enchantment would have been broken, and the Earl would have come to
+his own again.
+
+In 1642 Wallstown Castle, the seat of the Wall family, in County Cork,
+was burnt down by the Cromwellian troops, and Colonel Wall, the head of
+the family, was captured and imprisoned in Cork jail, where he died.
+One of the defenders during the siege was a man named Henry Bennett, who
+was killed while fighting. His ghost was often seen about the place for
+years after his death. His dress was of a light colour, and he wore
+a white hat, while in his hand he carried a pole, which he used to place
+across the road near the Castle to stop travellers; on a polite request
+to remove the pole he would withdraw it, and laugh heartily. A caretaker
+in the place named Philip Coughlan used frequently to be visited by this
+apparition. He came generally about supper time, and while Coughlan and
+his wife were seated at table he would shove the pole through the window;
+Coughlan would beg him to go away and not interfere with a poor
+hard-worked man; the pole would then be withdrawn, with a hearty laugh
+from the ghost.
+
+In the Parish Church of Ardtrea, near Cookstown, is a marble monument and
+inscription in memory of Thomas Meredith, D.D., who had been a Fellow of
+Trinity College, Dublin, and for six years rector of the parish. He died,
+according to the words of the inscription, on 2nd May 1819, as a result
+of "a sudden and awful visitation." A local legend explains this
+"visitation," by stating that a ghost haunted the rectory, the visits of
+which had caused his family and servants to leave the house. The rector
+had tried to shoot it but failed; then he was told to use a silver
+bullet; he did so, and next morning was found dead at his hall-door while
+a hideous object like a devil made horrid noises out of any window
+the servant man approached. This man was advised by some Roman Catholic
+neighbours to get the priest, who would "lay" the thing. The priest
+arrived, and with the help of a jar of whisky the ghost became quite
+civil, till the last glass in the jar, which the priest was about to
+empty out for himself, whereupon the ghost or devil made himself as thin
+and long as a Lough Neagh eel, and slipped himself into the jar to get
+the last drops. But the priest put the cork into its place and hammered
+it in, and, making the sign of the Cross on it, he had the evil thing
+secured. It was buried in the cellar of the rectory, where on some nights
+it can still be heard calling to be let out.
+
+A story of a phantom rat, which comes from Limerick, is only one of many
+which show the popular Irish belief in hauntings by various animals. Many
+years ago, the legend runs, a young man was making frantic and
+unacceptable love to a girl. At last, one day when he was following her
+in the street, she turned on him and, pointing to a rat which some boys
+had just killed, said, "I'd as soon marry that rat as you." He took her
+cruel words so much to heart that he pined away and died. After his death
+the girl was haunted at night by a rat, and in spite of the constant
+watch of her mother and sisters she was more than once bitten. The priest
+was called in and could do nothing, so she determined to emigrate. A
+coasting vessel was about to start for Queenstown, and her friends,
+collecting what money they could, managed to get her on board. The ship
+had just cast off from the quay, when shouts and screams were heard up
+the street. The crowd scattered, and a huge rat with fiery eyes galloped
+down to the quay. It sat upon the edge screaming hate, sprang off, and
+did not reappear. After that, we are told, the girl was never again
+haunted.
+
+A legend of the Tirawley family relates how a former Lord Tirawley, who
+was a very wild and reckless man, was taken from this world. One evening,
+it is said, just as the nobleman was preparing for a night's carouse, a
+carriage drove up to his door, a stranger asked to see him and, after a
+long private conversation, drove away as mysteriously as he had come.
+Whatever words had passed they had a wonderful effect on the gay lord,
+for his ways were immediately changed, and he lived the life of a
+reformed man. As time went on the effect of whatever awful warning the
+mysterious visitor had given him wore off, and he began to live a life
+even more wild and reckless than before. On the anniversary of the visit
+he was anxious and gloomy, but he tried to make light of it. The day
+passed, and at night there was high revelry in the banqueting hall.
+Outside it was wet and stormy, when just before midnight the sound of
+wheels was heard in the courtyard. All the riot stopped; the servants
+opened the door in fear and trembling: outside stood a huge dark coach
+with four black horses. The "fearful guest" entered and beckoned to Lord
+Tirawley, who followed him to a room off the hall. The friends, sobered
+by fear, saw through the door the stranger drawing a ship on the wall;
+the piece of wall then detached itself and the ship grew solid, the
+stranger climbed into it, and Lord Tirawley followed without a struggle.
+The vessel then sailed away into the night, and neither it nor its
+occupants were ever seen again.
+
+The above tale is a good example of how a legend will rise superior to
+the ordinary humdrum facts of life, for it strikes us at once that the
+gloomy spectre went to unnecessary trouble in constructing a ship, even
+though the task proved so simple to his gifted hands. But the coach was
+at the door, and surely it would have been less troublesome to have used
+it.
+
+A strange legend is told of a house in the Boyne valley. It is said that
+the occupant of the guest chamber was always wakened on the first night
+of his visit, then he would see a pale light and the shadow of a skeleton
+"climbing the wall like a huge spider." It used to crawl out on to the
+ceiling, and when it reached the middle would materialise into apparent
+bones, holding on by its hands and feet; it would break in pieces, and
+first the skull and then the other bones would fall on the floor. One
+person had the courage to get up and try to seize a bone, but his hand
+passed through to the carpet though the heap was visible for a few
+seconds.
+
+The following story can hardly be called _legendary_, though it may
+certainly be termed ancestral. The writer's name is not given, but he is
+described as a rector and Rural Dean in the late Established Church of
+Ireland, and a Justice of the Peace for two counties. It has this added
+interest that it was told to Queen Victoria by the Marchioness of Ely.
+
+"Loftus Hall, in County Wexford, was built on the site of a stronghold
+erected by Raymond, one of Strongbow's followers. His descendants
+forfeited it in 1641, and the property subsequently fell into the hands
+of the Loftus family, one of whom built the house and other buildings.
+About the middle of the eighteenth century, there lived at Loftus Hall
+Charles Tottenham, a member of the Irish Parliament, known to fame as
+'Tottenham and his Boots,' owing to his historic ride to the Irish
+capital in order to give the casting vote in a motion which saved £80,000
+to the Irish Treasury.
+
+"The second son, Charles Tottenham, had two daughters, Elizabeth and
+Anne, to the latter of whom our story relates. He came to live at Loftus
+Hall, the old baronial residence of the family, with his second wife and
+the two above-mentioned daughters of his first wife. Loftus Hall was an
+old rambling mansion, with no pretence to beauty: passages that led
+nowhere, large dreary rooms, small closets, various unnecessary nooks and
+corners, panelled or wainscotted walls, and a _tapestry chamber_. Here
+resided at the time my story commences Charles Tottenham, his second wife
+and his daughter Anne: Elizabeth, his second daughter, having been
+married. The father was a cold austere man; the stepmother such as that
+unamiable relation is generally represented to be. What and how great
+the state of lonely solitude and depression of mind of poor Anne must
+have been in such a place, without neighbours or any home sympathy, may
+easily be imagined.
+
+"One wet and stormy night, as they sat in the large drawing-room, they
+were startled by a loud knocking at the outer gate, a most surprising
+and unusual occurrence. Presently the servant announced that a young
+gentleman on horseback was there requesting lodging and shelter. He had
+lost his way, his horse was knocked up, and he had been guided by the
+only light which he had seen. The stranger was admitted and refreshed,
+and proved himself to be an agreeable companion and a finished
+gentleman--far too agreeable for the lone scion of the House of
+Tottenham, for a sad and mournful tale follows, and one whose strange
+results continued almost to the present day.
+
+"Much mystery has involved the story at the present point, and in truth
+the matter was left in such silence and obscurity, that, but for the acts
+of her who was the chief sufferer in it through several generations,
+nothing would now be known. The fact, I believe, was--which was not
+unnatural under the circumstances--that this lonely girl formed a strong
+attachment to this gallant youth chance had brought to her door, which
+was warmly returned. The father, as was his stern nature, was obdurate,
+and the wife no solace to her as she was a step-mother. It is only an
+instance of the refrain of the old ballad, 'He loved, and he rode away';
+he had youth and friends, and stirring scenes, and soon forgot his
+passing attachment. Poor Anne's reason gave way.
+
+"The fact is but too true, she became a confirmed maniac, and had to be
+confined for the rest of her life in the tapestried chamber before
+mentioned, and in which she died. A strange legend was at once invented
+to account for this calamity: it tells how the horseman proved such an
+agreeable acquisition that he was invited to remain some days, and made
+himself quite at home, and as they were now four in number whist was
+proposed in the evenings. The stranger, however, with Anne as his
+partner, invariably won every point; the old couple never had the
+smallest success. One night, when poor Anne was in great delight at
+winning so constantly, she dropped a ring on the floor, and, suddenly
+diving under the table to recover it, was terrified to see that her
+agreeable partner had an unmistakably cloven foot. Her screams made him
+aware of her discovery, and he at once vanished in a thunder-clap leaving
+a brimstone smell behind him. The poor girl never recovered from the
+shock, lapsed from one fit into another, and was carried to the tapestry
+room from which she never came forth alive.
+
+"This story of his Satanic majesty got abroad, and many tales are told of
+how he continued to visit and disturb the house. The noises, the
+apparitions, and disturbances were innumerable, and greatly distressed
+old Charles Tottenham, his wife, and servants. It is said that they
+finally determined to call in the services of their parish priest, a
+Father Broders, who, armed with all the exorcisms of the Church,
+succeeded in confining the operations of the evil spirit to one room--the
+tapestry room.
+
+"Here, then, we have traced from the date of the unhappy girl's
+misfortune that the house was disturbed by something supernatural,
+and that the family sought the aid of the parish priest to abate it, and
+further that the tapestry room was the scene of this visitation.
+
+"But the matter was kept dark, all reference to poor Anne was avoided,
+and the belief was allowed to go abroad that it was Satan himself who
+disturbed the peace of the family. Her parents were ready to turn aside
+the keen edge of observation from her fate, preferring rather that it
+should be believed that they were haunted by the Devil, so that the story
+of her wrongs should sink into oblivion, and be classed as an old wives'
+tale of horns and hoofs. The harsh father and stepmother have long gone
+to the place appointed for all living. The Loftus branch of the family
+are in possession of the Hall. Yet poor Anne has kept her tapestried
+chamber by nearly the same means which compelled her parents to call in
+the aid of the parish priest so long ago.
+
+"But to my tale: About the end of the last century my father was invited
+by Mrs. Tottenham to meet a large party at the Hall. He rode, as was then
+the custom in Ireland, with his pistols in his holsters. On arriving he
+found the house full, and Mrs. Tottenham apologised to him for being
+obliged to assign to him the tapestry chamber for the night, which,
+however, he gladly accepted, never having heard any of the stories
+connected with it.
+
+"However, he had scarcely covered himself in the bed when suddenly
+something heavy leaped upon it, growling like a dog. The curtains were
+torn back, and the clothes stripped from the bed. Supposing that some of
+his companions were playing tricks, he called out that he would shoot
+them, and seizing a pistol he fired up the chimney, lest he should wound
+one of them. He then struck a light and searched the room diligently, but
+found no sign or mark of anyone, and the door locked as he had left it on
+retiring to rest. Next day he informed his hosts how he had been annoyed,
+but they could only say that they would not have put him in that room if
+they had had any other to offer him.
+
+"Years passed on, when the Marquis of Ely went to the Hall to spend some
+time there. His valet was put to sleep in the tapestry chamber. In the
+middle of the night the whole family was aroused by his dreadful roars
+and screams, and he was found lying in another room in mortal terror.
+After some time he told them that, soon after he had lain himself down in
+bed, he was startled by the rattling of the curtains as they were torn
+back, and looking up he saw a tall lady by the bedside dressed in stiff
+brocaded silk; whereupon he rushed out of the room screaming with terror.
+
+"Years afterwards I was brought by my father with the rest of the family
+to the Hall for the summer bathing. Attracted by the quaint look of the
+tapestry room, I at once chose it for my bedroom, being utterly ignorant
+of the stories connected with it. For some little time nothing out of the
+way happened. One night, however, I sat up much later than usual to
+finish an article in a magazine I was reading. The full moon was shining
+clearly in through two large windows, making all as clear as day. I was
+just about to get into bed, and, happening to glance towards the door, to
+my great surprise I saw it open quickly and noiselessly, and as quickly
+and noiselessly shut again, while the tall figure of a lady in a stiff
+dress passed slowly through the room to one of the curious closets
+already mentioned, which was in the opposite corner. I rubbed my eyes.
+Every possible explanation but the true one occurred to my mind, for the
+idea of a ghost did not for a moment enter my head. I quickly reasoned
+myself into a sound sleep and forgot the matter.
+
+"The next night I again sat up late in my bedroom, preparing a gun and
+ammunition to go and shoot sea-birds early next morning, when the door
+again opened and shut in the same noiseless manner, and the same tall
+lady proceeded to cross the room quietly and deliberately as before
+towards the closet. I instantly rushed at her, and threw my right arm
+around her, exclaiming 'Ha! I have you now!' To my utter astonishment my
+arm passed through her and came with a thud against the bedpost, at which
+spot she then was. The figure quickened its pace, and as it passed the
+skirt of its dress lapped against the curtain and I marked distinctly the
+pattern of her gown--a stiff brocaded silk.
+
+"The ghostly solution of the problem did not yet enter my mind. However,
+I told the story at breakfast next morning. My father, who had himself
+suffered from the lady's visit so long before, never said a word, and it
+passed as some folly of mine. So 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 out for anything.
+
+"Years later I was again a guest at the Hall. The Marquis of Ely and his
+family, with a large retinue of servants, filled the house to
+overflowing. As I passed the housekeeper's room I heard the valet say:
+'What! I to sleep in the tapestry chamber? Never! I will leave my lord's
+service before I sleep there!' At once my former experience in that room
+flashed upon my mind. I had never thought of it during the interval, and
+was still utterly ignorant of Anne Tottenham: so when the housekeeper was
+gone I spoke to the valet and said, 'Tell me why you will not sleep in
+the tapestry room, as I have a particular reason for asking.' He said,
+'Is it possible that you do not know that Miss Tottenham passes through
+that room every night, and, dressed in a stiff flowered silk dress,
+enters the closet in the corner?' I replied that I had never heard a word
+of her till now, but that I had, a few years before, twice seen a figure
+exactly like what he had described, and passed my arm through her body.
+'Yes,' said he, 'that was Miss Tottenham, and, as is well known, she was
+confined--mad--in that room, and died there, and, they say, was buried in
+that closet.'
+
+"Time wore on and another generation arose, another owner possessed the
+property--the grandson of my friend. In the year 185--, he being then a
+child came with his mother, the Marchioness of Ely, and his tutor, the
+Rev. Charles Dale, to the Hall for the bathing season. Mr. Dale was no
+imaginative person--a solid, steady, highly educated English clergyman,
+who had never even heard the name of Miss Tottenham. The tapestry room
+was his bed-chamber. One day in the late autumn of that year I received a
+letter from the uncle of the Marquis, saying, 'Do tell me what it was you
+saw long ago in the tapestry chamber, for something strange must have
+happened to the Rev. Charles Dale, as he came to breakfast quite
+mystified. Something very strange must have occurred, but he will not
+tell us, seems quite nervous, and, in short, is determined to give up his
+tutorship and return to England. Every year something mysterious has
+happened to any person who slept in that room, but they always kept it
+close. Mr. D----, a Wexford gentleman, slept there a short while ago.
+He had a splendid dressing-case, fitted with gold and silver articles,
+which he left carefully locked on his table at night; in the morning he
+found the whole of its contents scattered about the room.'
+
+"Upon hearing this I determined to write to the Rev. Charles Dale, then
+Incumbent of a parish near Dover, telling him what had occurred to myself
+in the room, and that the evidence of supernatural appearances there were
+so strong and continued for several generations, that I was anxious to
+put them together, and I would consider it a great favour if he would
+tell me if anything had happened to him in the room, and of what nature.
+He then for the first time mentioned the matter, and from his letter now
+before me I make the following extracts:
+
+"'For three weeks I experienced no inconvenience from the lady, but one
+night, just before we were about to leave, I had sat up very late. It was
+just one o'clock when I retired to my bedroom, a very beautiful moonlight
+night. I locked my door, and saw that the shutters were properly
+fastened, as I did every night. I had not lain myself down more than
+about five minutes before something jumped on the bed making a growling
+noise; the bed-clothes were pulled off though I strongly resisted the
+pull. I immediately sprang out of bed, lighted my candle, looked into the
+closet and under the bed, but saw nothing.'
+
+"Mr. Dale goes on to say that he endeavoured to account for it in some
+such way as I had formerly done, having never up to that time heard one
+word of the lady and her doings in that room. He adds, 'I did not see the
+lady or hear any noise but the growling.'
+
+"Here then is the written testimony of a beneficed English clergyman,
+occupying the responsible position of tutor to the young Marquis of Ely,
+a most sober-minded and unimpressionable man. He repeats in 1867 almost
+the very words of my father when detailing his experience in that room in
+1790--a man of whose existence he had never been cognisant, and therefore
+utterly ignorant of Miss Tottenham's doings in that room nearly eighty
+years before.
+
+"In the autumn of 1868 I was again in the locality, at Dunmore, on the
+opposite side of the Waterford Estuary. I went across to see the old
+place and what alterations Miss Tottenham had forced the proprietors to
+make in the tapestry chamber. I found that the closet into which the poor
+lady had always vanished was taken away, the room enlarged, and two
+additional windows put in: the old tapestry had gone and a billiard-table
+occupied the site of poor Anne's bed. I took the old housekeeper aside,
+and asked her to tell me how Miss Tottenham bore these changes in her
+apartment. She looked quite frightened and most anxious to avoid the
+question, but at length hurriedly replied, 'Oh, Master George! don't talk
+about her: last night she made a horrid noise knocking the billiard-balls
+about!'
+
+"I have thus traced with strict accuracy this most real and true
+tale, from the days of 'Tottenham and his Boots' to those of his
+great-great-grandson. Loftus Hall has since been wholly rebuilt, but
+I have not heard whether poor Anne Tottenham has condescended to visit
+it, or is wholly banished at last."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+MISTAKEN IDENTITY--CONCLUSION
+
+
+We have given various instances of ghostly phenomena wherein the
+witnesses have failed at first to realise that what they saw partook
+in any way of the abnormal. There are also many cases where a so-called
+ghost has turned out to be something very ordinary. Though more often
+than not such incidents are of a very trivial or self-explanatory
+nature (_e.g._ where a sheep in a churchyard almost paralysed a midnight
+wayfarer till he summoned up courage to investigate), there are many
+which have an interest of their own and which often throw into prominence
+the extraordinary superstitions and beliefs which exist in a country.
+
+Our first story, which is sent us by Mr. De Lacy of Dublin, deals with an
+incident that occurred in the early part of last century. An epidemic
+which was then rife in the city was each day taking its toll of the
+unhappy citizens. The wife of a man living in Merrion Square was stricken
+down and hastily buried in a churchyard in Donnybrook which is now
+closed. On the night after the funeral one of the city police, or
+"Charlies" as they were then called, passed through the churchyard on his
+rounds. When nearing the centre he was alarmed to hear a sound coming
+from a grave close at hand, and turning, saw a white apparition sit up
+and address him. This was all he waited for; with a shriek he dropped his
+lantern and staff and made off as fast as his legs would carry him. The
+apparition thereupon took up the lamp and staff, and walked to Merrion
+Square to the house of mourning, was admitted by the servants, and to the
+joy of the whole household was found to be the object of their grief
+returned, Alcestis-like, from the grave. It seems that the epidemic was
+so bad that the bodies of the victims were interred hastily and without
+much care: the unfortunate lady had really been in a state of coma or
+trance, and as the grave was lightly covered, when she came to she was
+able to force her way up, and seeing the "Charlie" passing, she called
+for assistance.
+
+An occurrence which at first had all the appearance of partaking of the
+supernormal, and which was afterwards found to have a curious
+explanation, is related by Dean Ovenden of St. Patrick's Cathedral,
+Dublin. "At Dunluce Rectory, Co. Antrim," he writes, "I had a strange
+experience. There was a force-pump attached to the back wall of the
+house, and many people drew water from it, as it was better than any
+obtained at 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 11 P.M. and 12 midnight. I often looked out
+of the back window when I heard the pump going, but could not see anyone.
+I tied threads to the handle, but although they were found unbroken in
+the morning the pumping continued, sometimes only for three or four moves
+of the handle. On many nights no pumping was heard. The man-servant sat
+up with a gun and the dog, but he neither saw nor heard anything. We gave
+it up as a bad job, and still the pumping went on. After about two years
+of this experience, I was one night alone in the house. It was a calm and
+frosty night and I went to bed about 11.30 P.M. and lay awake; suddenly
+the pump began to work with great clearness, and mechanically I counted
+the strokes: they were exactly twelve. I exclaimed, 'The dining-room
+clock!' I sprang from bed and went down, and found that the clock was
+fast, as it showed two minutes past twelve o'clock. I set back the hands
+to 11.55 and lay in bed again, and soon the pumper began as usual. The
+explanation was that the vibration of the rising and falling hammer was
+carried up to the bedroom by the wall, but the sound of the bell was
+never heard. I found afterwards that the nights when there was no pumping
+were always windy."
+
+A man was walking along a country lane at night and as he was coming
+round a bend he saw a coffin on the road in front of him. At first he
+thought it was a warning to him that he was soon to leave this world; but
+after some hesitation, he finally summoned up courage to give the thing a
+poke with his stick, when he found that the coffin was merely an outline
+of sea-weed which some passer-by had made. Whereupon he went on his way
+much relieved.
+
+The unbeliever will state that rats or mice are more often than not the
+cause of so-called ghostly noises in a house. That, at any rate,
+instances have happened where one or other of these rodents has given
+rise to fear and trepidation in the inmates of a house or bedroom is
+proved by the following story from a Dublin lady. She tells how she was
+awakened by a most mysterious noise for which she could give no
+explanation. Overcome by fear, she was quite unable to get out of bed,
+and lay awake the rest of the night. When light came she got up: there
+was a big bath in the room, and in it she found a mouse which had been
+drowned in its efforts to get out. So her haunting was caused by what we
+may perhaps call a ghost in the making.
+
+The devil is very real to the average countryman in Ireland. He has given
+his name to many spots which for some reason or other have gained some
+ill-repute--the Devil's Elbow, a very nasty bit of road down in Kerry, is
+an instance in point. The following story shows how prevalent the idea is
+that the devil is an active agent in the affairs of this world.
+
+A family living at Ardee, Co. Louth, were one night sitting reading in
+the parlour. The two maids were amusing themselves at some card game in
+the kitchen. Suddenly there was a great commotion and the two girls--both
+from the country--burst into the sitting-room, pale with fright, and
+almost speechless. When they had recovered a certain amount, they were
+asked what was the matter; the cook immediately exclaimed, "Oh, sir! the
+devil, the devil, he knocked three times at the window and frightened us
+dreadfully, and we had just time to throw the cards into the fire and run
+in here before he got us." One of the family, on hearing this,
+immediately went out to see what had caused all this trepidation, and
+found a swallow with a broken neck lying on the kitchen window-sill. The
+poor bird had evidently seen the light in the room, and in its efforts to
+get near it had broken its neck against the glass of the window.
+
+An amusing account of a pseudo-haunting comes from County Tipperary, and
+shows how extraordinarily strong is the countryman's belief in
+supernatural phenomena. The incidents related occurred only a very short
+time ago. A farmer in the vicinity of Thurles died leaving behind him a
+young widow. The latter lived alone after her husband's death, and about
+three months after the funeral she was startled one night by loud
+knocking at the door. On opening the door she was shocked at seeing the
+outline of a man dressed in a shroud. In a solemn voice he asked her did
+she know who he was: on receiving a reply in the negative, he said that
+he was her late husband and that he wanted £10 to get into heaven. The
+terrified woman said she had not got the money, but promised to have it
+ready if he would call again the next night. The "apparition" agreed,
+then withdrew, and the distracted woman went to bed wondering how she was
+to raise the money. When morning came she did not take long in telling
+her friends of her experience, in the hope that they would be able to
+help her. Their advice, however, was that she should tell the police,
+and she did so. That night the "apparition" returned at the promised
+hour, and asked for his money. The amount was handed to him, and in a low
+sepulchral voice he said, "Now I leave this earth and go to heaven."
+Unfortunately, as he was leaving, a sergeant and a constable of the
+R.I. Constabulary stopped him, questioned him, and hauled him off to the
+barracks to spend the remainder of the night in the cell, where no doubt
+he decided that the haunting game has its trials.[14]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Evening Telegraph_ for Dec. 10, 1913.]
+
+An occurrence of very much the same description took place in County
+Clare about three years ago. Again the departed husband returns to his
+sorrowing wife, sits by the fire with her, chatting no doubt of old
+times, and before he leaves for the other world is regaled with pig's
+head and plenty of whisky. The visit is repeated the next night, and a
+request made for money to play cards with down below: the wife willingly
+gives him the money. Again he comes, and again he borrows on the plea
+that he had lost the night before, but hoped to get better luck next
+time. On the woman telling a neighbour a watch was kept for the dead
+man's return, but he never came near the place again.
+
+An account of a police-court trial which appeared in the _Irish Times_ of
+31st December 1913 emphasizes in a very marked degree the extraordinary
+grip that superstition has over some of the country people. A young woman
+was on her trial for stealing £300 from the brother of her employer,
+Patrick McFaul of Armagh. District Inspector Lowndes, in opening the case
+for the Crown, told the bench that the money had been taken out of the
+bank by McFaul to buy a holding, for the purchase of which negotiations
+were going on. The money was carelessly thrown into a drawer in a
+bedroom, and left there till it would be wanted. A short time afterwards
+a fire broke out in the room, and a heap of ashes was all that was found
+in the drawer, though little else in the room besides a few clothes was
+injured. "The McFauls appeared to accept their loss with a complacency,
+which could only be accounted for by the idea they entertained that the
+money was destroyed through spiritual intervention--that there were
+ghosts in the question, and that the destruction of the money was to be
+taken as a warning directed against a matrimonial arrangement, into which
+Michael McFaul was about to enter." The accused girl was servant to
+the McFauls, who discharged her a few days after the fire: but before
+this she had been into Derry and spent a night there; during her stay she
+tried to change three £20 notes with the help of a friend. But change was
+refused, and she had to abandon the attempt. "If some of the money was
+burned, some of it was certainly in existence three days later, to the
+amount of £60. One thing was manifest, and that was that an incredible
+amount of superstition appeared to prevail amongst families in that
+neighbourhood when the loss of such a sum as this could be attributed to
+anything but larceny, and it could for a moment be suggested that it was
+due to spiritual intervention to indicate that a certain course should
+be abandoned."
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+The foregoing tales have been inserted, not in order that they may throw
+ridicule on the rest of the book, but that they may act as a wholesome
+corrective. If _all_ ghost stories could be subjected to such rigid
+examination it is probable that the mystery in many of them would be
+capable of equally simple solution--yet a remnant would be left.
+
+And here, though it may seem somewhat belated, we must offer an apology
+for the use of the terms "ghost" and "ghost story." The book includes
+such different items as hauntings, death-warnings, visions, and
+hallucinations, some of which obviously can no more be attributed to
+discarnate spirits than can the present writer's power of guiding his pen
+along the lines of a page; whether others of these must be laid to the
+credit of such unseen influences is just the question. But in truth there
+was no other expression than "ghost stories" which we could have used, or
+which could have conveyed to our readers, within reasonable verbal
+limits, as they glanced at its cover, or at an advertisement of it, a
+general idea of the contents of this book. The day will certainly come
+when, before the steady advance of scientific investigation, and the
+consequent influencing of public opinion, the word "ghost" will be
+relegated to limbo, and its place taken by a number of expressions
+corresponding to the results obtained from the analysis of phenomena
+hitherto grouped under this collective title. That day is approaching.
+And so, though we have used the term throughout the pages of this book,
+it must not therefore be assumed that we necessarily believe in "ghosts,"
+or that we are bound to the theory that all, or any, of the unusual
+happenings therein recorded are due to the action of visitants from the
+Otherworld.
+
+We may now anticipate one or two possible points of criticism. It might
+be alleged that the publication of such a book as this would tend to show
+that the Irish nation was enslaved in superstition. Without stopping to
+review the question as to what should, or should not, be classed as
+"superstition," we would rejoin by gleefully pointing to a leading
+article in the _Irish Times_ of Jan. 27, 1914, which gives a short
+account of a lecture by Mr. Lovett on the folklore of London. Folklore in
+London! in the metropolis of the stolid Englishman! The fact is that the
+Irish people are not one whit more superstitious than their cross-channel
+neighbours, while they are surely on a far higher level in this respect
+than many of the Continental nations. They _seem_ to be more
+superstitious because (we speak without wishing to give any offence) the
+_popular_ religion of the majority has incorporated certain elements
+which may be traced back to pre-Christian times; but that they _are_
+actually more superstitious we beg leave to doubt.
+
+Another and more important series of objections is stated by one of our
+correspondents as follows. "I must confess that I can never reconcile
+with my conception of an All-Wise Creator the type of 'ghost' you are at
+present interested in; it seems to me incredible that the spirits of the
+departed should be permitted to return and indulge in the ghostly
+repertoire of jangling chains, gurgling, etc., apparently for the sole
+purpose of scaring housemaids and other timid or hysterical people." The
+first and most obvious remark on this is, that our correspondent has
+never read or heard a ghost story, save of the Christmas magazine type,
+else he would be aware that the above theatrical display is _not_ an
+integral part of the "ghostly repertoire"; and also that persons, who are
+_not_ housemaids, and who can _not_ be classed as timid or hysterical,
+but who, on the other hand, are exceedingly sober-minded, courageous, and
+level-headed, have had experiences (and been frightened by them too!)
+which cannot be explained on ordinary grounds. But on the main point our
+correspondent is begging the question, or at least assuming as fully
+proved a conclusion which is very far from being so. Is he quite sure
+that the only explanation of these strange sights and weird noises
+is that they are brought about by the action of departed spirits (we
+naturally exclude cases of deliberate fraud, which in reality are very
+unusual)? And if so, what meaning would he put upon the word "spirits"?
+And even if it be granted that the phenomena are caused by the
+inhabitants of another world, why should it be impossible to accept such
+a theory, because of its _apparent_ incompatibility with any conception
+of an All-Wise Creator, of whose workings we are so profoundly ignorant?
+Are there not many things in the material world which _to the limited
+human mind_ of our correspondent must seem puzzling, meaningless,
+useless, and even harmful? He does not therefore condemn these offhand;
+he is content to suspend judgment, is he not? Why cannot he adopt the
+same attitude with respect to psychic phenomena? Our correspondent might
+here make the obvious retort that it is _we_ who are begging the
+question, not he, because such happenings as are described in this book
+have no existence apart from the imaginative or inventive faculties of
+certain persons. This would be equivalent to saying bluntly that a
+considerable number of people in Ireland are either liars or fools, or
+both. This point we shall deal with later on. Our correspondent belongs
+to a type which knows nothing at all about psychical research, and is not
+aware that some of the cleverest scientists and deepest thinkers of the
+day have interested themselves in such problems. They have not found the
+answer to many of them--goodness knows if they ever will this side of the
+grave--but at least they have helped to broaden and deepen our knowledge
+of ourselves, our surroundings, and our God. They have revealed to us
+profundities in human personality hitherto unsuspected, they have
+suggested means of communication between mind and mind almost incredible,
+and (in the writer's opinion at least) these points have a very important
+bearing on our conceptions of the final state of mankind in the world to
+come, and so they are preparing the way for that finer and more ethical
+conception of God and His Creation which will be the heritage of
+generations yet unborn. The materialist's day is far spent, and its sun
+nears the horizon.
+
+Another objection to the study of the subjects dealt with in this book
+is that we are designedly left in ignorance of the unseen world by a
+Wise Creator, and therefore that it is grossly presumptuous, not to say
+impious, on the part of man to make any attempt to probe into questions
+which he has not been intended to study. Which is equivalent to saying
+that it is impious to ride a bicycle, because man was obviously created
+a pedestrian. This might be true if we were confined within a
+self-contained world which had, and could have, no connection with
+anything external to itself. But the very essence of our existence here
+is that the material and spiritual worlds interpenetrate, or rather that
+our little planet forms part of a boundless universe teeming with life
+and intelligence, yet lying in the hollow of God's hand. He alone is
+"Supernatural," and therefore Transcendent and Unknowable; all things in
+the universe are "natural," though very often they are beyond our normal
+experience, and as such are legitimate objects for man's research. Surely
+the potential energy in the human intellect will not allow it to remain
+at its present stage, but will continually urge it onwards and upwards.
+What limits God in His Providence has seen fit to put upon us we cannot
+tell, for every moment the horizon is receding, and our outlook becoming
+larger, though some still find it difficult to bring their eyesight to
+the focus consequently required. The marvellous of to-day is the
+commonplace of to-morrow: "our notion of what is natural grows with our
+greater knowledge."
+
+Throughout the pages of this book we have, in general, avoided offering
+explanations of, or theories to account for, the different stories. Here
+something may be said on this point. As we have already pointed out, the
+expression "ghost stories" covers a multitude of different phenomena.
+Many of these may be explained as "hallucinations," which does not imply
+that they are simply the effect of imagination and nothing more. "The
+mind receives the hallucination as if it came through the channels of
+sense, and accordingly externalises the impression, seeking its source in
+the world outside itself, whereas in all hallucinations the source is
+within the mind, and is not derived from an impression received through
+the recognised organ of sense.[15]"
+
+[Footnote 15: Prof. Sir W. Barren, _Psychical Research_, p. 111.]
+
+Many of these hallucinations are termed "_veridical_", or truth-telling,
+because they coincide with real events occurring to another person.
+Illustrations of this will be found in Chapter VI, from which it would
+appear that a dying person (though the power is not necessarily confined
+to such) occasionally has the faculty of telepathically communicating
+with another; the latter receives the impression, and externalises it,
+and so "sees a ghost," to use the popular expression. Some hallucinations
+are _auditory i.e._ sounds are heard which apparently do not correspond
+to any objective reality. Incomprehensible though it may appear, it may
+be possible for sounds, and very loud ones too, to be heard by one or
+more persons, the said sounds being purely hallucinatory, and not causing
+any disturbance in the atmosphere.
+
+Some of the incidents may be explained as due to telepathy, that
+mysterious power by which mind can communicate with mind, though what
+telepathy is, or through what medium it is propagated, no one can tell as
+yet. Belief in this force is increasing, because, as Professor Sir W.
+Barrett remarks: "Hostility to a new idea arises largely from its being
+unrelated to existing knowledge," and, as telepathy seems to the ordinary
+person to be analogous to wireless telegraphy, it is therefore accepted,
+or at least not laughed at, though how far the analogy really holds good
+is not at all certain.
+
+Again there is the question of haunted houses and places, to accounts of
+which the first five chapters of this book are devoted. The actual
+evidence for many of these may not come up to the rigorous standard set
+by the S.P.R., but it is beyond all doubt that persons who are neither
+fools, liars, nor drunkards firmly believe that they have seen and heard
+the things related in these chapters (not to speak of Chapters VI-VIII),
+or that they have been told such by those in whose statements they place
+implicit confidence; while so certain are they that they are telling the
+truth that they have not only written down the stories for the compilers,
+but have given their names and addresses as well, though not always for
+publication. Can we contemptuously fling aside such a weight of evidence
+as unworthy of even a cursory examination? This would hardly be a
+rational attitude to adopt. Various theories to account for these strange
+hauntings have been formulated, which may be found on pp. 199-200 of Sir
+William Barrett's _Psychical Research_, and so need not be given here.
+
+Yet, when all is said and done, the very formulating of theories, so far
+from solving problems, only raises further and more complex ones, perhaps
+the greatest of which is, Have the spirits of the departed anything to
+do with the matter? As we have shown, we hope with success, in the
+preceding paragraphs, many "ghosts" have no necessary connection with the
+denizens of the unseen world, but may be explained as being due to laws
+of nature which at present are very obscure. Does this hold good of all
+"ghosts," or are some of them to be placed to the credit of those who
+have passed beyond the veil, or perhaps to spirits, good or evil, which
+have never been incarnate? That is the problem for the future, for in
+the present state of our knowledge it would be premature to give a direct
+answer, either positive or negative.
+
+This book was written with a twofold purpose: first, that of entertaining
+our readers, in which we trust we have been successful; secondly, to
+stimulate thought. For, strange though it may seem, authenticated "ghost
+stories" have a certain educative value. Taking them at their lowest they
+suggest inquiry into the strange workings of the human mind: at their
+highest how many strange lines of inquiry do they not suggest? For it is
+obvious that we have now arrived at one of those interesting periods in
+the history of human thought which might be described as the return of
+the pendulum. We are in the process of emerging from a very materialistic
+age, when men either refused to believe anything that was contrary to
+their normal experience, or else leavened their spiritual doctrines and
+beliefs with the leaven of materialism. The pendulum has swung to its
+highest point in this respect, and is now commencing to return, so
+perhaps the intellectual danger of the future will be that men, instead
+of believing too little, will believe too much. Now is the time for
+laying a careful foundation. Psychical research, spiritualism, and the
+like, are not ends in themselves, they are only means to an end. At the
+present state of thought, the transition from the old to the new, from
+the lower to the higher, it is inevitable that there must be confusion
+and doubt, and the earnest thinker must be prepared to suspend judgment
+on many points; but at a later stage, when all absurdity, error, and
+fraud, now so closely connected with psychical research in its various
+branches, will have been swept away, Truth will emerge and lift the human
+race to a purer and loftier conception of God and His universe.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's True Irish Ghost Stories, by St John D Seymour
+
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