Irish Ghost Tales (22 page)

On one occasion the young mother woke up screaming as she felt something attacking her in bed. Scratches appeared on her skin that resembled claw marks. The parents became so afraid that they eventually consulted their parish priest for advice. Although they were not regular churchgoers, the priest saw how distressed they were and agreed to visit the house and say a mass, he assumed their problems had a more rational explanation.

The priest prepared the family for the service but before he had even finished putting the stole around his neck the air turned ice cold and a voice was heard to say ‘Get out'. The priest began, ‘In the name of the …' But suddenly he was slapped across the face by some unknown, unseen force and the voice was heard once again. ‘Leave this house,' it said. The priest quickly gathered his belongings and told the frightened family that he would return.

That night the disturbances rose to a more frightening level.

The parents decided that they would have to leave the house the following day. By now they were all sleeping in the same bedroom (including the dog). In the early hours of the morning, the parents were woken by the sound of the dog whimpering. The father turned on the bedside lamp. It took him a second or two before he realised that the children were not in the bed with them.

His wife screamed and they jumped out of bed and began to run towards the bedroom door. They heard noises coming from the children's room. As the parents ran into the living room, they saw that the children's bedroom door was open. What they witnessed was not possible. The father later described the scene. ‘The children were floating in some sort of greenish mist, and they were crying and holding out their hands.'

As the parents ran across the room the mist vanished and the door slammed shut behind them. It took the combined force of both parents pushing against it to open it. When they entered the room they heard the wind blowing and the sound of children's laughter.

They went to the priest the following morning. The mother told him that ‘the window was closed, there was no wind last night and the children were definitely not laughing. Father, you must help us. We've nowhere else to turn.'

The priest decided that the disturbances he had witnessed, including the physical attack upon his person, could not be explained by any rational means. It was time to consult the bishop. After carrying out further investigations, permission was granted for a Mass of exorcism.

At a pre-arranged time the parish priest arranged for the two children and the dog to spend the night with a trusted parishioner. Two specially trained priests sent by the bishop duly arrived and began by saying a prayer and sprinkling holy water in each room. However, they were astonished when they entered the children's bedroom. The bedside table moved across the room by itself. This was followed by the sound of childlike laughter. The lead priest continued to say prayers when a tapping sound began. It became faster and faster and seemed to be coming from inside the stone wall of the cottage. Then it stopped as quickly as it had begun. This was followed by a green mist appearing above the children's bed.

The parents later reported that a dark shadowy outline of a man appeared within the mist and a voice was heard that demanded that they leave the house. It is interesting to note that the children were not present in the cottage when this was going on as there is some suggestion that poltergeist activity is very often centred on children. The priests continued with the Mass and seemed satisfied that they had performed their function. They advised the two parents and the local priest that they would be troubled no more and left. If only things were that simple.

The family still live in their cottage, if you can call it living. They exist in a state of fear, although they do get support from their parish priest. The physical attacks have stopped, so that's something, but the ‘happenings' within the cottage have not. The parents say they are learning to live with it. They can't sell the cottage as no local will buy it, no auctioneer will advertise it and, even if they could sell it, where would they go? They wouldn't even get the price they paid for it – and that was cheap enough. Now they know why.

Some of the older locals blame the disturbances on the little people or the gentry. As one woman said, ‘Everyone knows that place was built blocking a fairy path. They'll never have any peace until they move it.' Maybe that's what a poltergeist really is: a malign force, a dark fairy, one that has been sent to avenge a wrong done against the fairy host. I don't know the answer.

Whatever the case may be, the ‘happenings' continue … Maybe the powers of Christianity need to be combined with the powers of the land. Maybe the wise woman and the priest could learn to work together and combine their powers for the overall good.

Ireland has a past that is littered with tragedy and sadness, strong emotions that can sometimes cause an entity to become attached to a particular place or person. I can only hope that this unfortunate family succeeds in freeing themselves from this troublesome presence.

O
nce upon a time in the early nineteenth century, an old farmer in County Mayo died and left behind him a young widow. She lived alone in an old cottage a few miles outside Westport. A few weeks after the funeral she was sitting in front of the kitchen fire when she heard a knock on the cottage door. It was around eleven o'clock in the evening. She couldn't imagine who would call at such a late hour. She rose from her chair. She opened the door. Imagine her shock upon seeing the dark outline of a man dressed in a death shroud. In a deep, mournful voice he said, ‘Do you know who I am?' She shook her head, too afraid to speak. The apparition said, ‘I am your husband. I need £10 to enter the gates of heaven.' The terrified young widow told him that she did not have that amount of money in the house. It was a large amount of money in those days. But she promised him that if he returned at the same time tomorrow night she would have it ready for him. The apparition agreed and backed away into the darkness of the night. The poor widow locked her door, ran to her bedroom and hid under the sheets of her bed.

The following morning, after a restless night of little or no sleep, she worried about how she would raise such a large amount of money in such a short time. She decided to consult her friend and neighbour in the hope that he would be able to advise her. His advice was that she should tell the police, so she promptly visited the local barracks to report the matter. That night at eleven o'clock the apparition returned and demanded his money. She handed over the £10 and in a low, mournful voice he said, ‘Now I can leave this earth and enter the gates of heaven.' He began to back away into the darkness of the night. Unfortunately for him, the local police were hiding behind the bushes. They jumped out, arrested the ‘ghost' and dragged him off to the barracks, where he spent the rest of the night locked in a cell, thinking about his ill-fated foray into a life of crime.

So, you see, not everything is at it seems, especially things that go bump in the night.

TONY LOCKE
is a storyteller from County Mayo and a member of the Storytellers' Association of Ireland. Tony graduated from GMIT with a BA (Hons) in Heritage Studies. He writes and presents his own show,
The Storyteller
, on WRFM.98-2fm every Sunday between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. He is also a panel member for the Heritage in Schools Scheme/INTO and teaches in primary schools through the medium of storytelling. His previously published work includes
Mayo Folk Tales
, published by The History Press Ireland in 2014.

First published in 2015

First published 2015

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This ebook edition first published in 2015

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© Tony Locke, 2015

Illustrations © Gaynor Locke, 2015

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