Halloween- Irish Ghost stories

[JUst retired]

 So is the house she  lived in.

[Olly]

One time I was sitting in my kitchen sewing and I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It must have been a ghost.

[AZOffaly]

My Granny, still alive and going great at 93 thank God, was a great woman for the ghost stories and yarns. When I was a young lad I used to stay in her house for days on end up in Dalystown, outside Mullingar. There's a couple of local ghost stories up there that maybe Croí can remember as well. One was about a lad called Bobby Bán Rochfort, who lived in the estate of Dunboden, between Rochfortbridge and Dalystown. There was a wrongful murder charge involved, blood that never washed off a stone, a hanging in Mullingar where a window turned black when someone watched the hanging out of an upstairs room, a spirit in turmoil and put to rest 'between the froth and the water on Lough Ennel' by Father Shanly, whose grave is still visited every Good Friday by hundreds just outside Belvedere.

There's another ghost story about a Jealous Wall or something in Belvedere, which again featured the Rochforts.

[Croí na hÉireann]

Ah the blood that wouldn't wash off the stone, that takes me back.

You pass by one side of Dunboden on the road from Rochfortbridge into Mullingar, the stone wall gives it away. And it's not one of them pissy stone walls they threw up in Mayo either. Looks as good today as it did when put together around 400 years ago.

[AZOffaly]

My Granny's house is the other side of Dunboden, Carrick Hill. Myself and the cousins used to walk into the Dunboden estate all the time. Eerie auld place. There was a big pond with Mallards, Coots and a rake of other birds down there too.

[gerrykeegan]

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/LocationPhotos-g315894-w29-Mullingar_County_Westmeath.html#last


Jesus Croi it doesn't look that good in this picture.

[seafoid]

Just for the time of year we're getting into. I always used to love a good read of local ghost stories. Anyone got some good local ones that are worth a read. Always liked the ones that are linked to events in history.

Here's one local Tyrone one to get started.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/haunting-tale-of-a-ghost-from-tyrone-28503487.html

Do presbyterians believe in ghosts?

[AZOffaly]

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/LocationPhotos-g315894-w29-Mullingar_County_Westmeath.html#last


Jesus Croi it doesn't look that good in this picture.

That's belvedere Gerry. Dunboden is different.

[front of the mountain]

Famous one Coonian or Cooneen Ghost:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/fermanagh/A799022.shtml

[Harold Disgracey]

I remember hearing about this as a kid.

Greenaway's ghost

From Harry Foy's Book  'Growing up in Portadown in the Thirties and Forties'



In my youth, fireside storytelling was a great way to pass an evening. Sitting on the floor in front of a roaring turf fire we would listen to the older people relating stories. The ghost stories of Kitty The Hare which appeared in "Ireland's Own" were very popular. There were many local ghost stories too . The most popular of these was one which happened on our very own doorstep.

On Bridge Street, at the top of Marley Street John Greenaway had a boot and shoe shop. He was a member of the Town Council representing the Edgarstown ward. John Greeenaway told of waking in the night and hearing the tongs rattling in the fire grate. In the morning he would find ashes scattered over the living room. It was said that Dr. McDonald had seen bruises on Mrs Greenaway's body where she was crushed against the banisters on the way down to the basement kitchen. The large grandfather clock would start chiming in the middle of the night and could only be stopped by dismantling the pendulum and removing a weight. Customers told of finding boxes of shoes containing one brown and one black shoe.

I recall one of my teachers telling of a visit to Greenaway's house one night. After tea they discussed books and my teacher went to the bookcase to get a copy of R.L. Stevenson's "Kidnapped". A sudden gust of cold air swept through the kitchen and books came tumbling down from the bookcase. All the books, except one, lay on the carpet. Yes, you've guessed it - the remaining book was "Kidnapped".

The ghost was eventually "laid" in a bottle and buried in the basement by Canon McDonald, the parish priest of St. Patrick's Church. As children we dared not go into the entry at the end of Greenaway's house. It was said that on cold, wintry nights the ghost in the bottle could be heard roaring. We can only hope that if the Bridge Street area is redeveloped, the bottle remains intact!

[supersarsfields]

Another one that I'm sure a few people heard about.

http://www.northern-ghost-investigations.com/haunted-uk/northern-ireland/castle-leslie.html

I actually think I recall a "celebrity" (Can't remember who it was so I use the term loosely) who was staying in the hotel and decided to move because she got spooked!!

[BennyCake]

Strange stuff happened in a house which relatives of mine lived. Footsteps on the stairs, door handles physically moving and the doors opening and closing, cold air in places and sensing something behind you or beside you. Best of all, was hearing doors opening and closing, that were actually locked by a key.

Other occupants have seen and heard the same. I'd have slept in the dog kennel before I'd have lived with all that.

[southdown]

Although maybe not ghost stories, I hear a lot religious happenings from people I know, especially regarding Padre Pio.

[Jeepers Creepers]

All a load of oul balls....

[Hardy]

I remember hearing about this as a kid.

Greenaway's ghost

From Harry Foy's Book  'Growing up in Portadown in the Thirties and Forties'

The ghost stories of Kitty The Hare which appeared in "Ireland's Own" were very popular.

Any former CBS boys here who remember the 'Kitty The Hare' stories by Victor O'D. Power in 'Our Boys'? That was my earliest reading - my older brothers used to bring the 'Our Boys' from school. 'Our Boys' also had a series of comical schoolboy adventures of a character called Murphy.

And there was a comic in Irish published by the Christian Brothers called An Gael Óg. The only thing I remember from it is a cartoon strip featuring 'Taidhgín Tréan, An Leanbh Láidir' who was a toddler as strong as Desperate Dan.

Then my father came home from the 1916 camps and life got serious.