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Miscellaneous Supernormal Experiences

Scary Books: True Irish Ghost Stories
: St John D Seymour

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:_



Claire S.D--

Died 14th of March, 1873

Dearly loved and ever mourned.

R.I.P e



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.



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