Hundreds Flocking to ‘Ghost Town.’
The whole country is talking about Kinvara and already hundreds of people have visited what has become known throughout the length and breadth of the country as “Ghost Town.” What happened last week in Winkles Hotel is now history. There were a couple of fires every day except on Thursday, in either the hotel or adjoining stores. A bench and shelves were set ablaze on Monday and later that night there was another outbreak in a store. Wednesday saw damage, again by fire, done to a counter drawer and on Friday, the mattress of Mrs Kieran Moylan’s bed went up in smoke. But that was not all. A flower pot crashed to the ground and a table was thrown across the kitchen. It would normally take two men to li ft this table. These strange happenings occurred on Good Friday and it was no wonder then that the proprietor of the hotel, Mr Moylan, his wife, three children and three girls who workin the hotel decided to pack up their belongings and seek refuge in neighbours’ homes, away from these mystic occurrences.
The Moylans and staff have now returned to the hotel and Mass was celebrated in the dining room on Monday. There have not been any more strange doings in Kinvara but those travelling to the seaside village are hoping for more fireworks. They may get them, too, for this kind of thing is not too unusual in Ireland.
As a reporter in Clare, I was assigned some years ago to write about similar inexplicable happenings in Miltown-Malbay. In a house in this neighbourhood, all the windows were smashed, chairs and tables were thrown around like snuff at a wake, and a range was uprooted from its concrete setting. As in the case of Kinvara no explanation was forthcoming. It was not the first time that these incomprehensible goings-on occurred in Clare. All over the county there are deserted houses which local inhabitants believe are haunted. Windows are boarded up and even in these days of housing shortages no one has dared to enter. On the main Galway / Ennis road, near Crusheen there is such a house and the residents of the area will tell you strange tales about it.
Across the border, near Kinvara, there is another empty two-storey house and a man from the locality told me this week of a possible connection between the present Winkles Hotel affair and that one. He says that the sister of a man who helped in the fire-fighting at Winkles once worked in this other “haunted” house. Chairs, tables, etc., were thrown around by unknown hands. No explanation was found for this either. An amusing part of the tales is of a local “hard chaw,” well fortified with his favourite spirits, calling at night to investigate the happenings. He was accompanied by a pal and as the night was fine they left their overcoats lying in the barn attached to the house while they examined the rest of the place. On returning the “hard chaw” found to his dismay that the sleeves of his coat had been severed from the rest while his friend’s coat remained intact. Curiosity killed the cat, they say, but hard chaw had his fill anyway.
The Germans have a word for this kind of thing. “Poltergeism” they call it and according to the dictionary a “poltergeist” is a “whimsical and childishly mischievous ghost or a spook.” May be that explains it but the Kinvara spook was no playboy as the dictionary would have us to believe. After all, whoever he or she is, quite an amount of damage could have been caused had these outbreaks been allowed to develop. The Galway Bay ghost has frightened the wits out of the Kinvararians and has captured the imagination of the public who are flocking to see if they can discover anything that will throw light on the mystery.
Galway Observer, 24th April 1954.
Kinvara Incidents.
We have received from Mr A.J. O’Flynn, solicitor, Gort, a letter intimating Mrs Rose Winkle’s resentment to a report concerning certain incidents in Kinvara which appeared in our issue of April 24. We very much regret that the report might have been interpreted as meaning that Winkle’s Hotel was “haunted, dangerous to reside in for tourists and presently vacated.” None of these interpretations were intended. As a matter of fact the entire intention of our report was to show that what happened in Kinvara has often happened elsewhere and that the Kinvara happenings were not at all unique. We apologise sincerely to Mrs Winkle for any inconvenience which might have been caused by the report.
Galway Observer, 15th May 1954.
Holy Week Fires in Kinvara.
At Gort Court on Saturday, a 16-year-old domestic was remanded on continuing bail to a Court on August 7th. She is charged with maliciously starting five fires in Winkle’s Hotel, Kinvara during Holy Week. She is denying the charges.
Galway Observer, 10th July 1954.
Mysterious happenings in a Kinvara hotel.
16-year-old girl on trial.
The trial by jury began at Galway Circuit Court on Wednesday evening before Judge J. J. Duncan of a sixteen-year-old girl from the Kinvara district who pleads not guilty to five charges of arson in Holy Week at Winkles Hotel, Kinvara. She is charged with setting fire to two stores attached to the hotel on April 12 and 13th, with setting fire to a shop drawer, counter and contents on the 14th April and with setting alight a bed and bedding on April 16th.
Mr P.J. Lindsay T.D., for the Attorney General, outlining the case said Kieran Moylan, a national teacher and son-in-law of the proprietress of the hotel was in the shop on the evening of the 14th, from 3.30 onwards. He closed the shop that night and was quite satisfied that there was no sign of fire when he was locking the door. He went into the hotel proper and sat by the lounge fire, leaving the keys of the shop on the arm of the chair on which he was sitting. At 11.20 p.m. that night, the accused came to him and asked for the keys of the shop, saying she wanted to get butter. He gave her the keys and she returned in about four minutes, saying that the butter was soft. Mr Moylan remarked that there was nothing very soft about it.
After a time, Mrs Moylan, daughter of the proprietress, sent down word to her husband that she smelled smoke. Mr Moylan went upstairs with a sister of the accused and there saw smoke coming through the floor of the bedroom. Going to the shop, Mr Moylan opened the door to find it full with smoke. He ran to the yard and brought back a car hose. He found the location of the fire in the counter drawer. Nobody else had the keys of the shop but the accused, said Mr Lindsay.
Mr Moylan stayed up all night and on Good Friday afternoon at about 8.30, Maura Brogan, a secondary school student who works during her holidays at the hotel, said there was a fire in a bedroom. The only thing pointing to the accused that evening, said Mr Lindsay, was that she left the hotel at about 7 p.m. to attend the Rosary, but was seen returning to the hotel in a short length of time. A further significant fact was that sometime that night when asked if she had been to the Rosary, the accused replied “yes” but winked at Maura Brogan. The significance of that wink, said Mr Lindsay, was that the prosecution implied that if Maura Brogan was asked she would agree with the accused.
Continuing, counsel said that near where the accused had taken the butter from were some boxes of matches. One box bore a mark indicating that a match had been struck. After that fire in the bedroom, precautions were taken in clearing away carpets. In taking away the landing carpet, a trunk had to be moved and underneath it were found spent matches.
Detective Guard William Boulter, a mapper attached to Garda Headquarters in Dublin, produced a map of Winkles Hotel.
Kieran Moylan N.T. in evidence, said he married Miss Patricia Winkle in 1942 and has lived in Winkle’s Hotel since. On the night of April 12th Ml. Corles called at about 11 p.m. and the accused answered the door and let him in. Witness heard a “cracking” in the yard and when he went out he discovered there was fire in one of the stores. The ceiling boards of the store which were highly inflammable were on fire. With the assistance of Corlese, he put out the fire with a car hose. Witness stayed up with an employee, Bernard Kilkelly, for the rest of the night for fear of a further outbreak.
On April 13th he discovered there had been another fire in the store but he got it under control by throwing a bag over it. Witness cleared the store and removed the roof to prevent further fires. Witness then corroborated counsel’s statement regarding the 14th. Witness stayed up all night but nothing happened. Nothing happened on Thursday.
Continuing witness said he went to bed on Friday afternoon. He was later aroused and on going to one of the bedrooms, he found the bed clothes on fire. He rolled them up in a bundle. The mattress was also on fire in one side. Some pillows were also on fire and he threw them out the window. Moylan then heard a crash which seemed to come from the direction of the kitchen. He went downstairs and found the kitchen table turned upside down on the floor. It was a fairly heavy deal table.
There was a drawer of cutlery in the table and when he opened the drawer he found the blade of the bread-knife stuck in the drawer. There was no one in the kitchen when he went in there. He did not know where the accused was at the time. All the people who lived in the house left that night. He stayed up that night in the hotel with a few neighbours.
On April 4th [14th?] he received a letter through the post addressed to Mr and Mrs Moylan, Winkles Hotel, Kinvara. There was a Gort postmark on the letter. Mr Lindsay: – Do you recognise the handwriting? Mr O’Connor: – I object. Handwriting can only be proved by expert evidence.
When witness said he had received a letter signed by the accused, Mr O’Connor objected to it being put in evidence. Judge Duncan said he would leave that to later in the hearing.
Continuing, Mr Moylan said the accused had asked him on June 4 for a reference and he said he would see later about it. When she said she would like to get it then, he replied, “no, not now.”
Cross examined by Mr O’Connor, witness admitted that customers sometimes went inside the counter.
The hotel had become notable because of all these fires? – No. Wasn’t it getting the headlines in the Dublin evening papers? – No. Not at that time. Didn’t the whole village know about the fires and the hotel was getting a certain amount of notoriety? – Not to my knowledge. / You must lead a secluded life. Did not a good deal more people come into the house because of the fires? – That could be. / Did you say that night that you had a very busy day in the shop and that somebody might have dropped a cigarette into the drawer? – I don’t think so. / I suggest that you did? – It could happen that I said that.
To further questions, witness said that Bernard Kilkelly slept in the house on Holy Thursday night and would normally have slept on Good Friday night only for the evacuation. V. Rev. Canon Garrihy, P.P. and Fr. Martin came into the house on Good Friday. He was aware that a table crashed in the kitchen. He heard Richard Burke say that when the table was overturned he was outside with the accused.
Mr O’Connor: Then the Priests came in? – The Priests often come in. / You heard another noise? – Yes. / Did you ever discover what caused that noise? – I did. / The Priests blessed the house and said Mass in the dining room? – Yes. / Since the house was blessed there were no fires or strange crashes? – No. Not since Good Friday. / Judge Duncan: Was the accused girl in the house since Good Friday? – No. / Mr O’Connor: Neither was her sister or Maura Brogan? Mr Moylan: Her sister was not in but Maura Brogan was. / Do you suggest that somebody in the house who is not in Court upset the table? Don’t you know it was not the accused: that there is evidence that it could not be her? – I don’t suggest anybody overturned it.
Is it not that one of the reasons why the priests were called in, to see what were those mysterious happenings? – No. / There were mysterious happenings in the house that week? – Yes. / Weren’t there similar mysterious happenings in other houses in the neighbourhood? – Yes. / And no human agency was established as being responsible? – Yes. / There were similar happenings in a neighbouring village, Curranroe? – Yes. It is going the rounds.
When Mr O’Connor asked if there were mysterious happenings in witness’s house before he married, Mr Lindsay objected, that such evidence was not relevant since Mr Moylan was married in 1941.
Mr O’Connor: There is no explanation of these happenings. It is in the interests of her innocence that if these things happened in other places it tends to show what happened in Winkles was of a similar nature. Did you ever hear of strange happenings in Winkles before Easter Week? – No.
Would you say how many times the house was blessed with holy water? – I could not say. My wife blesses the house with holy water every night.
Had something been left into the hotel by a travelling woman the previous week? – Yes. It was a clay model of a head, a human head. / Did you do something with that head at the request of your wife? – No. / What was done with that head? – It was put in an oven to harden. / At whose instigation was it thrown out? – I do not know. / Do you know if it was your wife? – No. / Did the person who left it come back for it? – No.
Maura Brogan, a pupil of Seamount College, Kinvara, having corroborated counsel’s statement said that when she and others went out in the corridor they noticed smoke. Accused was in the toilet at the time. It was discovered there was a fire in one of the bedrooms. Cross-examined by Mr O’Connor, the witness said that they sprinkled Holy Water in all the rooms ont he instructions of either Mrs Winkle or Mrs Moylan.
Today’s Hearing.
First witness at this morning’s hearing was Sgt. Gerald Barry, Gort, who read a statement from the accused denying all the charges against her. The jury retired while Mr O’Connor made submissions concerning the admissibility of the evidence. After the jury had been recalled, Sgt. Barry gave evidence. He said he met the accused outside the Gort Court House on June 5th, and handed her a letter. After reading it she said: “I don’t remember writing that at all.” When witness asked her if it was her handwriting, she did not reply. When the Guard called to her home and asked her for a specimen of her handwriting, she refused to give it.
The Sergeant stated that when he charged her on May 1st, the accused said”I didn’t do it. I didn’t burn Winkle’s Hotel at all.” To further charges on June 5th she said: “I am innocent of all these charges.”
Cross-examined by Mr O’Connor, the Sergeant said that he did not think it was necessary to go to defendant’s solicitor before handing her the letter. Mr O’Connor: There was a good deal of publicity given to these fires in the newspapers. In the “Irish Independent” a statement appeared that the police were not inclined to the view that these fires were not sabotage – I heard about it.
Were the priests who blessed the house and said Mass there, approached to give evidence about the authorship of these fires? – As far as I know, no.
Det. Guard Horgan proved photographs taken by him of the accused’s signature in the charge and entries in a pass book.
A.C. Brooks, Naas, State Handwriting expert, said that he came to the definite conclusion that a letter submitted to him had been written by the same hand that had written certain entries in a hand book. He also concluded that the signature on the letter was in the handwriting of the accused having compared it with the signature on the charge.
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Accused Not Guilty.
There was a sensational ending to the trial just before going to Press. Judge Durcan refused to allow a letter written by the accused to the jury, saying that it had flowed directly within a matter of hours after the accused and her sister had spent four hours in Gort Garda Station. He directed the jury to return verdicts of not guilty on each of the counts. The accused was then acquitted.
Galway Observer, 9th October 1954.