p56.
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.
p118.
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, &c., probably rests on the varied manifestations of poltergeists.” The popular explanation of [the previous story] bears out this conclusion, and it is further emphasised 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 th ehouse 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.
From ‘True Irish Ghost Stories’ (1914), compiled by St. John D. Seymour and Harry L. Neligan.
The craze for the research of spiritualism and holding of spiritualistic seance appears to have suffered the death those crazes usually suffer. At least the holding of seances here in Ireland, or even in England, has not the attraction of years ago. With the death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the hankering for a peep at the doings in the world beyond the grave lost its keenness, and many who had previously been ardent enthusiasts of spiritualism found their beliefs shaken when the controls were worked by amateurs.
Although decidedly sceptical with regard to matters of this kind I must acknowledge that there are men of great minds and super-intelligence who have gone into this question and find there is something in it – something which cannot be accounted for or explained. Without touching on spiritualism or anything in that line there is a case in point which has never been definitely explained and in fact defies explanation.
I refer to a house situated near Portarlington (Liex), a comparatively modern building of fine appearance which has had to be dismantled because of supernatural disturbances. The house is a fine two-storied residence, a short distance in from the main road and close beside the Protestant Church and Cemetery of Lea. When the house was built some sixty years ago it was found to be uninhabitable and the owner had to build another house some distance away in which the family are now living. Professor Barrett, one time President of the Society for Psychical Research, it is stated, investigated this particular case with two others, one in Wexford and one in Enniskillen. In all cases the manifestations were exactly similar, and took the form of missiles being hurled through the air, of crockery and even furniture flying about, bedclothes dragged off the beds and the occupants flung on to the floor, and the bedstead tilted up or dragged about the room.
Before I read Professor Barrett’s report I made inquiries from residents in the district as to the nature of the disturbances in this particular house and the information given was in exact accordance with that of Professor Barrett.
Every effort was made to remove those strange influences from the house, but it was of no avail, and a few years ago it was dismantled, the beautiful new roof of slate being taken away and the windows removed. The walls still stand intact.
Professor Barrett in his writings attributes the phenomena to what is known as the “poltergeist” and the points specially indicated by him as characteristic of this class of spook are “the invisibility of the agents, the sporadic and temporary nature of the manifestations, and notably their dependence upon the presence of some particular individual – usually a young person and often a child – who must be assumed to possess strange, if unconscious, mediumistic powers.”
Reading the article of Fr. Thurston, S.J., on the subject of “Poltergeists” it becomes rather clear that the weird and strange happenings in the parish of Allen a few years ago were due, or in some way emanated from this particular source. The happenings are practically similar to those descirbed in a series of cases given and vouched for by clergymen of high standing, and Fr. Thurston in his summing up states that it is difficult to say if they are really the direct work of diabolic agencies. Possibly the answer will never be solved.
Kildare Observer and Eastern Counties Advertiser, 8th April 1933.