A Tyrone “Ghost.”
Mysterious noises in Tyrone house.
Family forced to remove.
As the result of mysterious nocturnal happenings in the district of Brackey, a townland between Drumnakilly and Sixmilecross, Co. Tyrone, a family named Thompson, the occupants of a labourer’s cottage belonging to Omagh Rural Council, have been obliged to vacate the house, and have gone to reside with relatives in the district of Gillygooley, Omagh, says our correspondent.
The Thompson household consists of Richard Thompson, the tenant, his wife, and their son aged 15.
The trouble at the cottage originated some weeks ago when noises heard throughout the night were intermingled with screams and moans of a person apparently in distress.
The Thompsons did not pay any particular attention to the strange occurrence for some time, but eventually matters became so bad that they informed the neighbours, several of whom remained in the cottage with them at nights and also heard what they describe as tappings on the walls and a noise such as would be made by a hammer, but they did not hear the moans or screams reported to have been heard earlier by the Thompsons.
As the trouble continued and the Thompson family suffered from loss of sleep they vacated the cottage. The matter is being investigated by the police. The cottage is visited daily by numbers of people from a distance.
Northern Whig, 18th August 1939.
Mysterious noises in cottage.
Reported occurrences at Brackey.
Plight of labourer and family.
Forced to evacuate the building.
Police investigating the affair.
Some excitement has been created in Brackey, a hitherto quiet and secluded district about four miles from Omagh in the Carrickmore direction, during the week by the news that mysterious noises were being heard in the cottage of a labourer named Thompson, who resides with his wife and fifteen year old son.
It appears that the reported and inexplicable noises were being heard for some time before the members of the household made known their plight to the public. When the news got abroad people, in large numbers visited the scene.
The sounds which, it is stated, have been heard in various parts of the house and outside it are described as resembling moans as if coming from a person in distress, and at other times like a knocking as if made by a hammer. The noises occur mostly during the night and usually commence about midnight, with a recurrence at various times throughout the night. This state of things, it is said, has been going on for some time and neighbours and others, anxious to hear these eerie noises have sat up in the house, with the result that a regular vigil by people, numbering usually between ten and fifteen, has been kept, and some of these state that they heard the tapping sound coming from various parts of the house.
The building is a tidy labourer’s cottage, situated in a quiet neighbourhood, and on Tuesday, it is said, the Thompsons had left the house and went to live with friends north of Omagh. A neighbour said she had been told that when the family tried to sleep the bed commenced to rock. This neighbour added that the Thompson family suffered from loss of sleep. Several neighbours, when interviewed, said that when they were sitting up they heard regular staccato knocks, but none of them heard the groans which, it is understood, were only heard by the Thompsons.
One lady said she heard a noise in an upper room, as did others who were present in the house, but none of them attempted to investigate the cause. A youth said he heard rattling and clanging of the gate although it was a dead calm night, in addition to various other noises in the vicinity of the house, which could not be accounted for. A man who resides nearby also alleges that he heard the knocking and scratching at a window.
The residents of the district, who are obviously of an extremely credulous nature, put some novel and fairy tale interpretations on the occurrences, some attributing the affair to the influence of a “Gentle Tree” which was interfered with. The “Gentle Tree” when pointed out proved to be an aged and gnarled thorn bush standing in an isolated position in the middle of a patch of ground. The tree was surrounded by netting wire to keep in chickens and the people round about say that “the wire interferes with the free access of the fairies to the tree.”
The matter has been reported to the police who have been making investigation, but they cannot, it is understood, trace the cause of the peculiar noises.
Frontier Sentinel, 19th August 1939.
Midnight Moans.
Mystery noises in Tyrone cottage.
Family take refuge with friends.
Mysterious noises, alleged to have been heard for some time past in a labourer’s cottage in Brackey district, near Omagh, have become so disturbing to the residents, writes our correspondent, that they were forced to evacuate the dwelling and go to live with relatives in Gillygooley, some miles away. The cottage involved is that of a flax scutcher named Richard Thompson, who resided there with his wife and 15-years-old son.
Thompson states that the noises had been going on at night in the cottage and vicinity for a considerable time before the famimly made their unpleasant experience known to the neighbours. The news attracted large numbers from the surrounding districts, and neighbours who kept vigil with the family at night state they heard the eerie noises distinctly – taps on the walls, as if by a wooden mallet, and rattling of a gate in front of the cottage. The noises, it is alleged, usually commenced about midnight, and went on periodically until dawn. The Thompsons state that they heard moans both outside and in apartments in the cottage when no person other then themselves could be found in the vicinity.
A lady who lives in the neighbourhood says she herself was terrified when in the cottage. At night she heard tappings on the wall in an adjoining room, but on investigation no person was there. This lady states that the Thompsons told her that in the early stages of the trouble when they retired for the night the beds rocked. She added that the Thompsons suffered, and were fatigued as a result of several sleepless nights, and then left the cottage.
The police have been investigating the affair, but yet there is no solution of the mystery. The scene is being visited by crowds, and the affair is the talk of the whole countryside.
Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiner, 26th August 1939.
Omagh Council’s Problem
“It is all nonsense.”
At Omagh Rural Council on Saturday the clerk read a letter from Mr C Wilson on behalf of his brother-in-law, Mr R Thompson, stating that he and his family were on a visit from England, and had been invited to spend a night in the Council’s cottage at Brackey occupied by Thompson. He added, “I wish to state to you that we spent the night in the house and heard a series of peculiar noises, such as tapping on windows and scraping along the front and back of the house, and also a shrill scream four or five times during the early hours of the morning.”
He appealed to the Council to find a new house for the Thompson’s, as they had not got proper sleep for five or six weeks and it was detrimental to their health. The letter concluded, “You are quite welcome to come and stay the night, and you will no doubt agree with me that it is not a ghost as stated in the papers, but some kind of spirit.” (Loud laughter).
Mr A Logan (rent collector) – It is all nonsense. Pay no heed to it.
Mr A Patterson – I propose that we invite Mr W J Watson to spend a night in the house and report to us his experiences at the next meeting. (Laughter.)
Mr W J Watson – Will the Council be responsible for any spirits I may bring to the house? (Loud laughter).
The Chairman (Mr John Watson) said if the tenants continued to broadcast this sort of nonsense about the house the Council might take serious notice of it.
Belfast Telegraph, 4th September 1939.
Tyrone “Ghost” Cottage.
Keen competition for tenancy.
There was keen interest at Omagh Rural Council meeting on Saturday in connexion with the letting of a labourer’s cottage at Braskey, between Drumnakilly and Sixmilecross.
More than a year ago a strange knocking was heard on the doors, walls and windows of the cottage, and hundreds of people visited the spot by day and night in an effort to elucidate the mystery. So bad did conditions become that the tenant and his wife and family were unable to get any rest, and for a time were obliged to vacate the dwelling.
The former tenant has now left the cottage, and there were half-a-dozen applications for the tenancy. Two applicants were proposed – Thomas Campbell and J.J. Maguire, and by 17 votes to 15 Campbell was accepted as tenant.
Northern Whig, 14th October 1940.