Extraordinary Hoax.
For more than a fortnight the quiet little village of Aughrim was kept in a condition of excitement and suspense by curious nocturnal rappings, and other noises in the house of one of the inhabitants. Night after night the house was surrounded by a large crowd of people from the village and the neighbourhood listening with much curiosity, not unmingled with awe to the strange sounds that issued forth.
Many efforts were made by the more intelligent and respectable visitors to unravel the mystery, but without effect. As may be readily conceived the general belief was that the disturbances were occasioned by ghostly intruders, and many were the speculations indulged in as to the cause or object of the visitation.
At length two very ingenious and enterprising gentlemen resolved at all hazards to make the acquaintance of the ghost, and succeeded in accomplishing what so many had failed in.
To their intense astonishment, and that of the whole population, they detected the disturber in the person of the servant girl of the house, who manifestly was in league with her master and mistress in the strange performance.
The inhabitants now rest quietly in their beds at night, somewhat cured of their belief in the existence of ghostly agents; but all inquiry and conjecture have hitherto failed to arrive at any probable object for conceiving and so perseveringly carrying out such an extraordinary imposition. – Ballinasloe Star.
Roscommon and Leitrim Gazette, 11th July 1868.