Ghost!
A mystery stranger than fiction surrounds the Top Shop building on Church Lane. Unexplained voices, moving objects, the hanging trees of St Patrick’s, the ghost of Katie Long. Times Reporter Roger Anderson investigates.
Ghosts and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night… Most of us would admit to at least a passing interest in the supernatural. In fact such is the popularity of the subject that Hollywood deemed it profitable enough to create the celluloid blockbuster ‘Ghost.’ However Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore were merely acting out a romanticised script – what happens when the paranormal rears its head in the lives of everyday people? What do you say when it is you who witness an incident which cannot be interpreted in conventional terms? How do you explain the inexplicable?
Tradition would have us believe that ghosts and poltergeists prefer to frequent cobwebbed surroundings provided by old rickety houses with wooden shutters and large foreboding cellars. However the staff in a leading store in the heart of Coleraine have reported strange ‘goings on’ which are sure to have sceptics scoffing. The site of these paranormal phenomena is the building on the corner of Church Lane occupied by the multi-national Top Shop chain. A member of staff takes up the story:
“The first incident happened several years ago. Two female members of staff were working in the stock room in front of a row of hangers which runs for approximately 15 feet. Then without warning the hangers moved, like the keys on a piano when someone runs their fingers along them. The girls came out petrified but we just laughed at them. However when we went to investigate five or six minutes later we witnessed the same strange events.”
At this stage the staff remained sceptical but further incidents caused a serious rethink. “I was having a late afternoon break in the tearoom which is through three separate doors at the back of the shop,” said a member of staff. “I heard someone call my name clearly but when I turned round there was no-one there. My initial reaction was that someone was messing around so I ran out to the shop floor to catch them. However when I reached the floor several seconds later I was amazed to see all the staff members at the cash desk 20 or 30 feet away. Naturally I didn’t want to start talking about ghosts but at that point my initial scepticism was definitely waning.”
The next strange occurrence was witnessed simultaneously by three members of staff. A sports shoe which was sitting on the cash desk suddenly flipped up and hit the ground. The phenomenon of the moving objects was later repeated over the course of the next few months. “There was one black suede boot which flipped eight times in three weeks. This was witnessed by customers, staff and management alike. On one occasion the management told me to fix the boot securely on its stand. The next morning when I came to work it was lying ten feet from where I had put it – you explain that to me.”
The same boot was also at the centre of another unusual incident. A member of the Top Shop staff again takes up the story: “A man came in with his wife and he tried on the boot and said he really liked it. Then suddenly without warning he took the boot off threw it to the floor and stormed out of the shop leaving his red-faced wife to apologise saying ‘she didn’t know what had come over her husband’.”
The above are only a sample of many separate happenings which also include shirts falling out of sealed packets, arms on mannequins dropping out of their sockets, rows of clothes moving of their own accord and wall poles and fixtures inexplicably coming away from their moorings despite being bolted to the wall. “In many cases the Exit light at the back of the shop flickers just before something happens,” said a member of staff. “If the bulb was going to flicker it invariably means the light is about to go out. However after this light has finished flickering it merely returns to normal. Over the past few years practically every member of staff has witnessed some phenomena that cannot be explained. It has definitely gone well past the stage where you could put it down to practical jokers or freak accidents. Sometimes the incidents happen and then there is nothing for months. Just when you think that perhaps you had imagined it all along comes another incident. We are all reasonable people but we can’t explain what has been going on.”
In an effort to shed some light on the experiences of the Top Shop staff the Times enlisted the help of local historian Sammy Walker. Sammy, a former Alderman of Coleraine, is one of the foremost experts on local history and he has come up with some interesting findings. “Before Top Shop the building was occupied by McFarlane’s Garage. Further back in its past it belonged to Woodburn’s who ran a grocery, flour and meal business from the site. However if you go even further back into the annals of history the building housed a company called William Longs. Longs were highly respected cabinet makers and also undertakers,” explained Sammy. Over the years Longs the undertakers have been the source of many ghost stories. William Longs sister Katie died there and folklore has it that she haunted the area around Church Lane.
The Top Shop building is also less than ten yards from the infamous St Patrick’s ‘hanging trees’. “The hanging trees were used regularly for executions,” said Sammy. “Several of the United Irsihmen were hanged there after the 1798 rebellion. The last of the hanging trees was eventually blown away during a severe thunderstorm in 1905. Naturally enough any building that is built on or near a graveyard will be a great source for story and rumour.”
Trying to convince the staff at Top Shop that the phenomena they have witnessed is the result of a fertile and over active imagination may be difficult. Trying to convince sceptics that the supernatural or the spirit world is at work in the Top Shop building may also prove impossible. Whether you chose to believe that Katie Long has returned to haunt the Church Street building or that everything that has happened can be scientifically explained is up to you. I know what I believe…
Coleraine Times, 27th November 1991.
Lively spirits keep Top Shop staff on their toes.
Calling ghostbusters!
By Sunday Life reporter.
Staff at a leading store in the heart of Coleraine are at the centre of a real life Christmas ghost story! Ghosts and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night are regarded by most people as the product of a vivid imagination. But don’t tell that to the staff of Top Shop at Church Lane.
Shirts falling out of sealed packets, arms on mannikins dropping out of their sockets, rows of clothes moving on their own and wall poles and fixtures coming from their moorings despite being bolted to the wall are just a sample of the strange goings-on. An employee takes up the story:
“The first incident happened several years ago. Two female employees were working in the stock room in front of a row of hangers which runs for about 15 feet. Then, without warning, the hangers moved like the keys on a piano when someone runs their fingers along them.”
The woman said on another occasion she heard someone mysteriously calling out her name, but when she turned around there was no-one there. The feeling that the supernatural was at work in the store increased when a sports shoe sitting on a cash desk suddenly flipped up and hit the ground. “There was one black suede boot which flipped eight times in three weeks. This was witnessed by customers and management alike,” the employee added. “I was told to fix the boot to the stand but next morning I found it ten feet from where I had put it.”
Coleraine historian Sammy Walker, a former local alderman, has tried to shed some light on the mystery. “If you go back in the annals of history you find that the Top Shop building housed a company called William Long,” he said. “Long’s were highly respected cabinet makers and undertakers. Over the years Long’s the undertakers have been the source of many ghost stories. William Long’s sister Katie died there and folklore has it that she haunted the area around Church Lane. The Top Shop building is also less than 10 yards from the infamous St Patrick’s ‘hanging trees.’ The trees were used regularly for executions.”
Sunday Life, 22nd December 1991.