“Ghost” at Enniscorthy.
Furniture tossed about.
From our Correspondent, Enniscorthy, Friday.
For some time past strange stories have been afloat as to certain occurrences which took place in a private house in John street in this town. Within the past few days they have been continued, and it is now the firm belief that the extraordinary occurrances have been nothing more nor less than a ghostly visitation. In the house to which the “ghost” pays his nightly visit is a room which had been occupied for a considerable time by two young men and a boy.
On the first night of the strange happenings they retired to rest at the usual hour and noticed nothing wrong till midnight, when one of them was awakened by tappings that seemed to come at intervals from different parts of the house. He paid no heed to them, but a moment later felt the clothes being gently drawn off the bed. This either did not cause him any fright, as he believed his companion was playing a joke, from which he politely requested him to desist. The latter denied he was playing a joke, and, as the tappings continued, a candle was lighted, but there was no one in the room save those who had entered it earlier in the night.
They then locked the door on the inside, and endeavoured to go to sleep, but the tappings were resumed. A light was again procured, and the knockings ceased, but immediately on the candle being extinguished they were resumed, and continued for about two hours. The men then went to sleep, but on awakening in the morning were astounded to find the bed at the other side of the room.
On the following night substantially the same thing happened, and one of the men refused to sleep in the “haunted” bed. When he joined his companion in another bed, the empty bed was raised up in the air quite to the ceiling, turned over, and laid down legs upward. The men refused to sleep in the room after this, but for several mornings afterwards, although the room was untenanted, the furniture was found to have been changed during the night.
The occurrences have caused much surprise in the town, and their cause is still a matter of mystery.
Dublin Daily Express, 30th July 1910. (also in the Enniscorthy Echo).
“Ghost’s” Silly Antics.
Pranks in an Enniscorthy House.
Watcher’s strange experience.
Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir Hiram Maxim, not to mention the redoubtable W.T.Stead, are in urgent demand in the little town of Enniscorthy just at present. For some time past mysterious happenings have been taking place in Enniscorthy in a house occupied by a man and his wife who keep a small restaurant and boarding-house. Amongst other weird “manifestations” stated to have occurred was the pulling off of bedclothes in one room by an unseen hand. On one occasion a sleeper, according to his own story, was pulled out of the bed and knocked against the fender in the room. If something is not speedily done the boarding-house is likely to suffer a loss of boarders.
In the absence of any enterprising member of the Psychical Research Society a local newspaper correspondent took his courage in both hands and made a carefuly inspection of the “haunted” room. The floor was carefully gone over, the beds pulled about and examined, and the walls tapped in every direction. Everything was found to be in perfect order, with no sign of a trap any place. The Pressman then asked permission to stay a night in the “haunted” room, which he was at once granted. Suitably armed and accompanied by a companion the Pressman, having learned that the manifestation generally began at 11 o’clock at night, entered the “haunted” room at that hour. The two lodgers who occupied the two beds in the room retired to rest and the light was extinguished.
At 11.30 the two watchers, who were seated in the room heard a distinct tapping which grew quicker and quicker. Then in a terrified voice came a cry from one of the beds: “The clothes are going off me! Good God, they are going off me!” One ofthe watchers struck a light and found the clothes being drawn off the bed, as if they were being blown off by a strong wind or dragged by an invisible hand. The youth in bed lay motionless, and seemed terrified. The light was again extinguished, and once more the tapping began.
Then it suddenly stopped just as a quarter to twelve midnight rang out. Once more a voice was heard from the beds, and a cry in piteous accents: “They are going again. They are at me. Something is shoving me. I am going.” A light was once more struck, and the boy who had cried out was found on the floor with the sheet under him, the blanket and quilt over him, as if he had been carried from the bed. The perspiration was rolling off him in great beads, and his face was white with terror.
The watchers searched every corner and crevice of the room but could find nothing. When midnight was tolled by the cathedral all was still, but soon after the tappings began, at one time from one corner and another time from a different place. The watchers left at 3 o’clock in the morning, having secured absolutely no clue to one of the most weird occurrences that has started the town and district for many years.
Northern Whig, 3rd August 1910.
Weird Happenings in Haunted House.
Pressman’s Vigil.
Young Sleeper’s Terrifying Ordeal.
A weird experience of two watchers, one a Pressman, in a reputed haunted house in Enniscorthy, is related by the Dublin correspondent of the “Daily News.” For some time past mysterious happenings are reported to have occurred in a house occupied by a man and his wife, who keep a small restaurant and boarding-place.
Amongst other weird manifestations stated to have occurred was the removal of bedclothes in one room by an unseen hand. On another occasion a sleeper, according to his own story, was pulled out of the bed and knocked against the fender in the room. All these queer occurrences were preceded by tappings and rappings, which could not be accounted for.
Wishing to probe into the story a local Pressman called at the house and inspected the “haunted” room. The floor was carefully scrutinised, the beds pulled about and examined, and the walls tapped in every direction. Everything was apparently in perfect order.
The Pressman asked permission to stay the night in the haunted room, a request which was at once granted. Armed and accompanied by a companion, the Pressman having learned that manifestations generally began after 10 o’clock at night, entered the room at that hour. Two lodgers who occupied beds in the room retired to rest and the light was extinguished.
At about 11.30 the two watchers, who were seated in the room, heard a distinct tapping, which grew quicker and quicker. Then came a terrified cry from one of the beds – “The clothes are going off me.” One of the watchers struck a light, and found the clothes leaving the bed, as if carried by a strong wind or dragged by an invisible hand. The youth in bed lay motionless and seemed terrified. The light was again extinguished and once more the tapping began. Then it suddenly stopped. Just as a quarter to midnight rang out the voice was again heard from the bed in piteous accents. “They are going again. They are at me. Something is shoving me, I am going.”
A light was struck, and the boy who had cried out was found on the floor with a sheet under him as if he had been carried from the bed. Perspiration was rolling off him in great beads, and his face was blanched. The watchers searched every corner and crevice of the room, but could find nothing to account for what had taken place. When midnight was tolled by the Cathedral bell all was still, but soon after the tappings were resumed. At one time they seemed to be in one corner of the room, and at another in a different place.
The watchers left at three o’clock in the morning, having secured absolutely no clue to one of the most weird occurrences that has startled the town and the district for many years.
Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 3rd August 1910.
(the recounting in the Fifeshire Advertiser mentions the boarding-house owners to be called Redmond).
Truly, this was a wonderful ghost. Sceptics may point out that these things happened in the dark, and that it would not be very hard to contrive the whole thing. But then there was “the perspiration rolling off him in great beads,” to say nothing of “his face white with terror,” symptoms which even a consummate actor would find it hard to simulate. Otherwise we would have been inclined to call the whole thing a “fake”. Yet we do wonder if this ghost has any connection with a rival boarding house in Enniscorthy. The story reminds us very forcibly of a tale which appears in Sir Walter Scott’s introduction to “Woodstock,” in which the ghost is made to scare the Roundheads who had occupied the castle by tossing about the beds and bedclothes. It is really difficult to know what to make of the Enniscorthy tale, assuming it is true.
North Down Herald and County Down Independent, 5th August 1910.
Haunted?
Visitations still continue in house in Enniscorthy.
Last week we referred to the strange occurrences which were alleged to have taken place in a house in Enniscorthy for which there was not as far as could be ascertained any physical explanation. Loth to attribute the occurences to a psychic agency, many people believed, however, that while there was no doubt that what was alleged took place there was some explanation that would agree with the facts of every day life. Therefore the house was visited by many people who wished to settle once and for all the nature of the strange happenings.
At first tricks were freely suggested, and plausible theories were put forward as to how the rappings could be carried on and the other matters connected with the strange visitation. Amongst the number a Pressman and his friend decided to stop in the “haunted” room all night with the following result:
The premises were carefully examined to see that no outsider was present, and then the location of the room and its position in regard to the other parts of the house was carefully noted, so that all possibility of being deceived was out of the question. In the room underneath there is a very high ceiling, and a suggestion that the taps came from below was discounted by the fact that the ceiling showed not the slightest trace of anything that would have made noise enough for the rappings to be heard above.
When the watchers went into the room the young fellow, before referred to, went to bed, both the room and bed being first carefully examined. The light was extinguished and the watchers waited in silence. The minutes passed slowly, and it seemed as if nothing would occur, and then “tap” “tap” “tap” on the floor like the drumming of unseen fingers, now faster until a perfect rain of blows came, and then a cessation for a moment and the taps commence anew, but from a different portion of the floor.
A light was lit, but there was no sign of anything that could account for the noise. The closest search failed to give the slightest clue, and the rapping again continued. It was irritating to listen to them, their sudden outbreaks, and as sudden cessations, and one felt that something invisible was playing a practical joke. The feeling they gave was one not of fear, but of irritation, at the causeless and irregular knocks. After a while they died away and all was silence again and darkness in the room, silence that was broken by a cry from the boy, and the clothes were drawn swiftly but gently off the bed towards the foot and underneath.
So much the watchers could see, but again a light gave no clue to account for the occurrence, and the taps were recommenced as if in mocking. The boy again lay on the bed, and intermittently for over an hour the taps were easily audible, and then came the crowning sensation, a sensation that was almost welcome in the nerve-wracking silence broken by the ghostly rappings. The boy was pushed out on the floor! Beads of perspiration stood upon his face and he trembled violently. He could give no explanation of how it occurred. He was pushed out, that was all he could tell, and the noise that shortly after recommenced almost sent him into a paroxysm of terror. He refused to go to bed again, but after much persuasion lay down, the light being kept lighted, and till the first streaks of day the “tap,” “tap” “tap” continued, now repeated in single taps, now running into a whole series reminiscent of the swift fingering of a piano until finally they died away.
None of those who were present are able to give any explanation as to the occurrence, and the general belief is that the cause is a super-physical one.
Enniscorthy Echo and South Leinster Advertiser, 6th August 1910.
Invisible spirits in Enniscorthy.
Series of extraordinary occurrences.
Bed turned upside down.
For some time past strange stories have been circulating as to certain occurrences which took place in a house in John Street, Enniscorthy. As to the truth of the stories there cannot be a shadow of a doubt, for those who tell them are most respectable people, and all are unanimous in their accounts of what they believe to be a ghostly visitation.
Two young men and a boy were sleeping in a room that they had occupied together for a considerable time. On the first night of the occurrences they retired to rest as usual, and noticed nothing wrong till about midnight. One of them was awakened by tappings at intervals from different parts of the house. He paid no heed to them for a while, and a moment later felt the clothes being gently drawn off the bed. He told the other occupant of the room to stop pulling off the clothes, as at the time he believed his friend was playing a joke on him.
The friend denied that he had stirred from his bed, at the other side of the room, and the tappings still continued. Both the men were curious to know what was wrong, and a candle was lighted but there was no one else in the room but the men and the boy. They then locked the door on the inside, and again endeavoured to go to sleep, but the knockings continued, and the first man was almost suffocated by being rolled up in his bed-clothing, and had to be released by his friend. They again lighted the candle, but no one was in the room and the knocks ceased, but on extinguishing the light they recommenced and continued for at least a couple of hours, and the men then went asleep. In the morning the bed was at the other side of the room.
On the second night practically the same things happened, but when one of the men refused to sleep in the bed any longer, and got into the other bed with his companion and the boy, the bed was raised into the air quite up to the ceiling, and then turned over and laid down legs upward. All the occupants of the room were thoroughly frightened, and immediately a light was lighted, but there was nothing in the room that could account for the occurrence.
The men refused to sleep in the room after this, but for several mornings, although the room was untenanted, the furniture was found to have been changed during the night. The occurrence has caused considerable surprise, and what caused the strange happenings is still a matter of mystery.
Kerry People, 6th August 1910.
Bedroom Spooks.
Extraordinary Southern Incidents.
The people of Enniscorthy are greatly exercised in connection with extraordinary incidents which have occurred within the past few days in a house in Enniscorthy. The incidents, our correspondent states, have been authenticated.
A room in the house is occupied by two young men and a boy. On the first night of the strange happenings they retired to rest at the usual hour, and noticed nothing wrong until midnight, when one of them was awakened by tappings that seemed to come at intervals from different parts of the house. He paid no heed to them, but a moment later felt the clothes being gently drawn off the bed.
Believing his companion was playing a joke, he requested him to desist. The latter denied he was playing a joke, and as the tappings continued a candle was lighted, but there was no one in the room save the two young men and the boy. They then locked the door on the inside and endeavoured to go asleep, but the tappings were resumed. A light was again procured, and the knockings ceased, but immediately on the candle being extinguished they were resumed and continued for about two hours. The men then went asleep, but on awakening in the morning were astounded to find the bed at the other side of the room.
On the following night the same thing happened, and one of the men refused to sleep in the “haunted” bed.
When he joined his companion in another bed, the empty bed was raised up in the air quite up to the ceiling, turned over and laid down legs upwards. All the occupants were greatly frightened, and when a light was procured it was ascertained there was no one in the room. The men refused to sleep in the room after this, but for several mornings afterwards, although the room was untenanted, the furniture was found to have been changed during the night.
Irish Independent, 6th August 1910.
The Enniscorthy “Ghost”.
The Enniscorthy “ghost,” which has aroused such extraordinary interest in matters of a psychic nature, and of whose previous history readers are familiar, whilst being of a playful temperament, is now possessed of peripatetic habits. It is now located, states our Enniscorthy correspondent, in a different quarter of the town. Perhaps, after all, many persons, with reasons well known to themselves, look very rationally on the affair as a good practical joke.
Each successive day brings fresh theories, which are always embellished to a considerable extent, regarding the extraordinary occurrences which still continue.
Irish Independent, 13th August 1910.
The Enniscorthy Ghost.
On Tuesday Professor Barrett, president of the Psychical Research Society, visited Enniscorthy to inquire into the recent occurrence in the house in John street which is said to be haunted. Mr Barrett, who has spent many years investigating such cases, had a lengthy interview with Messrs NJ Murphy and W. D[…] both of whom were present in the room with the boy when the occurrences took place.
Both told him of the noises and of the boy being thrown from the bed, and all the other details which are already familiar to our readers. Mr Barrett also interviewed the boy, and after an exhaustive investigation expressed the opinion that there was scarcely any doubt that the phenomenon was due to spiritual agency. He had investigated many such cases, and in numbers of them was present while the phenomena were taking place. Some houses, he said, seemed to possess an attraction for wandering spirits who played all sorts of malicious pranks with the articles and furniture, and similarly persons were subject to be tormented by them. As to the nature of the spirits, he did not regard them as having any connection with human beings, but were merely wandering spirits belonging to a different plane from ours. Mr Barrett was for many years a professor in Trinity College, Dublin.
Enniscorthy Echo and South Leinster Advertiser, 10th December 1910.
The Enniscorthy “Haunted House” Case.
Professor W.F. Barrett, F.R.S., who visited Enniscorthy in December, 1910, in connection with the phenomena experienced by Messrs. N.J. Murphy, Owen Devereux, George Sinnott, and John Randall in a house in Court street, has just contributed a paper on the subject to the Society for Psychical Research. The title of the paper is “Poltergeists Old and New,” and in this paper Professor Barrett sets forth the different statements of the persons who experienced the phenomena and also the results of his own investigations. He does not pretend to explain the cause of the phenomena. “Poltergeist” is a convenient term, he points out, to describe those apparently meaningless noises, disturbances, and movements of objects, for which no assignable cause can be discovered.
Free Press (Wexford), 14th October 1911.
The Enniscorthy Case.
The first case I will relate has recently occurred at Enniscorthy, a town in Co. Wexford. My attention was drawn to the matter through a letter from the representative of a local newspaper, Mr Murphy. After some correspondence, and in answer to my request, Mr Murphy kindly drew up the accompanying admirable report:
Statement by Mr N.J. Murphy.
The strange manifestations which took place at Enniscorthy last July, 1910, may perhaps interest some students of Psychology, and more particularly the members of the Dublin Section of the Society for Psychical Research.
At the outset let me say that I am a journalist by profession and in pursuit of “copy” for the paper I represent, “The Enniscorthy Guardian,” I was brought into touch with those concerned in the manifestations, and introduced to the room where these manifestations occurred.
The “haunted” house was one in which a labouring man named Nicholas Redmond and his wife resided in Court Street, Enniscorthy. Redmond’s earnings were supplemented by his wife keeping boarders. On the ground floor of the house are two rooms – a shop and a kitchen. Both are lofty and spacious, and the latter is situated under the room in which the manifestations occcurred. The upstairs portion of the premises consists of three bedrooms. The floors of these bedrooms are of wood, and all are intact, the house being a comparatively new one. Two of the bedrooms look out on the street, and the third, in which the occurrences took place, is situate at the back of these. All three are entered from the same landing and are on the same level. Redmond and his wife slept in the front room immediately adjoining the room in which the occurrences described below took place. The rear bedroom were occupied by two young men who were boarders. They had separate beds. Their names are John Randall, a native of Killurin, in this County, and George Sinnott, of Ballyhogue, in this County. Both these men are carpenters by trade. I can bear personal testimony to the occurrences which I am about to describe. I accepted nothing on hearsay evidence, and I place my experiences before your Society exactly as the circumstances occurred to me. Many of the details have already been published in the daily papers, and are quite true, much of what appeared having been written by myself.
Hearing strange rumours about the house, I proceeded to make enquiries. The owner of the house replied to my questions that the rumours I had heard of the house were quite true, and in response to my application for permission to remain all night in the “haunted” room, he replied: “I will make you as comfortable as I can, and you can remain as long as you want to, and bring a friend with you, too, because you will feel more comfortable.” My next move was to procure a volunteer to accompany me, who was found in the person of Mr Owen Devereux, of the “Devereux” Cycle Works, Enniscorthy. Together we went to the house on the night of the 29th July 1910, and immediately proceeded to make a tour of inspection. Sinnott, Randall, and the owner of the house having gone out of the room for a few moments, we made a close inspection of the apartment.
The beds were pulled out from the walls and examined, the clothing being searched; the flooring was minutely inspected, and the walls and fireplace examined. Everything was found quite normal. Sinnott’s bed was placed with the head at the window. The window faced the door as one entered the room. Randall’s bed was placed at the opposite end of the room at right angles to Sinnott’s, and with the foot to the door.
The two boys prepared to retire, Mrs Redmond having placed two chairs in their bedroom for the use of the narrator and his companion. The occupants of the room having been comfortably disposed of – each in his own bed and chair respectively – the light was extinguished. this was about 11.20 p.m.
The night was a clear, starlight night. No blind obstructed the view from outside, and one could see the outlines of the beds and their occupants clearly. At about 11.30 a tapping was heard close at the foot of Randall’s bed. My companion remarked that it appeared to be like the noise of a rat eating at timber. Sinnott replied, “You’ll soon see the rat it is.” The tapping went on slowly at first, say at about the rate of fifty taps to the minute. Then the speed gradually increased to about 100 or 120 per minute, the noise growing louder. This continued for about five minutes, when it stopped suddenly. Randall then spoke. He said: “The clothes are slipping off my bed: look at them sliding off. Good God! they are going off me.” Mr Devereux immediately struck a match which he had ready in his hand. The bedclothes had partly left the boy’s bed, having gone diagonally towards the foot, going out at the left corner, and not alone did they seem to be drawn off the bed, but they appeared to be actually going back under the bed much in the same position one would expect bedclothes to be if a strong breeze were blowing through the room at the time. But then everything was perfectly calm.
Mr Devereux lighted the candle and a thorough search was made under the bed for strings or wires, but nothing could be found. Randall, who stated that this sort of thing had occurred to him on previous nights, appeared very much frightened. I adjusted the clothing again properly on the bed and Randall lay down. The candle was again extinguished. After about ten minutes the rapping recommenced. First slowly, as before. It again increased in speed and volume, and after about the same interval of time it again stopped. When the clothes were going in under the bed on the first occasion, Sinnott sat up in bed and said: “Oh God! look at the clothes going in under the bed.” He also appeared very nervous. The rapping having stopped on the second occasion, Randall’s voice again broke the silence. “They are going again,” he cried; “the clothes are leaving me again.” I said, “Hold them and do not let them go: you only imagine they are going.” He said: “I cannot hold them; they are going, and I am going with them; there is something pushing me from inside: I am going, I am going, I’m gone.”
My companion struck a light just in time to see Randall slide from the bed, the sheet under him, and the sheets, blanket and coverlet over him. He lay on his back on the floor. The movement of his coming out of bed was gentle and regular. There did not appear to be any jerking motion. Whilst he lay on the floor, Randall’s face was bathed in perspiration, which rolled off him in great drops. He was much agitated and trembled in every limb. His terribly frightened condition, especially the beads of perspiration on his face, precludes any supposition that he was privy to any human agency being employed to effect the manifestations. Sinnott again sat up in bed, and appeared terrified also. Mr Redmond, hearing the commotion, came into the room at this time. Randall said: “Oh, isn’t this dreadful? I can’t stand it; I can’t stay any longer here.” We took him from the floor and persuaded him to re-enter the bed again. He did so, and we adjusted the bedclothes.
It was now about midnight. The owner of the house returned to his own room, and we remained watching until about 1.45, and during that time nothing further occurred. Redmond returned then to see how we were getting on, and took a seat by my side in Randall’s bedroom. The three of us having sat there for about five minutes, the rapping again commenced, this time in a different part of the room. Instead of being near the foot of Randall’s bed as heretofore, I located it about the middle of the room at a place about equally distant from each bed. It went on for about fifteen minutes, and then ceased. It was at this time fairly bright, the dawn having appeared in the eastern sky. Randall was not interfered with any further that night, and we remained watching till close on three o’clock, and nothing further having occurred we left the house.
On the following night I remained in that room from eleven o’clock till long past midnight. Neither Randall nor Sinnott were there, having gone home to the country for the usual week-end. I heard or saw nothing unusual.
Randall could not reach that part of the floor from which the rapping came on any occasion without attracting my attention and that of my comrade. I give up the attempt to explain away the strange manifestations. I hope some member of the Society may be able to do so.
Nicholas J. Murphy. 1 George Street, Enniscorthy, August 4th, 1910.
…
I have read the foregoing, and I corroborate the statements therein.
Owen Devereux. August 4th, 1910.
…
In reply to my enquiry whether any further disturbances had since occurred, and that in any case I should wish to make a personal investigation of the matter, I received the following letter from Mr Murphy:
Enniscorthy, November 11, 1910.
Dear Sir, – In reply to yours, I beg to say that the house in which the phenomena occurred is now vacant. The tenant, Mr Redmond, and his wife, left Enniscorthy about the middle of August. Randall left the house on the Monday evening after the occurrence described took place. Nothing unusual was ever seen or heard in the house until Randall went to lodge there. However, I should be very glad to see you in Enniscorthy. Randall and Sinnott are in the town, and you can question them. Mr Devereux and myself are always at your service, and we have no objection to our names and addresses being published. Yours faithfully, N.J. Murphy.
…
I was not able to visit Enniscorthy until a few weeks later, when I spent a day examining the witnesses and the house where the disturbances occurred. The following notes written at the time give the result of my enquiry:
On Tuesday, December 6th, 1910, I visited Enniscorthy, and saw and closely questioned the eye-witnesses mentioned in Mr Murphy’s paper, with the exception of Sinnott and Redmond, who were away. I also saw the servant who slept in a small room adjoining the one in which the disturbances occurred. She scouted the idea of the boys playing tricks, and added an important fact, viz. that the large iron bed in which Sinnott slept along with another lodger had lost one of its castors; nevertheless, it was dragged across the room with the two young men in it, leaving a mark along the floor where the iron leg had scraped along. The bed, she told me, was so heavy that, even with no one in it, she had to get assistance when moving it. She was terribly scared by the disturbances, and left the place as soon as she could. I begged her to write down what she had observed, and Mr Murphy sent me her statement which follows.
I then visited the house where the disturbances took place. It was empty and unfurnished, and in the hands of the painters. The descriptions given by Mr Murphy and by Randall are quite correct. I had a long interview with Randall, and he impressed me very favourably; an intelligent, straightforward youth about eighteen years old. He undertook to write down a detailed account of what had occurred during the time he lodged with Redmond. This he did, and his statement is annexed. Randall is a Protestant, and I saw the rector of his parish, who knew the young man well and testified to his good character and trustworthiness. His letter to me is given later on.
I saw Mr Devereux, the companion whom Mr Murphy took with him. He owns a cycle shop in Enniscorthy, and is a skilled mechanic, an excellent witness. He corroborated Mr Murphy’s statement, and said he went to the house feeling sure he would be able to discover that one or other of the lads was playing a practical joke. But he was unable to unravel the mystery. He said that what occurred in his presence could not possibly have been done by Randall or his companion. I also had an interview with the previous occupant of the house. Nothing had occurred in his time.
…
Statement of Bridget Thorpe.
I was a servant in the house of Mr Nicholas Redmond, 8 Court Street, Enniscorthy. I remember John Randall coming to lodge there. It was on a Monday night he first came. On the following Friday morning I heard John Randall and George Sinnott, another lodger, talking about the clothes being pulled off the bed. On Friday night I heard the bed running about the floor in Randall’s room. I was then in my own room. On the next morning I heard John Randall say that he would not sleep in the house any more. I remember going into Randall’s room one night with Mr Redmond as we heard noises; and when we went in Richard Roche, another lodger, who was there that night, was in one bed and John Randall in another. The bedclothes were all pulled through the bars at the foot of Roche’s bed. Roche was very much frightened. I frequently heard rapping in Randall’s room. I always thought it came from the corner of Randall’s room nearest to Mr Redmond’s room. On the night that Mr Murphy and Mr Devereux were there I heard footsteps walking about the lobby outside the door where they were. I often heard these footsteps. The night I heard the bed running about the floor, the floor shook as if a very strong man was pulling the bed around.
(Signed) B. Thorpe. Witnessed by N.J. Murphy.
…
It will be noticed that Randall mentions two companions in the bedroom with him. This was for a short time the case, but one of them had left when Mr Murphy visited the house.
…
Statement written by J.W. Randall.
On Saturday, the 2nd of July, 1910, I came to work in Enniscorthy as an improver in the carpentry trade. Monday, I went to lodge in a house in Court Street. There were two other men stopping in the same house as lodgers. They slept in the same room also, but shared a different bed at the other side of the room. My bed was in a recess in the wall at the opposite side. There was one large window in the room, which opened both top and bottom. The room was about 14 feet square and 10 feet high. There was one door opening into it. The window already described was in the back wall of the house nearly opposite the door opening into the room from the top landing. There were two other doors on the same landing opening into different rooms. There was also a fireplace in the room.
On Monday night, July 4th, we went to bed, and my first night in the strange house I think I slept pretty soundly. We got up at six o’clock the next morning and went to work. We left off work at six in the evening, and went to bed the same time as the night before, between 10 and 10.30 o’clock, slept soundly, and all went well, also on Wednesday.
Went to bed on Thursday night at 10.45, the three of us going as before. We blew out the light, but the room was then fairly lightsome. We had been only about ten minutes in bed when I felt the clothes being gently drawn from my bed. I first thought it was the others that were playing a joke, so I called out, “Stop, George, it’s too old.” (George being one of their names and the other Richard.) Then I heard them say, “It’s Nick” (that is the name of the man of the house). It wasn’t any of them that had pulled the clothes off me, so they thought it was Nick that was in the room, and did not mind. At this time the clothes had gone off my bed completely, and I shouted to them to strike a match. When they struck a match I found my bedclothes were at the window. The most curious part was that the same time when the clothes were leaving my bed, their bed was moving. I brought back the clothes and got into bed again.
The light was then put out, and it wasn’t long until we heard some hammering in the room – tap-tap-tap-like. This lasted for a few minutes, getting quicker and quicker. When it got very quick their bed started to move out across the floor, and that made us very frightened, and what made us more frightened was the door being shut, and nobody could open it without making a great noise. They then struck a match and got the lamp. We searched the room thoroughly, and could find nobody. Nobody had come in the door.
We called the man of the house (Redmond); he came into the room, saw the bed, and told us to push it back and get into bed (he thought all the time one of us was playing the trick on the other). I said I wouldn’t stay in the other bed by myself, so I got in with the others; we put out the light again, and it had been only a couple of minutes out when the bed ran out on the floor with the three of us. Richard struck a match again, and this time we all got up and put on our clothes; we had got a terrible fright and couldn’t stick it any longer. We told the man of the house we would sit up in the room until daylight.
During the time we were sitting in the room we could hear footsteps leaving the kitchen and coming up the stairs; it would stop on the landing outside the door and wouldn’t come into the room. The footsteps and noises continued through the house until daybreak. We got up at nine o’clock and went to work for a three-quarter day.
That night (Friday) when we went to bed about eleven o’clock we felt a bit nervous in going. We put out the light, and in a few minutes the footsteps started again, and noises. There were also noises like chips getting chopped in the kitchen. This night passed over not near so bad as the night before, but yet we were afraid to go to sleep.
Saturday we all went home for the Sunday, but returned Sunday evening. We went to bed Sunday night as before, and it passed over with very slight noises. On Monday night the noises started again after going to bed, and about a quarter of an hour their bed ran again. They then struck a light, and I got into the bed with them. There were terrible noises everywhere; on the walls, out on the landing, and downstairs. We left the light lighted for some time, and whilst it was lighted, what added more to our fright was a chair dancing out to the middle of the floor without a thing near it. We put out the light again after moving back the bed. Immediately the light was put out the bed ran again out on the floor. Richard had the matches always ready to strike. Every time we would hear the noise and feel the bed moving, we would shout: “Strike, Richard, strike; we’re going again!” We were trembling from head to feet with fear. We left the light lighted till morning after that.
Tuesday night passed over about the same, and on Wednesday night there wasn’t a stir. After hearing nothing on Wednesday night we thought it had stopped, but still we felt nervous. On Thursday night it started as bad as the first night, and several people remarked it being so bad on the night exactly a week after it had started. The bed ran out several times, and what never happened to any one of us before, George was lifted out of bed without a hand near him. He went home next day, and stopped at home for two days. So while he was away, Richard and I stopped in the room. The same noise still continued, and the bed ran also. We went home on Saturday as on the week before.
George came back again on Sunday night, and slept in the same bed with us again, and it wasn’t extra bad that night. It went on about the same way every night until the following Friday night, when it was very bad. The bed turned up on one side, and threw us out on the floor, and before we were thrown out, the pillow was taken from under my head three times. When the bed rose up, it fell back without making any noise. This bed was so heavy, it took both the woman and girl to pull it out from the wall without anybody in it, and there was only three castors on it. After being thrown out of the big bed, the three of us got into my bed. We were not long in it when it started to rise, but could not get out of the recess it was in unless it was taken to pieces. It ceased about daybreak, and that finished that night’s performance.
It kept very bad then for a few nights. So Mr Murphy, from the “Guardian” Office, and another man named Devereux, came and stopped in the room one night. They sat on two chairs in the room, while we lay each in our own beds. We were not long in bed when I felt a terrible feeling over me like a big weight. I then felt myself being taken from the bed, but could feel no hands, nor could I resist going. All I could say was: “I’m going, I’m going; they’re at me.” I lay on the floor in a terrible state, and hardly able to speak. The perspiration was pouring through me. They put me back in bed again, and nothing more than strange knockings and noises happened between that and morning. We slept again in the room the next night, but nothing serious happened. We then got another lodging, and the people left it also. For the three weeks I was in the house I lost nearly three-quarters of a stone weight. I never believed in ghosts until that, and I think it would convince the bravest man in Ireland.
John William Randall. 18 Main St., Enniscorthy.
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I heard from Randall a few days ago (January 25th). Nothing has occurred in his new lodgings. The curious association of a particular person in a particular place at a particular time is very characteristic of all poltergeist phenomena.
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From the Rev. Canon Rennison. Kilpatrick Rectory, Wexford, Jan. 27, 1911.
Dear Sir, – I have known John Randall for the past five years, and I believe him to be a thoroughly truthful and trustworthy boy. I think you may rely on any particulars he has given you about the “haunted house” at Enniscorthy. He has always been a steady, well-conducted boy, so far as I know. I am very glad to hear you are reading a paper on the whole affair. Yours very truly, John Rennison.
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My best thanks are due to Mr N.J. Murphy, who kindly spared neither time nor trouble in assisting me in these enquiries.
In ‘Poltergeists Old and New’ by Professor W.F. Barrett, F.R.S. In Proceedings of the Socity for Psychical Research, part 62, March 1911.
...The late Sir William Barrett, F.R.S., contributes two well-authenticated cases to a book entitled “True Irish Ghost Stories,” compiled by St. John D. Seymour, B.D. Litt.D., and Harry S. Neligan, D.I. R.I.C., in 1926. Sir William Barrett was closely associated with the founding of the Society for Psychical Research, and his conviction of the supernormal characters of the poltergeist manifestations was very strong.
… The manifestations which occurred at Enniscorthy, in July 1910, were more dramatic, and the professor obtained indisputable evidence of this event. Apart from hammering and other noises, the poltergeist seemed to delight in pulling off the bed-clothes and the moving of a bedstead across the floor. Three young men slept in the room, all of whom were terrorised. The poltergeist in this instance gave his attentions to a lad of eighteen.
Reliable investigators sat in the bedroom, and saw the sheets and blankets pulled off the bed and the young man himself dragged out by some unseen agency. Three persons then got into the bed and immediately the bed was thrown over on its side and fell back again without making a noise.
Belfast Telegraph, 2nd May 1932.