“The Ghost of Inverin.”
If the stories about the terrible persecution of poor Mr Costello and his family, of Bawnrough, Inverin, are true we certainly pity that unhappy family. Needless to say, the snaowball has developed rapidly into an avalanche of untold dimensions, and the haunted house tale is told with bated breath by the people living in the locality. Not only these, but many people throughout the district have their nerves unstrung by the fearsome narratives put abroad.
Why Mr Costello and his family should be banged about their heads with raw potatoes and sods of turf has not yet been explained. Neither has any apology been offered to the innocent and unoffending plates and dishes, which are alleged to have flown from the kitchen dresser and sailed out through a rather substantial roof. This performance is well worthy of the attention of the famous conjurer, Herr Dobler. But several correspondents allege other and more serious matters.
When the police went to investigate the ghostly proceedings they took possession of the kitchen, and whilst calmly sitting at the turf fire, so kindly provided by the ghost, they were greeted with a volley of fine black turf, which came from “nowhere.”
It is stated – but we have our doubts – that the men in blue fled from the place as if the Huns were after them in alarming numbers. The rumour that a clergyman visited the house and was struck with a sod of turf, is too ridiculous for words. These “haunted house” fairy tales in the present days of education and enlightenment are evidently invented for the purpose of intimidating some person or persons who may have outside interests.
It will give us great pleasure to send a correspondent of the Galway Express to the premises, and our pressman has guaranteed that he will spend the night in the haunted house. He states he will want a car to convey him to the scene of the ghostly proceedings, and has also comandeered a six-shooter and a tidy little shot gun. This is a sporting offer, which may safely be accepted.
Galway Express, 18th March 1916.