by Tony Locke
Biddy Early is fondly remembered in Co. Clare as an extraordinary woman who devoted her time to comforting and healing the sick. She is not known ever to have cursed anyone. She experienced some difficulty with one local clergyman of the day who, for reasons of his own, would have her labelled a ‘witch’ … Biddy Early died in 1875 before the foundation of the GAA and long before there was any inter-county competition!
36
THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER
COUNTY MAYO
Lighthouses are lonely places, places of desolation, solitude and danger. Those who live in them often find themselves trapped by some of the harshest conditions on earth. Some lighthouse keepers were allowed to be accompanied by their wife and children, sometimes with tragic results as, for example, when children were swept from the rocks by an unexpected wave, doomed to join other lost souls drowned at sea. Some keepers were condemned to work with assistants they may not have liked, or perhaps grew to hate, for long periods of time.
Can you imagine being trapped in such circumstances, slowly driven mad, the waves crashing ceaselessly on the rocks, without access to the mainland for extended periods of time? There were none of the modern conveniences available today. The keepers lived in damp, dark conditions that were often cramped. Is it any wonder that the spirits of the lighthouse keepers, their families and even those souls lost at sea remain behind to haunt the places that were responsible for their unhappiness? There are many stories that have been told over the years of jealousy, tragedy and despair. Which were based on true events and which were made up by lonely or bored keepers for their own amusement, we will never really know.
One story concerns a lighthouse perched high on a desolate piece of rock off the coast of County Mayo. It was almost impossible to get to the island during the long winter months and once you were there it became your prison until the boat from the mainland arrived in the spring. This story concerns Fergal O’Malley, who was found guilty of poaching by the local magistrate, who was also a local landowner. O’Malley was given the option of transportation for life or the job of keeper of the lighthouse, where he would have to remain for the rest of his days. O’Malley chose the latter, stupidly believing that it couldn’t be as bad as people made it out to be. He had recently married and could take his wife with him, so he’d have a bit of company.
The following day O’Malley and his young wife were taken by boat to the island. They were allowed to take with them only what they could carry, together with the supplies provided by the landlord. O’Malley knew his wife would feel lonely on the island so he brought a tin whistle for her to play. He was unable to read music but his wife, who was better educated, could so he presented her with the whistle and a sheet of music that had upon it just the one tune. She was delighted. Once they had settled in and lit a fire they began to feel quite happy with themselves and she played her tin whistle, much to O’Malley’s delight. The late summer turned into autumn and the nights grew longer. The weather began to turn and stormy nights kept them imprisoned within the stone walls of the lighthouse. O’Malley’s young wife played her tin whistle over and over again, the same grinding tune slowly driving him insane. Even when he suggested that she played something different, she continued to play the same tune over and over again.
Eventually he could take no more. Reaching for the axe he used to chop wood for the fire, he tore the whistle from her hands and smashed it to pieces. She screamed in protest and turned upon him in desperation, trying to wrench the whistle from him. In a rage, he hit her with the axe. He could hear the tune in his head as he brought the axe down on her again and again. Once his rage began to leave him, he realised what he had done but by then it was too late. She lay upon the stone floor, her dead eyes staring up at him. He went up to the lighthouse platform and took down one of the ropes that hung upon the wall. He fashioned a noose from it, placed it around his neck and stepped over the edge. A couple of days passed before the people of the mainland noticed that the light had gone out. They realised something must be wrong and went to the local landlord. He ordered that on the first calm day a boat should be sent to the island to find out why O’Malley was failing to carry out his duties. As they approached the island they saw his partly decomposed body swinging in the wind. Inside they found his wife lying where he had killed her.
Some people have claimed to have seen the ghostly figure of a young woman at the door of the lighthouse. Her hand is outstretched as if she is imploring you to help her. Sometimes she is said to be weeping or look distressed. Local fishermen have reported seeing the shadowy figure of the lighthouse keeper looking out over the sea from the lighthouse viewing platform.
The lighthouse is no longer in use. It is now a bird sanctuary and tourists are taken over to the island by arrangement with tour guides on the mainland. It is said that on quiet nights when the winds are silent, if you listen carefully you can hear the sound of a tin whistle playing a soulful tune – or perhaps it’s just the sound of distant seabirds?
37
A DRUID’S GHOST
COUNTY MAYO
There is a passage tomb somewhere in the west of Ireland where Druids buried their dead. Is it possible that one of their number protects the others as they sleep?
There is a story of a human-like figure seen at night. It has been described by those who have seen it as ‘having a face that no human ever had’. It has terrified locals for generations. Whenever anyone attempts to speak to it, it disappears. Records tell us that it was first seen in the fifteenth century, when a hunting party came upon a strange creature outside the entrance to the passage tomb. When they fired at it with their bows, it vanished. Within a month of seeing the creature, each member of the hunting party had a fatal accident.
The first records of people being attacked by the spirit relate to the occupants of a cottage that had been built a short walk from the tomb at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The cottage was rented by Padraic MacLoughlainn and his family. They worked for a local landlord. They were an ordinary, hard-working family and they were well liked by their neighbours. Shortly after they had moved in, they heard scratching and chewing noises from outside the cottage door. It sounded like a large animal trying to get in. Padraic picked up his slash hook, opened the door slowly and looked outside, but there was nothing there and not a mark on the door. This happened each night and yet nothing was ever seen. After two weeks, the noises stopped.
It remained quiet for a while and the MacLoughlainns thought that it may have been some of the young men from the area just trying to scare them a little, maybe playing a silly prank on the ‘blow-ins’ (the newcomers). They thought that perhaps the men had tired of their nightly game and decided to give it up. If only things were so simple.
One night when the children were all fast asleep and Padraic and his wife were sitting by the fire, they heard whispering. They checked to see if it was one of the children, but they found them fast sleep. Over the next couple of nights the whispering became more intense and was followed by groans. One night the blankets were pulled from the children’s bed and one of them screamed in terror. She had been slapped by an invisible hand. This was followed by strange laughing noises. Padraic went to the local priest and, despite his fears of retribution from the landlord, he told the priest about the nightly visits and how one of the children had been attacked. The priest agreed to go to the cottage and say a Mass. The house went quiet once more.
However, as before, it was not to last. Padraic became ill. He had difficulty swallowing, he couldn’t talk or eat and he grew very pale. The local fairy doctor (a herbalist of sorts) gave him a few herbs and he slowly recovered. A week later he developed other symptoms: this time, he had severe stomach pains, he couldn’t sleep and he had difficulty working. This was a great worry for without work they would be evicted from their home. It seemed as if the family was under some kind of curse. Padraic called for the priest once again but it seemed to make matters worse. The attacks increased and eve
n the priest began to avoid the family.
In desperation, Padraic went to the landlord and begged him for help. Surprisingly the landlord agreed to send his agent to the cottage with instructions to spend the night there. Padraic did not know that the landlord was fully aware of what had been happening and, unlike Padraic, who was unaware of the Druid’s spirit, the landlord knew the history only too well. The agent arrived that evening and was given the use of the MacLoughlainns’ bed and whatever they else could provide. He sat in the best seat by the fire and began to make light of the MacLoughlainns’ nightly visitor. This made things worse. For the first time the Druid was heard to speak; it mimicked the voice of the agent and threw him from his seat. The agent screamed out and fled from the cottage as if the devil himself was chasing him.
The whole parish began to talk about the Druid’s spirit and the terrified family. People began to point at the MacLoughlainns and whisper. No one wanted to visit the cottage anymore and if anyone had to pass by they were seen to make the sign of the cross and the sign of the evil eye. The MacLoughlainns felt all alone. Even the children were shunned. It wasn’t to end there. The MacLoughlainns were accused of committing minor crimes in the area and although they were found to be innocent of all charges they felt more and more isolated and alone.
The parish had abandoned their neighbours, hoping that by distancing themselves from the MacLoughlainns they would be protected from what had now become known as the Druid’s curse. It was not to be. The whispering of the druid began to be heard in the streets of the parish, in the blacksmith’s forge, in the local shop, even in the church. What made it worse for the people of the parish was that their private thoughts concerning their neighbours were somehow revealed to each other. Even the landlord became aware of what people truly thought of him and his agent.
The curse was to eventually take a life: that of Padraic MacLoughlainn. His sickness kept returning. Neither the priest nor the local fairy doctor could do anything and he began to sink lower and lower. The priest was kneeling by his bedside one night when he heard a whisper; it was the voice he had heard before and he recognised it as belonging to the spirit. It told him that all the prayers to his new God would do him no good and that MacLoughlainn would die as he had committed crimes against the sacred site of the Druids.
It transpired that Padraic had visited the passage tomb and found items that the Druids had upon their person when they were interred. Thinking them to be of value, he had removed them and sold them for a few pennies to help with the rent.
One week later Padraic MacLoughlainn sat up in his bed and with a look of terror pointed his finger at some invisible presence, fell back onto his pillow and died with a look of absolute despair upon his face. The people present heard a strange sound like a low wind, followed by whispering.
The family held a wake but very few people would spend the night with the corpse; they simply offered their sympathies and excused themselves. He was buried within two days, which was unusual at the time as normally a body would be waked for a week. As the body was lowered into the ground, people heard the sound of laughter but no one knew where it came from. The family were unable to pay the rent as the head of the house was gone so the mother and children were evicted. The landlord could find none willing to live in the cottage and so he ordered it to be razed to the ground and all sign that it had ever been there removed.
That should have been an end to it. The Druid had been avenged so all should have returned to normal. However, the spirit was seen many times down over the years by people who ventured too near to the passage tomb. It was said that a group of English soldiers that had camped nearby and had entered the tomb in order to spend the night out of the rain were injured by an unseen assailant. One of their number died of his injuries. Those that survived were never the same again and refused to talk of what they had seen that night.
Some say that the ghost of Padraic MacLoughlainn can still be seen searching the area as if he is looking for something. He has a look of sadness upon his face. Some have even reported seeing various men dressed in the clothes of soldiers, some in chainmail, some in early-twentieth-century uniform. They all look lost, as if they are searching for something also.
The location of the passage tomb has remained a secret now for almost 200 years. It is by having a family connection that you hear some of the tales, but if you are an outsider then they will never be shared with you. You can try to find the passage tomb on old maps but you won’t be successful and maybe that’s a good thing because those who have found it before have lived to regret it.
The passage tomb was closed by the present landlord’s ancestors in the 1920s, the entrance concealed under tons of earth. The Druids of old have been laid to rest once again. As for their protector, well, if at night you pass by a certain place in the west of Ireland and hear a whisper, keep walking. If you hear the wind and the sound of low laughter, walk a little faster.
38
THE ISLAND MAGEE WITCHES
COUNTY ANTRIM
The last witch trial in Ireland took place on 31 March 1711. No one was burned at the stake and no one was ducked or drowned. However, eight women were to serve one year in prison and time in the public stocks. Here they were to suffer the indignity of being pelted with rotten fruit and jeered at by their neighbours on market day.
These eight women became known as the Island Magee Witches because all of them were from that area in County Antrim. They were tried at Carrickfergus court and were found guilty of bewitching a local girl by the name of Mary Dunbar. It was said that Dunbar suffered from fits and trances and sometimes vomited up household objects. She was also known to throw Bibles while uttering gross profanities. She blamed all of this on witchcraft and said she had been cursed by those she accused. The community and local clergy were easily led by this young girl. The accused women were all poor, some drank (which was frowned on by the community) and some were disabled, so they all failed to meet the standards of womanly beauty and female behaviour, which made it easy for people to believe they were witches.
However, in order to understand the background to the accusations and the subsequent trial we need to go back a little further. A series of extraordinary incidents preceded the events that led up to the arrest of the accused. In September 1710, Mrs Anne Haltridge, widow of Revd John Haltridge, the late Presbyterian minister at Island Magee, was staying in the house of her son. It was reported that every night invisible forces threw stones and sods of turf at her bed. The curtains around her bed opened on their own, pillows were pulled from under her head by unseen hands and the bedclothes were pulled from the bed. Although a thorough search was of the room carried out, nothing was discovered to account for these disturbances. She requested that she be moved to another room as she was afraid to remain in that room on her own.
We now move forward to 11 December 1710. Mrs Haltridge was still at her son’s house. Sitting by the kitchen fire at twilight, she was joined by a little boy who sat down beside her. He looked as if he was around 11 or 12 years of age, with short black hair and an old hat upon his head. He was wrapped in an old blanket that trailed behind him and he wore a torn vest. He kept his face hidden by the blanket. Mrs Haltridge asked him if he was hungry, where he came from, who he was and so on, but to no avail. Instead of answering her, he jumped up, danced around the kitchen, slipped out the door and disappeared into the nearby cowshed. Mrs Haltridge sent the servants to search for him but they could find no trace of him. However, when they returned to the house the boy was standing beside them. Each time they tried to catch him they failed. Eventually the boy vanished and they were not troubled by him again until February 1711.
On 11 February 1711, Mrs Haltridge was reading her book. She put the book down for a moment. Nobody but her was in the room. She reached for her book again only to find that it was missing. The following day the apparition of the young boy reappeared. He broke a window and thrust in his hand, in which he held the missing book. He tol
d a servant girl who was standing there that he had taken the book and that her mistress would never see it again. When she asked him if he could read it, he replied that he could; the devil had taught him. He also said that within a few days a corpse would leave the house but he refused to say whose it would be.
Mr Robert Sinclair, the Presbyterian minister, and two of his elders came to the house and stayed there with the distressed family, spending much of their time in prayer. Mrs Haltridge went to bed as usual in the haunted room but got very little rest. At around midnight a scream was heard. Mr Sinclair rushed to her room to ask what had happened, Mrs Haltridge said she felt as if she had been stabbed in the back with a sharp knife. Next morning she left the haunted room and went to another but the pain in her back persisted. By the end of the week, on 22 February, she died.
Now we come to Mary Dunbar. Around 27 February 1711, the 18-year-old came to stay with Mrs Haltridge junior to keep her company after her mother-in-law’s death. There was already a rumour spreading that old Mrs Haltridge had been bewitched into her grave and that this had had a bad effect on Mrs Haltridge junior. It was on the night of Mary’s arrival that strange things began to happen. When Mary and another girl retired to their room they found that some of their clothes had been removed from their trunk. When they went looking for the missing items they found them scattered throughout the house. That night Mary was seized by a violent fit. When she recovered she cried out that she had been stabbed in her thigh. She claimed that she had been attacked by three women who she went on to describe. Around midnight she suffered a second fit, during which she saw a vision of seven or eight women talking together and calling each other by name.
When Mary recovered from her fit, she remembered their names: Janet Liston, Elizabeth Cellor, Kate McCalmont, Janet Carson, Janet Mean, Latimer and one known as Mrs Ann. She gave such a good description of the women that people could guess who the others were. All the women were sent for and those she had not named were paired with other ‘innocent’ women. Dunbar then identified each of them as her tormentors. One was even picked out of a group of thirty women.