Ghosts and Fairies

Some fairies were good. Donall O Gallchoir and Sean O Gormain of Gortlesk in Ballygorman were making poteen at a wild and lonely spot at the bottom of the Bengorms. It was midnight when the stilling was completed the two men sat quietly sampling the whiskey. Suddenly a small, red-haired woman appeared with a small tin pan in her hand. The two men regarded her, without fear, as a spirit. She asked for some whiskey, which was given to her. As she turned to leave she thanked them in Irish and told them that the police were coming. Then she disappeared.

The men hurriedly hid all the apparatus and, each with a keg of whiskey on his shoulder, went in haste up the bens by a devious route. At the top they secreted themselves for a while. Soon they saw a party of police go directly towards where they had been stilling. The men quietly went their way in safety to Gortlesk.

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The person who died with a debt unpaid was doomed to remain in Purgatory unless someone on earth paid the amount due. There was in Ballyharry a man called Sean McColgan, who died. He was seen often at night by his neighbours and it was thus known that he could not rest. Why he could not was not clear.

One Sunday morning about midday, when almost all the people were at Mass, the widow sat alone in her house. Looking up she saw her dead husband standing outside the half-door which led into the kitchen. He pointed at his lips, as if to indicate that he could not speak. Then he looked towards an old cupboard and pointed at it in a fixed manner. Casting an anguished look at his wife, he suddenly disappeared.

The wife examined the cupboard carefully and found an unpaid bill for shoes Sean had bought years before. On the following day she traveled to Moville and paid the long-overdue account. Sean MacColgan was never seen again, as his soul had now found peace.

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The dead returned at times to visit their former dwelling-place on earth. Seoirse Mac an tSaoir, a man of courage and not given to superstitious beliefs, was travelling by horse and cart from Moville. He had been delayed and it was after midnight when he reached Drumnagessan. As he rested the horse before going up the steep hill here a woman standing by the side of the road stepped up on the cart beside him. Her face was hidden and she sat at an angle. He was somewhat startled, but seeing that the woman meant no harm and had probably walked from Moville he continued his journey without further anxiety. No one spoke.

A mile further on there was the ruin of an old house in which had lived a family named Murphy. These had emigrated years before. As Seoirse reached the ruin the woman silently raised her hand as if to say "stop". The horse stopped and the woman stepped on to the road and walked directly into the old house. As Seoirse had watched in silence he recognised her as Mary Murphy, who had gone to America forty years before. She had long since died. What now brought her back to the scene of her early years?

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When a mother died and left very young children she still maintained from the next world a strong interest in her offspring. Seamas O Gallchoir married a girl from Ballyheeney named Caitriona Nic Lochlainn. On her wedding she came to live with her husband at Gortlesk, where both spent a year of great happiness. A son was born, but the mother died within a few days. When the funeral was over the young father faced the problem of caring for the child. The mother-in-law, Eilis Mhic Lochlainn, stayed a few days but then went home, refusing her son-in-law's request to take the child for a time.

Over the next ten days the husband looked after the child carefully, but the absence of a woman's care was very much felt. The child was restless and kept crying. One night about this time Eilis sat alone in her house awaiting the return of the other members of the family, who were out visiting. It was midnight and the door was opened. The half-door was in position. Hearing a sound in the laneway leading to the house, Eilis looked at the door. There stood her dead daughter with her left hand resting on the half-door. The startled mother spoke: "Will you not come in, daughter?" Caitriona looked at her sadly and said, "Since you will not take my child you will have no place for me". The vision disappeared.

Putting her shawl around her, the grandmother set out alone in the middle of the night, taking the lonely road through Bree to Gortlesk. She knocked at the window and awakened her son-in-law. He arose, opened the door and admitted her. The mother-in-law said quietly, "I have come for the child". No explanation was given. Seamas O Gallchoir and Eilis Mhic Lochlainn, carrying the child, set out forthwith for Ballyheeney, where the boy remained until he was 14 years of age.

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Early in the present century there occurred at Malin Head a murder which affected profoundly the lives of four people. A young man had been in love with a neighbouring girl but for financial reasons married a woman of means. Later the old love affair was resumed and the girl involved was soon to have a child.

The crisis came on a stormy night as wild and lonely spot. The woman and her illicit lover met to discuss matters. A row developed and the woman was killed; according to the evidence the man's attack had been planned. The man was hanged and his widow left the lonely dwelling-house which stood high on the face of the hill. Neighbours who came near at evening in search of straying cattle say that the cry of a child can still be heard in the deserted house.

A party of tourists out for an evening walk on the hill heard the crying proceeding from the house as they passed. One went to the door, opened it and shone his torch. The cry ceased on his approach. Desolation and decay were evident but there was no trace of a child. The story was told to the people who lived around and was heard without comment and with a knowing silence.

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The bean si gave warning when a member of a family which had such a guardian spirit was about to die. One such family was called Mac Lochlainn and lived in Meenawarra. At the time of which we speak Seamas MacLochlainn, his wife and grown children lived on the family farm. One evening in late spring, Mairead Bean Ui Ghallchoir was milking her cow in a house adjacent to the place inhabited by the Mac Lochlainn family. Suddenly the terrifying cry could be heard on the hill above the house of Mac Lochlainn. It continued for over half an hour. Every family in the townland save one heard the cry and came to the same conclusion. No member of the Mac Lochlainn family heard it

At seven o'clock the following day a son of Seamas Mac Lochlainn knocked at each door in the townland. His father had died during the night. The bean si had given her timely warning.

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When a hen crowed in the daytime it was a warning of a dire calamity. At four o'clock on an August afternoon a hen on the street of Neddy Brien's farm at Cnuckeen flew up on a cart. She crowed loud and long for ten minutes. Peig had gone to the seashore some time earlier to gather a cnuasach. By eight o'clock the men of the district were carrying her dead body on a door to her house. She slipped on a rock and fell into a deep pool.

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When the devil appears to anyone in the night the Sign of the Cross will protect the person against his evil power. The evil spirit cannot cross running water. Often people in this area, when pursued by the devil - usually in the form of a black dog with glaring eyes - reached safety when they came to a bridge.

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Do not visit a graveyard during the night, as the souls of the dead who are doing their Purgatory will be disturbed by your presence. Padraig O Cnaimhsi, the sexton at Bocan,usually locked up the church at nightfall. One night, because he had been at the market, he entered the graveyard late to lock up. It was midnight. As he left the sacristy he heard a loud, rebuking, firm voice saying, "What are doing there?" The voice was familiar. It was that of the previous parish priest, who had died about six months before.

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