True Irish Ghost Stories | Page 4

occasion I was standing in the kitchen of my house in ---- Square,
when a woman, whom I was afterwards to see many times, walked
down the stairs into the room. Having heard the footsteps outside, I was
not in the least perturbed, but turned to look who it was, and found
myself looking at a tall, stout, elderly woman, wearing a bonnet and
old-fashioned mantle. She had grey hair, and a benign and amiable
expression. We stood gazing at each other while one could count

twenty. At first I was not at all frightened, but gradually as I stood
looking at her an uncomfortable feeling, increasing to terror, came over
me. This caused me to retreat farther and farther back, until I had my
back against the wall, and then the apparition slowly faded.
"This feeling of terror, due perhaps to the unexpectedness of her
appearance, always overcame me on the subsequent occasions on
which I saw her. These occasions numbered twelve or fifteen, and I
have seen her in every room in the house, and at every hour of the day,
during a period of about ten years. The last time she appeared was ten
years ago. My husband and I had just returned from a concert at which
he had been singing, and we sat for some time over supper, talking
about the events of the evening. When at last I rose to leave the room,
and opened the dining-room door, I found my old lady standing on the
mat outside with her head bent towards the door in the attitude of
listening. I called out loudly, and my husband rushed to my side. That
was the last time I have seen her."
"One peculiarity of this spectral visitant was a strong objection to
disorder or untidyness of any kind, or even to an alteration in the
general routine of the house. For instance, she showed her disapproval
of any stranger coming to sleep by turning the chairs face downwards
on the floor in the room they were to occupy. I well remember one of
our guests, having gone to his room one evening for something he had
forgotten, remarking on coming downstairs again, 'Well, you people
have an extraordinary manner of arranging your furniture! I have nearly
broken my bones over one of the bedroom chairs which was turned
down on the floor.' As my husband and I had restored that chair twice
already to its proper position during the day, we were not much
surprised at his remarks, although we did not enlighten him. The whole
family have been disturbed by a peculiar knocking which occurred in
various rooms in the house, frequently on the door or wall, but
sometimes on the furniture, quite close to where we had been sitting.
This was evidently loud enough to be heard in the next house, for our
next-door neighbour once asked my husband why he selected such
curious hours for hanging his pictures. Another strange and fairly
frequent occurrence was the following. I had got a set of skunk furs

which I fancied had an unpleasant odour, as this fur sometimes has; and
at night I used to take it from my wardrobe and lay it on a chair in the
drawing-room, which was next my bedroom. The first time that I did
this, on going to the drawing-room I found, to my surprise, my muff in
one corner and my stole in another. Not for a moment suspecting a
supernatural agent, I asked my servant about it, and she assured me that
she had not been in the room that morning. Whereupon I determined to
test the matter, which I did by putting in the furs late at night, and
taking care that I was the first to enter the room in the morning. I
invariably found that they had been disturbed."
The following strange and pathetic incident occurred in a well-known
Square in the north side of the city. In or about a hundred years ago a
young officer was ordered to Dublin, and took a house there for himself
and his family. He sent on his wife and two children, intending to join
them in the course of a few days. When the latter and the nurse arrived,
they found only the old charwoman in the house, and she left shortly
after their arrival. Finding that something was needed, the nurse went
out to purchase it. On her return she asked the mother were the children
all right, as she had seen two ghostly forms flit past her on the
door-step! The mother answered that she believed they were, but on
going up to the nursery they found both the children with their throats
cut. The murderer was never brought to justice, and no motive was