True Irish Ghost Stories | Page 5

ever
discovered for the crime. The unfortunate mother went mad, and it is
said that an eerie feeling still clings to the house, while two little heads
are sometimes seen at the window of the room where the deed was
committed.
A most weird experience fell to the lot of Major Macgregor, and was
contributed by him to Real Ghost Stories, the celebrated Christmas
number of the Review of Reviews. He says: "In the end of 1871 I went
over to Ireland to visit a relative living in a Square in the north side of
Dublin. In January 1872 the husband of my relative fell ill. I sat up with
him for several nights, and at last, as he seemed better, I went to bed,
and directed the footman to call me if anything went wrong. I soon fell
asleep, but some time after was awakened by a push on the left
shoulder. I started up, and said, 'Is there anything wrong?' I got no

answer, but immediately received another push. I got annoyed, and said
'Can you not speak, man! and tell me if there is anything wrong.' Still
no answer, and I had a feeling I was going to get another push when I
suddenly turned round and caught a human hand, warm, plump, and
soft. I said, 'Who are you?' but I got no answer. I then tried to pull the
person towards me, but could not do so. I then said, 'I will know who
you are!' and having the hand tight in my right hand, with my left I felt
the wrist and arm, enclosed, as it seemed to me, in a tight-fitting sleeve
of some winter material with a linen cuff, but when I got to the elbow
all trace of an arm ceased. I was so astounded that I let the hand go, and
just then the clock struck two. Including the mistress of the house, there
were five females in the establishment, and I can assert that the hand
belonged to none of them. When I reported the adventure, the servants
exclaimed, 'Oh, it must have been the master's old Aunt Betty, who
lived for many years in the upper part of that house, and had died over
fifty years before at a great age.' I afterwards heard that the room in
which I felt the hand had been considered haunted, and very curious
noises and peculiar incidents occurred, such as the bed-clothes torn off,
&c. One lady got a slap in the face from some invisible hand, and when
she lit her candle she saw as if something opaque fell or jumped off the
bed. A general officer, a brother of the lady, slept there two nights, but
preferred going to a hotel to remaining the third night. He never would
say what he heard or saw, but always said the room was uncanny. I
slept for months in the room afterwards, and was never in the least
disturbed."
A truly terrifying sight was witnessed by a clergyman in a school-house
a good many years ago. This cleric was curate of a Dublin parish, but
resided with his parents some distance out of town in the direction of
Malahide. It not infrequently happened that he had to hold meetings in
the evenings, and on such occasions, as his home was so far away, and
as the modern convenience of tramcars was not then known, he used to
sleep in the schoolroom, a large bare room, where the meetings were
held. He had made a sleeping-apartment for himself by placing a pole
across one end of the room, on which he had rigged up two curtains
which, when drawn together, met in the middle. One night he had been
holding some meeting, and when everybody had left he locked up the

empty schoolhouse, and went to bed. It was a bright moonlight night,
and every object could be seen perfectly clearly. Scarcely had he got
into bed when he became conscious of some invisible presence. Then
he saw the curtains agitated at one end, as if hands were grasping them
on the outside. In an agony of terror he watched these hands groping
along outside the curtains till they reached the middle. The curtains
were then drawn a little apart, and a Face peered in--an awful, evil Face,
with an expression of wickedness and hate upon it which no words
could describe. It looked at him for a few moments, then drew back
again, and the curtains closed. The clergyman had sufficient courage
left to leap out of bed and make a thorough examination of the room,
but, as he expected, he found no one. He dressed himself as quickly as
possible, walked home, and never again slept a night in that
schoolroom.
The