I asked him what he was doing, and he said that he worked as a clerk in a big store. However, he enjoyed walking around the hills and talking to eccentric farmers. He would also make strange and guilt-ridden[33] people to share their problems with him. Another night, when I was at his place, more than one person came to discuss their beliefs and doubts. Sometimes he had visions[34] while talking to them. He has accurately[35] told several people about their past and distant friends, leaving them silent. Even though he was young, he’s much more clever than the oldest people around.
The poetry he recited to me was full of his nature and his visions. Sometimes it was about past lives that he had lived, and sometimes about people from those lives. I told him I wanted to write an article about him and his poetry, and he said that I could do so, but he asked me not to mention his name. He wished to stay “unknown.” The next day, he sent me a collection of his poems along with a note that said: “Here are copies of the verses you liked. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write or paint anymore. I’m preparing myself for a new life.”
I remember one person in particular. A winter or two ago, he spent much of the night walking up and down the mountain, talking to an old peasant. Both of them were unhappy: X– because he had realized that art and poetry weren’t for him, and the old peasant because his life was ending without any achievements or hope left. Both of them were so Celtic! They were always striving[36] for something that couldn’t be fully expressed in words or actions. The peasant was lost in his mind with sadness. Once he exclaimed, “God owns the heavens, but He wants the world”; and once he complained that his old neighbors were gone and everyone had forgotten about him. They used to bring a chair for him by the fire in every cabin, but now they asked, “Who is that old man over there?” He said, “I feel doomed[37],” and then continued talking about God and heaven. He also said more than once, pointing his arm towards the mountain, “Only I know what happened under the thorn-tree[38] forty years ago,” and as he said it, tears sparkled on his face in the moonlight.
VILLAGE GHOSTS
On old maps, unexplored areas were marked with “Here are lions.” In the villages of fishermen and farmers, we can only write: “Here are ghosts.”
My ghosts live in the village of H–, in Leinster[39]. A person needs to be very careful when passing the village at night. Someone once complained, «By the cross of Jesus! How can I go? If I pass by Dunboy Hill, old Captain Burney might see me. If I go around by the water and up the steps, there’s the headless one and another on the quays[40], and a new one under the old churchyard wall. If I go all the way around the other way, Mrs. Stewart appears at Hillside Gate, and the devil himself is in Hospital Lane.”
I don’t know which spirit he met, but I’m certain it wasn’t the one in Hospital Lane. During the time of cholera, there was a building there to treat patients. After the need was gone, it was torn down, but ever since, the area has been haunted by ghosts, demons, and fairies. There’s a strong farmer in H– named Paddy B–. One night, while passing through Hospital Lane, he saw what he initially thought was a pet rabbit, but then realized it was a white cat. As he came closer, the creature started growing bigger and bigger. The farmer felt his strength draining away, as if it was being sucked out of him. He turned and ran away.
The “Fairies Path” runs through Hospital Lane. Every evening, the fairies travel from the hill to the sea and back again. There’s a cottage at the end of their path, by the sea. One night, Mrs. Arbunathy, who lived there, was waiting for her son to come home and left the door open. Her husband was asleep by the fire when a tall man entered and sat beside him. After a while, the woman asked, “Who are you in God’s name[41]?” The man got up and left, saying, “Never leave the door open at this hour, or something bad may happen to you.” She woke up her husband and told him what happened. He said, “One of the good people has been with us.”
The man probably met Mrs. Stewart at Hillside Gate. When she was alive, she was the wife of the Protestant priest. The village people say that her ghost never harmed anyone.
Not far from Hillside Gate, where she haunts, there was a more interesting spirit for a short time. It appeared in a green lane at the western end of the village. Here’s the story in detail: In a cottage at the village end of the green lane, lived a house painter named Jim Montgomery and his wife. They had several children. One day, he beat his wife, who was a very large woman. Her sister heard about it and came over. She took down one of the window shutters and beat him with it. Jim Montgomery’s behavior worsened over time, and his wife began to go hungry. She didn’t tell anyone because she was very proud. Sometimes, she wouldn’t even have a fire on a cold night. People in the area often heard her husband beating her, but she never told anyone. She became very thin. Finally, one Saturday, there was no food in the house for her and the children. She couldn’t bear it anymore and went to the priest to ask for some money. He gave her thirty shillings. Her husband met her, took the money, and beat her. On the following Monday, she became very ill and sent for Mrs. Kelly. As soon as Mrs. Kelly saw her, she said, “My dear, you’re dying,” and called the priest and the doctor. She died within an hour[42]. After her death, the landlord had taken children to the workhouse[43]. A few nights after they left, Mrs. Kelly was walking home through the green lane. The ghost of Mrs. Montgomery appeared and followed her. It didn’t leave her until she reached her own house. She told the priest, Father R, but he didn’t believe her. A few nights later, Mrs. Kelly met the spirit again in the same place. She was too terrified to go the whole way and stopped at a neighbor’s cottage halfway, asking them to let her in. She cried out, “In the name of God, let me in, or I will break open the door.” They opened the door, and she escaped from the ghost. The next day, she told the priest again. This time he believed her and said the ghost would continue to follow her until she spoke to it.
She met the spirit again in the green lane. She asked why it couldn’t rest. The spirit said they need to take its children from the workhouse and to say three masses[44] for its soul to find peace. “If my husband doesn’t believe you,” she said, “show him this.” She touched Mrs. Kelly’s wrist with three fingers, and the places where they touched turned black. Then the spirit was gone. Montgomery, for a while, didn’t believe that his wife had appeared. He said, “She wouldn’t show herself to Mrs. Kelly, she prefers to appear to respectable people.” But he believed it when he saw the three marks, and took the children out of the workhouse. The priest said the masses, and the ghost hasn’t shown up since. Some time later, Jim Montgomery died in the workhouse because of extreme poverty caused by drinking.
One person saw a woman with white borders on her cap following him, when he was passing the old graveyard wall at night. The strange woman only leaves him when he reaches his own door. The villagers believe that she follows him to seek revenge for some wrongdoing[45]. “I will haunt you when I die” is a common threat. His wife was once scared by what she believes was a demon in the form of a dog.
These are a few examples of outdoor spirits. The more domestic ones gather indoors.
One night, Mrs. Nolan was watching over her dying child in Fluddy’s Lane. Suddenly, she heard knocking at the door. She didn’t open it, fearing it was something inhuman. The knocking stopped. After a while, the front door and then the back door burst open and closed again. Her husband went to see what was wrong and found both doors locked. The child passed away. The