Apropos of ineradicable blood on a floor, which is a not infrequent item in stories of haunted houses, it is said that a manifestation of this nature forms the haunting in a farmhouse in Co.  Limerick.  According to our informants, a light must be kept burning in this house all night; if by any chance it is forgotten, or becomes quenched, in the morning the floor is covered with blood.  The story is evidently much older than the house, but no traditional explanation is given.

Two stories of haunted schools have been sent to us, both on very good authority; these establishments lie within the geographical limits of this chapter, but for obvious reasons, we cannot indicate their locality more precisely, though the names of both are known to us.  The first of these was told to our correspondent by the boy Brown, who was in the room, but did not see the ghost.

When Brown was about fifteen he was sent to ——­ School.  His brother told him not to be frightened at anything he might see or hear, as the boys were sure to play tricks on all new-comers.  He was put to sleep in a room with another new arrival, a boy named Smith, from England.  In the middle of the night Brown was roused from his sleep by Smith crying out in great alarm, and asking who was in the room.  Brown, who was very angry at being waked up, told him not to be a fool—­that there was no one there.  The second night Smith roused him again, this time in greater alarm than the first night.  He said he saw a man in cap and gown come into the room with a lamp, and then pass right through the wall.  Smith got out of his bed, and fell on his knees beside Brown, beseeching him not to go to sleep.  At first Brown thought it was all done to frighten him, but he then saw that Smith was in a state of abject terror.  Next morning they spoke of the occurrence, and the report reached the ears of the Head Master, who sent for the two boys.  Smith refused to spend another night in the room.  Brown said he had seen or heard nothing, and was quite willing to sleep there if another fellow would sleep with him, but he would not care to remain there alone.  The Head Master then asked for volunteers from the class of elder boys, but not one of them would sleep in the room.  It had always been looked upon as “haunted,” but the Master thought that by putting in new boys who had not heard the story they would sleep there all right.

Some years after, Brown revisited the place, and found that another attempt had been made to occupy the room.  A new Head Master who did not know its history, thought it a pity to have the room idle, and put a teacher, also new to the school, in possession.  When this teacher came down the first morning, he asked who had come into his room during the night.  He stated that a man in cap and gown, having books under his arm and a lamp in his hand, came in, sat down at a table, and began to read.  He knew that he was not one of the masters, and did not recognise him as one of the boys.  The room had to be abandoned.  The tradition is that many years ago a master was murdered in that room by one of the students.  The few boys who ever had the courage to persist in sleeping in the room said if they stayed more than two or three nights that the furniture was moved, and they heard violent noises.