“My father was most positive as to what he had seen, viz. a closed carriage with lamps lit; and let me say at once that he was a clergyman who was known throughout the whole of the north of Ireland as a most level-headed man, and yet to the day of his death he would insist that he met that carriage on our avenue.

“One day in July one of our servants was given leave to go home for the day, but was told she must return by a certain train.  For some reason she did not come by it, but by a much later one, and rushed into the kitchen in a most penitent frame of mind.  ‘I am so sorry to be late,’ she told the cook, ’especially as there were visitors.  I suppose they stayed to supper, as they were so late going away, for I met the carriage on the avenue.’  The cook thereupon told her that no one had been at the house, and hinted that she must have seen the ghost-carriage, a statement that alarmed her very much, as the story was well known in the town, and car-drivers used to whip up their horses as they passed our gate, while pedestrians refused to go at all except in numbers.  We have often heard the carriage, but these are the only two occasions on which I can positively assert that it was seen.”

The following personal experience of the phantom coach was given to the present writer by Mr. Matthias Fitzgerald, coachman to Miss Cooke, of Cappagh House, Co.  Limerick.  He stated that one moonlight night he was driving along the road from Askeaton to Limerick when he heard coming up behind him the roll of wheels, the clatter of horses’ hoofs, and the jingling of the bits.  He drew over to his own side to let this carriage pass, but nothing passed.  He then looked back, but could see nothing, the road was perfectly bare and empty, though the sounds were perfectly audible.  This continued for about a quarter of an hour or so, until he came to a cross-road, down one arm of which he had to turn.  As he turned off he heard the phantom carriage dash by rapidly along the straight road.  He stated that other persons had had similar experiences on the same road.

CHAPTER IX

LEGENDARY AND ANCESTRAL GHOSTS

Whatever explanations may be given of the various stories told in our previous chapters, the facts as stated therein are in almost every case vouched for on reliable authority.  We now turn to stories of a different kind, most of which have no evidence of any value in support of the facts, but which have been handed down from generation to generation, and deserve our respect, if only for their antiquity.  We make no apology for giving them here, for, in addition to the interesting reading they provide, they also serve a useful purpose as a contrast to authenticated ghost stories.  The student of folklore will find parallels to some of them in the tales of other nations.