A man was walking along a country lane at night and as he was coming round a bend he saw a coffin on the road in front of him.  At first he thought it was a warning to him that he was soon to leave this world; but after some hesitation, he finally summoned up courage to give the thing a poke with his stick, when he found that the coffin was merely an outline of sea-weed which some passer-by had made.  Whereupon he went on his way much relieved.

The unbeliever will state that rats or mice are more often than not the cause of so-called ghostly noises in a house.  That, at any rate, instances have happened where one or other of these rodents has given rise to fear and trepidation in the inmates of a house or bedroom is proved by the following story from a Dublin lady.  She tells how she was awakened by a most mysterious noise for which she could give no explanation.  Overcome by fear, she was quite unable to get out of bed, and lay awake the rest of the night.  When light came she got up:  there was a big bath in the room, and in it she found a mouse which had been drowned in its efforts to get out.  So her haunting was caused by what we may perhaps call a ghost in the making.

The devil is very real to the average countryman in Ireland.  He has given his name to many spots which for some reason or other have gained some ill-repute—­the Devil’s Elbow, a very nasty bit of road down in Kerry, is an instance in point.  The following story shows how prevalent the idea is that the devil is an active agent in the affairs of this world.

A family living at Ardee, Co.  Louth, were one night sitting reading in the parlour.  The two maids were amusing themselves at some card game in the kitchen.  Suddenly there was a great commotion and the two girls—­both from the country—­burst into the sitting-room, pale with fright, and almost speechless.  When they had recovered a certain amount, they were asked what was the matter; the cook immediately exclaimed, “Oh, sir! the devil, the devil, he knocked three times at the window and frightened us dreadfully, and we had just time to throw the cards into the fire and run in here before he got us.”  One of the family, on hearing this, immediately went out to see what had caused all this trepidation, and found a swallow with a broken neck lying on the kitchen window-sill.  The poor bird had evidently seen the light in the room, and in its efforts to get near it had broken its neck against the glass of the window.

An amusing account of a pseudo-haunting comes from County Tipperary, and shows how extraordinarily strong is the countryman’s belief in supernatural phenomena.  The incidents related occurred only a very short time ago.  A farmer in the vicinity of Thurles died leaving behind him a young widow.  The latter lived alone after her husband’s death, and about three months after the funeral she was startled one night by loud knocking at the door.  On opening the door she was shocked at seeing the outline of