While Halloween is usually the holiday many would associate with stories and encounters of the supernatural, Christmas was also well known for its share of ghost stories especially during the Victorian period. With candles or a fire being the only source of light, the atmosphere helped create an ideal setting for ghost stories. The most famous of Christmas ghost stories was the Dicken’s classic “A Christmas Carol” published in 1843. In keeping with the season, Newry and Mourne Museum has decided to share some of the local Christmas ghost stories found in a booklet entitled “Christmas Stories from Old Newry and Mourne” from its collection.
The first tale in the booklet speaks of an auctioneer, who was visiting his half-cousin, Hugh Sinclair, in Rostrevor. After a long night of fishing the men were walking in the dark through a tunnel of trees when they encountered a wailing old woman carrying a heavy load on her back. As the lady approached them, they realised she was carrying the body of a man. The men followed the woman through the tunnel of trees however when she reached the light of a lamppost she disappeared. It was believed to have been the ghost of an 80-year-old woman who had gone to collect the body of her son who that been killed at the Battle of Bloody Bridge. She had disguised his body and had intended to carry him back for a burial, using the routes through the trees to avoid detection, however, the strain of her journey was too much, and both their bodies were found just outside the churchyard at Kilbroney. What made the story more compelling was that prior to seeing the ghost, the auctioneer had recently purchased a sword for auction that he believed to have belonged to the fallen man and therefore thinks he had been haunted by the ghost of the man and his mother as they made their way home.
Much like “A Christmas Carol”, the next story involves themes of redemption and issues of morality. The story is in the form of a short poem detailing the exploits of the Ghost of Edenmore, a man named Eamon Roe MacGrann who died one winter night at the age of twenty-eight. His ghost came back every market night to steal the wares of any traveller crossing his path. The poem describes his defeat at the hands of O’Neill of Eight-Mile Bridge who made him return any gold he stole before vowing to never rob the living again. After swearing to honour the man who bested him, the ghost disappeared and was never seen again.
Some of these supernatural events have a way of connecting people to their new community.
The last story in the book talks of a man who took a job at the Silent Valley at the beginning of the reservoir work, learning all about the Bingian Light, a mysterious light that travels around the valley, playing tricks on unsuspecting individuals by chasing ladies travelling alone or confusing men by appearing as a cat or monkey riding a bike. During the Christmas season the man would have his own experience with the light as he travelled towards a funeral. The light charged at him while he was travelling by bicycle. Frightened, the man planned to avoid the same route on the way home only to encounter the light again. The man would go on to say the light, encouraged by its reception would randomly appear while the man was travelling in the area, appearing so often that he no longer feared the sight of the light and embraced the visits while he lived there.
For those who love scary stories, on the 29th January the Museum is hosting a talk on real-life fiends William Burke and William Hare (who was born and worked in Newry). Historian Andrew Johnston of Alternative Ulstours brings his Edinburgh Festival Fringe sell-out talk “Burke and Hare: Body Snatchers, Serial Killers, Ulstermen” to the Museum for the first time. Contact the Museum for further details.
