appear to the families of their slayers, who therefore fear to pass the spot in the dark.[1]
In Connemara it is said that no Mayo man need fear a ghost or be harmed by it "on account of St. Patrick." At Carna I heard of several ghosts in 1899; a spectral horse and a black dog haunted two spots in that wild region. Two ghosts of policemen have appeared, one near the castle-like barrack, the other is seen on Loch Skannive, sinking in a spectral boat, showing how the missing man died. At Lettermullen we found the familiar belief that the ghost of the last person buried in a graveyard must keep watch till relieved by that of the next buried person. I am told this is believed of certain graveyards on the Mayo coast, but did not hear of it in those which I visited. It often leads to serious quarrels if two funerals arrive at the same time at a graveyard. This was told to Mr. Michael Lavelle, about 1894.
William Larminie was told by Michael Faherty of Renvyle, on the west coast of Co. Galway, opposite to Bofin, a strange story. A ghost left its skull on a lonely road near Renvyle, and a traveller despite his fear at the startling sight brought it to a neighbouring graveyard. As he returned a gentleman met him who said he was testing him and would reward him for his good-hearted act. He was brought to the graveyard and told to lift a stone, which he did, disclosing steps. The ghost brought him down to his house; two old women brought poor food and a beautiful woman richly dressed who gave them rich fare. Each had been wife to the ghost and had the food they gave to the poor till the Day of Judgment comes.[2]
The ghosts of drowned people are heard singing at sea in misty days off the Mayo Islands, and I think off Connemara. I have elsewhere told the tale of the ghostly nuns in Galway city.[3]
As I have as far as possible confined myself to the band of country a few miles deep round the coast I am precluded from
- ↑ "Ethnography of Ballycroy," Proc. R.I. Acad., vol. iv. ser. iii. p. 105.
- ↑ Folk Tales and Romances, p. 31.
- ↑ Supra, vol. xxviii. p. 446. A tale of the expulsion of the monks from Cong Abbey is given by Frank Buckland, Curiosities of Natural History, ser. iv (1900), p. 316.
