Spooky goings-on in County Westmeath
Spooky season is here, and while most of us never have – and never want to – encounter any spirits from the other side, there have been plenty of odd events in Westmeath that defy explanation.
One of the most dramatic happened 338 years ago, on the night of October 29, 1686, when several people saw and heard a large army walking in formation through Mullingar. Historian Ruth Illingworth, in an interview with the Westmeath Examiner on the incident some years ago, said that a military tribunal was established to investigate the report, and several people swore under oath that they had either heard or seen the army.
However, no evidence of the actual existence of the soldiers could be found, and the mystery was never solved.
Ms Illingworth said the incident may have been a case of “mass hysteria or illusion”.
The building that currently houses ‘Belvedere Clinic’ on the Dublin Road out of Mullingar, is one of the oldest buildings in town.
Formerly the Westmeath County Library headquarters, the building served as the town infirmary from 1771 to the 1940s, and in that iteration, it would have been the location in which many people breathed their last.
In that interview Ms Illingworth, said that people working in the building late at night had seen various figures and heard footsteps which could not be explained.
BRACKLYN
The Bracklyn area is said to be haunted by the ghost of Howard Fethersonhaugh, a murdered landlord.
Born in 1841, Fethersonhaugh was owner of what is now known as ‘Bracklyn estate’ He also served as a magistrate.
Mr Fethersonhaugh became unpopular as he began raising rents on his tenants, in what was really a bid to consolidate the structure of tenantship on his properties. That forced a lot of his tenants out, and caused a lot of ill feeling towards him.
The Westmeath Guardian wrote: “The deceased gentleman had for some time before he was murdered rendered himself obnoxious to a certain section of his tenantry, because it is stated he on more than one occasion raised their rents.”
As a result, in April 1868, as he made his way back from Dublin to Bracklyn, he was shot dead by someone operating under the pseudonym ‘Rory of the Hill’, and buried in a mausoleum on his property at Bracklyn.
Despite a number of arrests, no one was ever convicted of the killing. There were regular reports from locals of the sound of a carriage and horses on the road – even while there were none there.
WHITE LADY OF KILBRIDE
Ms Illingworth said in the interview that she had heard of a number of different ‘white ladies’ in various locations throughout the county, one of the more significant being ‘The White Lady of Kilbride’.
“Nobody is quite sure who she was, but it’s believed that some ‘white ladies’ were jilted at the altar, and died pining away,” said Ms Illingworth.
“Others are said to be servant girls who became pregnant by their masters and committed suicide.”
PLACES 'THAT OUGHT TO BE HAUNTED'
While stating that she did not personally believe in ghosts, Ms Illingworth said there were a number of other sites around town that almost ought to be haunted.
They include the round building at Buckley’s Supermarket, built on a site at which the skeletons of Augustinian monks were discovered.
Another location with “potential” due to the number of tragedies that occurred there, was the army barracks, Ms Illingworth continued.
In 1908, a fire at the barracks took the lives of “many” soldiers. During the Civil War, in 1923, some executions took place at the barracks.
There were also a few suicides there.
Ms Illingworth also pointed to the Fair Green area, explaining that it was actually the execution site for the town in the 16th and 17th centuries.
“There were gallows there, where people were taken to be executed. Part of the site was known as ‘Dolly’s Corner’. Dolly was supposedly the wife of one of the executioners,” Ms Illingworth told the Examiner.
THE DRUMCREE CHANGELING
An account was contained in the Schools Folklore Collection of how a man had outsmarted the fairies in their attempt to steal a baby and replace it with a changeling.
The report indicated that 80 years earlier – which would date the incident to the 1850s – a Jack Bennett, was working with Drumcree miller James Tormey.
One particular night, a child was born in Tormey’s, and nearby, Bennett was attending a kiln.
Bennett heard some talk going on and upon investigating, he saw two ‘hags’ talking outside the window where the mother and child were.
One of the hags suddenly lifted up the window and in she went.
Jack Bennett chased the second hag away and took her place outside the window. Very soon, the newborn child was handed out to him. He took the child home with him for safe-keeping, not telling anyone anything.
Early the following morning, he returned to Tormeys where he found the family deeply upset as the child was continuously screaming, roaring and yelling. Realising the child was a changeling, Bennett instructed the man of the house to get a bundle of straw.
Out in the street Bennett went, bringing with him the crying child. He lit the straw and as it blazed, he threw the child on it. To the surprise of everyone, when the child felt the heat, it immediately transformed into an ugly bony man, and within moments, it disappeared from view.
Jack’s suspicions were confirmed: the ‘baby’ was a changeling, and by saving the real child, Jack had thwarted the fairies’ plans by duping them.
'BOBBY BAWN' BANISHED - BUT THE MEMORY LIVES ON
For more than 30 years, the ghost ‘Bobby Bawn’ terrorised the countryside near Dunboden estate, between Mullingar and Rochfortbridge. The restless spirit was said to have been the ghost of Lt Col Robert Rochfort, a figure cursed by the shadow of a wrongful death.
Rochfort, who earned the nickname ‘Bobby Bawn’ because of his white hair, was the son of the notorious ‘Wicked Earl’, Robert Rochfort, 1st Earl of Belvedere.
As the story goes, in 1797, Lt Col Rochfort was involved in the conviction of a local man, Peter Dalton, for a burglary he did not commit. Before Dalton was hanged, he turned to Rochfort and uttered a chilling curse: ‘It’s me today, but it will be you tomorrow.’
Within a month, Rochfort met a violent end. On October 17, 1797, while a party was in progress at his home, Dunboden Park, a stranger knocked at the door, asking for Rochfort. Moments later, the white-haired lieutenant colonel was found on his doorstep, his throat slit.
The bloodstains on the stone steps, according to local lore, could never be washed away.
Not long after Rochfort’s death, reports surfaced of a ghostly figure lingering near a lone whitethorn tree on the Carrick Kilbride Road. The spirit of Bobby Bawn terrorised those who dared pass by for 30 years.
The terror ended one night when a family near Carrick summoned the renowned Fr Timothy Shanley, parish priest of Milltown and Meedin, to attend to a sick relative. On his way home, Fr Shanley encountered the ghost.
Startled but resolute, the priest returned to the home of the family he had just visited, and asked the man of the house, Mr Fahy, if he had courage enough to face the devil himself. Mr Fahy consented to accompany the priest as he reattempted to complete his journey.
Together, they approached the whitethorn tree, where the ghost of Bobby Bawn appeared, refusing to let them pass.
Fr Shanley, armed with holy water, drew a protective circle around them and began to pray. Enraged, the ghost transformed into a fiery ball, rolling furiously down the road toward Lough Ennell, where it vanished into the water.
Though Bobby Bawn’s haunting ceased, the spot where he entered the lake at Rinn Point remains notorious. Even today, locals say the waters are forever choppy – a sign that the tormented spirit still lingers.
Fr Shanley, remembered for his bravery, quickly aged after the exorcism, his hair turning white. Each Good Friday, locals honour his memory with a pilgrimage to his grave, keeping the legend of Bobby Bawn alive.