"There is something so natural, and at the same time so unnatural, in seeing a door open when we know that no human hand rests on the knob, or in hearing the sound of footsteps, light or heavy, and feeling that it cannot be attributed to the feet of mortal man or woman.
Or perhaps a form appears in a room, standing, sitting, or walking-in fact, situated in its three dimensions apparently as an ordinary being of flesh and blood, until it proves its unearthly nature by vanishing before our astonished eyes," St.John D.Seymour, Ireland 1914.
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TRUE IRISH HAUNTINGS contains a collection of "authenticated" ghost stories that were submitted by people across Ireland.
In October 1913, the original compilers of True Irish Ghost Stories, St. John D. Seymour and Harry Neligan, invited people across Ireland to send them their personal accounts of ghosts, hauntings, and other unexplained paranormal happenings. Seymour admitted he doubted many people would reply. Within two weeks, however, they had received enough stories to fill a book, with many more still to come. He shouldn't have been at all surprised.
As you read, the ghostly tales of hauntings, you may find yourself thinking, "We had a story just like that." Nearly every Irish family has its own versions of these ghost stories and hauntings. That's the beauty of Irish folklore-it changes a little from place to place, but the heart of each story remains the same.
True Irish Hauntings contains a carefully selected collection of stories from the original volume rather than the complete work. It includes only the first-hand accounts of hauntings as they were originally submitted to Seymour and Neligan. The original Introduction and Conclusion from True Irish Ghost Stories by Seymour and Neligan have been preserved.
Editorial commentary, historical discussions, explanatory notes, and other preambles have been omitted, allowing readers to enjoy the stories as they were originally told. Re-formatting, light editing and minor corrections of punctuation, paragraphing, and occasional sentence structure have been made to improve clarity and readability and enjoyment for contemporary readers.
I hope these stories entertain you, send a pleasant shiver down your spine, and perhaps remind you of the tales you heard growing up. Hopefully you will also share the stories with children around the campfire, at Halloween, or on dark winter nights. Most of all, I hope this book not only entertains but also brings back happy memories of a time when a good story, well told, was all the entertainment anyone needed.