as the clergyman was going upstairs he heard a footstep and the rustle of
a dress, and as he stood aside a lady passed him, entered a door facing
the stairs, and closed it after her. It was only then he realised that
her dress was very old-fashioned, and that he had not been able to enter
that particular room. Next day he got assistance from a carpenter, who,
with another man, forced open the door. A mat of cobwebs fell as they did
so, and the floor and windows were thick with dust. The men went across
the room, and as the clergyman followed them he saw a small white bird
flying round the ceiling; at his exclamation the men looked back and also
saw it. It swooped, flew out of the door, and they did not see it again.
After that the family were alarmed by hearing noises under the floor of
that room every night. At length the clergyman had the boards taken up,
and the skeleton of a child was found underneath. So old did the remains
appear that the coroner did not deem it necessary to hold an inquest on
them, so the rector buried them in the churchyard. Strange noises
continued, as if some one were trying to force up the boards from
underneath. Also a heavy ball was heard rolling down the stairs and
striking against the study door. One night the two girls woke up
screaming, and on the nurse running up to them, the elder said she had
seen a great black dog with fiery eyes resting its paws on her bed. Her
father ordered the servants to sit constantly with them in the evenings,
but, notwithstanding the presence of two women in the nursery, the same
thing occurred. The younger daughter was so scared that she never quite
recovered. The family left the house immediately.

The same correspondent says: "An old ruined house in the hills of east
Co. Clare enjoyed the reputation of being 'desperately haunted' from, at
any rate, 1865 down to its dismantling. I will merely give the
experiences of my own relations, as told by them to me. My mother told
how one night she and my father heard creaking and grating, as if a door