Speaker 1: Any regular listeners of this show will have gathered that,
Speaker 1: unexplained is rather fond of a good old haunted house story.
Speaker 1: Such stories often have the magical ability to conjure a
Speaker 1: sense of unique and specific places, while at the same
Speaker 1: time leave us feeling as though the hauntings are in
Speaker 1: fact occurring wherever we happen to be, as if the
Speaker 1: story itself were the portal through which distant, ghoulish specters
Speaker 1: can seep into our lives. The story of the Cunian
Speaker 1: Ghost House of Ireland is just one such tale, a
Speaker 1: strange and troubling thing, owing mostly to the fact that,
Speaker 1: despite it often being regarded as one of the most
Speaker 1: compelling supposed true life hauntings, there is so little on
Speaker 1: record with which to support this claim. Much like the
Speaker 1: apparent ghost or spirit at the heart of it, the
Speaker 1: story is a slippery and a morpheous one, seemingly rooted
Speaker 1: in real, tangible things, but existing mostly as fable told
Speaker 1: and retold over the years, passed from one generation to
Speaker 1: the next, never quite keeping still, the facts, never quite
Speaker 1: staying fixed. What we do know is the Murphy family,
Speaker 1: the owners of the home at the time, and apparent
Speaker 1: focus of the phenomena were very much real, appearing in
Speaker 1: a census recorded in nineteen eleven. The house too, very
Speaker 1: much existed, and in fact still stands in the County
Speaker 1: of fir Mana located today just to the north of
Speaker 1: the border in northern Ireland. That we have anything of
Speaker 1: record about it at all is due largely to the
Speaker 1: work of Sir Sean Leslie, a writer with many broad
Speaker 1: and varied interests and avid chaser of supposed true life
Speaker 1: ghost stories. Born John Randolph in eighteen eighty five, the
Speaker 1: son of wealthy socialite Leone Jerome and aristocrat John Leslie,
Speaker 1: the second, Sean Leslie grew up within the palatial walls
Speaker 1: of the family stately home, Castle Leslie, in County Monaghan,
Speaker 1: just twenty miles to the east of Coonian. The castle
Speaker 1: is said by many to itself be haunted, though it
Speaker 1: isn't known whether Leslie, who changed his name to the
Speaker 1: Irish Shan out of affection for his homeland, ever experienced
Speaker 1: this himself. Though Leslie credits his time at the English
Speaker 1: boarding school Eton College with fostering his fascination in the
Speaker 1: possibility of ghosts and the paranormal, it wasn't until his
Speaker 1: time at Cambridge University that his passion for the ghost
Speaker 1: story was truly cemented. There he was introduced to Provost
Speaker 1: Montague Roades James, otherwise known by his pen name m
Speaker 1: R James, considered by many to be the finest purveyor
Speaker 1: of ghost stories that ever lived. It is evident from
Speaker 1: his own fictional writings that Leslie was greatly influenced by
Speaker 1: the prolific Mr James. However, it was potentially real accounts
Speaker 1: of ghosts that Leslie was most interested in. Having spent
Speaker 1: much of his life collecting and recording as many accounts
Speaker 1: of true life hauntings he could find, Leslie would eventually
Speaker 1: collate those he felt especially compelling in his nineteen fifty
Speaker 1: six publication Sean Leslie's Ghost Book. It is there that
Speaker 1: Leslie presents what he describes as the last word on
Speaker 1: the famous series of phenomena known as the Counian Ghost
Speaker 1: from which much of the following story is taken. When
Speaker 1: Leslie asked Mr James shortly before he died what he
Speaker 1: really thought on the subject of ghosts, he is said
Speaker 1: to have replied, depend upon it. Some of these things
Speaker 1: are so, but we do not know the rules. You're
Speaker 1: listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard mc lean smith. The
Speaker 1: small brick farmhouse stood silhouetted and still in the night,
Speaker 1: a black monolith under moonlight, perched up high on the hill.
Speaker 1: To observe this quiet scene from a distance is to
Speaker 1: participate in the grand illusion of permanence, or the world
Speaker 1: seeming for a moment like a grand tableau fixed in time.
Speaker 1: Should we gaze on this house a little while longer, however,
Speaker 1: it would not be long before our illusion was punctured
Speaker 1: by the distant core of a disgruntled crow, or the
Speaker 1: haunting screech of a fox in the undergrowth, or by
Speaker 1: the movement of a thin mist steadily creeping toward it
Speaker 1: from out of the valley below. In fact, should we
Speaker 1: stare long enough, we would see that even the stars
Speaker 1: above that seem so fixed in the sky are in
Speaker 1: a state of constant shift. Inside the house, a small
Speaker 1: fire cracked and crackled in the hearth, as Bridget Murphy
Speaker 1: and her oldest daughter Anne slept under the soft flickering
Speaker 1: light of the flames. Next door in the bedroom to
Speaker 1: their right, eighteen year old Mary, fourteen year old Bridget,
Speaker 1: nine year old Catherine, and the youngest, five year old Jane,
Speaker 1: Anne slept soundly together in their bed, while twenty three
Speaker 1: year old James had the fortune of a bed to
Speaker 1: himself at the other end of the house. It had
Speaker 1: been only a matter of months since eight had become
Speaker 1: seven after Michael Murphy, the father and Bridget's husband, had
Speaker 1: been violently upended from his cart and fallen head first
Speaker 1: on to a rock, killing him instantly. That night, with
Speaker 1: the fire having all but gone out, Bridget awoke suddenly
Speaker 1: in the dark, alerted to what sounded like something moving
Speaker 1: about in the attic above. Although the room, which could
Speaker 1: only be accessed from a stone stairwell outside, was being
Speaker 1: used as a makeshift barn, she knew only too well
Speaker 1: that it was currently unoccupied. Hearing the sound again, with
Speaker 1: Anne fast asleep beside her, Bridget made a quick check
Speaker 1: of the bedrooms, but found all her children accounted for,
Speaker 1: having just returned to the central room. A tremendous thud
Speaker 1: rang out from behind her, followed by the startled screams
Speaker 1: of her four daughters as they bolted from their bed,
Speaker 1: with James joining them moments later. Bridget urged him to
Speaker 1: investigate upstairs, as the rest of the family huddled by
Speaker 1: the hearth, the sound of footsteps could be heard above.
Speaker 1: James inspected the attic, finding nothing inside but bales of straw.
Speaker 1: No sooner had he returned downstairs, a violent bang echoed
Speaker 1: through the house, than another and another, each one louder
Speaker 1: than the next. Make it stop, cried Catherine, as Bridget
Speaker 1: gathered her in her arms, and they all looked anxiously
Speaker 1: toward each other when finally the banging stopped. It would
Speaker 1: be a few nights later when young Jane Anne woke
Speaker 1: up screaming, having felt the bed move across the room,
Speaker 1: and that something had been pressing down on her from above.
Speaker 1: Over the next few weeks, the terrifying sounds continued, always
Speaker 1: beginning late at night in the children's bedroom or from
Speaker 1: the makeshift barn above, but not once did they see
Speaker 1: any sign of a culprit. Confused and scared, Bridget sought
Speaker 1: the counsel of her friends and neighbors, inviting them round
Speaker 1: to hear it for themselves. Together, they sat huddled in
Speaker 1: the center room as the colossal bangs echoed through the
Speaker 1: walls and rattled the windows, or that strange foot dragging
Speaker 1: sound lurched from one side of the ceiling to the other,
Speaker 1: and soon the rumors began to circulate. One neighbor had
Speaker 1: heard that the Sherry family, the previous owners of the house,
Speaker 1: had only stayed one night before hurriedly leaving for reasons unknown.
Speaker 1: The property had remained unoccupied for six months before it
Speaker 1: was sold. Others told of a man that had hung
Speaker 1: himself in one of the bedrooms many years before. By
Speaker 1: now convinced that something other worldly was taking place, Bridget
Speaker 1: turned to their local priest, father Smith for help. Smith
Speaker 1: arrived at the house late one night, keen to make
Speaker 1: an assessment for himself before deciding what could be done
Speaker 1: to find the family in a state of deep distress.
Speaker 1: Asking for them all to gather in the central room,
Speaker 1: Smith solemnly made his way around the house before being
Speaker 1: led upstairs by James to inspect the barn. Returning back down,
Speaker 1: Smith requested permission to stay the night. As the family slept,
Speaker 1: He took a seat by the fire and waited. And
Speaker 1: then it came. It was like the sound of straw
Speaker 1: being rustled from the room above, followed by a tremendous thud.
Speaker 1: As the others ran screaming from their beds. The sound
Speaker 1: only intensified until it was as if a horse was
Speaker 1: kicking at the walls. Without thinking, Smith gathered them together
Speaker 1: and hastily recited Mass. As the family held hands and
Speaker 1: clutched each other tightly, Smith's forthright voice rose over their
Speaker 1: quiet whimperings, and slowly the sickening noise began to dissipate
Speaker 1: until it stopped altogether. Are you always taking care of
Speaker 1: your family? Do you often take care of others and
Speaker 1: not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself,
Speaker 1: to make time for you. You deserve it. Tele Adoc
Speaker 1: gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you
Speaker 1: get back to feeling your best, to feeling like yourself again.
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Speaker 1: phone or video. Therapy appointments are available seven days a
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Speaker 1: get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained podcast. As
Speaker 1: Smith relate his findings back to the church, a different
Speaker 1: set of rumors were beginning to circulate in the nearby towns.
Speaker 1: When the girls attended their crochet lessons, others in the
Speaker 1: class would move away from them, pointing and whispering from
Speaker 1: a distance that the family had the black Art and
Speaker 1: had used it deliberately to invite a demon into their home.
Speaker 1: Others rejected the nonsense entirely, believing instead that the family
Speaker 1: were just making the whole thing up. Having spoken to
Speaker 1: Father Smith, the regional bishop instructed local reverend Eugene Coin
Speaker 1: from nearby McGuire's Bridge to get a second opinion. Since
Speaker 1: Smith's visit, the disturbances had steadily intensified and were already
Speaker 1: in full swing. When Coin arrived late one autumn night,
Speaker 1: with an anxious Bridget hurriedly showing him into the children's bedroom.
Speaker 1: Coin looked on aghast at the terror on the faces
Speaker 1: of the girls lying down on their bed as a
Speaker 1: series of bangs rattled out around them. Turning to two
Speaker 1: men in the room who had also come to help,
Speaker 1: Coin told them to take hold of the children's arms
Speaker 1: and legs to make sure they weren't the source of
Speaker 1: the disturbances. At the next break in the bangs, While
Speaker 1: being careful not to hurt the children, the men did
Speaker 1: as they were told and held them down. Satisfied they
Speaker 1: were sufficiently restrained, Coin took a seat at the end
Speaker 1: of the bed, but almost as soon as he'd sat down,
Speaker 1: the thumping started again, continuing for ten minutes until the
Speaker 1: other two men leapt suddenly from the bed, crying out
Speaker 1: in horror. Something had pushed them off, they cried. Having
Speaker 1: felt nothing himself, Coin resisted the urge to move, but
Speaker 1: just moments later, with his eyes firmly on the children,
Speaker 1: became the most peculiar sensation at his back, as if
Speaker 1: something else in the room had drawn right up to him,
Speaker 1: and then the bangs started again. Just then, a Collie,
Speaker 1: the family farm dog, wandered into the room, giving Coin
Speaker 1: an idea. Picking the dog up, he placed it under
Speaker 1: the bed. Whatever is there, he said, I ask you,
Speaker 1: if you have the power to do it, pushed the
Speaker 1: dog back out. A deafening cacophony of engulfed the room
Speaker 1: like nothing they'd heard before, sending the dog leaping and
Speaker 1: yapping from out of the bed in a fit of terror,
Speaker 1: before scurrying out of the room altogether. As Father Coyn
Speaker 1: later explained to Bridget, though he regretted to be the
Speaker 1: bearer of such disturbing news, there was no doubt in
Speaker 1: his mind that they were sharing their home with something
Speaker 1: malicious and most likely diabolical. In the following days, Father's
Speaker 1: Coin and Smith continued to visit the house, often together,
Speaker 1: as they attempted to bring comfort to the family, but
Speaker 1: also with talk of performing a possible exorcism, it was
Speaker 1: vital for them to get a better understanding of what
Speaker 1: they were dealing with. On each occasion, after the children
Speaker 1: had been put to bed, the knocking would start up,
Speaker 1: sometimes instantly, but other times a good hour later. One night,
Speaker 1: with the children fast asleep and the house completely silent
Speaker 1: save for the sound of the fire in the hearth,
Speaker 1: Coin requested to hear more about the strange noises that
Speaker 1: seemed to emanate from the attic room. As father Smith
Speaker 1: stayed with Bridget by the fire. James lit a candle
Speaker 1: and led Coin into the second bedroom, the gentle light
Speaker 1: of the candle pushing the shadows away as they went.
Speaker 1: The room was sizeable, with blinds pulled down over both
Speaker 1: its windows, and in the corner a bed covered with
Speaker 1: a white quilt. Together, they stood for a moment and listened,
Speaker 1: their faces bathed in the orange light of the candle
Speaker 1: as the rest of the room was shrouded in darkness. There,
Speaker 1: said Jane, suddenly, pointing to the ceiling. Do you hear it?
Speaker 1: Coin strained to listen. It was barely perceptible at first,
Speaker 1: as if a small animal were burrowing into straw, Yet
Speaker 1: it was clearly moving from one side of the room
Speaker 1: to the other. Asking James to stay put, Coin took
Speaker 1: another candle and slowly made his way out of the
Speaker 1: house and up the stone steps to the attic door.
Speaker 1: Pushing it open. Coin peered into the darkness, lit his candle,
Speaker 1: and stepped inside. As he stood in the silent room,
Speaker 1: pushing the shadows back with the candle light, he saw
Speaker 1: nothing but bundles of straw. Moments later, Coin returned to
Speaker 1: the bedroom, where once again he could hear that peculiar
Speaker 1: sound coming from the room above, having asked James to
Speaker 1: repeat the test. This time, Coin stood below as James
Speaker 1: went upstairs to investigate, with the priest carefully listening out.
Speaker 1: Despite clearly hearing James enter the room, not once did
Speaker 1: the other noise desist. As soon as James joined Coin
Speaker 1: back downstairs, something even more peculiar occurred. As both men
Speaker 1: would later go on to a test, It felt as
Speaker 1: if something had rushed down from above, shooting past them
Speaker 1: like a gust of wind, straight down into the floor. Unnerved,
Speaker 1: Coin ordered James to lift up the blinds, and in
Speaker 1: an instant the room was bathed in the hazy light
Speaker 1: of dawn. Then, turning to look back into the room,
Speaker 1: James gasped in horror, Pointing a finger toward the bed,
Speaker 1: Coin slowly turned around. The quilt was moving softly, billowing
Speaker 1: about as if being blown by the wind. Coin stepped
Speaker 1: forward and brushed his hand over it, and felt, for
Speaker 1: a moment as if a barrel of eels were squirming
Speaker 1: about underneath it. Stepping back, he watched with alarm as
Speaker 1: the amorphous sheet seemed gradually to fix into shape, outlining
Speaker 1: what appeared to be some kind of figure lying underneath.
Speaker 1: At the point where a chest might be. Coin watched
Speaker 1: with amusement as the quilt began to rise and fall,
Speaker 1: as if that chest were heaving up and down, struggling
Speaker 1: to breathe. And then suddenly the entire quilt began undulating violently,
Speaker 1: as if whatever was under it were in the final
Speaker 1: throes of death. Wasting no more time, Father Coin broke
Speaker 1: immediately into mass, directing it toward that shape, as a
Speaker 1: steady din of what sounded like a hideous gurgling flooded
Speaker 1: the room, as if something were dying right in front
Speaker 1: of them. All the while he kept on spitting out
Speaker 1: the words with ever increasing intensity, as the bed began
Speaker 1: to rock back and forth, lifting the legs inches from
Speaker 1: the ground, And then, as quick as it had begun,
Speaker 1: the quilt dropped down and the mayhem ceased. As were
Speaker 1: traveled far and wide at the apparent hauntings in the
Speaker 1: Murphy's home, more and more people requested to come and
Speaker 1: observe it for themselves. One evening, a well known horse
Speaker 1: dealer arrived at the house to see what all the
Speaker 1: fuss was about. Sitting next to his driver as they
Speaker 1: approached on his pony and trap, there was no doubt
Speaker 1: some apprehension as they caught sight of that small stone
Speaker 1: house perched high up on the hill before them, its
Speaker 1: windows like eyes flickering ominously with the candle light from within.
Speaker 1: All was quiet as the driver brought them to a
Speaker 1: stop outside. James, who had been expecting them, greeted the
Speaker 1: horse dealer before showing him inside, while the driver was
Speaker 1: instructed to wait alone under the moonlight. It was some
Speaker 1: time later, as the driver blew into his hands to
Speaker 1: keep them warm, that he noticed the silhouette of a
Speaker 1: figure walking toward him from out of the distant dark.
Speaker 1: The driver watched it as it drew closer and closer,
Speaker 1: until eventually it passed him by and disappeared into the night.
Speaker 1: It was strange, he thought, since there was some distance
Speaker 1: from the nearest neighbor, or village for that matter. Thinking
Speaker 1: nothing more of it, the driver had just turned his
Speaker 1: attention back to keeping warm when he caught sight of
Speaker 1: another figure approaching from out of the same direction as
Speaker 1: the one before, only for them to again pass straight
Speaker 1: by without a word and then vanish. Grabbing a torch light,
Speaker 1: the driver held it out behind him and squinted into
Speaker 1: the dark, but saw nothing. Turning back, he jumped at
Speaker 1: the sight of yet another figure emerging from out of
Speaker 1: the distance, again from the same place as the other two.
Speaker 1: Calling out, the driver demanded to know their business, but
Speaker 1: got nothing in response, as all the while the figure
Speaker 1: drew nearer and nearer, walked past the cart and vanished
Speaker 1: back into the night. Just then, a heavy gust of
Speaker 1: wind swept across the hill, blowing out the driver's light
Speaker 1: and throwing the pony into a frenzy, neighing and stamping
Speaker 1: and raising up on two feet before the driver could
Speaker 1: bring it under control. It was with some relief when
Speaker 1: his employer emerged moments later from out of the house
Speaker 1: and demanded to be taken back home. Though both father
Speaker 1: Smith and Coine urged the church to grant permission to
Speaker 1: conduct an exorcism, in the end it was decided not
Speaker 1: to take such drastic measures. Perhaps one of the most
Speaker 1: unusual incidences occurred shortly before Father Coyne was due to
Speaker 1: transfer to another parish. On one afternoon, while out visiting
Speaker 1: a sick neighbor of the Murphys, Coin was passing the
Speaker 1: Murphy household when he decided to check in on the family.
Speaker 1: Little had changed since he last saw them, but on
Speaker 1: this occasion he had a holy pix with him, containing
Speaker 1: the consecrated host wafers of bread, which are considered in
Speaker 1: Catholicism to be the body of Jesus Christ. As more
Speaker 1: of an experiment than anything else, Coine entered the children's bedroom, and,
Speaker 1: holding the pics aloft, made the Sign of the Cross
Speaker 1: with it. This moment was followed immediately with such loud
Speaker 1: bangs every one else present through themselves to the ground
Speaker 1: in fear of what might happen next. Panicking Coin was
Speaker 1: then said to have placed the picks on the floor,
Speaker 1: at which point the sound seemed to travel through the
Speaker 1: wall down toward the small holy container, before dropping under
Speaker 1: the floor below it, moving deeper and deeper into the
Speaker 1: ground until it could no longer be heard. In the end,
Speaker 1: Unable to escape the strange phenomena, Bridget Murphy eventually decided
Speaker 1: to pack up and move the family to America. Though
Speaker 1: it isn't known what happened to them after their arrival
Speaker 1: in America, or if they continued to be plagued by
Speaker 1: similar hauntings, some have reported that passengers traveling on the
Speaker 1: same boat as them heard peculiar noises coming from the
Speaker 1: family's cabin late at night. As for the clergyman that
Speaker 1: had spent so much time with the family, as Shawn
Speaker 1: Leslie noted, their involvement apparently was said to have led
Speaker 1: to two of them suffering spinal meningitis and facial paralysis, respectively,
Speaker 1: while a third suffered a complete nervous breakdown. Unexplained. The
Speaker 1: book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never before
Speaker 1: been covered on the show, is now available to buy worldwide.
Speaker 1: You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones,
Speaker 1: among other bookstores. All elements have Unexplained, including the show's music,
Speaker 1: are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and
Speaker 1: rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel
Speaker 1: free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas
Speaker 1: regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you
Speaker 1: have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.
Speaker 1: You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com
Speaker 1: or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com.
Speaker 1: Forward slash Unexplained Podcast. Now It's time to take care
Speaker 1: of yourself. To make time for you. Teledoc gives you
Speaker 1: access to a licensed therapist to help you get back
Speaker 1: to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by
Speaker 1: phone or video any time between seven am to nine
Speaker 1: pm local time, seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is
Speaker 1: available through most insurance or employers. Download the app, or
Speaker 1: visit teledoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained Podcast Today to
Speaker 1: get started. That's t e la DC dot com Slash
Speaker 1: Unexplained Podcast