Irish Ghost Stories - Tapa blanda

Unexplained psychic phenomena fascinate people from all walks of life. However, many are afraid, ashamed and embarrassed to come forward for fear of not being taken seriously. Of course, we can't prove that ghosts exist or don't exist. We are in a different realm of consciousness when we talk about ghosts. But however strange or unusual the feelings that people experience, the experiences themselves are none the less real. Celebrated people have had strange experiences. This book includes those of the actor Micheal MacLiammoir and of playwright and author Hugh Leonard (Jack Keyes Byrne). The Lord of the Dance, Michael Flatley, has acknowledged the presence of a ghost named Isabella in his Castlehyde home near Fermoy, County Cork. Oliver St John Gogarty also believed in ghosts. There are many well-known Irish ghost stories and Padraic O'Farrell tells some of them in this book. He has, however, leaned heavily on the side of lesser-known tales; most of them previously unpublished.

The late Padraic O'Farrell was one of Ireland's most prolific popular authors. Born in County Kildare in 1932, he went on to become a senior army officer based in Mullingar. He was the author of forty books, including a number on Irish proverbs and sayings: Gems of Irish Wisdom, Irish Rogues, Rascals and Scoundrels and How the Irish Speak English. Other books are The Burning of Brinsley MacNamara, The Blacksmith of Ballinalee, Who's Who in the Irish War of Independence and Civil War 1916-23, and a Michael Collins novel, Rebel Heart. He also scripted two historical plays and a musical based on the Great War and wrote features and theatre reviews for various publications, among them The Irish Times and Theatre Ireland. He died in 2003.