A Kildare Ghost Story

There is a cellar in an old public house (pub) in Co. Kildare that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a former owner. One man who tells the story says he got it from his grandfather, who worked in the pub as a young man.

The place was even then old and dismal, the owner even older and more dismal. The young man was terrified of him. Lighting the boiler in the cellar at 6 a.m. was one of his jobs. He hated this because the cellar was pitch black and infested with large rats.

The pub owner knew the young man was afraid and took a delight in goading him about it. He sent him to the cellar when-ever he could. One morning the young man arrived for work at 6 a.m. He was surprised that the old owner wasn't there, waiting to gloat over his fear and to give, him a clip on the ear. But he went off to do the job, scared as usual.

When he opened the cellar door, a breeze blew out the lighted candle he was carrying. He knew the cellar well in the dark and walked over to the boiler and set about the task of lighting it. He heaped in paper and wood, and then suddenly heard deep breathing from inside the boiler. He was petrified. Then an un-earthly scream rent the air, and the old owner's voice muttering and cackling seemed to come from all corners of the cellar.

The young man ran wildly out of the cellar. When he got back to the bar, he was surprised to see groups of neighbours standing around talking. They were discussing the death of the old owner. He had died suddenly the night before.

The new owner only laughed when the young man told of his weird experience in the cellar, but changed his tune same months later when workmen who were carrying out work dismantling the old bailer for removal heard strange sounds and knockings.

The new owner finally decided to leave the boiler alone, and instead had it enclosed completely with a wooden hoarding.