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Thursday 30 October 2014

A haunting continued ....

I'm following on from my last blog post A haunting we will go..... and  keeping with the haunting theme.
I told you about the house my family lived in in Sunday's Well in Cork. I was only 2 when we left the house so I don't have any memory of it. The story i told you was told to me by my parents. Several of my cousins lived in the house at different stages and they all have memories of the place being haunted.
 I was chatting with one cousin yesterday who lived in the house with her parents, my father before he was married and my grandmother . ( her mother was my father's sister) . The story she heard was that the man who was found hanging in the house was Polish and he was found behind the bathroom door not under the stairwell. As a child she didn't know this but remembers always being afraid in the bathroom. She said there was always a chilling breeze flowing through the room. My father heard her crying in the Bathroom one day and knowing she was afraid used to stand watch outside the room to mind her.
She also spoke of a room where the light used to come on by itself.
My grandmother sold the house after my mother took ill on Christmas eve, 1960. Mam was 8 months pregnant with my sister at the time.
 My father, an electrician was in the Bar next door repairing the Christmas lights and no doubt having a pint and a drop. Mam was hanging up Christmas decorations when she collapsed with a brain haemorrhage and was found by my father unconscious on the floor.
My grandmother was convinced that my mother saw something in the room that night. My mother recovered eventually, she was in a coma for a long time in the North Infirmary Hospital in Cork's Northside.
 My sister was born while mam was in a coma. She arrived quite unexpectedly. A priest was doing his rounds and heard the baby crying in the bed. She was called Catherine, Louise after 2 of the nursing  nuns. She was then placed in the drawer of a chest of drawers in the room as they weren't equipped for babies as the hospital was not a maternity hospital.
 Can you imagine the excitement.
 Mam never recovered her memory so wasn't able to tell us if anything happened in the house that night to cause her illness.
It was the straw that broke the camel's back for my grandmother, she felt the house had brought nothing but bad luck to the family and she sold it.
The house changed hands several times afterwards. Eventually it was knocked and some fine apartments have been built there recently. I'd love to know if the residents are having any strange unexplained experiences there.

The following photographs were taken in a graveyard in Cobh recently. I took them especially for Halloween. I wasn't alone, I had an accomplice. Most women bring their daughters to shopping centres, fashion shows, cinema etc I bring mine to graveyards. What makes me laugh is how normal it is to them. One night,  I asked my youngest daughter Marie to accompany me to Ballymore graveyard in the pitch dark, apart from the full moon. Ya she said, no bother. The only stipulation was that we bring the dog.










Camera settings. Camera - Canon 70D, lens Canon 18-135mm. All these images were taken with the same lens at focal lengths between 18 and 41mm. exposures between 22 and 50 seconds. f16, ISO 100. The camera was on a tripod, using a remote release. My daughter used a torch to light up the statue from different angles.
There was a lot of tripping over gravestones and giggles had in the process.



Sunday 26 October 2014

A haunting we will go.....


I loved this poem as a child, I could visualise the scene  and every time I photograph a ruin it comes to mind. I find old houses and ruins enchanting.

The Listeners

‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,   
   Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses   
   Of the forest’s ferny floor:
And a bird flew up out of the turret,   
   Above the Traveller’s head:
And he smote upon the door again a second time;   
   ‘Is there anybody there?’ he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;   
   No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,   
   Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners   
   That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight   
   To that voice from the world of men:..................

    When my parents married in the mid 1950's they moved in with my Grandmother, my father's widowed mother. She lived in a rambling old house on Wises Hill in Sunday's Well in Cork City.
    There had been a tragic death in the house some years before my grandparents bought the place. A young RIC man(Royal Irish Constabulary, who policed Ireland 1814-1922 before An Garda Síochána took over the Irish Free State)was found hanging under the stairwell. My mother said he was the son of a Butcher.
    Mam told us about several occasions when she was alone in the house and she 'd hear footsteps coming to the closed sitting room door. She would be expecting my father to walk in but nobody would be there. Or she would hear footsteps coming down the stairs and the door of the room would open but again nobody would enter the room.
    I was a home birth which wasn't unusual in Ireland then.  Women didn't give the graphic accounts of their childbirths in those days. My mother said the doctor brought me in his bag. Apparently I destroyed his notes. Serves him right for carrying a bloodied baby in his bag. It could have been worse, my brother was found under a head of cabbage, but I digress.
    Mam told us she never felt alone in the house. She said she was never afraid when she was on her own but always sensed a presence. 
    Older family members  had similar experiences and also remember lights switching on by themselves.
   Any member of our family old enough to remember is convinced that the house was haunted. 
   As I was born in the house I feel a bit of a connection with him. I feel that we must have met somewhere in the in-between before i entered the Real World. Who knows!

   My photographs on this theme were taken in 3 locations, some in Cobh, Co. Cork and some in Galway and 1 in Ring Co Waterford. 

Glenmore Cobh
 Camera Settings, Camera-Canon 70D, Lens Canon 70-300mm@80mm, exp 1/80sec, f11, ISO 160
Renville, Galway
Camera Settings, Camera- Canon 70D, Lens Canon 18-135mm@67mm, exp 1/200sec, f10, ISO100 

 Belgrove House, Walterstown, Cobh
Camera Settings, Camera- Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@11mm, exp 1/400, f22, ISO 100
 Mageen's House, Ring Co. Waterford
Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@16mm, exp 0.8sec, f16, ISO 100, tripod
 Mageen's House, Ring, Co. Waterford
Camera Settings, Camera - Canon 70D, lens Canon 18-135mm@18mm, exp 1/100sec, f7.1, ISO 160
Valley Road, Cobh
Camera Settings, Camera-Canon 70D, Lens Canon 18-135mm@18mm, exp 1/60sec, f11, ISO 100
 Fota Cottages, workers houses, Fota Road, Cobh, Co. Cork
Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens 18-135mm@18mm, exp 1/50sec, f20, ISO200
 Camera Settings, Camera - Canon 70D, Lens Canon 18-135mm@18mm, exp 1/80sec, f11, ISO 200


Sunday 19 October 2014

A sort of ghostly story.

Halloween is approaching and it's a great excuse to be found in 1 of my favourite places, graveyards.

My parents had great ghost stories and really believed that they were true. My mother talked about a girl she knew who while dancing with a very handsome man looked down and noticed that instead of shoes he had hoofs. He was probably just a very bad dancer.

I love giving my friends the willies by telling them ghostly tales and even though they pretend to not want to hear them I know they really do. I'm not easily spooked myself, I have quite a logical mind behind it all. I know there has to be a reason for everything though i lost all sense of reason one night about a year ago.

Much to my youngest daughter's horror I agreed to look after the ashes of a dead relative for a few months. I thought nothing of it but she was really freaked at the thought of us ash sitting. I put the ashes in the attic for safe keeping and to hide them, out of her sight and mind. I was very respectful and placed them at the far end of the house above my own bedroom, I even said a wee prayer before I left them there.

Almost straight away I noticed a difference in the night noises in the house. On a windy night in particular the normal creaks and groans from the attic timbers seemed to be louder and more enhanced than they used to be. I knew i was imagining things, my mind was playing tricks on me. Then one dark winter's night, myself and my youngest daughter were alone in the house. Himself was working the night shift and the other two daughters were away for the night.
 I was heading for bed around midnight and went to lock the front door. As I turned the key an alarming  noise coming from the other end of the house sent chills down my spine and i could feel my blood running cold in my body. I could hear myself saying "what the f#@k was that" and at the same time my daughter was saying something similar. Then it happened again, it was for all the world like someone was moving a heavy wardrobe across a wooden floor. 
At this stage the two of us were clung together shivering with fear in the hall. We thought it was coming from the attic, then it happened again and i thought it was coming from the small box room at the end of the house. You should have seen the two of us clinging to each other and slowly walking down the hall to investigate. I knew there had to be a logical reason and thank God there was. I opened the door of the room just in time to see the venetian blind on the window being played like a musical instrument by the northerly wind through the open window. You would be amazed by how loud it seemed in the empty room. We handed back the ashes soon after and thankfully the house returned to normal. 

In keeping with the story and the time of  year my photographs are graveyard themed.

 Camera settings, Camera - Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@24mm, exp 1/200sec, f7.1, ISO 100 +remote and tripod

 Camera Settings, Camera - Canon 70 D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@24mm, exp 1/800sec, f16, ISO100 +remote and tripod

 Camera Settings, Camera- Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@10mm, exp 1/10sec, f13, ISO 100 +tripod

 Camera settings, Camera 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@15mm, exp 1/320sec, f9, ISO 100

 Camera settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@10mm, exp 1/320sec, f22, ISO 100

 Camera Settings, Camera - Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@11mm, exp 1/800sec, f4, ISO 100 converted to Black/White
 Camera Settings, Camera - Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@11mm, exp 1/6sec, f22, ISO 100


Camera settings, Camera - Canon 70D, Lens Canon 18-135mm@28mm, exp1/60sec, f22, ISO 100


Friday 10 October 2014

Well Holy God!

I just love second hand shops. Call them Junk shops, Vintage, Charity shops, I love them all. One of my favourites is Deccie's Done Deals in Midleton, Co Cork. Deccie is a lovely character and very down to earth. You will always get a bargain in Deccie's. He's on Facebook if you're interested.

I was in search of props for a Photography project i have in mind based on my mother and her fanatical Faith. If you read my posts, 'A cross to bear' and 'The Cruel Sea' then you will know about my mother's illness and her devotion to The Cross and probably every Saint on the books. She told us that Saint John Bosco appeared to her when she was unconscious. Apparently the Cloaked Character from the Sandiman Port bottle appeared to her too so I don't think I ever took it that seriously.

However I was looking for a picture of the Sacred Heart complete with red light containing a little cross when i visited Deccie's. If you are a middle aged Catholic then you will have had one of these pictures in your living room as a child and possibly still have one. I have one, minus the red bulb. In our house as a child I always remember a Rosary beads hanging from the section holding the light bulb and dried out palm leaves sprouting out from behind the picture,( these were a remnant from Palm Sunday Mass)  and a faded St. Bridget's Cross on the other side.

Deccie didn't have any Holy Pictures but I couldn't believe what he did have. Himself spotted them as we were leaving. I had walked straight past them, having a one tracked mind, all I was looking for was 1 of these pictures. Deccie had 2 magnificent Crucifixes which were taken out of a house in Montenotte (A very posh part of Cork City). I don't know how I will use them yet but I have a few ideas. The sight of them hanging up in my utility room freaks the hell out of my youngest daughter. I find it strangely comforting though.

This is Deccie, Legend

 Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, lens Canon 18-135mm@100mm, exp 1/100sec, f8, ISO 200
Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, lens Tamron 10-24mm@11mm, exp 1/100sec, f3.5, ISO 5000
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 Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, lens Tamron 10-24mm@10mm, exp 1/100sec, f3.5, ISO 6400
 Camera Settings, Camera canon 70D, lens Tamron 10-24mm@10mm, exp 1/40sec, f3.5, ISO 320
 Camera Settings, Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm@24mm, exp1/160sec, f4.5, ISO100
Camera Settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Tamron 10-24mm @24mm,exp 1/160sec, f5.6, ISO 400

Thursday 2 October 2014

I was his Morgan Le Fey

Over his head is shrieking
a lean hag, quickly hopping
Over the points of weapons and shields.
She is the gray haired Morrigu


          -Annals of Leinster



My father in law on becoming a widower came to live out his life with us in a small apartment at the back of our house. He was an avid reader and consumed books at a great rate. He readily quoted from Shakespeare and in the next breath quoted from the Bible. He was fascinated by mythology and fancied himself as Merlin. In fact he had a sign outside the door which read  'Merlin's Keep'.

I was his Morgan le Fey. He used to say that I had him entrapped in a glass tower in order to steal his Sorcery and spells. I did my best, I'd like to think that I was a good witch though. Morgan  was a sorceress of Arthurian legend and had the power to change her form. One of her forms was that of a Raven or Crow. I haven't learned to do that yet.

In Irish Legend the Morrigan was associated with Battle and appeared in the form of a Crow, flying above the Warriors. She was associated with death. My father in law lived to be 92 by the way.

This series of photos is about Crows, and I think this is where my father in law got the idea that I was The Morrigan or Morgan Le Fey. They hang out at our house all the time. As I'm driving in the road to our house they are waiting, lined up along the roof and hanging out on the aerial. It's like a scene from the Hitchcock film, The Birds. 

They arrive at the bird table in droves, they always remind me of the nuns that taught me in primary school. The nuns used to dress in long black habits with a black veil hiding their hair completely. They were lovely women to be fair except for 1 who's nickname was Stash. God I was terrified of her, see if you can guess which one she is!

Camera settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Canon 70-300 @235mm, exp 1/1600sec, f5.6, ISO 1000

 Camera Settings, Canon 70D, Lens Canon 70-300 @235mm, exp 1/1600sec, f5.6, ISO 1000


 Camera Settings, Camera 70D, Lens Canon 70-300mm@300mm, exp 1/1600sec, f6.3, ISO 5000

 Camera settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Canon 70-300mm@300mm, exp 1/400sec, f11, ISO 2500
 Camera settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens 70-300mm@300mm, exp 1/250sec, f11, ISO 400

 Camera settings, Camera Canon 500D, Lens Canon 55-250mm@170mm, exp 1/80sec, f5.6, ISO 100

 Camera settings, Camera Canon 500D, Lens Canon 55-250mm@220mm, exp 1/100sec, f5.6, ISO 100
 Camera settings, Camera Canon 500D, Lens Canon 55-250mm@187mm, exp 1/250sec,f5.6, ISO 100
 Camera settings, Camera Canon 500D, Lens Canon 55-250mm@123mm, exp 1/40sec, f5.0, ISO 100

Camera settings, Camera Canon 70D, Lens Canon 70-300mm@300mm, exp 1.400sec, f5.6, ISO800