Cumber House, Claudy.

At the time of this story, the owners of the house were Browne, and as they were rich landowners they had a lot of power in the area. The priests were very friendly with the family, but when the old man Browne died, one of the priests made a comment to the head gardner that the old man was burning in the fires of hell. The gardener told the family this and they summoned the priest to confront him. The old man’s son had a pistol held to the priest, screaming at him to prove that his father was in hell.

The priest got down on his knees and started praying like never before. When time had passed and no proof was seen, the son was getting more and more agitated. The priest then rolled up his trousers and prayed on his bare knees. He drew a circle on the floor and prayed again. Suddenly from the circle drawn on the floor, the ghost of the old man appeared out of flames. The priest ran from the house and never returned.

The ghost of the old man haunted the house for a long time, until the family finally got another priest to come to banish him. This he did by drawing a circle at the foot of one of the trees in the grounds and ordering him into it.

Many people have reported the sounds of knocking and scraping coming from the direction of the tree beside Cumber house, and only the very brave will walk unaccompanied round the grounds at night.