Haunting in Wellington Street

This story was repeated several times, some of the details were different but the general content of the story remains the same.

A family of several children lived in a house in Wellington Street. The mother died quite suddenly, some say that she died in childbirth but the brunt of looking after the children fell on the shoulders of Mary, the oldest girl. The father began to drink just a little too much and the children were often left alone. The girl did her best but with little money coming into the house there was seldom enough coal for the fire. One frosty night she put the children to bed early but the baby was coughing and restless. She lay beside him, trying to soothe him into sleep, however the room was very cold and the other children woke up.

When their mother was alive she would throw a big army greatcoat over the bed for extra warmth. When Mary tried to slip out of bed to do the same thing the baby woke up and Mary was undecided what to do – to stay with the baby or go to get the overcoat. As she lay there the bedroom door opened and the figure of her mother came in with the coat and laid it gently over the other bed. She shushed the children and they fell asleep again. Mary was not frightened but she knew that somehow or other her mother was still looking after them. When the baby eventually fell asleep Mary went downstairs only to find that the fire was lit and the house tidy.

She waited until her father came in and told him what had happened. At first he scoffed but when the same thing happened a few nights later he believed the story.

He went to the priest and told him what the children had seen. The priest did not scoff but said that perhaps his late wife could not rest in peace as long as her children were suffering. The father took a pledge not to drink again and there were no further visits to their home.