The Snare Drum

The banging continued for the rest of this week on and off.  At different times we could hear running as if child's bare feet upstairs on the wooden floors.  Other times it would sound like a football match was happening in my bedroom.  My youngest daughter decided to take the EMF reader and go up stairs into my room.   She tried to speak to the spirit and asked it to hit the drum.  ( I have a set of drums belonging to my youngest in my room).  She demonstrated what she wanted the spirit to do.  Nothing happened and I was unaware of what she had done.

Later that evening I though my youngest was upstairs messing with the drums but he was doing his homework in the dinning room.  Everyone was accounted for.  I could the very odd time and faintly hear the snare drum.  I said this to Rob to listen and he agreed it was the snare I could hear.  This continued over the next couple of day and then she explained she had asked the spirit to hit the drum I asked her which one and she showed me the snare.  She though it cool that she could get the spirit to do things for her.  I was not so sure.

This was becoming a lot more active.  I was afraid that maybe we were feeding it energy as our belief and understanding grew and that it could end up a demolition zone just like the previous owners.  I decided that the EMF reader be put away for a while until I get my head around it.

Another Try

During dinner it sounded like a football match was been played upstairs in my bedroom.  It sounded like feet running up and down with banging.  We went to investigate and the noise stopped until we returned to our dinner.

We are kinda starting to feel just a little scared at what we may have awoken last night.  The dog still looks upset and nervous.

We decided to try the EMF reader again tonight.  We ensured all mobiles, televisions and laptops were turned off.  We asked the same questions as last night  and got the same answers.  We also asked a few more;

Did you live during the famine?    Are you female?                             Can we try to help you?                 Can we ask your name?                 Is it Mary?                                    Is it Anne?                                    Is it Alice?                                   Is it Peggy?                                  Is it Theresa?                               Is it Elizabeth?                             Is it Francis?                                Are you still there?

Lights OFF Lights ON Lights ON Lights ON Lights OFF Lights OFF Lights OFF Lights OFF      Lights OFF      Lights OFF Lights OFF          Lights OFF   Lights OFF

We tried to disapprove the readings.  We thought maybe someone may have been in next doors garden with a mobile at the time of the questions.  Rob went outside while I remained inside with the EMF reader.  He texted his brother and then called him.  It had no affect on the reading it remained off.  He was far closer then anyone could have been from next door.  We had no explanation.

Last Night

Last night was loud.  I was awake all night with a constant banging downstairs.  When I went to check the noise was upstairs then.  Our dog had her head down and was starring into the utility room.  I tried to get her to go out to the back garden but she would not enter the utility.  I walked into the utility room and it was ice cold.

I went back to bed after turning on the heating and the noise continued until about five in the morning.

I am wrecked going to work.  I hope we did not  upset  the spirit in the house.  I hope it knows we mean no harm and just want to know a bit about who we share our house with.  

Wouldn't you like to know a few things about whom you live with?

First Try

We tried out the EMF tonight and the lights were jumping about.

 We explained that we were going to ask it a few questions if the answer was yes to come close to the item on the table and the lights would light, if the answer was no then to not come near so the lights would stay off.

We asked;
 

Are you in the room with us?                               Are you the one who has been taking things?      Did you hide my passport?                                     Did you hide the red purse?                                    Can you tell us where the red purse is?                How long have you been dead?                            Did you previously live in the house?                  Do you live here?                                                 Are you alone?                                                      Are you a child?

Lights ON Lights OFF Lights ON  Lights ON Lights OFF Lights OFF Lights Off Lights ON Lights OFF Lights ON

Lights at this point started to go on and off.  I heard my daughters phone beeping with a text message.  She had been receiving and sending a text message while we where using the EMF.   We put the phone close to the reader and sent a message this appeared to cause the EMF to light up.

We doubted what had happened and decided to go and check out some of the areas in the house for electromagnetic fields.  We checked around light switches, lights, televisions, stereos, telephones, laptops, kitchen appliances.

The television when on caused the EMF to light up to orange, while everything else did not register on the reader.

We turned off all our mobile phones and tried to restart. Nothing.

The EMF Arrived

Its arrived!  Oh it does not look impressive.  Five lights and an on/off button.  When I press the button on all lights light up and then goes off.  If it works will the spirit not drain the batteries?  I will try it out this evening and see what happens.

What do you reckon is it safe?

A Visit to the Old Moorefield House

We went for a walk to try and locate the site of the original Moore House.   This proved unproductive.  Rob's colleague asked how we had got on in the library.   She told Rob that there was a very old derelict house in that area up to six years ago.  She was unsure if it was still there.  She gave us directions.  We followed her directions,  the laneway was still there but instead of a derelict manor house stood newly built three year old apartments.

When we returned home I searched the planning permission notices for the last few years on line and yes the apartments stood on the site of the Moore House.

I do not know what I thought we would discover at the site of the old Moore House but what ever it was it was not unearthed.

A Visit to the Library

We went to the appointment in the library, for sure we would be laughed out of the library.  We were taken to the back area where all the archives are keep.  The girl explained that a lot of the records pre 1912 were lost in a fire.

She produced some maps to see if we could find the site of our house.  Each map we could pinpoint the area of our house until the 1876 map were there was no distinguishing areas on the map.

We located the Moore House on the maps and could work out roughly were it should stand today.

The site of our house stood on the agriculture land of the Moore House.  Our house was approximately 20 meters to a roadway.  This road was present on all the maps up to the 1876.  The archivist explained that this road marked the boundary of Newbridge town and the county side.  This meant that the Pontiffs land backed on the road way at the edge of the town.  the Pontiffs land stretched to the edge of the Curragh in the other direction. 

We asked about any murders in the area and the girl said indeed there was.  As it was a barracks town, it was a violent town.  She directed me to the newspaper archive area on their website and said that I would find it difficult to find an issue without a murder for the Newbridge area.  That was a bit chilling.

The archivist took our number and said that she would contact us if she uncovered anything else.

More Research

I once again returned to the internet for information.  My research moved away from the actual house to what was there before the houses were built.  I searched old church of Ireland records, the census of 1908 and anything else I could get my hand and eyes on.

I discovered that the land that the house was built on may have belonged to Ponsonby Moore.  He was a wealthy land owner of a very prestigious family.  Around the famine time he had a daughter named Catherine who married an Alfred.  I could not find out much else.  I was unable to discover maps to see exactly where Moore House was located.

There are some very old houses in the Newbridge area.  We took a drive and walk around the area.  We discovered several houses that would be over a hundred years old and some nearer two hundred.  The names on these houses did not match the Moore House that we sought, but names can change.

My husband mentioned the EMF reader, my ongoing research and our experiences to a few colleagues.  One lady was a native of Newbridge and it turned out that her uncle had done quite a bit of historical research in the area.  She put us in touch with a contact in the local library.

I rang to make an appointment as the sounds and smell continued.

The Curragh Wrens

I was listening to the radio on my way back from college last night.  An advertisement for a play called the Curragh Wrens was played.  The advertisement went on to say that the Wrens were ladies of the night who lived on the Curragh.  This intrigued me as I had not heard of any such happenings and wondered if it was fictions.  All I had ever heard was the Curragh was formed during the ice age and St Bridge won it off an English Lord with the swing of her cloak for her convent,

I discovered it was not fiction.

Apparently the Curragh was in the late 19th Century one of the most notorious red light districts outside of Dublin.  Innocent girls would follow their first love to Newbridge where they were based in the barracks (where Bord na Mona now Stands OMG).  The soldiers would have nothing to with them.  The girls often had fallen pregnant due to the charms of the young solider would end up on the Curragh given birth. These girls set up camps under the bushes on the Curragh and survived by selling their only possession, their body on the outskirts of Newbridge town.  Many would have gone missing.

Could the spirit in my house be one of these poor girls.  Maybe dragged and murdered on to the Pontiffs land by a punter. Maybe the Pontiff or his family had gotten sick of girls taken a short cut over his land and murder someone.  Maybe the Pontiff as a religious man had taken matters of redemption into his own hands and decided to send to hell these sinning women.

I felt I was getting closer, that little clues where starting to appear

The OMG above at Bord na Mona is due to the fact that I have worked in Bord na Mona in Newbridge for the last three years in around the time I spoke to my family about my experiences in the house.  Is it a coincidence or is it the spirit leading me on a path to find the truth.

The sounds, smell and shadow continues.  Thank God nothing has gone missing in quite a while.

Wicklow Gaol

I 

I am so getting one of these EMF readers, they are so cool.   I could ask the ghost some questions and hopefully find out what it wants.

We googled the EMF.  It got good reviews and was not too expensive at €50.  I purchased it and I await its arrival.  Excitement is building could I possible get some answers or will it be a big disappointment and a loss of €50.  Oh I can't wait only another few days.

 

Leap Castle

I found this on you tube and I am planning on visiting Leap Castle on Sunday, just to see.

Voters Register

Voters Register 1835 - 1839
Qualifying Freeholders and Leaseholders

 

Moore, Ponsonby, esq.		Occupation:		Tenancy:	Freeholder
Address:	Moorefield, Moorefield or Jigginstown, Kildare	Property:	House and lands	Value(£):	50
Parish:		Note:	To register anew.	Date:	27/12/1839
Barony:	Connell

The map below shows Newbridge in 1772.  The location of our house is near centre of the map close to the y in the road above the house near Jigginstown.

Above is an extract from the voters register that shows that an area with the same name as mine estate existed in Newbridge prior of 1840.

The name Moore of the voter is actually the same name of the previous owners of the house .  Maybe they are related. 

Map of Newbridge in 1972