By Kristi O’Toole

In December 1894, St Peter’s National School on Raglan Street was hosting a performance in a classroom upstairs which was larger than the other rooms. Many children came to see the performance and some of them were accompanied by their parents.

Now some boys in the front rows began to misbehave, forcing others watching the show to stand in order to see it. Suddenly the room was plunged into darkness and someone shouted “Ghost!” Naturally panic broke out and people began to rush to the exit. The hallway was also pitch black and people began to push in their panic, those at the front started falling downstairs as they were unable to see where they were going. The poor people that fell downstairs were now blocking the door out onto the street and were soon being crushed by the people behind them.

Folks from the local area rushed to help and the injured were brought to nearby houses or hospital if their injuries were more serious.

It eventually came to light that 5 children had been crushed to death. It later emerged that 2 youths had been responsible for turning off the gas in order to amuse themselves. The boys were arrested and held in the local jail. In the official report made on their release it was claimed one of the boys “made up stories”. He claimed whilst in the jail cell he was kept awake by strange noises and occurrences. Of course, no one believed him.

When the 2 boys left the cells, one went to stay with relatives in Tyrone and the other, who was the boy who claimed to hear the disturbances, returned home, although he could not go out because of the bad feeling towards him in the local community.

Soon though, people began to report strange goings on in the school house. Strange noises would be heard, windows would be smashed and furniture moved around in the room where the tragedy had occurred. There were many report of screams being heard when the school house was empty and an overall uneasy atmosphere.

The young man who had caused the deaths of the children heard these stories and began to connect them to the young children who had died at his hand. After some time of ridicule and being made to feel like less a human being, he decided to move to Kilkenny where it is believed in a distressed state he joined a religious order. After he left town the disturbances at the school stopped.

To this day, the school is still in full operation with no reports of strange activity.

When Kristi isn’t writing for NewzBreaker, she writes supernatural suspense novels having three currently published. If you would like to check out any of her books they can be found online and at other major retailers like Books a Million and Amazon. Never one to rest, she also paints/designs shoes and items for the home. Check out her eBay store, Watered Down Vodka and her FB page.

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