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The Trinity Street Ghost
111 Plays4 months ago
Welcome back to Pieces of History! After a four-year hiatus, the podcast that brings you captivating tales from the past is making its long-awaited return. This season, I’m diving back into the events, people, and stories that shaped our world - both the famous and forgotten.
Kicking off our new series is a spine-tingling episode on the Trinity Street Ghost, a chilling tale that captured the imagination of Northern Ireland in the 1930s. In today’s episode, we’ll uncover the mystery of this ghostly legend, exploring its historical context, the cultural attitudes toward hauntings, and the enduring power of such tales to spark wonder and curiosity.
Join me as I unravel the threads of history, one fascinating story at a time.
Email: piecesofhistorypod@outlook.com
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Transcript
Encountering the Ghost
00:00:13
Speaker
So into a dark passage which had the correct ghostly atmosphere I plunged with reckless abandon. If there was a ghost, I muttered darkly, the wig must get an interview. I knew I had reached the right door when I came on a group of whispering people. My high spirits failed me for a moment, but only for a moment. They weren't reporters. The ghost then was to be mine. I joined the party and talked breezily. No good. Then I talked sympathetically.
00:00:39
Speaker
better. I began to learn of this ghost with three doors and did not wear a hatter collar. It's in the attic, a youth told me, but sometimes it comes downstairs and goes out into the yard. Does it only walk at night? I asked. This was fine progress. Press, queried a young fellow. I nodded.
00:00:59
Speaker
I thought so, he said. Directly he started asking questions. I wished for a minute or two that the pressman could wear the transparency of ghosts when asking questions. A chilly silence had fallen. Upstairs in the haunted attic, a light was burning faintly. Do you know, I said at length. I was once wakened by a ghost and he rattled a bunch of keys. I don't believe in ghosts, said a young man. But there are ghosts, I persisted.
00:01:25
Speaker
Do you know, he said. I take ten bob and sleep in that attic. Certainly, I replied. The ghost couldn't hurt you. It doesn't matter if you tie the doors. He pulls them open and he kicks up a frightful banging. I hear he chased three men downstairs the other night and he makes people faint. Well, well, I said, lighting a cigarette. Do you think I could get into that house? Ask at the front door, came the reply.
Podcast Revival and Historical Context
00:01:52
Speaker
I'm thrilled to announce that the podcast is back after a hiatus of just over four years. For those who are new, the show features a b blend of episodes, some resources narrated by me, and others involving interviews with experts who explore both famous and lesser known historical events. Episodes are released bi-weekly and are available on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. With the introduction out of the way, let's jump back into this week's episode, The Trinity Street Ghost.
00:02:18
Speaker
We'll uncover the mystery surrounding the ghost, examining its historical roots, the cultural attitudes towards hauntings in 1930s Northern Ireland, and the enduring fascination with stories like this. But to fully grasp this haunting, we must step back and explore the historical and cultural landscape of the city where it all unfolded, my hometown of Belfast.
00:02:37
Speaker
Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. It's a city steeped in history, marked by resilience, innovation and transformation. Its story begins along the River Forcett, near what is now High Street, where it originated as a small settlement. The name Belfast itself is derived from the Irish Belfursia, meaning the most of the sandbank ford, a reflection of its geography.
00:02:57
Speaker
By the 19th century Belfast began to take shape as a market town, a group spurred on by the Plantation of Ulster, a policy through which Scottish and English settlers established communities in the region. This era marked the beginnings of Belfast's rise as a hub of trade and commerce, thanks in large part to a strategic location and accessing a natural port. The influence of these settlers can still be seen in the city's architecture, culture and societal structure. The 19th century was a transformative period for Belfast. Industrialisation swept through the city, turning it into a powerhouse of shipbuilding, linen production and engineering.
00:03:32
Speaker
Its linen industry earned Belfast the nickname Linenopolis, as it became one of the most important textile producing cities in the world. The Harland and Wolf shipyard emerged as a global leader in shipbuilding with its most famous creation, the RMS Titanic, cementing Belfast's place in maritime history.
00:03:49
Speaker
During this time, the city's population surged, fuelled by rural migration and immigration, as people sought opportunities in the growing industries. However, with industrial growth came challenges to society. Belfast's rapid expansion highlighted the stark contrast between wealth and poverty. Working-class communities lived in cramped conditions and sectarian divides deepened as Protestant and Catholic populations competed for jobs and housing.
00:04:12
Speaker
The 20th century sought Belfast as the centre of both innovation and turmoil. The city became a vocal point during the Troubles, a period of violent sectarian conflict lasting from the late 1960s until the signing of the Group Friday Agreement in 1998. This conflict, rooted in political and religious divisions, had profound impact on Belfast, leaving scars that are still visible today. Despite this, the city has shown remarkable resilience and has worked towards reconciliation and regeneration in recent decades.
00:04:40
Speaker
Today, Belfast is a vibrant city that honours its history while embracing modernity. Its art scene thrives, with music, literature and theatre playing a key role in its cultural identity. Iconic landmarks such as City Hall and a titanic order draw visitors from around the world, while its industrial past is celebrated in museums and tours. Belfast's blend of historical significance and contemporary innovation makes it a dynamic and fascinating place to explore, a city that continues to evolve while remembering events that shaped its past.
00:05:10
Speaker
Now that we've explored Belfast's broader landscape, let's focus on where our story unfolds, Trinity Street. Nestled between the bustling arteries of Clifton Street and the West Link dual carriageway, this subtle grey seam on the city map lies in the historic Clifton Street area, a neighbourhood steeped in resilience, reform and even the supernatural. At the heart of this area is Clifton st Street graveyard, a solemn yet compelling reflection of Belfast's 18th and 19th century past.
00:05:37
Speaker
Here, are the graves of the wealthy and influential stand beside those of the impoverished and forgotten, starkly illustrating the social disparities of the era. Among the most notable figures buried here are Henry Joe McCracken, a United Irishman later executed in 1798 for his role in the Irish Rebellion, and his sister Mary Ann McCracken, a tireless advocate for education, workers' rights, and the abolition of slavery.
00:05:59
Speaker
Fast forward to the early 1930s, and life in the area around Trinity Street paints a vivid picture of resilience amid adversity. Like much of the world, Belfast was grappling with the Great Depression. A working-class neighbourhood such as Clifton Street bore the brunt of its impact. Families often lived in cramped conditions, relying on community support and charitable organisations for survival.
00:06:21
Speaker
Although the loss of key census records leaves gaps in our understanding of individual lives in 1930s Belfast, what endures is a portrait of perseverance and community spirit. This context, marked by economic challenges, cultural tensions and unwavering resilience, provides a rich backdrop for the tale of the Trinity Strait ghost.
00:06:38
Speaker
While researching this episode, I came across some fascinating first-hand accounts from Trinity Street residents, witnesses and reporters of the time. I'll be quoting from contemporary newspaper reports, as their insights are simply too compelling to leave out of the story. So let's get on with it.
The Rise of Trinity Street Ghost
00:06:59
Speaker
So how did it all start? Well, the haunting of Trinity Street first gained attention in January 1932, but according to first-hand accounts reported at the time, the area events began months earlier, in October 1931. Residents described how the disturbances started shortly after the new tenants moved into the house, with subletting increasing the number of occupants. Almost immediately, the ghost made its appearance known through loud footsteps on the stairs, slamming doors and opening windows.
00:07:27
Speaker
One tenant's wife vividly recounted these unsettling events to reporters. It buried its perambulations, occasionally by opening a window here and slamming the door there. Another couple living in the house provided an equally chilling account, describing the ghost as a black figure, sometimes seen wearing a cape and a hat, gliding silently along the ground or moving with invisible yet violent energy.
00:07:50
Speaker
They claimed the operation's activity centred on the cold shed, for more it would pass through the pantry, kitchen, the stairs, before vanishing it into the attic. The situation left most residents terrified, but sleepless nights and the haunted expressions betraying their fear. But it seems not everyone in the house was as frightened as those other tenants, as the reporter goes on to note. In sharp contrast to the fear of the inhabitants is the perfect composure displayed by an aged couple who live in a room off the second floor of the stairs. They do not seem to fear the operation or its effects.
00:08:20
Speaker
In perfect peace, they poddled around their usual household tasks, leaving the ghost to take its effect on others of a less balanced temperament. Does one lose fear of noisy ghosts with the passes of years? Or is it the time merely blunts the edge of one's imagination? At any rate, the old couples do not intend to allow ghosts to disturb the routine of their lives.
00:08:40
Speaker
Now let's fast forward to the weekend of the 16th and 17th of January 1932, when the story had garnered significant attention. A journalist from the Belfast newsletter took notice and began his Monday edition report with a dramatic opening, quote, There is a ghost in house in Trinity Street off Clifton Street, the place where there are now keeping the crowds away. The haunting had become the talk of the city, with thousands of curious onlookers gathering outside the house.
00:09:05
Speaker
Their imaginations fuel by increasingly sensational tales. A journalist from the Irish News also covered a story, writing, thousands of people have visited treney street where the haunted house is situated and those fantastic stories were freely circulated their airiness only growing and the retelling Extra police were called to the scene to keep crowds away from the house. and On several occasions, forcible methods had been used to manage the throngs that filled the street. In the street itself, the crowds grew so large that a additional police were deployed to control the situation. On a more than one occasion, officers had to use force to disperse the throngs blocking the street. The reporter further commented on the presence of the police, quote, Belfast police have to confess themselves mystified, much less beaten, yet I forced a confession.
00:09:49
Speaker
Willing to assist me, headquarters had to admit that, while a ghost had stalked, none of the officers of the law had interrogated it. It was true that, in consequence of information received, members of the force had proceeded to Trinity Street and that reports to be made in due course.
00:10:05
Speaker
Asked if there was any previous record of or against the ghost of Trinity Street, the officer said there was no previous record. Its fingerprints had never been taken. There was no official photograph of it, nor was it known whether the ghost's eyes were red or green. For present, the Trinity Street ghost remains at large. So our story moves on to Monday then.
00:10:25
Speaker
As the story gained attention, so did the crowds and the number of reporters. The police, concerned that the growing crowd on this narrow street might pose a safety risk, took special precautions. It's worth noting that the street was small, earned 100 metres long with terrorist housing, unlikely prayer lighting and uneven surfaces. To manage the situation, officers gathered at strategic points and stood watch for hours, carefully watching and waiting for any developments.
00:10:50
Speaker
As the Irish News reported, quote, The crowd dwindles and grows as interests lackons or quickens. The atmosphere is such that the mere appearance of an occupant at the window of the house is enough to set the crowd shivering with apprehension, which turns to speculation as the earthiness or otherwise of the form.
00:11:06
Speaker
Screwboys in the district have forsaken play. Their whole recreation consists of them watching for the door to open, upon which they make a concerted rush to view the interior before they are scattered by the place. So the story had spread beyond Belfast, with further reports indicating that, quote, as early as 3am, a carload of sightseers arrive from the countryside, spending time observing the ill-omened area and speculating about what might happen next. Reluctant to depart, they even plan the return visit the following morning.
00:11:36
Speaker
So I'm sure you're wondering which house on the street these events took place in, but unfortunately this detail appears to have been omitted from all of the reports. I reviewed several newspapers from the time and none revealed the exact address. The reason for this omission remains unclear.
Sensational Reports and Public Intrigue
00:11:50
Speaker
Even the journalists themselves were somewhat elusive, with the newsletter attributing its coverage to a special correspondent and other newspapers offering no bylines at all. Perhaps it was simply standard their practice back then, I'm not entirely sure.
00:12:02
Speaker
In the desert followed, additional reports from the scene began to surface, describing chilling details such as a headless man, piercing screams, creaking chairs, shadows on the walls and faces appearing at the window. I'll hand it over to our northern wig reporter to elaborate. quote One man told me that a gentleman, on whose veracity and sobriety the most implicit confidence could be reposed, had seen the ghost, and that the spirit was headless with red eyes. That was impressive, if not convincing. Another secret after-truth assured me that a friend of his had seen the ghost, and that it had assumed the form of a man in dress clothes, while the man who had spent many hours in the street declared he had distinctly seen the ghost flitting about dressed as a nun.
00:12:45
Speaker
He's got no head," said a lad at my elbow with a shinkle-rode accent, and he flung a door at the fellas that went up the stairs. The boy did not look a nervous individual, and I gathered from his appearance that he was not a witness of the brainless strongman he described, but the talk of ghost which was in the air convinced me that I was on a concrete story.
00:13:03
Speaker
The front door of the house could not be raised by an ordinary mortal, and unless ghosts fly, I doubt if it could have been raised by a ghost either, considering that some 3,000 people were gripped around it in a compact happy family party. But the back door, ah, the mystery could be penetrated from the back.
00:13:20
Speaker
An eternity of pushing and squeezing, and at last I reached the door. A young handsome constable stood guard over it. I'm wanting to say the ghost, I said. Believe you me, said the constable, you'll have to do some looking. We've been through the house and could say no ghost, but I'd like to try. All right, you knock at the door. I knocked, and have I knocked, knocked, knocked, and knocked again. That sounds ghostly, doesn't it? I am in a position to announce that I entered the spook chamber. It doesn't matter how.
00:13:48
Speaker
To lead up to the great climax properly, I must tell you of the people in the haunted house. They received me courteously, almost eagerly. Who wouldn't after being haunted by a rotten specimen of a ghost, and having only skeptics to receive the tale? Now, a reporter believes everything. I mean, the more unlikely a story is to ordinary mortals, the more likely a reporter is to accept it, and to enthuse over it, uninvestigated and it, and embody in the literature which is the press. If a dog bites a man it isn't news, but if a man bites a dog.
00:14:17
Speaker
So I listen to the story of the ghost. Apparently it is at once a silent and a noisy ghost. It hurls its appearance by a nervous shaking squeaky noise and then passes silently as a good ghost shoot across rooms and three walls. It had last appeared 20 minutes before my arrival and as a divergence had emerged inch by inch from the ground outside the kitchen window, and having raised itself to a comfortable 5'6", had pressed a pale masculine face against the glass, stirred mortfully into the kitchen and, well, vanished, of course. Sometimes it passes across the scullery. It licks the scullery, by all accounts. The other night flung open a window in the kitchen, and on that occasion only a glimpse of a skinny hand, but it has not always been so modest and retiring.
00:15:03
Speaker
Last Friday, three young fellows heard it in the attic. Ah, that attic. I'm coming to that in a moment. They climbed three flights of stairs and tied the handle of the attic door's string. And after they started the descent, one adventurous youth turned back to say that the door was secure.
00:15:19
Speaker
The ghost must have seen him because that gourd danced about on its hinges and created hullabaloo. And the young man quite naturally fled. And the ghost played a similar trick in the kitchen a short time ago. It pushed open the door with such a bind that a young man inside was hurled several feet.
00:15:34
Speaker
There were three families in the house, and a young wife told me that one night she woke up to find a ghostly hand hovering over her face, her six-year-old son also called a glimpse of the guest. Now to come to the attic. I was invited to go up, and I went, but not by myself. Five other men made a great ascent, and the party was armed with a guttering candle and an electric torch.
00:15:56
Speaker
Up and up past high doors and over a barricade of string, we climbed to the spookstand. It was a depressantly burrowed, distorted chamber, like a cavern. But the ghost was out. On the wall was pointed out to me the impress of a hand. Nothing very ghostly about it.
00:16:11
Speaker
The candle flickered nastily, and still no ghost appeared. And then we decided to go down with an apparent display of reluctance to go downstairs. The crowd had been cleared from Trinity Street by a detachment of police from Glenravel Street Barracks, and all was at peace. We talked about the ghost for a little longer. In fact, we seemed to be waiting for him. Gathered there in the hall at the bottom of the stairs. But the black robe, the slim figure, and pale face and clutching hand, not a hint.
00:16:38
Speaker
i wouldn't sleep na dalic for all are sweet so a man who frequently glanced up the dark starcase Our story continues into Tuesday, with the arrival of a notable character, Mr Campbell, a self-proclaimed psychic.
Investigations and Skepticism
00:16:51
Speaker
His appearance on Trinity Street adds an intriguing twist to the unfolding events. It's worth mentioning that Campbell's beliefs were not uncommon at the time, as spiritualism had gained significant popularity, partly due to figures like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle, renowned as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was an ardent advocate for spiritualism, dedicating much of his later life to investigating and promoting the paranormal.
00:17:13
Speaker
Following Doyle's death, his influence persisted among his followers, many of whom shared his unshakeable belief in the existence of spirits and the afterlife. Campbell, it seems, was one such follower, arriving with tools in hand and a determination to uncover the truth behind the alleged haunting.
00:17:30
Speaker
But what were those tools? A bag of flour, a saline wax and a planchette. Thankfully we have an insight into the haunting from Mr Campbell in the archives. Quote, There is a possibility that these manifestations may be the work of a practical joker, so to preclude the chance of a further taking, I will make use of this simple trick.
00:17:49
Speaker
So what Mr Campbell did, he took the bag of flour and with the residents guiding him began sprinkling it across the stirrers leading to the aleck, the supposed origin of the ghost. He also dusted the aleck itself and generously covered the front room at the top of the house to prevent any potential prankster from slipping through.
00:18:06
Speaker
As a reporter for the Irish weekly, an Ulster examiner described, quote, Observe the genus behind spiritualism, thus disclosed, if a ghost of mortal calibre appeared, there would be tangible evidence of its passing, in the condition of the staircase. But, if on the other hand the ghosts were genuine, it would float along, leaving no trace in the beef-floored steps of the stairs. Next, usual spiritualist incantations were uttered, but the ghosts would not bite, sulking perhaps because the floor was not self-raising.
00:18:34
Speaker
To get in touch with the unknown demanded something more drastic, so Mr Campbell decided on a little seance. It was arranged to hold it in the front room, just beside the attic. Church were arranged. The women, without whom a seance was impossible, were very backward in offering to participate.
00:18:49
Speaker
Mr Campbell, however, succeeded in inducting one of the women to act as a medium, and holding her hand, he exerted his personality and persuasiveness, and she appeared to relapse into a trance. And now comes a denouncement. An extraordinary expectancy had been aroused among the watchers of this absorbing drama. The seance was held in a closed room, and the opening of the door and what it would disclose was awaited with bated breath by this time a crowded house. Do you know anybody of the name of Edward or Edwards? asked Mr Campbell.
00:19:20
Speaker
No, I replied. But why do you ask? In a dramatic whisper, he imparted the information that a man of that name had been thoroughly murdered in the house in which we stood. But where, I cried aghast, where did the body go? Tensely he replied, wait, without. And the silence was resumed, this time to discover where the body might be. After some time I was game beckoned into the room. Where is the body? I asked. Only one word could be obtained, replied Mr. Cranble gravely, and that was brickyard. Brickyard? I repeated.
00:19:51
Speaker
Are you sure it was not backyard? We'll try that, said Mr Campbell, with sudden resolve, and a general trick, or perhaps issued stampede, was made. No brick other than those in the wall could be found in the yard, but while exploring the cold-hole, Mr Campbell suddenly dropped on his hands and knees and began scooping away the layer of accumulated garbage. A brick flooring was revealed, but so soft that it could be scraped with a penknife.
00:20:15
Speaker
Some of the bricks were priced up, and with the knowledge borne of his trade as a plasterer. The next step, I was informed, will be to dig beneath this brick floor. Then, and only then, will it be possible to discover whether the directions given by the medium to Mr Campbell for finding the body of the murdered Edwards were that outlay beneath the bricks in the yard.
00:20:35
Speaker
Mr Campbell is confident that when he initiates his excavation work, he is going to make an interesting discovery. As for me, I merely propose to be there to see what, if anything, he does succeed in unearthing. Unfortunately, that's where this account concludes, but I was also able to uncover additional details about Mr Campbell's escapades.
00:20:54
Speaker
On Tuesday, the day after the story gained widespread attention, the Irish News reported on it, and this time it appears a resident of the house chose to break her silence. quote At about 6pm on Tuesday evening, a girl in the haunted house in Trinity Street alleges that she saw the eyes of the spectre peering at her through the back window.
00:21:12
Speaker
She screamed in terror, and in an instant, Mr Campbell, the spiritualist, was at her side, staring intently into into the dusky gloom of the yard. He could not see it, at but first. He told me the eyes of the spectre burned their way into his brain. Saw a shadowy form, he says.
00:21:27
Speaker
as of a human from the waist upwards, he released the girl whose arm he was holding, and dashed for the yard." So now the reporter for the Irish News has another eyewitness. Mr Campbell reached the yard, he said, and we saw him spread eagled against the wall, as if held there by some invisible force. Mr Campbell resumed the tale, and graphically related to me, I saw the apparition floating up to him until it seemed to merge into his straining eyes.
00:21:52
Speaker
Then, receding rapidly, it passed through the back door. He followed after it, he says, and falling over the ice-bin, he collapsed against the door. I saw the spirits sink into the ground to the left as you come out the door, he said. I re-entered the house, and from the floor of the coal-shed, I felt its power over my will.
00:22:09
Speaker
As it sank to the earth, once it came, it irresistibly drew me with it, and I felt my knees giving. I could not resist. I thought it had me in its power. When somebody lifted me, I remember no more. Turning to one of the men who said he had been there during this performance, I asked him, what happened then? We carried Mr. Campbell into the house, he replied, and we spent two and a half hours reviving him, after which he had to be led home. We revived him with whiskey and rum, he added, in a reminiscent longing.
00:22:38
Speaker
So our story then moves on to Saturday.
The Hoax Revealed and Aftermath
00:22:41
Speaker
The uproar surrounding the Trinity Strait ghosts showed no signs of abetting as the week progressed. Crowds continued to gather outside the residence, undeterred by the place presents deployed to manage the throngs of curious onlookers. Conversations about the spectral visitor permeated every corner of Belfast.
00:22:58
Speaker
transforming homes into impromptu debating arenas. Families found themselves divided over the matter, with staunch believers passionately clashing with resolute skeptics. The argument spilled into the workplaces and straight corners, turning the city into a veritable hub of ghostly discourse.
00:23:13
Speaker
The believers or pro-ghost enthusiasts fervently recounted every ghost story passed down through the generations, their narratives enriched and emboldened by time. Opposing them were the anti-ghost skeptics, who met these tales with a mixture of ridiculed and dismissive smiles. Yet for all their disbelief, even the most skeptical couldn't resist the allure of Trinity Street.
00:23:34
Speaker
PlayStation's key points worked tirelessly to prevent chaos from erupting as the crowd ebbed and flowed. The mere sight of an occupant appearing at a window sent shivers of excitement rippling through the masses. Nearby schoolboys abandoned their usual games, instead dedicating their free time to stalking out the house. It's time the front door opened, a surge of eager boys attempted to peer inside before promptly dispersed by vigilant officers.
00:23:59
Speaker
The house itself betrayed no hint of its newfound notoriety, yet its agent Mr Fred McKibben dismissed the entire affair as a hoax. Speaking to the press, he stated that the local residents shared his view and suggested that the police also regarded the events as a mere practical joke.
00:24:15
Speaker
This is when the story of the Trinity streaked ghost transformed from a chilling tale to a widely acknowledged hoax, largely due to the skepticism and investigative reporting of the Irish news. While initially captivating the public's imagination with its aerial lure, the ghost story unraveled under the scrutiny, revealing human tendencies towards exaggeration and superstition as its true source.
00:24:38
Speaker
According to the Irish news, the hunting began with an alarming noise, such it as a sudden banging of a door, which powered with a dash of superstition, to create fertile ground for ghostly rumours. The paper noted how such rumours often evolved, stating, quote, The magic word haunted first of all it attracted the attention of the usual juveniles, who designed to visit the house as often as convenient, bringing more friends each time the story of superstitious happenings, losing nothing during this process, was circulated.
00:25:07
Speaker
The scepticism of the Irish news reporters played a critical role in debunking the ghost. Rather than succumbing to the hysteria, a journalist took a pragmatic approach, stating, quote, instead of going up to the alec of the alleged haunted house in Trinity Street, he went right down to the source of the scar. This methodical investigation revealed no special entity, but rather a myth fuelled by the public's credibility and its ability to put two and two together to make the usual five.
00:25:34
Speaker
Ultimately, the Irish news concluded that the haunted house story is a myth, showing how public superstition and playful embellishments created a spectacle. The paper's in investigation shifted public perception, cementing the Trinity Street ghost as a classic example of how human imagination, group psychology and doubt collide to turn ghost stories into hoaxes.
00:25:53
Speaker
By the following Saturday, nine days after the supposed haunting began, the commotion on Trinity Street had largely died down. The Irish News remarked, quote, All was in reality, however, quiet on the Trinity Street front, which continues to be the mecca of numbers of curious persons. Visitors to the haunted house now arrived more out of curiosity than fear, treating it as a quirky attraction rather than a place of supernatural terror.
00:26:19
Speaker
For the residents of the house, the ordeal left an indelible mark. They continued to recover from the effects of the experiences which they state they have undergone, perhaps reflecting the psychological toll of such an intense public scrutiny. As the human excitement dwindled, the ghost too faded away, leaving behind a tale more revealing of human nature than the supernatural.
00:26:39
Speaker
Decades later, those who had lived near Trinity Street in the 1930s still shared vivid memories of the ghost's heyday. Joel Crawford, then living in Skagenille Flats, just off the shore road in Belfast, recalled the ghost's infamous antics. "'The ghost of Trinity Street used to hold furniture about the house it haunted,' he said, adding that the nightly disturbances became a local sensation.
00:27:01
Speaker
Crawford lived directly opposite the haunted house. I could hear the commotion night after night. And here's another quote from Joe. some of us decided to sit in at the house but the ghosts guard the life out of us then the pairs came and sat in just if you're not too sure pillars is a bellasboard for a place My wife used to give him cups of tea. It went on for ages. No one would live in the house. People said there was a curse on the place. I remember the clergy coming to deal with the spirit, and my brother took pictures of the crowds he turned up every night." and quote Barney McGravy, once a policeman stationed near Trinity Street, recalled his role in managing the curious crowds.
00:27:37
Speaker
At least six of us were on duty at that house for weeks, McGreevy shared. I never saw the ghost, but people living na said there said their strange goings-on. Harvey Loudon, who was eighty when interviewed for the Belfast Telegraph in August 1983, reflected on the city's shared obsession with the ghost. Quote, People came from all over the city to see the ghost of Trinity Street, he recalled. Perhaps a few were ghost nowadays would bring folk back together again. Yet he had admitted, No one has told me what happened in that mysterious house in the first place.
00:28:06
Speaker
As for the haunted house itself, its story came to a definitive end in 1964 when the houses on Trinity Street were demolished. An article in the Irish News captured a moment with a photograph in the tagline, the end of Trinity Street Belfast, seeing of the famous ghost story in the early 30s when thousands of people congregated their nightly in the hope of seeing it appear at the window of one of the houses now being demolished in the redevelopment scheme." Today, the site bears little resemblance to its dramatic past.
00:28:35
Speaker
When I recently drove by Trinity Street, I saw only a closed-down retail shop and mechanics. Perhaps there's still some twerk of the dead lingering there, but I'll admit that's a terrible pun. The Trinity Street ghost, which once captured the imagination of Belfast residents and full countless rumours, has faded into a curious footnote in the city's history.
00:28:55
Speaker
It serves as a reminder of how folklore thrives in the collective imagination, turning the mundane into the extraordinary. While the ghost may have been unmasked as a myth, its legacy endures as an amusing chapter in Belfast writs tapestry of stories.
00:29:10
Speaker
Thank you for joining me on this journey into the haunting tale of the Trinity Street ghost. I hope you enjoyed delving into the mystery and intrigue of the spectral legend. Stay tuned for the next episode, where we'll continue to uncover more hidden corners of history. Make sure to subscribe and write pieces of history podcasts on iTunes and Spotify. Thanks for listening.