i recently played a gig in King's Bar in Finnis, just outside Dromara in County Down, and was intrigued by the local tales of a haunted tree stump opposite the bar.
shown here a few years ago, the story goes that in the early 1900s a troublesome spirit haunted the area around the Dree Hill Road bridge, which crosses the upper reaches of the Lagan. after many of his parishioners became fearful of the ghost, the village priest decided to perform an exorcism, details of which still exist in the church records
the priest managed to capture the spirit in a bottle and, wary of removing it from the place where it was bound, hid the bottle in a nearby sycamore tree.
the area became free from the hauntings, but the locals remained very apprehensive about the bridge and the tree's ghostly secret- when power lines were being brought through the village, the tree was to be removed as it stood in the way of progress. the workers however were instructed not to touch it, and the cables had to be run between the tree's upper branches.
the area became free from the hauntings, but the locals remained very apprehensive about the bridge and the tree's ghostly secret- when power lines were being brought through the village, the tree was to be removed as it stood in the way of progress. the workers however were instructed not to touch it, and the cables had to be run between the tree's upper branches.
the tree died years later of an apparent lightning strike, but still remained untouched for quite some time despite being no more than a hollow shell. in late july 2009 however, the tree was felled after taking substantial damage from a recent storm-
a good many bottles were recovered during the process but all were removed, as most of them were believed to have been put there by local patrons leaving the pub a little worse for wear. one of them may have been the bottle containing the spirit however, and there is now a worry that the hauntings may return to the bridge.
in the torrential floods of mid-august 2009 the Dree Hill Road bridge, along with most of the rest of the country, was submerged underwater-
belfast westlink
in spite of the raging torrents taking their toll on the wall of the bridge and even pulling the tarmac off the road, the tree stump still remains...
was the spirit protecting the last remnants of it's resting place?
0 comments:
Post a Comment