Ghoulish goings-on recounted at Laois library 

TWO nights before Halloween, Mountrath native Emma Ozenbrook the Real-Life Ghost Stories podcaster, now from Canterbury in Kent, and paranormal investigator, ghost hunter and author of the Haunted book series Cormac Strain from Portlaoise, both of whom had never met before, bumped into each other at the door of Portlaoise library to deliver a ghost stories for adults event.

The eerie gathering was a perfect event for Halloween and was organised by library assistant Rachel Homan-Reid, a fan of Emma’s now six-year-long weekly podcast. Rachel invited the paranormal podcaster home to join fellow supernatural investigator Cormac, who lived with his family in a haunted house in Portlaoise.

More than 40 people attended the hair-raising, 90 minutes event, which featured frightening stories of ghosts and poltergeist activities in nearby and far-away places.

Among several frightening and chilling stories, Emma told the audience that when she worked in St Fintan’s hospital on the Dublin Road in Portlaoise around 2010 that she was outside one snowy bank holiday morning at 10am having a cigarette with a colleague. She looked up to the third floor (which was closed off with no-one on that floor) and was met by a long-haired woman staring at her from a window, who had dark holes where her eyes should have been and was wearing clothes from the 1800s.

Emma said that her colleague also saw the woman and that in all of the haunted places around the world that she has visited through her work, that particular part of the local hospital is the most haunted place that she has ever come across.

Cormac, who worked closely with Irish author and fellow paranormal investigator Barry Fitzgerald from the TV show Ghost Hunters International on many occasions, told the audience about poltergeist activities that went on in his haunted bungalow, including lights going on and off, doors slamming when nobody was home, his son’s bed shaking, being whispered to close to his ear and lots of other terrifying tales, including how the family in the end found out the spine-chilling story behind these paranormal activities.

Cormac also spoke about camping with Barry Fitzgerald at several haunted sites and their frightening experiences. He told the riveted audience about his experiences in the old Carlow Shopping Centre, which, he said, is one of the most haunted places that he has ever been.

A medium named Eliza Homan and her sceptical husband Paul had seen the event advertised on Facebook and they drove from Dublin especially to attend. When the mic was opened up to the audience to dare to share their own experiences, the subject of faeries was brought up by Eliza, who visited a faerie fort with Paul and asked for permission to enter, whereas her sceptic husband didn’t.

Paul fell into a stream, got a thorn in his finger and when leaving the fort Eliza said that she felt a hand in hers telling her to leave by a different way. Her husband insisted on leaving his way instead, then fell into a drain.

Eliza also told stories of when she saw ghosts face-to-face as real as she could see people in the room.

Most of the supernatural fans at the gathering were left unnerved following the ghastly and somewhat dreadful tales and were visibly quiet as they left the library.

Cormac’s Haunted series is currently out of print, but they are held in Portlaoise library.

 Emma’s Real Life Ghost Stories can be found wherever you get your podcasts.