In 2019, a group of tourists visiting Kilkenny City stopped to take a photograph along the narrow passageway known locally as Butterslip Lane – one of the city’s best-preserved medieval alleys. A few days later, when the woman who had taken the selfie – identified only as Jane – reviewed her photos, she noticed something deeply unsettling.

Behind the group, in the dim archway of the lane, appeared the faint, translucent outline of a figure that none of them recalled seeing at the time. The shape seemed human, though indistinct – a pale silhouette hovering just beyond the reach of daylight.

Jane insisted that the image had not been altered or edited, and shared it online in the hope that someone might help identify the mysterious presence. While no definitive explanation was ever found, locals were quick to suggest that the lane – with its centuries of history – had long been linked with strange sights and passing shadows.

Once a bustling thoroughfare connecting the city’s High Street with St. Kieran’s Street, Butterslip Lane dates back to the early 17th century, when butter and other goods were traded beneath its stone arches. Whether the figure in Jane’s photograph was an artifact of light or a remnant of the city’s past, it has since joined the many modern ghost stories woven into Kilkenny’s ancient streets.