A story from Gallagher Terrace in Youghal centres on what is often described in folklore as a “crisis apparition” – an appearance of a person at or near the moment of their death.

According to local accounts, a member of the Pomphrett family took in a man named Simon and his elderly mother, Mary Anne, allowing them to stay in their house as her health declined. Frail and largely confined to bed, Mary Anne required regular care and spent most of her time indoors.

One morning, as her breakfast was brought to her, she spoke calmly of an experience from the night before. She said that her eldest son, known as Batty, who was living in England, had come to visit her. She described him as standing at the foot of her bed for a short time before leaving.

Simon dismissed the experience as a dream, but Mary Anne insisted that what she had seen was real.

The incident might have been forgotten, were it not for what followed later that same day. A telegram arrived with news that Batty had died in England during the night – at a time that closely matched the moment his mother claimed to have seen him.

Those who recount the story interpret this as a final farewell, a brief appearance as he passed from life. While there is no documentary evidence to confirm the details, the account fits a well-known pattern in Irish and wider folklore, where loved ones are said to appear at the moment of death to those with whom they share a close bond.