Years ago in Tullyorior, Annaclone, a tragic accident claimed the life of a twelve-year-old girl who fell into an open fire. The house where this terrible event occurred no longer stands; the family later built a new two-storey home on the same site. Yet even in recent years, strange occurrences suggest that the young girl’s spirit has not found peace. Her presence is often felt, and her ghost has been seen on several unsettling occasions.

As recently as 2007, two family members and their friends were gathered in the house when a sudden, loud bang echoed from upstairs. Terrified, they fled immediately into the garden. One girl stumbled and fell as she ran from the house, and as the others turned to help her, they saw something in the upstairs window.

A face appeared, smiling down at them—a sight they would never forget. It was the face of a young girl, but horribly disfigured. Her skin appeared almost orange, as if badly burned, and her black, straggly hair framed the ghastly image. A charred hand pulled back the blinds as she watched them, her smile not warm or kind, but a sinister, knowing smirk.

Panic-stricken, the group ran for help. When their uncle searched the house moments later, he found no trace of anyone upstairs.

Three weeks later, one of the girls who had witnessed the apparition was home alone at night. On her way back from the bathroom, she froze at the top of the stairs—there stood the same figure. That burned, orange face… that same unnerving smile. Terrified, she bolted to her bedroom and didn’t dare leave it again until morning. Even now, though she has moved away for university, she admits that every time she returns home and climbs those stairs, the memory of that night haunts her.

The girl’s mother also experienced something unexplained. While cleaning the hot press at the top of the stairwell, she clearly felt someone brush past her—despite knowing she was alone in the house that day.

Shaken by these events, the family eventually called on their local clergy to bless the house, in the hope of finding peace for the young spirit—and themselves.