In years past, lamplighters working along John Street were said to fear a presence known simply as “The Black Man.” The figure was described consistently as a tall, shadowy man, dressed in dark clothing, wearing a high hat and carrying a cane. He was never seen clearly, yet those who spoke of him were certain of his shape and bearing.

The Black Man was most often associated with the cathedral cemetery that opens onto John Street. Over the years, he was reportedly seen emerging from the burial ground and walking slowly along the cathedral perimeter, particularly on Christmas Eve — a night long regarded in Irish tradition as a time when the boundary between the living and the dead grows thin.

One encounter became especially well known. A lamplighter working his usual route was later discovered huddled in a corner of the cemetery, visibly shaken and unable to explain what had happened. Witnesses claimed his hair had turned completely white, and the only words he could manage to utter were, “The Black Man.”

The man never returned to work. Two weeks later, he was dead. In the years that followed, the story was retold as a warning rather than a haunting — the belief taking hold that an encounter with The Black Man was not an attack, but an omen. To see him, it was said, was to be marked — a sign that one’s time was close at hand.