The tale of the Headless Coach is one of the most enduring and chilling ghost stories in the area. Strangely, the name doesn’t refer to a headless driver — but to the horses, which are said to gallop through the darkness without heads.

The coach is most often seen at midnight, tearing along country roads in a terrifying blur of blackness and noise. Multiple witnesses, across different nights, have described the same thing: the sound of furious hooves pounding the road, the screech of iron wheels, and the panicked reaction of nearby animals — dogs whimper, cattle scatter, and horses bolt at the unseen threat.

Those who have dared to look say they clearly saw a man dressed in black, seated high on the driver’s bench. He wears a tall hat and holds a whip, which he cracks violently as the coach speeds past. The coach and horses are entirely jet black, gliding as much as galloping through the night.

The route of the phantom coach is well known to locals. It begins at Blackhill Avenue, rushes down the Balladine Road, then passes through the town and out along the Ballyroan Road, vanishing near Oatlands Avenue — as if swallowed by the night itself.

Legend says the first appearance of the coach coincided with the death of Sir Admiral Poe. On the night he died, the coach was seen waiting silently outside his house. One of the household servants later claimed to have seen Sir Poe himself sitting inside the carriage. Moments later, when they went to his room, he was found dead.

Since then, the Headless Coach has become a fearful omen — a ghostly warning that something tragic may soon follow in its wake.