In the heart of Mountrath, Co. Laois, stands a building long known locally as the Old Barracks. Originally constructed around 1825 as a base for the Royal Irish Constabulary, it was a solid two-storey structure with a dormer attic, built of limestone and commanding the junction of Mary Street and Rushin Road. By the 1980s, however, the barracks had fallen into disuse. Derelict and undergoing renovation, its interior was gutted — the upper floors stripped out and unsafe.

It was in this state, one midday in 1986, that two brothers claimed to have witnessed something extraordinary.

As they walked towards the building, their attention was caught by a dazzling, coloured figure standing clearly in a second-floor window. More curious than afraid, they entered the barracks to investigate. What they found astonished them: there were no floors inside at all. The window they had seen the figure in opened onto empty space. There was nowhere for anyone to stand.

The experience has lingered in local memory ever since, one of the few daylight apparitions recorded in Laois. Some say it was a trick of the light, or perhaps someone standing on scaffolding out of sight. Others insist the brothers saw what they saw — a figure in vivid colour, hovering where no living person could stand.