In the late 1970s, a quiet glassworks in Dungannon developed an unexpected reputation for things that could not be easily explained. Tyrone Crystal, well known for its craftsmanship, found itself at the centre of a haunting that staff insisted was real. Night after night, employees reported seeing a tall, shadowy figure moving silently among the furnaces and storerooms. What made this more than workplace rumour was the strange detail that several workers, quite independently of one another, said the apparition identified itself as “Isaac.” Alongside the sightings came unexplained noises and an uneasy atmosphere that seemed to settle over the building after hours, as if someone – or something – lingered long after the last shift had ended.

By the end of the decade the story had reached the local press. A young reporter named Adrian Logan visited the factory in 1979 and spoke directly with those who said they had encountered Isaac. Workers described catching a glimpse of the figure only in the corner of their vision, often near the heat of the glass-blowing ovens, or returning to their stations to find tools moved from their usual place with no clear cause. Logan’s coverage treated the witnesses with respect, noting that these were long-serving employees with no inclination towards showmanship, and that nothing about their accounts suggested a deliberate hoax. The management, keen to discover the cause, allowed after-hours visits in the hope that the mystery could be solved, but nothing definitive was uncovered and the sightings continued sporadically for some time.

In the years that followed the factory ghost became part of local lore, one of those unnerving tales that refused to fade. Decades later the story resurfaced again when the BBC revisited the events, with Logan – by then a seasoned journalist – recalling how the strange business of “Isaac the ghost” had followed him throughout his career. What remained striking was the sheer conviction of the original witnesses and the seriousness with which the haunting had once been reported.

Even now the identity of Isaac has never been explained. No convincing normal cause was ever established, and those who claimed to see him stood by what they experienced.

The factory closed in 2010.