The knocking house

By Emily Gervais

The outskirts of Fivemiletown hosts an early 20th century family home which reportedly fell victim to violent hauntings and public suspicions of witchcraft.

Tucked into the Mullaghfad Road just a few miles outside the town is the infamous Cooneen House.

The first recorded reference of the rural building was in 1901 with Michael Murphy, his wife, Bridget, and their seven children, all happily- settled in their country cottage at Cooneen.

Life was normal for the family in rural Ireland. They worked hard tending the land around the house.

However, tragedy fell upon the Murphys, when, on November 7, 1907, Michael succumbed to an accidental head injury and passed away.

The family remained in the house following his death for a further six years… before fleeing due to terrifying circumstances.

Shortly after Michael’s death, his grieving widow, Bridget, started to notice strange occurrences of paranormal nature around the house.

This began with an occasional knocking on the front door. But when someone opened the door, no-one was there.

At first, the family thought it was nothing more than local hoodlums playing a trick on them, but it didn’t take long for it to escalate to more frequent knocking.

The audible knocking spread to not only the front door, but also onto every window and interior door within the house.

The unexplainable sounds drastically increased and heavy footsteps could also be heard in a room that was used for hay.

However, yet again, when someone went to investigate the noise, they would find themselves alone in the room.

Bridget, then, invited friends and neighbours to listen to the noises, but although they could hear them, the visitors had no explanation as to their origin.

Unfortunately for Bridget and her children, this was just the start of increasingly strange occurrences.

Members of the family witnessed plates, pots, and pans floating mid air and then forcefully crashing against the walls of their house.

Random spouts of music would also be heard on occasions, specifically ‘The Soldier’s Song’ and ‘The Boyne Water’.

Physical banging noises could also be heard throughout the house keeping time with the songs.

The family also feared for their lives as the paranormal activity became increasingly violent, resulting in Mrs Murphy looking for salvation in her local church.

Local priest, Fr Coyle and Sinn Féin representative, Cahir Healy soon bore witness to the unnatural and terrifying events that the Murphy family were tortured with every day.

They observed strange shapes amalgamating before them on the walls of the house alongside the violent destruction of furniture.

Fr Coyle described watching the blankets on the beds rising and falling as if someone was breathing underneath, and also heard the sound of groans coming from within the hay store.

The priest then sought permission to perform not one, but two exorcisms to rid this spirit, a practice which was seldom used in Ireland at this time.

However, the attempted exorcisms proved futile and the paranormal activity grew in extremities.

Local attitudes towards the family, which had been empathetic, soon turned sour, as they believed the Murphy family were conducting acts of witchcraft within the confines of their home.

Bridget Murphy came to her wits’ end with the constant paranormal violence, alongside the rumours being spread about the family. So, she decided to emigrate to America.

Bridget took her children and left for Glasgow in 1913 to board a boat bound for America.

The Murphys believed this was a fresh slate, free from the bounds of horror inflicted on them by the poltergeist.

Yet, upon boarding the ship, to their surprise and despair, they discovered the ghost had followed them, continuing its incessant knocking from home.

Then, upon arrival in America, the family found a new home, where they looked forward to starting a fresh chapter.

But still, the ghostly noises continued, although over time, they became less frequent, and eventually, ceased entirely.

As for the Cooneen House, it is believed locally that two families lived there before 1950, when the forestry service bought over much of the land, including the house.

New trees were planted, and over time, the house became hidden from view, eaten by the growing forest.

But the story of the ‘Cooneen Ghost’ lives on, and shows no sign of fading away.

In 2010, a BBC documentary crew arrived at the ruined property to film an episode of the popular ghost show, ‘Northern Ireland’s Greatest Haunts’.

Marion Goodfellow, one of the UK’s top spiritual mediums, described the house as ‘one of the scariest places I have ever had to visit’.

Today, the crumbling ruins of Cooneen House stand amidst the whispering trees, still shrouded in mystery and folklore.