In Great Britain there are
many stories of ghost lights that appear around Christmastime—most remain
beloved mysteries.
Here is a favorite witness
account of ghost lights seen in Ireland.
On a dark night in 1910, a
young 23-year old Oxford University student who was traveling home to Ireland
for the holidays witnessed something he never forgot.
He and a university buddy
were on horseback headed to his home in Limerick when near the village of
Listowel they noticed a light about a half-mile ahead.
As they drew closer to this
light, they saw it was not connected to a house, but instead, it was directly in front of them. As they watched it moved up and down and to and fro.
It diminished to a spark and then expanded into a bright yellow flame.
Before they entered the village, they saw this light turn into two lights, which resembled each other.
Suddenly these lights then joined into one luminous flame that was six feet
high and four feet wide.
In the middle of each of the
two flames that had joined, there appeared “radiant beings” which took on human
forms. These two figures walked side by side.
Each figure had a brilliant
white light or aura that surrounded them. Around their heads, they each had an even brighter halo.
The two young men watched in
awe unafraid for they felt the love and peace the two figures exuded.
They continued to watch this
phenomenon until a house blocked their view.
It is still a mystery what
these two saw on this Yuletide night. Explanations put forward have included:
the figures might be extraterrestrials, or were they the spirits of the
dead?
A popular belief is these two
men saw angels, which had come to earth to celebrate the joy the Christ Child brought to the world.
This story happened to an
English family just 5 days before Christmas in 1991.
The Edwards family lived in
Dovecot a suburb of Liverpool. The family drove into the city on the evening
of December 20th to do some Christmas shopping.
Liverpool was decked out
in holiday cheer with bright colored lights and Christmas corals blaring. Mr.
Edwards was circling trying to find a parking space when his wife suggested
they park on a side street next to old St. Luke’s Church.
Mr. Edwards found a spot and
everyone climbed out of the car. As the family argued about what store they
were going to visit first, Mr. Edward looked around with concern.
Their three boys were with
them but their youngest, Abbey was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s Abbey?” he asked.
His three teen sons shrugged,
“She was here a second ago. We didn’t see her go anywhere.”
Everyone quickly returned to
the car. They checked inside the car but Abbey wasn’t there. The Edwards were
now frantic. It did not help that it was a moonless night. Plus a typical
Liverpool fog had rolled in impairing their vision.
Out of the darkness they heard a
faint cry. “Daddy!”
Mrs. Edwards screamed,
“Abbey! Where are you?”
“Mummy!” the voice wailed.
The voice seemed to be coming
from near St. Luke’s church. Mrs. Edwards and the rest of the family headed
toward two back gates that were open.
Mr. Edwards first thought was
that someone might have kidnapped his daughter and taken his little girl into
the ruins of the old church.
In the thickening fog St.
Luke’s was even more forbidding than usual. It had been bombed during the
Second World War and only its outer walls remain.
Climbing onto a window ledge
Mr. Edwards looked into what was once the sanctuary. All he saw was a deserted
space piled high with rubble.
His wife got his attention.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes, its sounds like an
organ playing but there is nothing in there.”
They listened but they heard
no more sounds.
Mr. Edwards climbed down. “I
was sure Abbey’s voice was coming from this church.”
The sons were sent to a
nearby store to contact the local police. Once they had a description of Abbey,
every patrol car in the area was put on high alert.
The Edwards continued to
desperately search the church grounds but they found nothing out of the
ordinary.
Distraught, they headed back
to their car. Mr. Edwards stopped when he heard footsteps behind them. He turned
and saw a tall man come out of the churchyard.
He had long bushy sideburns
and wore a long old fashioned coat. A black top hat was on his head. Abbey was
holding his hand.
When Abbey saw her parents
she broke free and ran to them. They grabbed her up in a tearful hug.
A chill ran down Mr. Edward’s
spine as he made eye contact with the man for he had a pale face with piercing
dark eyes--they seemed to stare at him and pass through him at the same time.
He stated, “Please accept my
apology for any distress caused.” He then turned and when he reached the church
grounds his form vanished.
Angry now Mr. Edwards stated
to his wife, “Did you see that? It was just like he went up in a puff of smoke.”
A patrol car pulled up with the
Edward’s sons. The couple described the man they had just seen. The police
searched but did not find anyone.
A police officer asked Abbey to
tell him what had happened.
Abbey’s Account
She said as she had gotten
out of the car to follow her family an old woman wearing a shawl had grabbed
and then dragged her into the church.
There was a mass being held
in the church and people dressed in “funny” clothes surrounded her.
The women wore long dresses
and big decorated hats.
The men were all dressed in
black pants with waistcoats and high stiff collars.
When Abbey went to scream for
her father the old woman put her hand over her mouth so she couldn’t make a
sound.
Then a tall man with a long
coat and top hat came in. He took her from the old woman and walked her
back to her parents. The police officer asked her
if the man had said anything to her. “Just that he had been dead a long time,”
Abbey replied.
