In a new book of Irish ghost stories, Haunted Ireland, a forgotten Tipperary tale has been retold and illustrated.
Petticoat Loose is said to have haunted the backroads of south Tipperary, near Clogheen, in the 19th century.
Her spirit has supposedly been spotted in Baylough and the Knockmealdown Mountains, in north Waterford and even in parts of Cork.
Tipperarylive spoke with Haunted Ireland author Kieran Fanning to find out more about this terrifying tale.
PETTICOAT LOOSE
Mary Hannigan or Petticoat Loose was the daughter of a wealthy farmer in south Tipperary.
“She was a large lady and very strong.
“Her left hand was twice the size of her right hand, and she was a Ciotóg or a left-handed person, which in those days was seen as a mark of evil because the devil used to sit on your left shoulder, and that’s why people throw salt when they spill it over their left shoulder, into the eyes of the devil.
“So from the beginning, she was marked as different,” said Kieran.
Mary would arm wrestle men, and there was a story of her punching and killing a bull.
She was known for her fierce temper and incredible strength.But she was a hard worker and loved, most of all to dance.
“Every weekend, she would go to the dance hall.
“But a lot of the locals didn’t like her, and on one particular night, and as she was dancing around, swinging around, her petticoat fell down around her ankles, and she fell over, and she was mortified, the whole hall started laughing,” said Kieran.
And so Mary Hannigan became Petticoat Loose.
In anger and embarrassment, she threw the locals who mocked her around the hall, which did not improve their opinion of her.
After that night, Mary became resentful.
“She took to drinking and like the arm wrestling, she got good at it and was regularly seen in shebeens and taverns across Tipperary and Waterford, and she would enter drinking competitions with the men and drink them under the table,” said Kieran.
Mary’s antics attracted the attention of the local parish priest, who disapproved of Mary’s hoolies, especially on Sundays. She had been married, but it’s said her husband just disappeared one day, shortly after they married, and Mary took up with a fiddler.
“And then, Mary met her inevitable end.She was found dead one morning in a shebeen.
“There weren’t many locals who attended her funeral, they were kind of delighted she was gone, and they thought that was the end of Mary Hannigan or as they called her Petticoat Loose as she had gotten that reputation after her petticoat fell down at the dance,” said Kieran.
But, Mary was not gone long.
“A couple of days after her funeral at a dance, some of the men went outside to use the toilet and they came running back saying that they had seen a spirit twice the size of a man and looked exactly like Petticoat Loose and when others went out to check, they were equally terrified,” said Kieran.
After that, Mary was known for harassing travellers on the road, breaking carts and terrifying locals by moonlight.
“People were afraid to travel out at night time for fear of meeting this ghost.
“There was this one story of putting her hand on the cart and saying ‘my right hand weighs one tonne’ and then she put her left hand on the cart and said ‘my left hand weighs one tonne’ and then she put a leg up and said ‘this weighs a tonne’ and then her other leg and then she jumped up on the cart and said ‘this weighs another tonne’ and the whole cart collapsed and the owner ran away terrified,” said Kieran.
So, the local parish priest saved the day.With his bible and a ring of holy water, the priest confronted the ghost with…confession.
“She waited for the water to dry, and the priest kept asking her, ‘What sin have you committed that you have returned from the dead to haunt the living?’
“And at first, she wouldn’t tell him, but then she told him a few things, she used to abuse her parents, and he kept pushing her, and she kept moving closer, and he made the ring of holy water smaller and smaller as she got closer and admitted to some other sins like she said she would water down the milk from her farm and eventually she admitted killing her husband and doing away with her unborn baby,” said Kieran. The priest banished Mary to Baylough.
He said she was to spend eternity there, emptying the lake with a bottomless thimble until Lá an Luain, which means Judgement Day.
But Mary thought he had said Dé Luain or Monday.“So there have been stories of her ghost turning up at the lake and asking swimmers if it was Monday because she thought she would be free on a Monday.
“And that’s the story of Petticoat Loose,” said Kieran.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kieran Fanning is a children’s author and primary school teacher from Skreen in county Meath.
He has been writing for 20 years and is the author of eight books including textbooks and books of myths and legends.
He has a master’s degree in children’s literature and “a fascination for legendary Irish tales – the spookier the better!”
Haunted Ireland is illustrated by Mark Hill.
Mark Hill is a commercial illustrator and visual artist based in Dublin.He works on packaging, poster art and book covers.
Haunted Ireland, An Atlas of Ghost Stories from Every County is out now.
