Henry Joy McCracken, a founder of the United Irishmen, was court-martialled and hanged in July 1798 in front of Belfast's old Market House on High Street, aged thirty. The Market House was swept away by later redevelopment, but the site has stayed in commercial use, housing in turn Burton's, Woolworths and a women's clothing store, and today a Dunnes Stores.
For years, staff and shoppers spoke of a presence in the building, a restless figure thought to be McCracken, unwilling to leave the place where his life ended. The tale adds that the disturbances stopped when the property became a fashion shop.
The execution is historical fact. The ghost is a tradition recorded by a modern directory, with no named witness.
Comments