On 15 December 1882 a fire broke out in the drying shed at the Lucifer Matchstick Factory in Millfield Place, Belfast. Spirited Isle says a young lad stepped on spilled flammable liquid and caused a spark that set the shed alight within seconds. Four workers were killed, the eldest only eighteen. The factory had been rebuilt once already after an earlier fire and recommendations of the Factories Act had not been put into effect. There was no insurance and, after the inquest assigned no blame, the factory was rebuilt and business resumed under a different name.
Residents living alongside believed that the workers who died had been trapped there and were haunting the site. They reported terrifying cries and screams during the night. These sounds seem to have stopped when the factory closed and the building was demolished. The site is now roughly under the Castle Court car park.
This is a record of a belief held by neighbours after a real workplace tragedy.
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