The tale is told of a bend in the road on the Islandmagee peninsula. People say they have noticed an old-fashioned, whitewashed cottage standing there, solid and ordinary, and when they pass again it has gone. No ruin, foundation or sign of demolition can be found.
The explanation given locally is that a cottage once stood on the spot and belonged to a woman the villagers took for a witch. She is said to have been burned there and to have cursed the place with her last breath. Afraid of the curse, the villagers pulled down and burned the house, but it is said to return from time to time.
The compiler of the Spirited Isle entry points out that the women accused in 1711 were never burned, so the burning in the story is probably a retelling that has mixed folk memory of witchcraft with something else. No source before the modern era has been found for the tale.
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