Spirited Isle says that in the 1930s a house at Articlave, just outside Coleraine, became the focus of one of the most talked about poltergeist reports in Ireland. The young daughter of the family complained of nocturnal attacks, being pinched and slapped by something unseen when the house was quiet. The family reported strange sounds in the rooms and objects shifting.
A Dublin reporter travelled north, stayed overnight and said he witnessed several incidents, including the unexplained movement of items and noises with no source. That report gave the story national prominence. Neighbours and onlookers gathered outside, many were turned away, and the family, overwhelmed, kept further details to themselves. Sceptics at the time suggested mischief, nerves or imagination, and the page says no satisfactory explanation was agreed.
The Derry Journal gives the year as 1935 and adds a story from the investigations: a local constable sat in the house watching the fire in his stockinged feet when a voice from the shadows said there was only the two of them there. He heard it again, grabbed his boots and answered that he would be the only one there in a moment. The tale has the usual comic edge of a ghost story retold over decades.
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