Prehen House stands above the River Foyle on the edge of Derry. Spirited Isle says it was built about 1740 by Andrew Knox and was the setting of a well-known tragedy. John MacNaghten, a gentleman who had lost his money gambling, was a house guest and charmed Knox's 15-year-old daughter Mary Ann, then persuaded her into a secret marriage. Knox discovered it and expelled him, but MacNaghten shadowed her for years.
When Knox tried to take his daughter to Dublin by coach, MacNaghten and associates ambushed it near Burndennett Bridge, about ten miles from Derry, and fired into it. Mary Ann was fatally wounded and died hours later. The Derry Journal gives the year as 1760, Spirited Isle as November 1761. MacNaghten was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. According to the story the rope snapped, which in folklore meant a condemned man could go free, but he refused to be remembered as half hanged and demanded to be hanged again. He is remembered as Half-Hanged MacNaghten.
The tale is told that the house is still haunted. Spirited Isle describes a Ghost Room where beds sink as though someone has climbed in, voices are heard and the atmosphere unsettles even sceptics, with one family friend recalling being hugged from behind by no one. The Derry Journal says visitors have seen a man loitering in the grounds and a young woman in period dress who roams. These reports are anonymous.
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