The disturbances began in the summer of 1873 at a grocery on Old Town Hill, Cookstown, kept by a man described in the papers as intelligent and candid. He lived there with his wife, three children and a 22-year-old grandson who was skilled at conjuring tricks and was at first suspected, but was cleared when the activity continued while he was away.
Coats, trousers, waistcoats and blankets were found cut up, a new hat locked in a cupboard was found shredded, and over eighteen months the damaged clothing was valued at about sixty pounds. Bowls of food spun before falling, a locked milk churn overturned, and potatoes vanished from a pot being watched. Front windows were broken one pane at a time, with stones found on both sides of the glass. Royal Irish Constabulary officers posted armed guards but the damage continued. A barricaded window rigged with a bell was dismantled so gently that the bell hardly rang. Stones of various sizes, one about twelve pounds, rolled down the stairs with no one above.
The Belfast Newsletter and the Enniskillen Advertiser followed it through November 1874. Many accepted the family's honesty. Sceptics blamed an ingenious vandal. One editor remarked that the story had all the ingredients of a Christmas ghost tale except an ending. The phenomena simply stopped, no one was blamed, and the newspaper trail ends.
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