Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/236



April 27th of this year the following notice appeared in the Irish Times:

"Our Tulsk (Co. Roscommon) correspondent writes as follows:—A strange apparition has appeared at Kiltrustan, near Strokestown, in the shape of a black pig. Two little girls saw the pig, but, strange to say, none of the older people can see it. A clergyman visited the place, but could see nothing, although the little girls could see it, and they pointed out to him where the pig was standing. The apparition has caused tremendous excitement in the district, where the people believe that this is the 'black pig' spoken of in the prophecy of Columcille. Crowds, full of awe, are visiting the place, and the children of the parish are in a state of terror. Two men who cut a tree on an old rath or fort are ill, and many attribute their illness to the appearance of the pig.

"In a later message our correspondent says—The scare over the apparition of the 'black pig' at Kiltrustan is growing, and hundreds are visiting the place daily, but none can see the pig but the two little girls who first saw it, and a companion. These three children see the pig every day at the same place, and several clergymen have visited the scene. The children arc scared all around the place from going to school, and the whole thing remains a mystery."