Dear Cormac and Dan It was on the last Sunday of November or first Sunday of December 2004 (forget which)

that I saw an a!!arition at the entrance to the "a# $ar# estate% & visit to the archway was suggested to me by a local historian $aul 'aguire of the Carlow 'ilitary 'useum% I arrived out there at 2%(0 !m with a camera having been told that the arch resembled a miniature &rc de )riom!he and was well worth seeing% $aul had told me a little about the history of the estate and about its last gate#ee!er that he was a friend of the *rowne+ Claytons (the owners of the estate) that he was a member of the ,nglish aristocracy his name was $eter (surname un#nown) and that he served in the *ritish &rmy during -orld -ar I% Sadly the man suffered from !rofound shell+shoc# as a result of his war service and was unable to resume his familial duties so he #e!t the gate for the *rowne+Claytons in the inter+ war !eriod (as an activity to occu!y his days)% $eter would have lived in the legs of the arch. there are doors in both% /e is su!!osed to have died 0ust before the outbrea# of -orld -ar II% )his is all that $aul told me he #new about the man% -hen I arrived at the arch I was ama1ed to see this wor# of architecture barely a cou!le of hundred yards down the road from the local hurling club% I began to ta#e !hotos. I also began to consider the !hysical s!ace that $eter would have lived in for almost twenty years% I !aced the e2ternal measurements of the arch legs and was 3uite ta#en by the idea that a man had lived in two s!aces of si2 by seven !aces (as far as I remember) for that length of time% I climbed u! on an ad0acent wall to !eer in through a window and saw a fire!lace and assumed there would be a matching one on the other side% I !assed through the arch turned and started to e2amine the inside of the arch% )hat4s when I saw the ghost% It was standing between the legs of the arch a little way out from the stonewor# so that I could see its sha!e and height 3uite clearly% )his shade was semi+trans!arent being mottled is the best word that I can use to describe it and with a very slight sheen li#e that of a soa!+bubble% I could see no details li#e a face hair or clothing but it was the height and sha!e of a man no more than twenty yards in front of me% I felt an immense chill and was sur!rised by the tears that began to flow from both sides of my eyes as a huge wave of sorrow overwhelmed me% I forgot the camera around my nec# and all

I could do was say 56ou !oor soul 7od hel! you%4 I stood loo#ing at it for about fifteen 8 twenty seconds until it vanished% &s 3uic# as I could given the shoc# of my e2!erience I too# a !hoto of the arch from where I was still standing% I noticed that there was a dar# growth of lichen on the stonewor# and thought that I may have discerned a !attern in that and I wanted to chec# the !hoto when it was develo!ed% I did not linger as is my usual habit at such interesting !laces% -hen I arrived home I !honed $aul and as#ed him if there were any re!orts of su!ernatural activity located at the arch and he was curious as#ing why so I told him I had only got in the door from such an e2!erience% /e told me that there were some stories about a light moving between the legs of the arch at dus# or in the evening time but nothing in broad daylight% I told him e2actly what I had seen and he said that there had been no re!orts of such daylight occurrences% -hen my fianc9 (at the time later my wife) returned home she found me 3uite sha#en some hours after the event% I wal#ed out to the arch the ne2t day and started writing in my noteboo# using the biogra!hical details which I had gone over again with $aul the !revious evening% $erha!s the ghost wished that I act as some sort of witness for I felt a strong sense of duty to do my best with this !oem which I later called Great War Ghost% It is !ublished in my first collection of !oetry (Herself in Air :a!wing $ublications 200;)% Some historical facts that $aul had mentioned were woven into the !oem< a cavalry regiment had !ractised manoeuvres on the estate and the oldest =ugby >ootball Club in Ireland is a stone4s throw away from the arch% Somme and 6!res are mentioned as e2am!les of battles imaginative su!!osition on my !art and the 5leaves of oa# and ash4 are there for rhythm rhyme and descri!tion ? due to the fact that I didn4t !ay too much attention to the e2act s!ecies of tree along the estate road at the time being satisfied that they were slow+growing and deciduous !erfect e2am!les of &scendancy estate trees% -hen the !hotos were develo!ed there was no indication that what I had seen was a !attern of dust and lichen% I4m certain that I did see a ghost and under su!erb conditions< this was not in the half+light of dus# or dawn not something observed in movement or while I was moving or out of the corner of my eye. nor was I aware beforehand of any su!ernatural or !aranormal lin#s to the estate% I4ve lived in four haunted houses (including one here in Carlow but that4s another story)

and am grateful that I don4t live in one now% I4ve gone on record in the Carlow $eo!le (>ebruary 200@) about this in an interview and would have no hesitancy in committing this to oath% /o!e this is of some use or interest to you ? good luc# with the boo#% &ll the best &lan 7arvey

7=,&) -&= 7/"S)

Rugby -hy watch the scrums of rugby the clash of flesh a cry from where you slee!A -ind bac#hands the leaves of oa# and ash over mud churned by boots and feet bristling with calves strea#ed by sweat on the !oc#mar#ed yards a team must #ee!% For You Forget )he face is all for you forget. words become redundant in this tower of dar#% Somme and 6!res are wounds with no !oint of entry% -e #now your name was $eter *rowne+Clayton4s friend. shell+shoc#ed member of the gentry who san# beneath a green and grey hori1on that washed over this troubled ,nglish scion% The Hammered )he hammered ob0ect is brought to bear on earth torn by hooves of cavalry% )here is no first or wor#ing class it learns no u!!er 8 lower form in Death4s &cademy% December4s sun throws rows of !lanter4s beech into a mottled and !itiful shade< from behind that &nglo line ? a cannonade a trium!h of the will that it remains between two worlds to man the gate and do its duty still% Arch 7ranite may be seen as marble from afar when we whitewash this arch this !ortico to -ar whose target is the s#y the eye of /eaven that sheds its tears for the millions of reasons it ta#es to ma#e a man and see him die%