The Black Ribbon of Kilnaree Castle

Ireland, the third of May, nineteen twenty-nine. A romantic weekend, our narrator has supposed, begins when two people leave their work behind. His error lay in believing that work respects railway timetables. Captain Arthur, Anne Foster and a spaniel of settled opinions take the morning train out of Dublin for Waterford, bound for a small residential hotel in a grey tower above a bend of the Clodiagh, some miles beyond Portlaw. Kilnaree was somebody's house until the fire of nineteen twenty-two. The east roof is still partly bare, there is scaffolding against the gable, and the proprietress has put in new pipes and a generating engine which the driver says are encouraging — depending entirely on where you happen to be standing when either of them starts. In an inside pocket, examined four times since Dublin, there is a small square case bought on Grafton Street. The proper moment requires privacy, tolerable weather and the absence of railway crockery. None of these is yet available, and the rain has begun before they cross the bridge. Kilnaree also has a ghost. A lady with a black ribbon at her wrist, whom the hotel has lately discovered is very good for business. The Black Ribbon of Kilnaree Castle is an original Golden Age-style mystery about a house that sells its own haunting, and what that is worth to somebody who arrives with other intentions. The legend behind it is real, and one of the best-documented ghost stories in Ireland. We set out what is actually recorded about it in a factual epilogue at the close. FOR LISTENERS This is an original mystery written by Nocturnal Tales, inspired by the spirit of the great Golden Age crime writers. The plot, the characters and the text are entirely our own creation, and all characters and events in the story are fictional — Kilnaree Castle, the Kearneys and every guest among them. The story does draw on a real Irish tradition, the Black Ribbon of Lady Beresford, first recorded in the seventeenth century, and we discuss it factually in the closing epilogue. No affiliation, endorsement, or official connection is implied. A caretaker wrote a pamphlet because a hotel needed visitors, and gave his lady a bell she never had. Then a real bell, walled up for a century, rang three times by accident. How long did you hold on to the ghost? CHAPTERS 00:00 - Introduction 02:26 - Chapter One - A Weekend Without Work 14:53 - Chapter Two - The Lady of the Ribbon 29:38 - Chapter Three - What the Ghost Left Behind 41:18 - Chapter Four - The Passage That Was Closed 55:43 - Chapter Five - A Living Man in the Gallery 1:09:15 - Chapter Six - The Hand Behind the Ghost 1:23:18 - Epilogue 1:38:31 - Closing SUPPORT & LISTENING OPTIONS CREDITS TAGS / KEYWORDS golden age mystery audiobook, irish country house mystery, haunted castle mystery, ireland 1929 mystery, captain arthur mystery, anne foster mystery, ghost hoax mystery, black ribbon lady beresford, irish big house history, full length mystery audiobook, classic detective story audiobook, original golden age mystery, vintage detective fiction HASHTAGS