School: Coill Mhic Thomáisín (B.)

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1. Petticoat Loose (continued)

   

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   a small lake in the side of the Knockmealdown peaks and on the left hand side of the mountain road crossing the mountain from Lismore to Clogheen. The road that crosses the mountain is now a beautiful motor road, most cleverly designed to do away with the steepness of the mountain. It is called locally the Vee and when seen from Tipperary side the name is easily understood, for there is the V plainly inscribed upon the side of the great peak but laid down sideways with the angle of the V pointing to the east.
   In passing I may say that the Tipperary side of the Knockmealdowns is now planted and in a few years we will see a forest of larch and spruce at each side of the V road.
   But things were far different when Petty Coat Loose haunted this locality. Perhaps the V road did not then exist. Certainly it was not the beautiful motor road it is today. It was both rough and steep and however anxious the traveller might be to pass quickly over the haunted region, progress had to be tedious.
   Many stories are told of Petty Coat Loose. One night a "fish-jolter" was overtaken by night and as he passed by a heap of stones on the side of the road he recognised the fiend sitting down and in the form of a woman. She asked for a lift and he pretending not to know her stopped and said she was welcome, "for", said he, "I never refused a lift to anyone". Badly the poor man was rewarded for no sooner was Petty Coat Loose on the car than the horse

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Informant

   Thomas Browne

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   c. 60

   Occupation

   Farmer

   Address

   Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford