Case INT/0001 — Killough, Co. Westmeath, 1908
MULTIPLE WITNESS / EXTENDED EVENT / ALTERNATIVE IDENTIFICATION PROPOSED
- Date of events
- April 1908, over a period of days.
- Location
- Killough, Co. Westmeath, Ireland. (Outside archive coverage area; held as an international reference case.)
- Witnesses
- Several, mostly schoolchildren. Names are withheld here as the witnesses were minors.
- Summary of account
- Contemporary newspaper reporting describes repeated observations of a small man in a red jacket near Killough over several days. A search of the area was subsequently organised. One reported detail is of particular interest to the archive: when a child directed a companion's attention to the figure, the first child reportedly ceased to be able to see it while the second could. The archive has no explanation for this and has resisted several offered ones.
- Alternative explanations
- A later correspondent suggested the figure may have been a baboon escaped from a travelling circus. The archive records this proposal without adopting it. The proposal does not account for the red jacket.
- Sources
- The Irish Times, “Westmeath was a hotbed of ‘leprechaun’ activity in 1908”, reviewing the 1908 press coverage. Consulted for this file; the original 1908 items are quoted therein.
- Editorial notes
- This is the archive's reference case for the directed-attention visibility problem, which recurs faintly in later material (compare the Ballycullane account, in which the figure vanishes when the witness looks away). No general explanation is offered.
- Revision history
-
Date Change 11 Oct 2003 File created from secondary summaries. — C.G. 3 Mar 1997 Follow-up correspondence regarding the circus received and filed. 9 Aug 2001 Original enquiry regarding the circus sent. 19 Feb 2019 Primary press coverage confirmed via the Irish Times review; classification amended from INFORMATION INSUFFICIENT. 14 Jul 2026 Source record added.