The Boy At The Window

One such visitor was David Blinkthorne who, in the summer of 1989, set out with his family from England on a touring holiday around County Galway. One of the 'musts' on their tour was Thoor, Ballylee. They arrived about fifteen minutes before the premises closed for the day, too late for the conducted tour of the tower. However, seeing how interested Mr Blinkthorne was in taking one or two photographs, the custodian agreed to allow him a hasty tour of the place. One photograph that he particularly wanted was of Yeats' sitting-room, and the curator agreed to unfold the shutters again to enable the picture to be taken. The shutters were unbarred and the photographer left alone to take his shot while his family enjoyed the view from the top of the tower. It was, in fact, the work of but a moment. There was very little furniture in the room, save for a chair or two: just the bare wooden floor and a door that led out onto the winding stair that led eventually to the tower top. For those who may be interested, the camera used was a Practical containing a Kodak film (400 ASA). No flash was used.

When Mr Blinkthorne returned home the negatives were developed and, to his surprise, the image appearing on one photograph bore no resemblance to anything else contained on the roll of film. The shot of the sitting-room in the tower showed an open window with the sun streaming in. The window is plainly delineated, as is one wall with a framed picture on it, and a chair standing beside the window shows up clear and sharp. In the foreground is a dark silhouette of a 'boy' whose head reaches just above the windowsill and appears to be bisected by it. There is a strong outline of the figure to mid-calf; his hair appears to be short, his ears stick out and his hands are in the pockets of what may be dungarees. Some people who have examined the photo say that the boy is looking towards the camera; others say that he is facing the window and that little straps or braces can be seen on the garment he is wearing. He is standing oddly, too, knees close together and at an angle to the rest of the photograph - or so it seems.

All the other photos on the roll were 'normal' and there were no flaws on any of them, just as there was no little boy present in the room when Mr Blinkthorne took the photograph, his own son being at the top of the tower with his mother. One other thing is obvious: portions of the chair actually appear to protrude through the apparitional body.

As a result of this photograph, a brief investigation was carried out at the tower, both by a professional photographer and a paranormal researcher. The photographer had experimented with trying to reproduce the effect seen on the photo, and after a number of lengthy and futile attempts she said she could think of no method by which the same effect with light, stance and density of silhouette could be achieved. A second set of photos were taken by a third party, and again nothing resulted.

The paranormalist examined the room and questioned members of staff but there was little information to add, save that W. B. Yeats himself had believed that the tower had been haunted by an Anglo-Norman soldier who he once had seen on the stair. An earlier curator also had believed the tower haunted and had been reluctant to go up the stairs as the day turned to evening. Her feeling was shared by a resident small dog who exhibited some unease in the downstairs room.

So, who was the boy in the window? Is he perhaps some earlier echo of those who had lived there? Yeats' own child perhaps, or do we have the gender wrong? Could it be some aetheric record of the little boy who, at the precise time that his father was taking the photo, somehow imprinted on the shot, despite the fact that he was in another part of the tower? The truth is that we have no idea how the photograph came about. It seems very unlikely that it was a carefully planned hoax, bearing in mind the lack of time for preparation to perpetrate such an event. We shall never know, I suspect, how the 'boy at Ballylee' imprinted himself on the shadows at Thoor.