Investigative Report

The Mystery of the Lighthouse at Ballyfermot Library

The Investigation Process

Listening to the introductory talk

Investigating the evidence

Documenting theories and responses

After listening to the introductory talk, young investigators assessed clues, evidence and the lighthouse itself before casting their vote or sharing their theory.

Pie Chart: All Votes

Analysis of “Your Own Theory”

Common sense responses, offering practical explanations for strange events; comas, dreams, disguised neighbours.
The lighthouse and/or the house in the story are haunted by a ghost. Possibly a ghost who wants the family to leave, or the ghost of the father.
Budding writers and creative thinkers with fantastically creative theories.
A secret code for spies is contained within the lighthouse or the clues/evidence in the room.

the dead husband haunting them

the father worked in a lighthouse island and the mother made this lighthouse to remember him also believe that the pale male hand could have been the fathers ghost.

I believe it was possibly a passed family member/friend haunting/warning for something

Maybe a spirit of a hand.

I think an old spirit wanted to move to a house and then wanted to scare them to try and moved out!!!

I think the light house is here to haunt the library because Miss F thinks a man in the library is the man that was doing the stuff.

My teory is that the family that lives there died and haunts the house to get the family out but the light scares them

the man took Mrs F body and killed everyone

Just a storey

She must of been a artist

To give a curse to ballyfermot

Memorial of a dead family member who loved the lighthouse - Dylan

I think it was staged but

I feel like it was a moment in time. The details are very spusifick

Biddy

I Think that There relly tird and that there seeing things

Chloe 25/10/2022

I think little boys or girls were knoking and runing away and the mam was day dreaming and the girl was dreaming about the hand and the boy was dreaming

A crazy stalker is looking for someone to stalk so he finds a light-house {} he lives under the stairs and comes out at night to scare them!! He doesn’t have a house or job so he turns pale from hunger and thirst. I think I’ll call him Mr.Lurk. :)

Theory 3 but I think Miss Bryne and the other neighber are doing it to Mrs F

I think it was her nabour Miss

Dan.

I think the person or thing that kept knocking on the door came through the vent in Toms room

Sineall

The man next Door is the ceep.

the man is not real and the mam is in a coma When she wakes up she has visions

The model mite be from an ancient man he mad[e] it for his sic[k] c[h]ild

I think that there should be a part two of the story

A model of a lighthouse in Ballyfermot

My theory is lighouses are near roads and oceans because there is crashes in the ocean and the road then you can see were your going so i think they are meant to be there even bikes or other veichles can crash on the road

I believe that the house on the light-house is the little light that never goes off. I think its so detaled because it is a copy of the real house, that is the tiny house in the bedroom that dose’nt go off.

- Matilda age 9

there could hidden carma of of spy somewhere in the houe’s, we think she’s a spy

The lighthouse was jealous of the other houses so it swaped places until it got fused with a normal house.

My theory is that the person does not want the person to have kids?

Rhylan

i think it was a light hoouse in the ocean but as the ocen dried up it revuled the underground area

[continued overleaf] and she based it of that

dire is a secret key in the light tower for Ballyfermot

Zoe

a key in the bathroom

a noter lighthouse

secret code

newspaper

mini note

It is a house in Ballyfermot

They are copeying the lighthouse in

it just apeard

Conclusion

The lead investigation team were truly impressed by the level of enthusiasm and creativity they observed in the younger investigators at Ballyfermot. All theories were considered.

Based on the available evidence, the votes and theories, the lead investigation team were split between two most likely scenarios…

1

Something unusual did happen in a house in Ballyfermot in the 1960s, something strange enough that it was remembered years later in gossip and stories. That someone in Eithne’s family (probably her mother Mrs F) created the model lighthouse with the light on top and the tiny lighthouse inside — a double lighthouse — to make the children feel safe in the dark at night. Maybe the double lighthouse had some sort of power that protected the family and the little house in Ballyfermot, but it’s unlikely we’ll ever know exactly what happened in the house that winter.

2

Further investigation of the interior and base of the lighthouse at the library showed it could have been a very creative model for a real lighthouse at Ballyfermot, perhaps planned for the centre of the roundabout. Its sweeping beam of light would have come on each evening at the same time as the street lights to help lift the heavy dark from the surrounding area. The bright light would add to the street lights making sure people, motorists and cyclists had enough light to safely move around at night. The old photos we found showing a real lighthouse at Ballyfermot, could have been created for part of the planning permission for the lighthouse.

These are two possible theories, but until some new evidence comes to light we might never discover the true origin of the lighthouse at Ballyfermot library. Investigations are ongoing.

Investigative Report

The Mystery of the Lighthouse at Ballyfermot Library

The Investigation Process

After listening to the introductory talk, young investigators assessed clues, evidence and the lighthouse itself before casting their vote or sharing their theory.

Pie Chart: All Votes

Analysis of “Your Own Theory”

Practical

Haunted

Creative

A Secret Code

Conclusion

1

2

These are two possible theories, but until some new evidence comes to light we might never discover the true origin of the lighthouse at Ballyfermot library. Investigations are ongoing.