The Paulville account is unusually specific for a folklore record. It names fields, a barn, a tree near the Kavanagh family and a nearby drowning, while also giving the approximate age of the story when it was recorded. The specificity makes it worth preserving, but it does not turn an inherited account into a measured investigation.
The reported light
The Dúchas transcript says that the informant's father and another man were cutting sticks when they saw a light come up a field at Paulville. It was described as a ball of fire, moving across fields and returning towards Kill. The record says that many people saw it and that it disappeared near a tree. [1]
The account was written down in 1938. It says the father had seen the light roughly twelve years earlier, while the narrator gives a slightly different interval of about ten years. That small disagreement is important: the event is not dated with the precision of a contemporary log.
The drowning connection
The transcript associates the tree with a man who had drowned in a nearby well. FI-X records that as part of the narrative, not as evidence that the light was the dead man's presence. Communities often attach unusual sights to deaths, dangerous places and landmarks; that process can preserve local memory while changing the meaning of an observation.
Possible explanations
A lantern, vehicle, reflected light, a person moving through fields or an optical effect could account for a light that appears to approach and retreat. The record gives no weather, moon phase, distance estimate or independent written testimony. It also does not establish whether the witnesses saw the same light on separate nights.
FI-X assessment
The case is best treated as Folkloric or cultural record. It is a valuable local account with a traceable archive reference and a clear place context, but no physical evidence or contemporary corroboration has been located. Future research should compare the manuscript image, investigate the place names without entering private land and search local newspapers for an independent account.
What remains unresolved
Approximate Paulville and Tobinstown area only. The record names private land and FI-X does not publish access directions. FI-X has not independently verified every claim in this file. The classification will change only when better evidence supports a change.
Timeline
- A father and another man were said to have seen a light moving across a field near Paulville. [1]
- The account was collected in Tobinstown and linked by the informant to a tree and a nearby drowning. [1]
- FI-X published the archive-led case study as a folkloric or cultural record.
Sources and references
- [1] Unnamed informant; collected by Kate Donoghue. A Strange Light. Dúchas.ie, The Schools' Collection, Tobinstown, Tullow, Recorded 29 September 1938. Primary folklore record. Open source
- [2] National Folklore Collection, UCD. The Schools' Collection. Dúchas.ie, Archive collection guide. Archive methodology. Open source
- [3] Placenames Database of Ireland. Tobinstown. logainm.ie, Current place-name record. Official place record. Open source
- [4] UCD Irish Folklore. National Folklore Collection. University College Dublin, Current collection information. Institutional archive context. Open source
Update history
- 7 August 2026 - Initial FI-X case study published; classification and source coverage marked for continued review.
Have information about this case?
FI-X welcomes documents, photographs, recordings, corrections and first-hand accounts. Submitting material does not guarantee publication, and FI-X may contact you to verify the information.