Extracts from transcripts of taped interviews conducted by Professor James D. Hutchinson, Dept. of Sociology, Trinity College, Dublin, 3-6 June, 1974.

 

Bridget Halpin, aged 87 years, Convent Hill, Waterford

...Well, I was ten years old that summer. Now, that was the first really hot summer I remember. We were living in Anne Street then and every morning we'd walk off up Gracedieu with our buckets and collect blackberries, but one day it rained very hard and we had to stay all day over in Mary Phelan's uncle's house and we didn't get home 'til after dark, and that was the first time we saw the Rat Boy. I think we heard him first. It was a very queer sound. I couldn't tell if he was laughing or crying or just squeaking. And then we saw him dashing out from under the gate of the coalyard. Mary nearly fainted but I wasn't a bit afraid because Maggie Moran was already after telling me about him. She was after seeing him a few weeks before and wait 'til I tell you - didn't he come right up close to her and let her feel his ears! She said they were very soft and hairy...

...Now, after that I saw him two or three times a week. Now, John Lacey said he saw his tail once but I never did. I think John was just pulling me leg there. And everybody said he kissed Annie O'Brien from Bridge Street. She always said he didn't, mind you, but sure, she always let everybody kiss her anyway! I'd often see him outside the Widow Dunne's house because she left bits of cheese on her windowsill for him, but he'd never go into Anne Street because of Sammy. He was Mrs Breslin's big tomcat...

...I hardly saw the Rat Boy after that Halloween night. Some of the young fellas from Francis Street caught him in one of the lanes and started throwing stones at him. By the time Mr Hickey - he had the shoe shop up on Ballybricken - by the time he chased them away, the poor little fella was in such a state that Mr Hickey had to carry him home, and that was the first time I knew where he lived and that he was Mrs. Widger's young fella. Sure, after that we hardly ever saw him outside of Glasshouse Lane...

 

Paddy Deady, aged 82 years, Vulcan Street, Waterford

...they put Michael in our class because he was too big for the infants' school, and he was already two or three years older than us and he learned fast. He was very shy but we left him alone because he was the strongest boy in the class. One of the fellas said he was the Rat Boy from Glasshouse Lane but none of us ever really saw his ears properly because his hair was kinda long and nobody was brave enough to go at it. But we did notice that every time he got excited or afraid he'd squeak like a mouse. And one day a friend of mine - by the name of Jimmy Lanigan (sure he's dead now God rest him I don't know how many years) - well, he saw him coming back from the toilet stuffing something into the back of his trousers. Jimmy said it looked like a tail, but I never saw anything like that, and Jimmy was a terrible fella for telling stories anyway...

...I remember one autumn, meself and a few of the lads went down to the park to collect chestnuts and we were amazed to see how fast Michael could climb the trees - like a squirrel or something. But, now, he never played conkers with the chestnuts. He'd just break them open with his two big front teeth and eat them. I never saw anything like it...

...Michael left school after about three years and he got a job delivering stuff with Chapmans on the Quay, but later on he was sacked out of there. I heard he got caught robbing a big wheel of fancy French cheese. I didn't see much of him after that, but one morning, just before the 1914 war, I saw him walking up Patrick Street wearing a new suit with his hair cut short and I could see his rat ears plain as day...

 

< PREVIOUS PAGE  NEXT PAGE  >

PAINFUL CASE CONTENTS