Coalisland Ireland's ghostly attraction

Fourteen moonlit faces stared up at the jagged silhouette of the derelict house in the early hours yesterday. Shining torch beams into the thick mist, they were the latest midnight pilgrims to Mullaghmoyle Road, a quiet country lane on the edge of Coalisland, County Tyrone, which is fast gaining notoriety as the home of the UK's most talked about phantom.

Each night this week hundreds of ghost-seekers from Ireland and Britain have descended on the ruined cottage after dozens of recent sightings of a pale old woman drifting by.

Yesterday's visitors were greeted with a suitably haunting scene. Beneath a full moon the dilapidated stone house, complete with rotting doors and trees protruding through the roof, looked like the set of a vampire film.

Then, as if on cue, three shrill screams came from the woods, followed by a white shape halfway up a tree, looking suspiciously like a bedsheet. Moments later a naked, smiling torso bobbled over the hedge, accompanied by giggles.