My friend John Nicholas, one of the leading ghost experts in Ireland, told me the following story.
One day, in the 1930’s, a family was walking through the grounds around their chateau, one of the most beautiful in Ireland. A great lawn stretched out in front of the home, in the middle of which was a large pond. Suddenly, one of the children who was sitting at the edge of the pond let out a loud cry. Everyone rushed to the child; they looked and were paralyzed. In the water they saw the reflection of the chateau, only it was engulfed in flames. They turned their gaze to the chateau, which stood as serenely and magnificently as it always had. Again they looked to the pond, and there it was still, the fiery reflection. Then, moments later, the flames disappeared.
Nobody could explain this strange phenomenon, or rather, nobody dared to try. The fiery reflection reappeared for a few minutes each day for a week before disappearing and leaving the reflection as it had always been. But what happened on the eighth day?
Well, on the eighth day the chateau burned. This was during the era when the IRA was actively burning down the most splendid country homes belonging to families of English origin, those they felt had invaded and occupied their land. They destroyed between 350 to 400 homes. The chateau with the fiery reflection met the same fate.
The IRA arrived and the armed men forced the family and their servants out of the house. Then, right before their eyes, they set fire to the home. They watched the house burn, and saw the fiery reflection once more in the pond.