Irish ghosts are not confined to old tales of spooks and spirits in days of old, or to black, cold Hallowe'en nights. They are kept very busy, haunting modern as well as ancient ground. Spirits frequent castles and the usual haunted houses, while that scariest of Ireland's spooks, the banshee still pursues noble Irish families, through countryside and city streets.

The ghost of Helena Blunden is said to walk in the former linen mill where she once worked, the haunting cry of her last moments echoing off its walls. This is no mere Hallowe'en phantom, or traditional spook, but the tragic tale of a gifted young woman, her life cut short in the early years of this century.

Ghost stories range from the supernatural to modern superstition. They are no longer the preserve of the past, or a superstitious culture - the supernatural and mundane combine. Ask the printing manager or the designer who late at night listened to quick, light footsteps on the stairs and in the corridor. Modern technology has been brought to bear in the quest to prove the existence of this phantom named Helena - another of Ireland's restless spirits. The long-dead mill worker is, it seems, still around to be captured on web cam. Watch out for her, the most recent of many centuries of Irish ghosts.