IN THE rural Fermanagh townland of Makenny, Ballinamallard, a mysterious story surrounds a young farmhand who went off to fight in World War One.

Andrew Frazer, who lived at The Hollow House, Makenny, where he worked on the family farm, went off to fight in France with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1915, at the age of 21.

On the morning of March 29, 1918, farmers who were out working in the fields of Makenny saw a young man walking through the Bull's Gate.

One of the farmers shouted over to another: "Look, there's Andy home from the war – I can see the buttons of his tunic shining in the sun".

However, all was not what it seemed, for that same day, Andy had been killed in battle.

Over in France, a major attack has been launched, with intense fighting taking place at the Battle of St. Quentin. It was during this action that Andy lost his life, at the age of 23.

If Andy had lived, he would have been the heir to The Hollow House. Instead, the farm was inherited by his eldest step-sister, Anna.

Legend tells that the ghost of Andy Frazer returned to Makenny on the day he was killed, to live on at the farm that should have been rightfully his.

Since then, the farm has been passed down through generations of the same family, and the current occupants claim to have seen or felt the presence of Andy's ghost on many occasions over the years.

For example, during a power cut following a storm on a dark Winter's evening, even though the house was plunged into darkness, one electric light remained on.

At the time, the family put it down to being powered by a battery that they had been told had been there since World War Two, but when the floorboards were lifted because of a water leak a year later, there was no battery.

As a young child, the daughter of the family kept saying that there was "a brown ghost" in her wardrobe.

It was later discovered that the military uniforms of Andrew's era would have been brown in colour.

On another occasion, the little girl's father went into her room to say goodnight as he heard her breathing heavily as she slept, but when he entered her room, there was nobody there.