So years passed and life went on for the people of West Waterford and the story of Petticoat Loose's sinful ways and death became a cautionary tale to children about the dangers of drinking and wicked behaviour.
However people often forget that their words and thoughts have a hidden power. The more they spoke of Petticoat Loose and her wicked ways the more her spirit seemed to awaken.
Slowly whispers started to spread throughout the area of people claiming they had spotted the ghost of petticoat loose on the roadside. The more they spoke of her the more common sightings of her became. The more she was seen, the more her name sent fear down the spines of the locals.
Soon Petticoat Loose was no longer a mere apparition that appeared to locals on darkened roads. As her spirit became strong enough to cause physical harm to any poor soul unfortunate enough to cross her path.
As tales of people dying of fright within days after coming face to face with her began to spread far and wide so too grew her power. Her restless spirit grew stronger each time and she began to terrorise anyone who crossed her path.
Petticoat Loose was a large woman when she lived, but in death her soul was weighted down with all the sins she had committed in her life. It is said that each of her limbs were a tonne weight and that you can still see her footsteps down by the Salmon's Leap near Mount Melleray and her fingerprints imprinted at Sleepy Rock by Sleady Castle. Her left hand was also said to be larger than her right, as that was the hand she had beaten her parents with.
Reports poured in from all over west waterford, the knockmealdowns and even villages just beyond the waterford border in Tipperary and Cork. More and more people started having encounters with Petticoat Loose, as her spirit roamed the darkened rural roads.
She would often be seen on the roadside asking any traveller she met for a lift. If they refused she would cackle as she climbed up on to their carts and horses. Each horse would soon be exhausted and often died from the unearthly weight of her blackened soul.
There were even tales of her wrestling men as she had done in life, but now in death she fought with a supernatural strength that could see her kill a man with a flick of her finger. People would avoid travelling at night but for those times it was necessary they made sure to carry holy water and salt in their pockets as protection.
One stormy night a woman went into labour. Her husband had to go by horse and cart to fetch a midwife. Knowing he may run into Petticoat Loose he was told to bring a blackthorn handled knife with him for protection.
He was almost to the midwife's house when he saw Petticoat Loose on the side of the road, a shawl wrapped around her. She asked him for a lift. Knowing what his fate would be if he refused he pretended he didn't know who she was and obliged.
Petticoat Loose climbed up next to him on the front of the cart. The husband started the horse but after a few steps the horse started to slow. The husband was in a rush to get back to his wife with the midwife, so he tried to get the horse to move faster, but it didn't work. Petticoat Loose started to cackle explaining that she had one tonne weight in her left hand. Then she held up her right hand and declared she had one tonne weight in that hand. The horse slowed more. She then pointed to her left leg and declared she had a tonne weight in her leg, the horse was physically struggling and came to almost a complete stop. The man was scared knowing the horse would die if she declared any more weight and his wife would be in danger without a midwife. Just as petticoat loose was about to point to her right leg he stuck the blackthorn handled knife into her leg.
Petticoat Loose let out a screech that rang through the countryside. Furious she turned to the man but before she could retaliate he begged that she leave him be, telling her his wife was in labour and if she killed him she would be responsible for the passing of three souls that very night.
Upon hearing this Petticoat Loose agreed to let the man have safe passage to fetch the midwife and return to his wife that night. However she made him promise to return to her in the same spot the following night for a fair fight. The man agreed and Petticoat Loose stayed true to her word and left him return to his wife with the midwife unharmed.
The next night the man returned to the spot as per their deal. However this time he brought a priest with him. When Petticoat Loose appeared and saw he was not alone she descended on both him and the priest with an absolute fury. The priest quickly poured a circle of holy water around them knowing she would not be able to cross it. This angered Petticoat Loose who told them she only had to wait for the water to dry into the ground and then she would take out her vengeance.
The priest knew he had to act fast so he asked her what had damned her soul so that she still roamed the Earth. Petticoat Loose smiled and told him it was because she died drunk. The priest knew that this was a lie as it was not enough to damn her soul, so he asked her again. This time she laughed and said it was because she adulterated the milk she sold to the poor people in her communuty. Again the priest knew this was a lie and asked her for a third time what damned her soul. For a third time she lied and said her soul was damned for abusing her elderly parents. The priest responded saying while that was enough to stop her from entering into heaven it didn't explain why even the Devil didn't want her soul.
Knowing she could no longer lie to the priest, she explained she had taken the lives of three of her own children before they could be baptised. This shocking admission the priest exclaimed was enough to damn her soul for all of eternity. As the priest could see the circle of holy water was close to drying into the ground he started reading from his Bible, Petticoat Loose started to writhe in agony as his words fell upon her.
He told her he would banish her spirit out to the Red Sea, but Petticoat Loose sneered and promised she would wreck any ship that came her way. So the priest decided to banish her to the bottomless Bay Lough nearby. A bottomless lake where St. Patrick had once banished all the monsters in Ireland to centuries before. He told her she would remain there in her watery prison among the other monstrous creatures until doomsday when she would finally be judged. While she waited for that day she would be made spend her days paying penance for her sins trying in vain to drain the lake using nothing but a thimble.
Unfortunately for Petticoat Loose she misheard the priest when he told her she would be there until An Lá Luain (the Day of doom) and thought he said Dé Luain (Monday). So now around Samhain when the veil is at it's thinnest, she can often be seen on side of the lake using her thimble in a pointless attempt to drain the lake. Her confused spirit asking passersby is it Monday yet?
