The Spirit Of The Times

Until recently, Egan's Bar was a Waterford landmark of sorts.

The pub stood in the middle of the city for a long time, serving thirty patrons.

Time moves on, however, and Penneys needed to expand in spite of the rough economy so Egan's had to go.

Waterford is an old town, dating back to the days of Viking raids. Since that time, buildings have gone up and been torn down, the city itself has grown, and what was put under the ground was long forgotten.

Construction workers digging the foundation for the new Penneys outlet shop were startled to discover human skulls and bones at the job site. They contacted the gardai at once.

The bones had not been placed there recently. There was no secret mass grave or evidence of evil deeds done in the cellar of Egan's Bar.

Long before Egan's was erected, a monastery stood on the same spot. Eight centuries past, the monks came to Waterford and established a place to pray and teach. They did so until Henry the Eighth decided that he was quit of the Catholic Church and so too were his subjects. After three hundred years of service, the monastery was gone.

Another three hundred years went by; the monks were forgotten by all except for the historians who keep such records. Forgotten, until the construction crew dug into the burial site.

State archaeologists have been called in to examine the site, to make records of what they can now that the area has been disturbed. The National Museum will collect artifacts, the bones will be re-interred somewhere else, and construction will continue.

The ghosts of Dominicans long dead will have to haunt a retail establishment. They'll be quite disappointed. Men hate shopping. They always head to the pub.