Ray Martin doesn’t believe there is life after death, but the veteran journalist has heard enough stories of spiritual encounters to make him wonder, and that includes one told by his own mother. Mary Jane Martin was a pragmatic woman who worked long hours as a knitting mill machinist to provide for her four children after she fled Ray’s violent father. Though Ray says “there wasn’t a lot of romance in Mum’s soul”, she had faith in something greater.
“I remember my mother telling a story of banshees when she was a child, up in country NSW,” says Ray, referring to the female spirit from Celtic folklore whose wailing portends death.
“Mum was one of 12 kids and one of the young brothers was killed. The afternoon that he went missing and they sent someone off to look for him, mum