1. The Student and the Story
Finn was a history postgrad from UCD, writing a thesis on Irish taverns and revolutionaries. The Brazen Head was essential. He visited often, notebook in hand, chasing tales told over whiskey.

“Don’t stare too long at the cloaked lad,” the bartender, Roisin, warned him. “You’ll end up with questions you’re not ready to ask.”

“Who is he?”

“No one knows. He’s been coming here since my da worked this bar. They say he’s a ghost from Cromwell’s time.”

Finn laughed. But the coins were real.

Every night, Roisin collected the three golden coins, warm to the touch. No date. No mint mark.

2. The Merchant’s Tale
Finn’s curiosity became obsession. He dug into Brazen Head’s records. He found a 17th-century merchant: Seamus Caulfield, disappeared during the Confederate Wars. A trader in spices and secrets, he supposedly buried a chest of gold beneath the pub during a siege.

Legend said he was betrayed—by a friend, or a lover, or both. The story varied.

In a library archive, Finn discovered a merchant’s log:

“If I do not return by the third bell, know that gold cannot buy loyalty. Let the Brazen Head remember me.”
Was the ghost Caulfield?

3. Ghost and Scholar
The next night, Finn sat in the snug opposite the stranger.

The man raised his pint, nodded.

Finn swallowed his nerves. “Are you Seamus?”

No answer. But the stranger tapped a finger twice on the table—two quick knocks. Yes?

Finn laid out the journal. The ghost leaned forward. His voice, when it came, was a gravel whisper.

“She sang for me. Then stole it. The gold. The trust. And now I wait. Every night.”

“Who?” Finn asked.

“Grace.” A name like a curse. “She served pints and secrets. She fed the betrayer.”

Finn’s heart thudded. This wasn’t history. This was a wound.

4. The Hidden Hoard
Using the journal, Finn triangulated the pub’s original foundation.

Under the snug’s floorboards, he found it.

A hollow. Inside, a rusted iron box. Gold coins. A love letter, unsent, addressed to Grace. And a single line scribbled hastily:

“She did not choose me.”
Finn handed the box to Roisin. She turned pale.

“That floor’s been creaking for centuries…”

5. The Final Pint
That night, Finn returned. The ghost was already there.

Finn placed the letter on the table.

“She did betray you,” Finn said softly. “But you stayed for love. Not for vengeance.”

The ghost lifted his hood.

Seamus was young. Sad-eyed. A smear of blood across one temple.

“I needed someone to know,” he said. “Now you do.”

He raised his pint, drank.

And vanished.

The coins remained. Cold this time.

6. The New Patron
A week later, Roisin called Finn.

“The snug’s quiet now,” she said. “No cloaked man. But people say they see you there. Scribbling in the candlelight.”

Finn chuckled.

“I’m just writing.”

But when he looked in the mirror behind the bar… for a moment, his reflection wore a cloak.

And in his pocket?

A single gold coin.