Walk with me to the dark side of the woods

When you think about the magic of Ireland, what images pop into your mind? Do you imagine green rolling hills, leprechauns, fairies, or rainbows? Any of these would be an interesting focus, but I'm going to take you down a darker path. It's the kind of path that leads through a shadowy, fog-filled forest. A forest where you hear mysterious noises that you can't quite see the source of. I'm leading you to the darkest realm of this forest so I can introduce you to the not-so-nice creatures of Ireland.

As we walk under this somber canopy of trees, we hear a distant shriek. Could this be the sound of a banshee? The banshee's voice is said to resemble something between a woman's scream and the screech of an owl, and that is exactly what we hear.

 

You've probably all heard of the banshee. Sometimes she appears as a beautiful woman and sometimes she looks horrifying. Either way, she is always a shrieking omen of death.

Someone claiming to be a banshee, foretold the murder of King James I of Scotland in 1437, and there have been banshee reports in Ireland as recently as 1948! So, who knows? One of them might still be here. Let's quickly get away from the shrieking.

Oh, what's this? A little cottage in the middle of the woods! This looks like a safe banshee-free zone, right?

Wait. This is a dark, haunted forest. Maybe we should peek in the window first, to make sure nothing scary is inside. Aww... What a sweet sight. It's a mother leaning over her baby's cradle. The baby shifts back and forth slowly in its bed. Suddenly it lifts its head, and... eww. That's no baby!

 

It's a lumpy, yellow thing with a bad attitude. It's a fairy changeling! Sometimes the fairies take a baby and leave a changeling in its place. They have many reasons for doing so, but the main reason in Irish stories is envy. Looking at a baby with envy is putting it in danger. If too many people envy the baby, it's more or less like signing it away to the fairies.

There is only one way to change it back into a baby: Throw the changeling into a fireplace. It will then leap up the chimney and the baby will be returned. Yeah... you better be really sure that what you have is a changeling before throwing it into the fire!

Adult humans also run the risk of becoming changelings, if looked upon with enough envy. In fact, in the year 1895, Bridget Cleary was killed by her husband, because he believed she was a changeling. Or so he said.

Let's leave this terrible scene. I can't bear to watch the changeling get thrown into a fireplace!

If these woods weren't haunted, we could be having a relaxing nature walk. There's so much wildlife here to enjoy. I assume those are squirrels rustling in the dead leaves, and birds chirping from the trees overhead. Not to mention that lovely...um, horse/goat thing with the gold eyes that's been watching us.

This is the form the Pooka (Irish for goblin) has decided to take at this time. The Pooka is a shapeshifter; it can appear as a goat, horse, rabbit, or dog. It most commonly takes the form of a large black horse with golden eyes. It can be either a good or bad creature, depending on its mood. There are stories of the Pooka being kind, and yet it also likes to confuse and scare people. The only day one can be sure the Pooka will be nice is on November 1st. That's Pooka Day. Obviously, it's now March, so it's difficult to know what we're dealing with. Let's just quickly walk past this creature and hope it doesn't bother us...

Even though we walked away from the Pooka, the sound of galloping horse hooves is still around us. Has the Pooka decided to follow us? No, we are being followed by the kind of creature that makes a Pooka seem harmless. It's The Dullahan, who looks very similar to someone you might find in Sleepy Hollow.

The Dullahan may look like the standard headless horseman we are familiar with, but there are some differences. The main difference is that instead of searching for a head, the Dullahan carries his. A strange feature of the head is that it has the color and consistency of moldy cheese. That and he carries a whip that is made from a human spine. So you don't want to get close to him, purely because you'd be grossed out if you did. Of course, there are far more deadly reasons to avoid him. It's said that if the Dullahan stops his horse and calls out a person's name, they will die at that exact moment.

One more disgusting feature! The Dullahan does not like it when people watch him. If you do, he will throw a bucket of blood in your face! Yes, he carries a bucket of blood along with his cheesy head and spine whip. He's a multitasker like that. So, now that we've caught sight of The Dullahan, let's just run the other way and not bother him. As if I even needed to tell you that... 

After running through the tangled trees, we see something more inviting. It is a gorgeous, glittering figure with iridescent wings.  It is the Lianhan Shee.

The Lianhan Shee is a beautiful fairy that is sort of like a siren. She basically puts men under her spell to the point where they give up everything for her. The only way to be free from her spell is to refuse her advances. Very few men do. If they do manage to reject her, the tables are turned and she does their bidding. It's time to go, before any of the men in our group are tempted by her...

Speaking of someone the guys might want to avoid, a Dearg-Due is known to lurk in these woods. The Dearg-Due is an Irish female vampire.  I've seen her referred to as "the red blood sucker". However, some legends say that she isn't so much interested in blood, as she is sucking the souls out of people's bodies.

 

The only way to hold her at bay is to pile stones on her grave. Evidently, if you pile on enough stones, it's inconvenient for her to dig out of the dirt. Placing something heavy on top of a vampire's coffin is a pretty practical solution! So, let's pile a few stones on her resting place, and make our way out of the woods.

* A quick vampire theory worth sharing:

Some people argue that Bram Stoker's Dracula was based upon the Dearg-due. Dracula was written during Ireland's great "Celtic Revival". Some believe that Stoker took the name "Dracula" from Dreach-Fhoula, pronounced droc'ola. This word happens to mean "bad or tainted blood" in Irish. At the very least it's an interesting coincidence.

As we make our way to a clearing in the forest and look through the trees, we see a large body of water and an approaching ship. Suddenly a fog appears out of nowhere! It's the work of The Grey Man (Far Liath).

He has created this fog in the hopes of causing a ship wreck. The fog grows thicker and we blindly manage to walk through it on our way out of this place. After walking for some time, we hear a sound in the distance. It's hard to be certain, but it sounds an awful lot like a ship crashing against the rocks.

Now that you have survived the haunted forest and scary Irish creatures, you can breathe a sigh of relief and have a happy St. Patrick's Day!