Pisrógs

If you are going to take a shortcut home this Halloween, you might encounter the Púca, and if you do, make sure to bring your spurs.

There's something deeply unsettling about a talking horse that appears out of nowhere in the dead of night and insists you get on its back.

This Halloween, we're getting acquainted with the púca: Ireland's shapeshifting troublemaker, known to appear as everything from a black horse to a half-horse, half-pig monstrosity (and even a barrel?)

Traditionally it was said that after Halloween it was no good to eat the berries in the hedgerows, not because of rot, but because the Púca had spat in them.

But what the púca is most related to in Irish folklore is the so called 'Wild Ride' it brought people on.

If the stories are anything to go by, a chance encounter with one could leave you dumped in a bog, halfway across the country, or at a fairy banquet.

Wild midnight rides, strange bargains, and the curious ways people tried to outsmart the creature.

Its all in there! oOoooooooooOoh!

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, Three for a Girl, Four for a Boy, Five for Silver, Six for Gold and Seven for a Secret Never to be Told.

You have heard the rhyme, you've waved superstitiously at the singular flapping corvid, but now learn about why the Magpie carries such a weight in Irish folklore.

Death Prophecies, Cromwelian Invasion, Enchanted Feathers, Crucifixions and MORE.

Supping Fairies, a Ghost Cat, a Drunken Mule, Revenue Men...and a very unfortunate genet.

Poitín! This episode dives into the strange and wonderful stories that grew up around Ireland’s illicit spirit.

Poteen makers outwit the Revenue men, fairies drink from golden cups, its all in there boys.

The Slasher House, Banshees, Count Tornado, Highkick Jack, The IRA, Headless Horseman and Cures upon Cures upon Cures.

The boys set up a confessional booth at Electric Picnic and ye blurted out your best folk stories from all around the country!

You walk on an ordinary patch of grass and suddenly become so violently hungry that you can barely make it home.

The Hungry Grass, or Féar Gortach, cursed patches of ground said to bring on an overwhelming, almost fatal hunger, sometimes only moments after a person has eaten. A single crumb of bread could save you… but in some tales, people were reduced to chewing boot laces, raw meat, or whatever they could find.

And the stories get stranger. We encounter hungry grass growing over graves, fairy forts and places where people supposedly died of hunger; black horses that lure travellers towards deadly lakes; witches, curses and mysterious patches of mountain ground. One tale even tells of a man so desperate with hunger that he began eating the flesh of a hare he was carrying.

But where did these stories come from? The Hungry Grass preserves memories of the Great Famine, but it also goes back much further. We explore its eerie connection to the Fear Gorta, the ghostly “Man of Hunger”, and draw a comparison with the Native American traditions surrounding the Wendigo: another supernatural figure associated with famine, but also insatiable hunger, environmental collapse, and cannibalism.

If you went back in time to an Irish village or settlement the first place you should go was surprisingly, the forge.

The village forge was the ancient internet, the pub, the pharmacy, and occasionally the battlefield briefing room. It's where you would get the weekly news.

The blacksmith dealt in Iron, Information and Anvils, but also Fairies, Cures and Curses.

Cathal and Luke tell tales of fairy warfare, three-legged horses, magical purses, enchanted forge water and Holy Women's curses.

The blacksmith's power wasn't just in his physical strength, but in his skill of sorcery.

They could cure illnesses, stop bleeding with secret charms, banish rats, break curses, and even bargain with the fairy world.

From ancient gods like Goibniu the divine smith to the humble village forge where neighbours gathered for stories, craic and gossip, the forge stands at the precipice between the human world and the supernatural.

Video References:

Hands: Powers of the Metal:

https://youtu.be/jUP8W3xfezY?is=-UNtfZVcmouHvhw_

Last of the Dublin Blacksmiths:

https://youtu.be/FPMe73RgO4U?is=PuPwrdHsyHLyKzmT

A Blacksmith Retires, Ballymahon Com Longford:

https://youtu.be/uhorleq7C2s?is=HkfwStz2FILHRGkp

PRIEST HUNTERS, during Ireland's Penal Laws these were bounty hunters paid to track down Catholic priests, going from village to village looking for the rewards offered for their holy heads.

Haunted houses, swarms of black beetles, priests disguised as gardeners, bloodhounds chasing clergy across the countryside, highwaymen turned heroes, and assassinations which quite literally backfire.

Whilst Mass Rocks (where people worshipped in secret) are widely discussed,  Cathal and Luke wanted to know more about the people they were hiding from.

Míol mór, whales! In irish it literally tanslates to large beast.

Luke and Cathal dive into the folklore of the whale: Adventurers swallowed by whales, Townsfolk hunting for whales, Churches made of whales and whales mixed with cows. It's all in this brand new episode of Pisrógs! Whales!

Wanna know what spermaceti is? Hit that play button sailor.

Link to Oregon Whale Explosion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6CLumsir34

Piracy, sea serpents, fairy women, gun-slinging priests.

A fun little episode for a fun little island!

Cathal and Luke are on their way to Sherkin Island (which allegedly boasts its own micro-climate), just off Baltimore, Cork.

Inis Arcáin means 'Isle of the Piglets' , but not for the reason you may expect.

A horse veterinarian/kinesiologist casually informed us that a mythical white horse once appeared on the Benaughlin mountains every 'Billberry Tuesday.' As you do.

This week, new-cohost Cathal Bergin joins Luke and together they descend into one of the strangest corners of Irish folklore: fairy cattle markets on the Play-Bank, ghostly aristocrats in knee breeches, warriors vanishing into mountains, funerals chasing men through the bog, and a fairy fort fuelled entirely by dairy-based emotional support cows.

There are ancient cairns that scream when disturbed, invisible armies helping clans win battles, and one very important historical mystery: what exactly were the “Irish balls” being hurled in combat… and why does nobody ever properly explain them?

Fairies, ghosts, talking horses, giant stones, mysterious music in the hills, and an absolutely unreasonable quantity of Irish balls.