Visions and Beliefs from Co. Mayo

All these visions and beliefs were collected from local anonymous inhabitants by Lady Gregory and Lady Wilde. They belong to the Irish heritage too.

A SEASIDE MAN SAID:

At Knock many people see the faeries; some say they can hear a dead carpenter making coffins and carts in his workshop after dark and others say they can see four drowned young boys walking in the fields near the village.

A MAYO MAN SAID:

I was passing near Johnny Rafferty's workshop, he and his son were carpenters but it was closed and locked. I came near and I heard the noise of tools and I heard their steps walking on the floor, I was so scared that my hair stood up on my head!

THE LAKE OF REVENGE

The Lake of Revenge, called in Irish Clonvencagh is situated near the holy mountain Croagh-Patrick. It is said people, who wanted to put a curse on their enemies, used to come here and erect a long flagstone near the well fixing it with a pyramid of sand. Around this flagstone people performed mystic rites saying the most terrible curses. For this reason it is said: "That man has been cursed by the stone".

OLD DERUANE SAID:

I can do cures myself and I got them from two old women from the farthest end of County Mayo. I spent part of my life in Manchester and here I met these two old women. They were running away from Mayo because of the hunger. And I knew they had cures for St. Patrick because St. Patrick blessed the places he was not in, more than the places that he was in. With the cures that he left and the fallen angels, there are many people in Mayo who can do cures. I helped them so they became very fond of me and then I picked the cure out of them.

ON SAINT MARTIN'S DAY:

No boat must go out
No mill must grind corn
No spinning wheel must turn
Blood must be spilt.
Usually a cock was killed previously dedicated to St. Martin.

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