The Abhartach - The Irish Vampire
Ghost/Paranormal
Tuesday 27th, September 2022
For some the stories of The Abhartach all began with Patrick Weston Joyce who wrote a book which was published in 1869, titled 'The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places'. The pages of this book by Joyce are said to be the origin, for some, of The Abhartach.
In the book, Joyce tells of a Derry based parish, Slaughtaverty. In this parish there stands a monument of The Abhartach, Joyce went on to state in the book, "There is a place in the parish of Errigal in Derry, called Slaghtaverty, but it ought to have been called Laghtaverty, the laght or sepulchral monument of the abhartach or dwarf."
The dwarf, as Joyce describes was an evil creature that possessed magic and caused much distress among people of the area. The dwarf was killed by a local chieftain and The Abhartach was buried.
This was not to be the end of the dwarf as it is said that the next day the dwarf was back and twice as evil this time. Again the local chieftain killed the dwarf and buried it the same way, hoping that would be it done. It's said the dwarf reappeared the following day and this time spread its evil across the country of Ireland.
The chieftain couldn't let the dwarf to continue spreading evil and misfortune, so the chieftain consulted a local druid, the chieftain then set off to find the dwarf and kill it again. This time the chieftain buried the dwarf upside down as advised by the druid.
It's said that this worked and The Abhartach was never seen or heard from again.
But this is just one story of The Abhartach which was written down in one of Joyce's books.
The next legend is told by a man named Bob Curran, Mr Curran was a lecturer in Celtic history and folklore at the University of Ulster. According to Mr Curran the real 'Castle Dracula' can be found between the towns of Garvagh and Dungiven which is where a small hill no stands.
Mr Curran says that at one time a fortress of a 5th or 6th century chieftain with magical powers called the Abhartach existed on this hill. Being a tyrant, the locals not liking the chieftain much and the locals being scared of the chieftains magical powers they hatched a plan to coax another chieftain to kill him.
The locals succeeded and buried the chieftain but he escaped and demanded a bowl of blood from the villagers, he killed for the second time and again returned, it was the third time the chieftain was killed with a sword made from yew as advised by a druid that the Abhartach was finally slain for good.
Another legend is The Legend of Dearg Due which is where a woman from Waterford was married away to an evil chieftain, the chieftain neglected the woman and she was left to die a lonely death.
Soon after this woman was buried she arose from her grave and went on a quest for revenge which was intensified when she had a taste of blood.
In the book, Joyce tells of a Derry based parish, Slaughtaverty. In this parish there stands a monument of The Abhartach, Joyce went on to state in the book, "There is a place in the parish of Errigal in Derry, called Slaghtaverty, but it ought to have been called Laghtaverty, the laght or sepulchral monument of the abhartach or dwarf."
The dwarf, as Joyce describes was an evil creature that possessed magic and caused much distress among people of the area. The dwarf was killed by a local chieftain and The Abhartach was buried.
This was not to be the end of the dwarf as it is said that the next day the dwarf was back and twice as evil this time. Again the local chieftain killed the dwarf and buried it the same way, hoping that would be it done. It's said the dwarf reappeared the following day and this time spread its evil across the country of Ireland.
The chieftain couldn't let the dwarf to continue spreading evil and misfortune, so the chieftain consulted a local druid, the chieftain then set off to find the dwarf and kill it again. This time the chieftain buried the dwarf upside down as advised by the druid.
It's said that this worked and The Abhartach was never seen or heard from again.
But this is just one story of The Abhartach which was written down in one of Joyce's books.
The next legend is told by a man named Bob Curran, Mr Curran was a lecturer in Celtic history and folklore at the University of Ulster. According to Mr Curran the real 'Castle Dracula' can be found between the towns of Garvagh and Dungiven which is where a small hill no stands.
Mr Curran says that at one time a fortress of a 5th or 6th century chieftain with magical powers called the Abhartach existed on this hill. Being a tyrant, the locals not liking the chieftain much and the locals being scared of the chieftains magical powers they hatched a plan to coax another chieftain to kill him.
The locals succeeded and buried the chieftain but he escaped and demanded a bowl of blood from the villagers, he killed for the second time and again returned, it was the third time the chieftain was killed with a sword made from yew as advised by a druid that the Abhartach was finally slain for good.
Another legend is The Legend of Dearg Due which is where a woman from Waterford was married away to an evil chieftain, the chieftain neglected the woman and she was left to die a lonely death.
Soon after this woman was buried she arose from her grave and went on a quest for revenge which was intensified when she had a taste of blood.
