As the spooky season draws near and the veil between the living and the dead becomes ever so thin, our eyes and ears may begin to play tricks on us. But are they tricks?
You may think Newfoundland is too young for ancient monsters or historic evil beings but who says that hundreds of years ago some ghastly ghouls of Ireland didn’t accompany settlers across the ocean to the fresh frontier just waiting to be haunted?
Across every corner of our island, waiting in the sea and woods, scouring down the roads and bogs, these old Celtic Creatures may have found a home in the newfound land. We’re here to unearth and warn you of the scary stowaways that may have reached our shores.
The Troubled Seas
Let us begin with a frigid dip into The Sea.
These are not your big-eyed, Disneyesque, loveable sea creatures seeking a whole new world. These are sea salt, submarine sentients searching for their next subservient victim and could have easily swum the Atlantic following ships to the new world.
The Kelpie is a shapeshifting water creature that appears to us as a horse by the waters edge but if mounted will gallop into the ocean and submerge you into a watery grave as a sacrifice to the water gods.
Merrows are like Mermaids or sea-nymphs, resembling a human from the waist up and a fish waist down. Legend says they can walk on land with the help of a magical red hat. So lesson is, next time you’re at the beach and you see someone wearing a red had and is with a horse? RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!
The Dark Woods
Trust nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see while in The Woods.
There are many types of fairies but if your first thought is Tinker Bell or Fern Gully, well you’ve been living in a world wearing rose coloured glasses.
Two types of ferries may have stowed away, sheltered amongst the sails of arriving ships.
Pookas are shapeshifters and can appear as a cat, goat or most commonly a hare. It can also morph to a mostly human appearance but will still retain some small evidence of animal features, maybe ears or a tail. It’s a bringer of both good luck and bad so you better hope if you cross its path, you get the latter.
For parents, Changelings are the scariest of all. Fairies will steal children and replace them with a fairy imposter. But there is something not quite right…they will seem sickly, distant, misplaced. If you suspect Fairies are trying to replace your child with a Changeling, keeping an inside-out coat in your child’s bed will help to scare them away.
The Winding Roads
Aimlessly winding yet connecting us are The Roads.
Have you ever been alone, driving at night and seen something dart across the road in front of you that looked indescribable? Or looked into your rear-view mirror and glimpsed a white flash?
Could it be a Dullahan? The embodiment of a Celtic god that rides a black horse while holding his decapitated head in one hand and a human spine as a whip in the other. If he stops in front of you and says your name, it means immediate death and only a gold object will scare him off.
Or the White Lady, the ghost of a bride who took her own life on her wedding day after her husband was accidently killed. She now wanders the roads looking for her lost love and to comfort saddened children. The White Lady’s search might have taken her across the ocean and to our rugged rural roads. So some advice, leave her be but if she persists, a circle or salt will protect you from harm.
The Bubbling Bog
The Bog lends itself to be the scene for the most unnerving of encounters.
Is there anything more ominous than a bog on a foggy day? Could that shadow in the distance on your daily walk be more than just a tree waving in the wind?
If you stop, hold your breath, and squint, Doxycycline, you may see a Banshee or the Caorthannach.
Banshees supposedly belong to the fairy family but are human size and female presenting. They are known to wail when the death of a family member is near. Only a golden sword or a poultice of herbs and blood can keep her away.
Caorthannach (pronounced queer-hawn-nock) is known as the Celtic fire-spitter and Mother of Satan. She maybe the most evil monster of them all. St. Patrick himself is known to have vanquished her from Ireland into the sea using a single word. The fire-spitter is known to poison wells and water supplies with her evil tongue. She was said to have drowned but maybe she found a new island to terrorize.
Stay Safe…
Some poor unfortunate souls may have met untimely ends at the hands, voice, or simple stare of these Ghastly Gaelic Ghosts. So consider yourself lucky if all you ever get is goosebumps or chills down your spine.
Stay spooky, stay safe!
Hauntingly yours,
Larry and Chris
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