Now this took place some time ago so I wasn't present to witness it, more likely that I'm glad I wasn't there to witness it. So on Saturday night my aunty and I were at her house, having a few drinks and telling stories etc. She had mentioned a story and it involved the very small rural village of Adavoyle, my Grandads birthplace as well as family home.
For whatever reason my grandparents house had to be left vacant for 2 weeks so they had to stay in mobile homes which were basically static trailers, they didn't want to so the only option was to stay in Adavoyle to which the mood quickly changed and the mobile homes didn't seem too bad.
I had asked why and this is where the story truly begins. My family has been dropping like flies, now you may say "That's a morbid statement." But it's true, not a year goes by where a distant relation kicks the bucket but that's a different story. In my Grandad's Birth home a family member died and he was laid out upon the Kitchen table as that's what they did back then, blood was discarded into the pig pen and ever since that the house was known to be unlucky.
My Grandad and his two brothers were left the house in a will, it contained a small farm yard out in the backyard which then stretched out into a massive field with a single fairy tree in the middle. Some time after the funeral they were in the field when my Grandad spotted someone...
"Whos that by the tree?" He said, the other two looked on and couldn't see anyone. But no sooner had he said that within 5 seconds this... Thing was sprinting towards them. A massive field that not even a fully grown healthy man could descend as fast as it did. All three men turned and bolted for the gate, desperate to get out to the point where one was willing to sacrifice the other.
When they were out of the field they turned to look at the creature chasing them and it had vanished. They gave it the name "The Rubber Man" as it practically bounced down the field towards them.
TO THIS DAY my Grandad refuses to talk about it much, he will repeat the question, nervously laugh and brush it off only to talk about something else, but I'm not finished with this story just yet.
One of the Brothers (We'll call him Dave) would stay there now and again, but only if there was someone else there as banging could be heard on the walls and doors slam to the point where he was being questioned by angry neighbours. He once even cried at the thought of sleeping alone in the house, a grown, fit and healthy man.
Work needed to be done on the house as parts were starting to crack. So instead of getting professionals my Grandad decided to do it for free. He had to knock down a wall and when he did he was presented with a door. As soon as Dave heard of this his only response was "Don't open the door." When asked why he again responded "I said don't open the f###ing door." And so it wasn't opened, simply replastered up.
I must be insane writing this at 2:20 in the morning when I start college tomorrow... Anyway, hope you enjoyed the family story.
Loading comments....
It's so interesting that this experience involved a fairy tree! I have read of them in Irish legends before but never happened upon a personal account - how interesting! I agree with the others theorizing it was a fairy or some sort of elemental protecting the tree or perhaps a fairy prank.
One thing I don't fully understand is why the house was deemed unlucky. Laying out bodies of dead family members for a viewing over several days post mortem was common in many places - the US included - Ireland also has the tradition of holding a wake. Usually it is taboos that are seen as carrying I'll luck not common practices. Was it because the body was drained of blood? I have never heard of the bodies being drained of blood while laid out in the home - usually the body is washed, dressed or covered in white and laid out on a table in the largest room available - buckets of ice (if available given the season, region and/or time period) were often placed below the table (often the dining table as it was typically the largest in the home - otherwise boards on trestles) and served along with herbs etc to combat the smell of decay. Usually, draining is done as part of a fairly modern process of embalming to make way for the embalmer's fluid and not done in the home. There were plenty of death and funerary traditions in place, to be sure, the breaking of which could bring ill fortune such as burying a corpse on a Monday, taking the shortest route from the wake house to the cemetery, not circling the burial yard three times before the burial, leaving mirrors uncovered, not opening a window for the soul to escape, waiting too long to close it again etc and so forth.
So I am curious as to the reason of the blood letting and the assumed cause of the bad luck. 🤔