Welcome to Unreal, a podcast about Irish history, stories and tradition.
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In this podcast, I’ll be talking about the origins of some of Ireland’s most famous myths and a fresh look at forgotten legends and history.
Hi Everyone!
It's been a long time I know - I wanted to thank you all so much for listening, the podcast reached 100K downloads over the summer which was quite breathtaking!
I also wanted to let you know about this Cúige festival in Mullingar this week which seems like it would be up many of your streets - and my episode on Banshees will be playing in the background of the art installation :)
https://linktr.ee/cuigefestival
Oíche Shamhna shona daoibh go léir 🎃✨☘️
👻🎃Happy Halloween / Oíche Shamhna Shona Duit🎃🧙♀️
Enjoy this spooky new episode!
Https://unrealpodcast.com/portfolio/the-cry-of-the-banshee/
The Banshee is one of Ireland’s most famous folkloric figures. A supernatural woman with a cry that foretells of death and devastation to those who hear it, stories about banshees have been terrify…
☘✨ New Episode ☘✨
🌿🍂 The Madness of Sweeney 🌿🍂
What happens when a king goes mad? When he leaves his home, his wife and lands, and goes wandering in the woods and the wild? Such a strange frenzy came on Sweeney, an Irish king long ago. The life…
Apologies for the delay with the latest episode, friends! Really busy week, I got the episode recorded but still need to do the editing / add music. Will share next weekend instead, and I hope it will be worth the wait!
✨☘NEW EPISODE☘✨
THE QUEST OF THE SONS OF TUIREANN
One of Ireland's Three Sorrows of Storytelling. For every death, a price must be paid . . .
https://unrealpodcast.com/portfolio/the-quest-of-the-sons-of-tuireann/
For every death, a price must be paid. Life is precious, and blood is costly, and when you take the life of a man, you do not know how high the penalty will be. This is a story about three brothers…
Sorry folks, slight delay on the new episode - was moving house last week and things got on top of me! Writing the script now so will try and get it up in the next couple of days, or failing that next weekend ☘✨
☘️ NEW EPISODE ☘️
THE SHIP FROM THE SKY 🪐✨🚢⚓️
As strange as it is imagine, there are infinite worlds out there in the universe, far beyond our sight. But, if the stories are to be believed, a group of early Irish people came closer than most to contact with the world above our world, and the strange people who inhabited it.
https://unrealpodcast.com/portfolio/the-ship-from-the-sky/
Image by illusion-X from Pixabay As strange as it is imagine, there are infinite worlds out there in the universe, far beyond our sight. But, if the stories are to be believed, a group of early Iri…
Hello everybody!
Not sure why I've had so many new followers in the last couple of weeks, but you are all welcome!
And I am happy to say that Unreal is finally returning - Season Four will be begin this Sunday, with a story that is truly out of this world . . .
Stay tuned! 🌠🚢⚓️✨☘️
☃️❄️STORIES OF THE SNOW ❄️☃️
There is something magical about snow, but it’s also deceptive, and deadly – the perfect ingredient for dark tales on a cold winter’s night . . .
What Irish snowy stories are there? And how do they compare to other tales we know and love?
This is the final episode of Season 3, and of 2020 - enjoy the holidays, and a happier, healthier 2021 to all of you! ✨☘
https://unrealpodcast.com/portfolio/stories-of-the-snow/
There is something magical about snow, but it’s also deceptive, and deadly – the perfect ingredient for dark tales on a cold winter’s night . . . Read the Podcast Script Sources Weather Lore Custom…
⚓️🏴☠️ NEW EPISODE ⚓️🏴☠️
Granuaile, Ireland’s Pirate Queen , was ahead of her time but remains with us in legend. Escaping the constraints of femininity, Gráinne risked everything she had to live life she wanted, and rule the seas.
https://unrealpodcast.com/portfolio/granuaile-the-pirate-queen/
Image by Youssef Jheir from Pixabay Granuaile, Ireland’s Pirate Queen , was ahead of her time but remains with us in legend. Escaping the constraints of femininity, Gráinne risked everything she ha…
This absolutely fascinating - an accurate painting of Rathcroghan Co. Roscommon in medieval times.
Cruachan Cave at Rathcroghan features in my episode about Irish "werewolf" stories - it's an area brimming with myth and legend due to its fascinating history
👱♀️🐎 NEW EPISODE 🧑🦰☘️
One of my favourite Irish legends, Oisín in Tír na nÓg.
It's a beautiful story, though its origins may surprise you...
https://unrealpodcast.com/portfolio/oisins-adventures-in-the-land-of-youth/
Image by Dorota Kudyba from Pixabay The story of Oisín’s journey to Tír na nÓg has become one of Ireland’s best-loved legends. But the history of how it came to be told, may still surprise you . . …
Wrote a short piece on Wild Mountain Thyme, the latest 'Oirish' film trailer that's been sparking so much discussion! Paddywhackery or Stage Irish actually has quite an interesting history, stretching back about 400 years.
Have a read below:
Why our reaction to that trailer isn’t as simple as you think …
The images and stories featured in this calendar are the result of a body of research conducted by artist/folklorist Michael Fortune where he documented over 100 dressers in peoples homes and the personal stories attached to them. The dressers recorded are more than just dry pieces of folk furniture...
Every Sunday in October, I've been releasing podcast episodes about Irish women accused of witchcraft - their lives, their trials and their fates.
Here's my final episode - the story of Bridget Cleary, known as "The Last Witch Burned in Ireland" - a young woman who was burned by her family in a small Tipperary village in 1895.
https://unrealpodcast.com/portfolio/bridget-cleary-the-last-witch-burned-in-ireland/
Photo by Nihal Demirci on Unsplash Witch trials came to an end after 1711. But in the decades that followed, hushed into small, catholic communities in the Irish countryside, fear of the supernatur…
NEW EPISODE
The Witch Panic of Islandmagee - the story of Ireland's last and largest witch trial, in 1711 at Antrim
Image by Pexels from Pixabay The story of the last and largest witch trial ever to take place in Ireland. READ THE PODCAST SCRIPT SOURCES AND FURTHER READING Possessed by the Devil: The Real Histor…
I haven't been posting here regularly enough, but you should know that I have just started Season 3 of Unreal!
For the month of October I'm bringing you weekly stories of Irish women accused of witchcraft - their lives, their trials and their fates.
Here's the latest episode:
https://unrealpodcast.com/portfolio/the-cursed-kiss-of-florence-newton/
Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay In 1661, rumours swept the town of Youghal about the deadly kiss of a woman named Florence Newton, a kiss that could bring terrible pain, claim liv…
🧜♂️☘️ NEW EPISODE ☘️🧜♀️
🧜♂️☘️MERMAIDS, MERROWS & SELKIES ☘️🧜♀️
Far below the ocean waves live the strange and mysterious people of the sea. But when human and sea person meet, things rarely go according to plan…
https://unrealpodcast.com/portfolio/mermaids-merrows-and-selkies/
Far below the ocean waves live the strange and mysterious people of the sea. From ancient times to the modern day we have been fascinated by stories of the sea folk – the way they look, the songs t…
Sorry to report that due to the combination of Easter preparations and also my 4-year-old laptop finally reaching the end of its life, you'll have to wait another week for my new episode..
Don't worry though, it's a story well worth the wait!🧜♀️🧜♂️
☘️☘️ NEW EPISODE - THE OLD CURES ☘️☘️
A fascinating conversation with my grandfather about the old superstitions and rituals in Ireland in times of sickness.
When disease swept through a community, people would try anything that might help to save the ones they loved. In times before modern medicine, illnesses rarely seen today, like measles, pox and whooping cough, were killers, and traditions were passed down by families desperate for anything to give them the luck they needed to survive through the crisis.
But putting your trust in superstitious actions and legends of past cures could also lead to some very strange results…
With thanks to Con Ryan, my grandfather, for his unique and fascinating insight on these traditions!
When disease swept through a community, people would try anything that might help to save the ones they loved. In times before modern medicine, illnesses rarely seen today, like measles, pox and wh…
🐍☘️SEASON 2 IS NOW A-GO!🐍☘️
With St Patrick's day around the corner, episode 1 is all about sssssnakes 🐍🐍🐍🐍
St Patrick banished snakes from Ireland forever, and none have since dared to touch the land he charmed. But is the story really as simple as that?
https://unrealpodcast.com/portfolio/snakes-and-saints/
St Patrick banished snakes from Ireland forever, and none have since dared to touch the land he charmed. But is the story really as simple as that? Or could the legends of snakes, saints and Irelan…
🐦☘️🎄 NEW EPISODE 🎄☘️🐦
“The wren, the wren, the king of the birds,
On St Stephen’s Day was caught in the furze…”
An Nollaig, or Christmas is fast approaching, and bringing with it the most folklore-filled season of the year. On long, cold winter’s nights, with little to look forward to, the Christmas rituals from years gone by remind us who we are and where we have come from, shining a light that guides us through the darkness of the season until the new year brings hope again.
In Ireland traditions surround a tiny bird in winter – but does the Wren Hunt have much more ancient roots?
“The wren, the wren, the king of the birds, On St Stephen’s Day was caught in the furze…” An Nollaig, or Christmas is fast approaching, and bringing with it the most folklore-filled sea…
🏃♀️💨NEW EPISODE 🏃♀️💨
Who's the Fastest of Them All?
For the warriors of Ireland, speed was an important trait in a wife, tested in gruelling contests.
But when you marry a fast, strong woman against her will, you can bet that the running she will do will be far and long away from you…
A new episode on the story of the race to the top of Slievenamon in Co. Tipperary (the mountain of the fair women of Ireland), and on the tales of the speed and strength of Macha, who gave her name to Emain Macha in Co. Armagh
For the warriors of Ireland, speed was an important trait in a wife, tested in gruelling contests. But when you marry a fast, strong woman against her will, you can bet that the running she will do…
Sorry to say there won't be an episode tomorrow - I'm recovering from a cold and my voice isn't quite up to scratch yet.
Hang on until next Sunday - will be worth the wait!
You've heard of Granuaile, you've heard of Queen Maeve of Connaught.... but have you heard of Sheela na Guira? This Tipperary legend is now almost forgotten, but just as brutal and terrifying as its more famous counterparts
🌿New Episode🌿
Crumbled and overgrown, Cullohill Castle is no longer the seat of great deeds. But local legends tell of a tyrant queen who killed lovers nightly, and terrorized the area. The legend may now be alm…
🌿New Episode!🌿
In 1324, Dame Alice Kyteler of Kilkenny became the first woman tried for witchcraft in Ireland. But witchcraft is never simple, and things did not go according to plan...
In 1324, Dame Alice Kyteler of Kilkenny became the first woman tried for witchcraft in Ireland. But things did not go according to plan… Read the podcast script Sources and Further Reading Th…
The large, lumbering giant or ogre tends to get quite a bad reputation in the fairytale world 👹
But is the story really that simple?
In giant stories, the so-called “hero” (usually named Jack) makes trips to Giant countries, where he hides in their homes, steals their belongings, and eventually kills them through his trickery. Not exactly heroic!
The giants are rarely the ones who make the first attack, but they are seen as inherently evil in the stories, because they are “uncivilized” and “savage.” Jack tales were popular in England in the 18th and 19th centuries, when colonialism was at its height. Interestingly, in countries like Ireland that were under colonial rule, the giants tend to be the people coming from overseas to attack, and the heroes are the ones defending their own homes.
Jack tales are fun to read, and teach an important lesson that size & strength =/= victory. But we should think critically about their history, and the ideas they were trying to spread. And when you next meet a giant, check if they're friendly before attacking!
You can learn more about Giants, Jack figures and Irish Folklore in my podcast episode about Antrim's Giant's Causeway https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-gg2k5-c14377
Could wolves make a comeback in Ireland?? 🐺🐺🐺
There are lots of (now almost forgotten) Irish myths and folktales about these creatures - one of my favourite is the Wolf-Women of Cruachan Cave - a troop of three fairy women with the power to transform into wolves.
Caoilte Mac Rónáin of the Fianna heard from the people nearby that these strange women were attacking their sheep in the dead of night.
The Fianna enticed them out by playing their harp music, and as the wolf women drew closer, they called out "It would be better for you to listen in the shape of women." So the Wolf-women transformed into their human shapes.
As they did so, Caoilte took aim with his spear and threw it, hard and fast. And thus, he made an end of the strange, unknown three, who never more would terrorise the area.
But forever more in memory of them, the area became known as the Valley of the Shapes of the Wolves.
Eamon Ryan believes animals would contribute positively to the ecosystem
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