Mayo Folk Tales

About this book

Tony Locke gathers tales rooted in the landscape and traditions of County Mayo, moving from Croagh Patrick and Clew Bay to the deep waters of Lough Mask. The collection brings together stories of legendary figures, apparitions, monsters and other supernatural beings reported in local folklore.

Among its accounts are Gráinne Ní Mháille, the Pirate Queen, and the Fír Gorta, a spectre said to have roamed the famine villages of west Mayo. Other stories include the Matchstick Man of Straide, the Love Flower and its two young lovers, Tír na nÓg, the fabled land of eternal youth, and the night remembered as the Big Wind.