For the devotee of Irish heritage, mythology or folklore, County Sligo has everything. From the Curlew mountains in the south, where Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill defeated an English army under Sir Conyers Clifford, to Benbulben's slopes in the north, where St Colmcille battled the High King of Ireland, every hill and valley is linked by the gossamer threads of myth, folklore and legend. These stories, some age-old legends and fantastical myths, some amusing anecdotes and cautionary tales, are a heady mix of the bloodthirsty, funny and passionate and a selection of the best are retold here by writer and local historian Joe McGowan. In these pages you will find little-known anecdotes of the traditional ways of Sligo's residents, their customs and superstitions; you will find stories of epic battles and heroic deeds; and you will also hear the fantastical accounts of mythical creatures, faeries, witches and the ghosts of Connacht itself.

County Sligo, has a rich heritage of myths and legends which is uniquely captured in this collection of traditional tales from across the county. Here you will find tales of the traditional rural ways of life among the residents of Sligo, their customs, and superstitions, alongside stories of legendary heroes, epic battles, and heroic deeds, as well as fantastical accounts of mythical creatures, faeries, witches, and ghostly goings-on. In a vivid journey through Sligo's varied landscape, local storyteller Joe McGowan take the reader to places where legend and landscape are inseparably linked

Those magic words 'Once upon a time' have been spoken around the flickering flame of the turf fire by storytellers for thousands of years. In this book, author Tony Locke has gathered together the rich tapestry of stories that make up the folklore, myth and legend of County Mayo. This book will take you on a journey through the rugged landscape of the west coast of Ireland, to its holy mountain, Croagh Patrick, and across the foaming waters of Clew Bay. Here you will read of Gráinne Ní Mháille, the Pirate Queen, the spectre known as the Fír Gorta who roamed the famine villages of west Mayo, the monsters that inhabit the deep waters of Lough Mask and the Matchstick Man of Straide. You will also read of the Love Flower and two young lovers, the land of eternal youth that is Tír na nÓg and the night of the Big Wind. So why not pull up a chair and sit awhile? You know you're never too old for a story.

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Few countries can boast such a plentitude of traditional folktales as Ireland. In 1935, the creation of The Irish Folklore Commission set in motion the first organized efforts of collecting and studying a multitude of folktales, both written as well as those of the Irish oral tradition. The Commission has collected well over a million pages of manuscripts. Folktales of Ireland offers chief archivist Sean O'Sullivan's representation of this awe-inspiring collection. These tales represent the first English language collection of Gaelic folktales. "Without doubt the finest group of Irish tales that has yet been published in English."—The Guardian "O'Sullivan writes out of an intimacy with his subject and an instinctive grasp of the language of the originals. He tells us that his archives contain more than a million and a half pages of manuscript. If Mr. O'Sullivan translates them, I'll read them."—Seamus Heaney, New Statesman "The stories have an authentic folktale flavor and will satisfy both the student of folklore and the general reader."—Booklist

From sinister spells to healing wells, this illustrated collection of 43 traditional Irish yarns brings forth the magic of a proud people and their lyrical landscapes. While you may know of the Blarney Stone or St. Patrick, you've probably never heard the saga of Lia Lfail, the ancient stone said to confirm a king's legitimacy by shrieking under the weight of his footsteps, or the legend of Dublin's haunted Hell Fire Club, where the devil himself was once believed to have paid a visit. Saturated with the colors of the Emerald Isle, the photos that grace these pages will transport you to a world of heroic deeds, violent deaths, and otherworldly adventures. Through these fanciful tales that have survived over the centuries, you'll glean fascinating facts on Irish genealogy, etymology and history. So suspend disbelief and step into a world steeped in storytelling and rich with lore.

Echoes of a Savage Land concerns the rugged life of the ordinary folk of the Irish countryside who carved an existence that has changed utterly in the last half-century. Beginning with rituals observed on the Celtic festival of Samhain Joe McGowan tells with love and humour the story of the customs they practised and the stories they told. Linking the ways of Ireland with ancient Greece and the Aztecs of South America and illustrating his points with quotes from Chaucer and Shakespeare as well as Yeats and Manley Hopkins, Mc Gowan has produced a book that is more than the usual chronicle of country life. Echoes of a Savage Land is a magical doorway into lost worlds, a journey through a way of life unchanged for centuries, but now on the edge of extinction: Witch hares and Rhyming rats - Blood sacrifice and Burnt offerings - Corncrakes and Blackbird pie - Poteen stills and Fear Gortach - Cutting the cailleach and Harvest knots - Mummers and Wrenboys - Quern stones and Stirabout - Haunted houses and Satanic card games.