IrishFolklore.com is a guide to the myths, creatures, gods, and customs of Ireland. We retell the stories for modern readers, trace each one back to where it was first written down, and are honest about which parts are old and which parts came later.
Why This Site Exists
Ask someone what a púca is, and they may describe a black horse waiting on a lonely road at night. Ask someone else, and they may picture a six-foot invisible rabbit. The first comes from Irish storytellers, whose tales were written down in the nineteenth century. The second comes from an American stage play of the 1940s.
That gap is the reason this site exists. Irish folklore has been retold so many times that the originals are easy to lose. Victorian embellishments pass for ancient tradition, modern inventions get repeated until they sound old, and the same few details are copied from one website to the next. We want to untangle all of that: to tell the stories well, and to show where each one comes from.
How We Tell the Stories
Our articles follow a few simple rules. The first is that we name our sources. Each guide ends with the manuscripts, collections, and studies it draws on, from medieval texts such as the Acallam na Senórach to the Schools’ Collection, the great archive of folklore gathered by Irish schoolchildren in the 1930s. We are bringing our older articles up to this standard as we go.
The second is that we are honest about age. Irish tradition built up in layers over more than a thousand years, and a story told today may mix medieval material with nineteenth-century additions and a few modern inventions. We separate those layers wherever we can. The Dullahan’s fear of gold, for example, turns up in almost every modern retelling, but it is hard to trace to any early collector, and our article says so.
The third is that Irish comes first. We give names in Irish, with a simple guide to saying them, so you will meet the púca before the pooka and the Tuatha Dé Danann before any English nickname.
The fourth is that we never change the story. We tell these tales with as much life as we can, because they deserve it, but we don’t alter what happens or add details for effect. Where the record is thin, we tell you that too.
Who Writes It
IrishFolklore.com is written by John Nolan, together with a small group of writers and folklore enthusiasts who share an interest in getting these stories right. We are not a university department, and we don’t claim to be. What we offer is careful reading, clear writing, and sources on every page we publish in our current format, so that you can check our work and read further for yourself.
Our Editorial Policy sets out how we research, write, and correct every article.
Where to Start
If you’re new to Irish folklore, begin with our guide to Irish mythology, which maps out the great cycles of tales and the gods and heroes who fill them. For the fairy folk, start with the Aos Sí, the people of the mounds, and then meet them one at a time: the banshee, the púca, and the Dullahan. For the Otherworld, read about Tír na nÓg, the Land of Youth, and the man who came home three hundred years too late.
You can also browse by section: Creatures, Gods, Myths, Beliefs, and Places.
Get in Touch
If we’ve got something wrong, please tell us. Corrections from Irish speakers on spelling and pronunciation are especially welcome. And if a story was told in your own family, especially one tied to a particular place, we would love to hear it. Stories like that are how folklore survives. You can reach us through the Contact page.