Spitfire Alice A Gra

witchofhollyhill:

So, not that it’s a big deal or anything, but it looks like my ggggrandad/ggggreat uncle MET A FUCKING MERMAID.

Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD. 

“There was a mermaid seen in Ringabella about one hundred years ago. She came very near the shore. She was dressed in all colours. She was comping her hair. She had lovely long white hair. The man that saw her is dead now. His name was John Desmond. He is living in Ringabella. She did not speak to him. She wore six gold rings around her hair. Another day he saw her sitting on the rocks and she was singing songs. She was half a fish and a half a woman. She had a face as white as a sheet. When she would be coming of the rocks she crept on her hands. My name is Alice Wood. I live in the townland of Ballindeasig. my uncle told me this story. His name is William Foley, Ballindeasig.”

I’ve been exploring the Irish Folklore Collection, which has only recently been digitised (see my post on Unearthing Ireland’s deepest fairy secrets), and found this – an actual Mermaid siting in my family’s home village of Ringabella, Co. Cork. And as if that’s not amazing enough, my maternal family line was called Desmond. How fucking cool is that?

This archive is a gift in so many ways. Whether you’re a folklorist, catholic, historian, archaeologist or witch, you’re going to find gold. These incredible recollections serve to remind us that we live, and have always lived, one small step from the edge of the veil.

I can feel my Auntie Máire (bless her soul) reaching for her rosary…

National Folklore Collection, UCD.