Fairy Tales and Folklore
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The island is a magical place full of hidden surprises and stories that are passed down through the generations. Some of these stories are based in fact, some are based on superstitions and some are claimed to be Fairy Tales or Folklore. This article lists these stories with their backgrounds, but without judgement on which are true and which are made up, lest face the wrath of Themselves!
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Early Modern Accounts of Manx Folklore
Aside from occasional references in ecclesiastical documents, the earliest accounts of the Manx folklore traditions were provided by English visitors to the Island in the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. These early reporters share a fascination with the Manx people’s beliefs in the supernatural while often relating details in a tone of mild disdain and ridicule. Nonetheless, it is apparent that they are all struck by the sincere conviction of their sources, and some—most notably George Waldron—seem almost to become believers after a fashion. One important point regarding these early accounts is that none of the writers spoke the Manx Language and so they were almost certainly hearing stories second hand or through the filter of a translator.
By far the most important early source of Manx folklore is George Waldron's A History and Description of the Isle of Man, first published in 1726. He lived on the Island from about 1710 to 1730. In the introduction to a 19th-century reprint of Waldron's work, William Harrison states that throughout Waldron’s stay “he was acting as commissioner for the British government, to watch and report on the import and export trade of the country.” In other words, he was monitoring smuggling activities, which had become a major source of lost tax revenues for the Crown. According to Harrison, “Waldron is the earliest author who has given any detailed account of the superstitions and traditional tales of the Manx people.”
We owe to Waldron the first written records of many Manx superstitions and beliefs. He relates numerous tales about fairies, changelings, water bulls and mermaids. He also gives the first report of the legend of the Moddey Doo - the supernatural black dog that haunted Peel Castle.
He reports on clairvoyance, second sight and apparitions. Speaking of the Manx people’s belief in such “fictitious absurdities,” he says:
As they confidently assert that the first inhabitants of their island were fairies, so do they maintain that these little people have still their residence among them. They call them the good people, and say they live in wilds and forests, and on mountains, and shun great cities because of the wickedness acted therein; all the houses are blessed where they visit, for they fly vice. A person would be thought impudently profane who should suffer his family to go to bed without having first set a tub, or pail full of clean water, for these guests to bathe themselves in, which the natives aver they constantly do, as soon as ever the eyes of the family are closed (11).
He begins his discussion of changelings – to which he devotes considerable space – by saying that “the old story of infants being changed in their cradles is here in such credit, that mothers are in continual terror at the thought of it” (12). He then cites several cases he had related to him by people with first-hand experience. In one instance, "I was prevailed upon myself to go and see a child, who they told me, was one of these changelings, and indeed must own was not a little surprised, as well as shocked at the sight” (30). The weight of examples he provides and his obvious fascination with the subject leave the reader with a sense that Waldron cannot wholly reject as ridiculous the stories he has heard.
In other of the tales that Waldron relates concerning fairies, he makes a point of stressing the respectability of his informants:
At my first coming into the Island, and hearing these sorts of stories, I imputed the giving credit to them merely to the simplicity of the poor creatures who related them; but was strangely surprised when I heard other narratives of this kind, and altogether as absurd, attested by men who passed for persons of sound judgment.
… Another instance, which might serve to strengthen the credit of the other [story], was told to me by a person who had the reputation of the utmost integrity.
… A clergyman, and the person of more sanctity than the generality of his function in this island ... beheld something in the form of a bull, but infinitely larger.... The eyes, he said, seemed to shoot forth flames, and the running of it was with such a force, that the ground shook under it as in an earthquake…. after most horrible roaring [it] disappeared (14-15).
Waldron later comments that “I cannot forget what was told me by an English gentleman and my particular friend”; and he goes on to relate a story about his friend’s encounter with fairy musicians and concludes by saying that “he, who before laughed at all the stories told of fairies, now became a convert, and believed as ever a Manks [sic] man of them all” (16). By stressing the respectability of the sources in this way, and in several instances by citing his own direct observations, Waldron's narrative, despite its fantastic content, tends to leave the reader believing what he reports: that supernatural beings and occurrences were quite the norm on the Isle of Man.
Waldron's history went through several editions and seems to have been a popular and influential document. Referring to the famous Scottish folklorist J.F. Campbell, Harrison in his introduction to Waldron's work says: "Mr. Campbell, in his “Popular Tales of the West Highlands,” mentions a curious pamphlet which he picked up in Dublin, “The History of the Isle of Man,” &c., with a succinct detail of enchantments that have been exhibited there by sorcerers and other infernal beings, 1780, which, from the specimen of the tales, leaves little doubt that it is Waldron's History" (4).
Later, Sir Walter Scott used Waldron's History—probably given to him by his brother, who lived on the Island for a time—as an important reference for his novel Peveril of the Peak, published in 1822, much of which takes place on the Isle of Man.
George Waldron's long sojourn and his duties as a trade Commissioner allowed him to travel extensively on the Island and to meet a broad cross-section of the population. This Oxford-educated agent of the Crown must therefore be regarded as a credible early source of the ‘superstitious observances of old customs’ among the early eighteenth century Manx people. Margaret Killip in, The Folklore of the Isle of Man (1975), places Waldron in his historical context: "There is no doubt that in spite of the criticism levelled at him [mainly in respect of his apparent credulity], he was and is the fountainhead of all our early knowledge of Manx folklore, and the source from which many later writers quote" (17).
Sixty years after Waldron, in 1791, a visitor to the Island named David Robertson wrote about getting lost in the mountains and asking shelter at a lonely house. After being made welcome, he began to converse with his Manx host: "From him I learned that, notwithstanding all the holy sprinklings of the priests of former days, the fairies still haunted many places in the Island: that there were playful and benignant spirits, and those who were sullen and vindictive. The former of these he had often seen on a fine summer evening sitting on the margin of the brooks and waterfalls, or dancing on the tops of the neighbouring mountains" (Killip, 19).
Nathaniel Jeffreys, a former Member of Parliament for Coventry, visited the Island during the summer of 1808 and published one of the first guide books for visitors: A Description and Historical Account of the Isle of Man. Unlike Waldron, Jeffreys has little interest in the folklore of the local people, which he describes as “various chimerical traditions too absurd to be noticed.... These superstitions may be fairly imputed to a native melancholy, cherished by indolence, and heightened by the wild, solitary, and romantic scenes, to which the Manks peasants are habitually accustomed” (Part IV, Sect. 6). Jeffreys recites Waldron's version of the ‘Moddey Doo’ tale to illustrate Manx superstition.
H.A. Bullock, writing a few years later, in 1816, gives a chapter in his History of the Isle of Man to ‘Some Characteristic Superstitions of the Manx.’ He observes that “the lower and middle orders of the Manx are, in common with all old uncultivated people, greatly addicted to superstition; they have the fullest belief in fairies and witchcraft” (XIX, 1). Bullock provides a few examples of local superstitions such as “if the fishermen makes one or two unsuccessful trips, he instantly proceeds to exorcise his boat by burning gorse or straw in the centre, and carrying the flaming material to every crevice where it is supposed the evil spirit may continue to lurk.” He reiterates earlier writers’ comments about the Manx people’s belief in the supernatural: "To this moment, every damsel who rambles beyond the precincts of the farm-yard at night incurs the danger of meeting fairies, and it is seldom they return without circumstantial history of miraculous adventures ... and as to the influence of witchcraft, it is an article of faith standing on much higher ground than the [Church’s] creed" (XIX, 9).
With the advent of regular passenger service to the Isle of Man in 1829, the increase in travellers led to more frequent observation of the Island and its people. Joseph Train provides a final example of an early commentary on Manx folk beliefs. His important two-volume An Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man was published in 1845. Chapter XVIII of this text is devoted to ‘Popular Superstitions.’ He begins by noticing that “many of the rights, observances, and popular notions, adverted in this chapter, have undoubtedly descended from very remote times” (II, 142). Train’s account contains ‘new’ observations, which he says were specifically collected for his book, and references to Waldron and other early commentators. He observes that: "The natives say, that many centuries before the Christian era, the island was inhabited by fairies, and that all business was carried on in the supernatural manner. They affirm, that a blue mist continually hung over the land, and prevented mariners who passed in ships that way, from even suspecting that there was an island so near at hand" (II, 143-144).
Among the folk tales collected for Train, are sightings of the ‘taroo-ushtey’, or Manx water bull, and the ‘glashtin’, or water horse, which he sees as related superstitions. He also describes the “dooinney-oie or nightman [which] seems to have been somewhat akin to the benshee [sic] of the Scots and Irish.” Train proceeds to describe several stories concerning another important character in Manx folklore: "Another cherished phantasm of Manks superstition is the phynnodderee. This creature of the imagination is represented as being a fallen fairy, who was banished from fairy land by the elfin-king for having paid his addresses to a pretty Manks maid … and for deserting the fairy court during the … harvest moon [festival] to dance in the merry Glen of Rushen. He is doomed to remain in the Isle of Man till the end of time, transformed, into a wild satyr-like figure, covered with long shaggy hair, like a he-goat, and was thence called the phynnodderee, or hairy one" (II, 148).
Train relates many tales involving the Manx fairies and also the Lhiannan-Shee, or ‘peaceful spirit’ – several of which accounts appear in later folklore collections. He begins his discussion of fairies by citing an excerpt from George Woods’ 1811 comprehensive study, An Account of the Past and Present State of the Isle of Man: "Doctor Langhorne is of opinion that the Isle of Man is the only place in the world where one would have the chance of meeting with a fairy, for on a fine summer evening they are frequently seen by brooks and waterfalls, and on the tops of the highest mountains, dressed in green" (II, 151). He then observes:
In such veneration were the fairies held by the simplehearted peasantry, that on a stormy night every person went sooner to bed that the 'good people,' as they call them, might get in to enjoy the comforts of the house. During the … 'great harvest moonlight,' the fairies are considered to be always abroad, and many stories are related of their excursions throughout the island, and particularly of their merrymakings (II, 152).
In his discussion of predictive dreams, Train tells a story involving the Viking king, Magnus, which demonstrates that some of the Norse tales and legends were still remembered among the Manx peasantry 600 years after the end of Norse rule. Later in his narrative, Train quotes other Norse and Celtic legends that had survived in the oral tradition on the Isle of Man.
The clergy, as might be expected, were opposed to the superstitious beliefs of their Manx congregation and tried to suppress such beliefs. Train cites by name “a Wesleyan [i.e. Methodist] preacher [who] affirmed some years ago, that he witnessed the departure of all the fairies on the Island, from the bay of Douglas, in empty rum puncheons, and that he saw them scudding away before the wind as far as the eye could reach in the direction of Jamaica” (II, 159). Given the continuance in fairy-beliefs, it may be assumed that not many of his parishioners believed the preacher’s story.
A subject of great interest to Train was “fairy doctors,” or folk healers and charmers. He describes meeting some of these, including “a very extensive dealer in propitiatory charms and in antidotes to occult infection” (II, 160). The most famous of the fairy doctors alive at the time of Train's research was a resident of the north of the Island, Charles ‘Seer’ Teare of Ballawhane. Train spent time with him and tells several stories of his prowess. He was called upon to cure human and animal sicknesses; to protect crops from harm; to select the optimal time for planting; and to provide advice and interpret omens. In one instance, there was an early indication of blight in the potato crop that forced most farmers to replant their fields.
It was the opinion of the doctor that the disease of the potatoe [sic] was occasioned by the malevolence of the fairies, and in order to convince me of such being actually the case, he said that all the potatoes, which he had been induced to take under his protection, had vegetated vigorously [i.e. had been immune to blight], and until they cease to do so he was sure every Manksman would affirm that he had combated most successfully all the destructive powers of the elfin race (II, 163).
Train ends this part of his discussion by observing that the Manx "still believe in fairies and familiar spirits [and] stories descriptive of fairy influence constitute the chief part of their traditionary lore…. [From Manx people], I have heard many of the wild legends related by Waldron upwards of a century ago” (II, 163-164).
Train has much to say about witchcraft and its related superstitions. He believes that the practice was a long-standing tradition in the Isle of Man and notes that there are several Manx statutes relating to witchcraft and sorcery. He observes that as early as 1338, “Matholine, governor of the Isle of Man ... wrote a treatise against the practice of witchcraft then prevalent there” (II, 166). Train describes the various modes of testing and punishing witches and gives examples where such trials entered the folk tradition: "There is a hill called Slieu Whallan [sic], said to be haunted by the spirit of the murdered witch.... This woman is said to have … been put into a barrel with sharp iron spikes inserted round the interior, pointing inwards, and thus, by the weight of herself and the apparatus, allowed to roll from the top of the hill to the bottom. Many other persons suffered here, in a similar manner" (II, 167).
The foregoing early excerpts are from accounts written before the great age of the Victorian ‘folklorist’ in the British Isles. That folk beliefs occupied significant space in serious histories and descriptions of the Isle of Man is an indicator of how notable and widespread the superstitions and other beliefs carried by the oral tradition were on the Island.
References:
Bullock, H.A. History of the Isle of Man. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1816. E-text version produced by Frances Coakley. <http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/> accessed Oct. 2006.
Jefferys, Nathaniel. A Descriptive and Historical Account of the Isle of Man. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Preston & Heaton, 1808. E-text version produced by Frances Coakley. <http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/> accessed Oct. 2006.
Killip, Margaret. The Folklore of the Isle of Man. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1975.
Train, Joseph. An Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man. Douglas, Isle of Man: Mary A. Quiggin, 1845.
Waldron, George. A Description of the Isle of Man. (1731). Manx Society reprint, with introduction by William Harrison, Douglas, 1865. E-text version produced by Frances Coakley. <http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/> accessed Oct. 2006.
Woods, George. An Account of the Past and Present State of the Isle of Man. London: Robert Baldwin, 1811. E-text version produced by Frances Coakley. <http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/> accessed Oct. 2006.
--K. Metcalfe 00:16, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
A Bestiary of the Isle of Man's Supernatural Inhabitants
[Original entry is taken from Kieran Metcalfe's The Pixilated Boy and used with the author's permission (full citation below)]
The location of the Isle of Man, at the heart of the Irish Sea, has made it an important crossroads since prehistoric times and, because of this, it has absorbed traditions, customs, superstitions and stories from a wide variety of sources. Over the ages many human and other-worldly visitors have come here; more than a few have made it home. Consequently, there is a bewildering array of inhabitants in the Manx fairy realm. They arrived here from all over the Celtic world and from Scandinavia. Often the same creature is called by many names and, equally as often, similarly-named creatures have widely varying attributes. What follows is an attempt to list some of the Isle of Man’s most notable supernatural inhabitants.
Buggane:
Large, fierce and bad tempered, they are covered in coarse hair and have great tusked mouths and fiery eyes. In some ways they are similar to the Fynoderee, only much larger, darker in temperament and more menacing. They have been called, ‘the most notorious of the fiends in Man’ because of their evil and malicious natures. Bugganes are almost always mad with rage. They like to roar and destroy things built by humans. They can materialize from out of the earth and have large clawed hands capable of breaking rock.
Cabbyl Ushtey:
The Cabbyl Ushtey is a mischievous water horse and a friend to the mer-people. It is similar in nature to the Taroo-Ushtey, the water bull. The Scottish equivalent is the Water-Kelpie or the ‘each uisge’. In Scandinavia, the water horse is known as a Vatna-Hestr. Some believe that the Manx water horse is a descendent of Enbarr, Manannan’s great steed. The Glashan or Glashtyn is a related creature with horse-like characteristics and is often confused with the Cabbyl Ushtey, but Glashtyns are much more malevolent.
Changelings:
Fairy children, for unknown reasons, are frequently sickly babies (perhaps it is genetic and related to excessive inbreeding). In order to ensure their survival, fairies will often exchange their sickly child for a healthy human one. Fairy children seem to thrive on human mother’s milk; they grow stronger, and can eventually return to the fairy world. New-born human infants are particularly susceptible to being exchanged between the time of their birth and their baptism. It is very difficult to prove that a child is a changeling; tragically, the only way to tell for sure is to employ a trial by fire.
Fairies:
After a great battle, long ages ago in Ireland, in which invaders defeated the ancestors of the fairy people, Manannan mac Lir was charged with finding new homes for the survivors. He found refuge for most of them in the underground realms of old Erin; but those who were his own followers, he brought with him across the sea to his home on the Isle of Man. He then used his magical powers to shroud the island in a cloak of mist, hiding it from the view of mortals for many long years. The Manx fairies are related – distantly – to their cousins who live in Ireland and Scotland. Fairies have the ability to change their size, but seem most comfortable when 2-3 feet tall. They dress in blues and greens, mainly, and almost always sport red peaked caps. They love to hunt and to ride (on their own ponies as well as on our full-sized horses). They are often seen out fishing in their small boats. Music, dance and feasting are, of course, vitally important to them. They live under hills, in wooded valleys and in ancient burial mounds and tumuli. They can choose to be seen in our world or not – as the mood or the need strikes them. Above all things, they demand respect and consideration from humans. In return they bring good luck and perform small services. An odd belief has become entrenched in Manx folklore (and that of other places) that they don’t like to be called by the name ‘fairy.’ Consequently, people allude to them by odd sobriquets such as ‘Themselves’, ‘the Good Folk’, and ‘the Little People’. Recent experience suggests, however, that this is not necessary – as long as one maintains the proper level of respect, they don’t seem to mind what one calls them.
Foawir/Giants:
The foawir are the last survivors of the Fomorians – a race of giants who inhabited much of Ireland and the Western Scottish Isles before the ancestors of the fairy people arrived. In a series of battles, the foawir were defeated and the last of the race hid themselves on various islands, including the Isle of Man. These giants are very long-lived and are capable of a sort of hibernation in which they sleep for many generations, before waking (usually from hunger). To accommodate their unusual lifestyle, the foawir dug deep caverns which they were careful to hide from the view of others. Occasionally, an intrepid explorer (often a miner) has come upon a subterranean giants’ cavern, and, finding one or more of the creatures fast asleep, has beat a hasty retreat for fear of arousing them.
Fynoderee/Phynodderree:
He is a large hairy creature, said by some to be a cursed fairy. He seems to be a hybrid, exhibiting aspects of both the Scottish brownie and the Scandinavian troll. In appearance, he is something between a man and beast: he has fiery eyes, stands taller than a man and is covered with dark shaggy hair. Fynoderee are solitary creatures, but are generally helpful to respectful humans – often assisting them with farming and building tasks. In this regard, he resembles the Irish Phouka. While big and very strong, the Fynoderee is not renowned for his intelligence.
Glashtyn/Glashan:
These are shape-shifting equine creatures. They are the ‘fallen’ counterparts of the Cabbyl Ushtey and most have an evil and unpleasant nature. Although they can transform (almost completely) into human form, they retain their horses’ ears and a snout-like face, and thus betray their true nature. Some say that the Glashtyn are water-goblins because they dwell in slimy caves or deep dark pools carved out by the rushing water in the rocky beds of rivers.
Kobolds/Gobolds:
Non-native visitors to the Isle of Man, Kobolds are a Northern European creature and, like the troll, entered Manx mythology via the Norse tradition. A few came over with the Norsemen (as did the trolls) but are now thought to be extinct on the island. In the past they menaced local farmers by stealing sheep and milk. For a time a pack of these creatures infested the caves around Spanish Head, at the south of the Island. They stole one unfortunate farmer’s whole flock of sheep–one at a time. When the farmer’s brave son made a search into the kobold’s cave, he found the bones of many of the sheep lying about on the rocky ground. Sir Walter Scott described Kobolds as a species of gnomes, who haunted the dark and solitary places and were often seen in mines.
Lhiannan Shee:
In Ireland, the Leanan-Sidhe was the acknowledged spirit of life whereas the Ban-Sidhe (or Banshee) was the spirit of death. In the Isle of Man, she is a guardian spirit. Always a solitary creature, she often dwells near deep pools beside waterfalls. The Lhiannan Shee is strikingly beautiful and many a mortal man has lost his heart to one.
Mermen/Mermaids:
Not surprisingly for an Island nation, the Isle of Man has many tales of encounters with mer-people. In Manx, they are known as ‘Ben-Varrey’ – woman of the sea; or ‘Dooiney-Varrey’ – man of the sea. They are said to live in fabulous sunken cities off the south and south-east coasts of the Island. The mer-people, in common with descriptions from other lands, are human-appearing above the waist (except that some have webbed fingers), and fish-like below. Their large powerful tails allow them some mobility on land. Mer-maids are generally of an affectionate and gentle disposition, but they can be terrible when angered; mer-men can be very fierce indeed. Mer-people tend to avoid any company except that of their own species but because of the Isle of Man’s relative isolation and beauty, they have always been attracted there.
Moddey Doo:
The story of the great black dog with the burning eyes who haunted Peel Castle in the seventeenth century is one of the oldest recorded superstitions on the Isle of Man. Curiously, phantom dogs of various kinds are very common in Celtic folklore.
Pixies:
Pixies (or piskies, as they are sometimes called) are not native to the Isle of Man. They appear most frequently in the folk literature of Cornwall. In general appearance, pixies are very similar to fairies – which can cause confusion for humans. For some reason, pixies and fairies are not on good terms with each other. Pixies tend to favour living underground in old mine workings.
Witches/Charmers:
There is a long history of witchcraft on the Isle of Man. As early as 1338, a governor of the Island wrote a treatise on the matter. But witches were there long before that. There was a famous witch named Ada who was known to have advised the Island’s Viking King, Olaf Goddardson, and saved his life once. There were numerous witch trials held on the Isle of Man and several convictions, but only two court-sanctioned executions (a mother and son were burned in the main square at Castletown in 1617). Most of those charged were really “Charmers” and so, while technically guilty under the law, they were in such great demand by the Manx people (for cures, advice, fortune-telling, etc.) that they were sentenced to no more than brief imprisonment and/or public penance. Certainly, the belief in witchcraft is very ancient on the island and, indeed, it is not altogether extinct either in the Isle of Man, or elsewhere, at the present day. Some believe that ‘charming’ is hereditary in those who were descended from the charmers or druids of ancient times.
Wizards/Fairy Doctors:
Wizards and enchanters figure in many old tales. Indeed, Manannan mac Lir himself was said to be a formidable necromancer. Many enchanters come out of the Druidic tradition for the Druids were known above all as magicians and prophets. They often acted as go-betweens for humans in their dealings with the fairy world because they were said to be able to ‘interpret the secret will of the fées (fairies)’. The Fairy Doctor, in contrast, is a human who has acquired seemingly supernatural knowledge of the world. He is a predictor and prognosticator; a healer and an adviser. Fairy Doctors also make use of their powers to counteract the spells of fairies as well as those of evil Sorcerers or Witches.
References:
Metcalfe, Kieran. Tales of a Manx Preemie: The Pixilated Boy. Isle of Man: Lily Publications, 2008.
