What were some stories/tales in Ireland that scared the hell out of you as a youngster?

[BOOTS52PollyPrissyPants]

For me was my older brother telling us about the Banshee and leaving us all scared and crying. Lighthearted post and hoping to hear some good stories.

I grew up hearing various stories about the Banshee.

Also heard about the headless rider on top of a coach that was supposedly meant to be seen tearing along the long drive in a wooded place with a big house I worked in. Although if I was walking along that drive in the dark despite telling myself it was true I'd still be wary.

As a teenager living in the countryside it was the norm to meet up with other teenagers and walk the roads in the dark to each others houses or it could be to one of the piers and have the craic.

One night when we disbanded about 5 or 6 of us girls left the lads and started walking home. We were strolling along chatting and laughing and our voices carried a bit especially by the sea. In the meantime the lads had gone along the shore line and cut up across a couple of fields and as we were passing the graveyard they jumped out over the wall and frightened the bejaysus out of us. We were heard screaming for a couple of miles.

The banshee & Jack O Lanterns in the fields by my grandmother

The banshee - I believed she lived along the long wooded lane of my aunts house. When going there in the dark I'd have my eyes shut I'm the back of the car.

There was also a man living in the village who was a bit creepy/odd. My mother would always say "close the curtains or X will be looking back at ya" terrifies me to this day even though he is dead..

There was an old rundown Manor house in our village and it was said that if you walked past there at certain times you could hear a piano playing.

Just the fairies in general 🤣🤣🤣. Our house was the last one at the end of the borheen, so when I'd be walking home after the disco (or just from smoking and chatting in the ball alley in the village), there was about 300m that I had yo walk alone. No street lamps, no other houses, just the pitchest of black and the night sounds of rural coastal Mayo. I'd start of walking but inevitably would end up pelting down the road, full speed, in case the fairies got me. This was until I was about 17 and regularly got lifts.

Great stories and I also remember many many years ago when we would have power cuts and stories would be told in the dark with only the fire flames and we were scared but loved it. Not sure if the young people now even know about the banshee and the likes.

This was our local spook.

https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4798785/4798329/5151351

Definitely the banshee I was terrified of this wailing woman. I remember our next door neighbours husband died when I was a child and my mum told me the neighbour was sure she she had heard the banshee the night before wtf! why would you tell a child that lol. I remember being on holiday in West Cork and hearing a fox screaming in the middle of the night I could not be reassured it wasn't the banshee it was piercing don't think I slept for the rest of the holiday.

Another one for the Banshee.😱 I was staying with my aunt, my folks were due to arrive that night and I heard the terrible wailing cry. Scared shitless I ran downstairs, crying Banshee and that my poor family were probably dead in a car crash.

It was her neighbour's cat.🙈

The foxes and cats noises late at night are what we all thought were the banshee. Terrifying when used to hear the cats outside late as would go on forever.

Any of you ever hear about the fellas playing poker in a pub after closing. Possibly in Wexford. There was a stranger with them and they all thought was he really weird. Anyway when he got up to leave he walked on hooves!
There was loads where I’m from. The banshee, the fairy who took babies from their prams. The coach driver ones. I was always more fascinated than scared.

My mum was Irish and when we went to see family I was told we had our own banshee. If we heard her singing we were going to die. Thanks Gran

That's Loftus Hall not a pub near Hook Head. Even driving past that place gives me the heebie jeebies. At Halloween they put on scary stuff there.

Not a story but my mum (from Cork) used to sing a Weile Waile to us about an old woman who killed a baby - kind of scary, but being little weirdos we loved it for some reason!

'There was an old woman and she lived in the woods,
Weile, weile, waile,
There was an old woman and she lived in the woods,
Down by the river Saile.

She had a baby three months old,
Weile, weile, waile,
She had a baby three months old,
Down by the river Saile.

She had a penknife long and sharp,
Weile, weile, waile,
She had a penknife long and sharp,
Down by the river Saile.

She stuck the penknife in the baby's heart,
Weile, weile, waile,
She stuck the penknife in the baby's heart,
Down by the river Saile.

There were three loud knocks came a knockin' at the door,
Weile, weile, waile,
There were three loud knocks came a knockin' at the door,
Down by the river Saile.'

And it carries on that she gets arrested and then hung! Such a lovely Irish lullaby - if you'd like to sing it to your children, please follow the link below 😆

www.norbeck.nu/abc/lyrics.asp?rhythm=song&ref=49

Snobbly yes we all used to sing that years ago and never really knew what we were singing until one of my brother's girlfriends pointed out the words to us. Mad song really and wonder where the hell that song came from.

That pub in Cork sounds creepy but would be great on Halloween.

I'd forgotten that song and was singing it in my head as I was reading it.

My ex's dad once told me as young lad walking about to their house a good 5 miles outside the town after the disco. He started to hear footsteps behind him, so he picked up the pace, so did the steps, he jogged, so did the steps, he ran so did the steps. He was crapping himself at this point and was caught by his brother!

Yes the banshee here too, myself and my cousins heard a really eerie wailing in the bushes beside our house one night, I've heard cats and foxes before and this definitely wasn't either of them, so creepy, never heard anything like it since, my DH laughs about me when I tell that story! Also the fairies and fairy forts, my grandparents house was apparently built on a fairy Fort, my grandmother died quite young when my mum and her sister, were only kids, apparently the fairies were not happy the house had been built there, so many stories growing up