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An abbreviated version of this list appeared in the Book of Lists: Horror, edited by Scott
Bradley, Del Howison and Amy Wallace; however, these are the full versions of the stories. These
stories previously appeared (along with many others) in my book A Hallowe'en Anthology:
Literary and Historical Writings Over the Centuries, published in 2008 by McFarland.
The five stories presented here are traditional fairy tales and folklore, and although they were
all collected and published in the 1800s and 1900s, they probably date back considerably before that.
They're still creepy, hundreds of years later, and prove that Halloween has always been a time for
telling the enjoyable scary story that sends that certain chill racing along your spine.
The first tale, about the Celtic hero Nera, is taken from Lady Gregory's 1902 collection of
Celtic lore, Cuchulain of Muirthemne: The Story of the Men of the Red Branch of Ulster. Not only is it an eerie
little story about dead people coming back to life and hordes of malicious fairies, but it's also one of
the best stories still in existence about Samhain, the Celtic year-end celebration that eventually
became our modern-day Halloween.
"Tamlane" is a classic poem that's appeared in many forms. It's one of the first works to
make use of Hallowe'en (as compared to the earlier holiday of Samhain), and remains haunting
centuries after its first appearance in 1548. The version presented here is Sir Walter Scott's, with my
own footnotes.
"The Young Man in the Fairy Knoll" is a short Scottish tale taken from John Gregorson
Campbell's 1900 classic Superstitions of the Highlands & Islands of Scotland Collected Entirely From Oral
Sources.
"Red Mike's Rest" is an excerpt from an amazing article called "Halloween: A Threefold
Chronicle", which originally appeared in an 1888 issue of Harper's magazine. The article by William
Sharp also included descriptions of a Scottish Hallowe'en celebration, and a Hallowe'en celebration
at sea.
The final story, "November Eve", was collected by Lady Wilde (mother of Oscar) in her
1887 book Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland.
The illustrations are either taken from the original source materials (i.e., the illustration of
"Red Mike's Rest") or from vintage Halloween postcards.
You can find more Halloween tricks 'n' treats at http://halloween.lisamorton.com.
Happy Halloween!
- Lisa Morton
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Excerpt from Cuchulain of Muirthemne: “Cruachan”
One night at Samhain, Ailell and Maeve were in Cruachan with their whole household, and
the food was being made ready.
Two prisoners had been hanged by them the day before, and Ailell said: "Whoever will put a
gad round the foot of either of the two men on the gallows, will get a prize from me."
It was a very dark night, and bad things would always appear on that night of Samhain, and
every man that went out to try came back very quickly into the house. "I will go if I will get a prize,"
said Nera, then. "I will give you this gold-hilted sword," said Ailell.
So Nera went out and he put a gad round the foot of one of the men that had been hanged.
Then the man spoke to him. "It is good courage you have," he said, "and bring me with you where I
can get a drink, for I was very thirsty when I was hanged." So Nera brought him where he would get
a drink, and then he put him on the gallows again, and went back to Cruachan.
But what he saw was the whole of the palace as if on fire before him, and the heads of the
people of it lying on the ground, and then he thought he saw an army going into the Hill of
Cruachan, and he followed after the army. "There is a man on our track," the last man said. "The
track is the heavier," said the next to him, and each said that word to the other from the last to the
first. Then they went into the Hill of Cruachan. And they said to their king: "What shall be done to
the man that is come in?" "Let him come here till I speak with him," said the king. So Nera came,
and the king asked him who it was had brought him in. "I came in with your army," said Nera. "Go
to that house beyond," said the king: "there is a woman there will make you welcome. Tell her it is I
myself sent you to her. And come every day," he said, "to this house with a load of firing."
So Nera went where he was told, and the woman said: "A welcome before you, if it is the
king sent you." So he stopped there, and took the woman for his wife. And every day for three days
he brought a load of firing to the king's house, and on each day he saw a blind man, and a lame man
on his back, coming out of the house before him. They would go on till they were at the brink of a
well before the Hill. "Is it there?" the blind man would say. "It is, indeed," the lame man would say.
"Let us go away," the lame man would say then.
And at the end of three days, as he thought, Nera asked the Woman about this. "Why do the
blind man and the lame man go every day to the well?" he said. "They go to know is the crown safe
that is in the well. It is there the king's crown is kept." "Why do these two go?" said Nera. "It is easy
to tell that," she said; "they are trusted by the king to visit the crown, and one of them was blinded
by him, and the other was lamed. And another thing," she said, "go now and give a warning to your
people to mind themselves next Samhain night, unless they will come to attack the hill, for it is only
at Samhain," she said, "the army of the Sidhe can go out, for it is at that time all the hills of the Sidhe
of Ireland are opened. But if they will come, I will promise them this, the crown of Briun to be
carried off by Ailell and by Maeve."
"How can I give them that message," said Nera, "when I saw the whole dun of Cruachan
burned and destroyed, and all the people destroyed with it?" "You did not see that, indeed," she said
"It was the host of the Sidhe came and put that appearance before your eyes. And go back to them
now," she said, "and you will find them sitting round the same great pot, and the meat has not yet
been taken off the fire."
"How will it be believed that I have gone into the Hill?" said Nera. "Bring flowers of
summer with you," said the woman. So he brought wild garlic with him, and primroses and golden
fern.
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So he went back to the palace, and he found his people round the same great pot, and he
told them all that had happened him, and the sword was given to him, and he stopped with his
people to the end of a year.
At the end of the year Ailell said to Nera: "We are going now against the Hill of the Sidhe,
and let you go back," he said, "if you have anything to bring out of it." So he went back to see the
woman, and she bade him welcome. "Go now," she said, "and bring in a load of firing to the king,
for I went in myself every day for the last year with the load on my back, and I said there was
sickness on you." So he did that.
Then the men of Connaught and the black host of the exiles of Ulster went into the Hill and robbed
it and brought away the crown of Briun, son of Smetra, that was made by the smith of Angus, son
of Umor, and that was kept in the well at Cruachan, to save it from the Morrigu. And Nera was left
with his people in the hill, and he has not come out till now, and he will not come out till the end of
life and time.
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"Tamlane”
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In his notes in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Sir Walter Scott provides this description:
“Carterhaugh is a plain, at the conflux of the Ettrick and Yarrow, Selkirkshire, about a mile above
Selkirk, and two miles above Newark Castle; a romantic ruin, which overhangs the Yarrow, and
which is said to have been the habitation of our heroine’s father…”
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“Wad’ is a token or an object left as a pledge
3
Fairies were often described as wearing green; see also “Flyting Against Polwart”
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“abune her bree” = above her brow
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“What gars” = why do
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Says – “Carterhaugh it is mine ain;
My daddie gave it me;
I’ll come and gang to Carterhaugh,
And ask nae leave o’ thee.”
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“leman” = lover
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“make meikle o’er” = take much care of
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“ilka” = every
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“deid” = death
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Out then spak her father dear,
And spak meik and mild –
“And ever, alas! my sweet Janet,
I fear ye gae with child.” –
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“prink’d” = adorned
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“sained” = blessed
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“Randolph, Earl Murray, was my sire,
Dunbar, Earl March, is thine;
We loved when we were children small,
Which yet you well may mind.
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“snell” = keen, bitter, sharp
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“teind” = tax or levy
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“First let pass the black, Janet,
And syne let pass the brown;
But grip ye to the milk-white steed,
And pu’ the rider down.
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“ask” = newt
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“bale” = a large fire
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“gad o’ airn” = bar of iron
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Gloomy, gloomy, was the night,
And eiry was the way,
As fair Janet, in her green mantle,
To Miles Cross she did gae.
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“bent” = a type of grass
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“erlish” = unearthly
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“But had I kenn’d, Tamlane,” she says,
“A lady wad borrow’d thee –
I wad ta’en out they twa grey een,
Put in twa een o’ tree19.
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“twa een o’ tree” = two eyes of wood
20
“coft” = acquired
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“kane” = a payment, often to a lord
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“The Young Man in the Fairy Knoll”
Two young men, coming home after nightfall on Hallowe’en, each with a jar of whisky on
his back, heard music by the roadside, and seeing a dwelling open and illuminated, and dancing and
merriment going on within, entered. One of them joined the dancers, without as much as waiting to
lay down the burden he was carrying. The other, suspecting the place and company, stuck a needle
in the door as he entered, and got away when he liked. That day twelvemonths he came back for his
companion, and found him still dancing with the jar of whisky on his back. Though more than half-
dead with fatigue, the enchanted dancer begged to be allowed to finish the reel. When brought to
the open-air he was only skin and bone.
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"Red Mike's Rest"
"Red Mike, your honor, was the only son of Widow OFlaherty. He was a queer one from his
birth, an' no wonder, for he first saw the light atween dusk an' dark o' a Hallowmas Eve. Hereabouts
the people say that if a babby be born on this night, it rins a moighty good chance o' bein' possessed
by some sproite or other; it may or may not be true, oi'm sure it's beyont the likes o' me to say
whether soch things are possible or not, but oi will say that Mike O'Flaherty was different to other
men from the first. He wor always up to some game, he wor, an' nivver for good – leastways I
nivver heard o' anny good he iver did. He lied and broke his troth to man an’ woman, an’ got into
bad odor with priest an' magistrate, for nigh upon twelve years arter he came to manhood, until the
judgment o' God came upon him. One Hallow Eve he was at the house o' the Flannigans, up by
Glen Creachan. He was courtin' Mary Flannigan, though ivery one on us knew she didn't care two
straws for Red Mike, but was all aglow wi' love for Larry O’Rourke, the Limerick carrier. It's the
custom in these parts for the childer to run into the cabbage yard afore the evenin' fun begins, an' to
pick out a number o' cabbage stalks, an' name them arter any seven o' the folk they have annything
to do with; then, having finished wi' this choosin', they dance round the place, shouting out,
No, your honor," responded O'Hara to my question, "I don't know what's the maning of Murtagh's
evil, nor, for that matter, which Murtagh is meant; no one in our time, anyway – for I sang the same
loines meself whan I wor a spalpeen. Well, as I wor about to tell ye, Flannigan's childer, havin'
finished their song, ran into the house an' asked all the folk to come out an' see their sowls. Ould
Flannigan pulled his cabbage stalk, an' Mrs. Flannigan hers, an' young Tim Flannigan his, an' Mrs.
Tim hers, an' purty Mary Flannigan hers, an' Larry O’Rourke his, until it came to Mike O'Flaherty's
turn. The stalks of all the others had been quite clean an' white, but when Red Mike pulled up his, it
was all black and foul wi' worms an' slugs, an' wi' a real bad smell ahint it. Larry O'Rourke laughed,
an' Mary Flannigan giggled, an' the others all looked moighty consarned. Mike glared ahout him for
a moment, more like a mad bull or a haythin Turk nor a Christian. Then he up an' says: 'Ye may
laugh, Larry O’Rourke, but ye'll no be laughin' long; ay, ye may snigger, Mary, but ye'll be cryin' for
manny a day, whan yer lover's below the sod, as he will be before the year's out. As for you, ould
Flannigan, you an' your son an' all that belong to ye will have cause to curse the day when ye
mocked Red Mike, as ye call me. Ye forget I was born on Hallow Eve! I've the gift o' the sight, I
have, and on this day my curse can blast whatever I choose.' What more Red Mike would have said I
don't know, but at that moment Father O'Connor came up to where all were standin'. 'Curses come
home to roost,' says he to O'Flaherty, in a starn voice 'an’ it's you that’ll suffer, Mike O’Flaherty, an'
no one here. Get ye gone at once, or I'll put the word on ye.'∗ 'I'll go whan I choose, Father
O’Connor,' says Red Mike, surlily. The next moment the priest drew a crucifix from his breast,
saying to O'Flaherty that even if he wor in league wi' the devil, he could not withstand that. Mike
gave a howl jist loike a wild baste, an' thin turned an' ran down the glen as fast as he could. Ould
Thady King, the piper (now dead, God rest his sowl!), wor crossing this moor that night, an' who
should he see but Red Mike dancin' an' shoutin' like mad, an' screamin' in mortal fear. 'Mike! Mike!'
ould Thady cried; but O'Flaherty paid no attintion to him, but kept on screamin' an' sometimes
shoutin' out, 'My time is up! my time is up!' Suddenly he bent forrard an' ran like the wind, took one
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great leap, an' disappeared in the ground as if he had jumped into the sea. Nothin' more wor ever
seen o' Red Mike, leastwise as a man. An' that's why the great bog yonder is called Red Mike's Rest."
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“November Eve”
It is esteemed a very wrong thing amongst the islanders to be about on November Eve,
minding any business, for the fairies have their flitting then, and do not like to be seen, or watched;
and all the spirits come to meet them and help them. But mortal people should keep at home, or
they will suffer for it; for the souls of the dead have power over all things on that one night of the
year; and they hold a festival with the fairies, and drink red wine from the fairy cups, and dance to
fairy music till the moon goes down.
There was a man of the village who stayed out late one November Eve fishing, and never
thought of the fairies until he saw a great number of dancing lights, and a crowd of people hurrying
past with baskets and bags, and all laughing and singing and making merry as they went along.
“You are a merry set,” he said, “where are ye all going to?”
“We are going to the fair,” said a little old man with a cocked hat and a gold band round it.
“Come with us, Hugh King, and you will have the finest food and the finest drink you ever set eyes
upon.”
“And just carry this basket for me,” said a little red-haired woman.
So Hugh took it, and went with them till they came to the fair, which was filled with a crowd
of people he had never seen on the island in all his days. And they danced and laughed and drank
red wine from little cups. And there were pipers, and harpers, and little cobblers mending shoes, and
all the most beautiful things in the world to eat and drink, just as if they were in a king’s palace. But
the basket was very heavy, and Hugh longed to drop it, that he might go and dance with a little
beauty with long yellow hair, that was laughing up close to his face.
“Well, here put down the basket,” said the red-haired woman, “for you are quite tired, I
see;” and she took it and opened the cover, and out came a little old man, the ugliest, most
misshapen little imp that could be imagined.
“Ah, thank you, Hugh,” said the imp, quite politely; “you have carried me nicely; for I am
weak on the limbs – indeed I have nothing to speak of in the way of legs: but I'll pay you well, my
fine fellow; hold out your two hands,” and the little imp poured down gold and gold and gold into
them, bright golden guineas. “Now go,” said he, “and drink my health, and make yourself quite
pleasant, and don't be afraid of anything you see and hear.”
So they all left him, except the man with the cocked hat and the red sash round his waist.
“Wait here now a bit,” says he, “for Finvarra, the king, is coming, and his wife, to see the
fair.”
As he spoke, the sound of a horn was heard, and up drove a coach and four white horses,
and out of it stepped a grand, grave gentleman all in black and a beautiful lady with a silver veil over
her face.
“Here is Finvarra himself and the queen,” said the little old man; but Hugh was ready to die
of fright when Finvarra asked –
“What brought this man here?”
And the king frowned and looked so black that Hugh nearly fell to the ground with fear.
Then they all laughed, and laughed so loud that everything seemed shaking and tumbling down from
the laughter. And the dancers came up, and they all danced round Hugh, and tried to take his hands
to make him dance with them.
“Do you know who these people are; and the men and women who are dancing round
you?” asked the old man. “Look well, have you ever seen them before?”
And when Hugh looked he saw a girl that had died the year before, then another and
another of his friends that he knew had died long ago; and then he saw that all the dancers, men,
women, and girls, were the dead in their long, white shrouds. And he tried to escape from them, but
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could not, for they coiled round him, and danced and laughed and seized his arms, and tried to draw
him into the dance, and their laugh seemed to pierce through his brain and kill him. And he fell
down before them there, like one faint from sleep, and knew no more till he found himself next
morning lying within the old stone circle by the fairy rath on the hill. Still it was all true that he had
been with the fairies; no one could deny it, for his arms were all black with the touch of the hands of
the dead, the time they had tried to draw him into the dance; but not one bit of all the red gold,
which the little imp had given him, could he find in his pocket. Not one single golden piece; it was
all gone for evermore.
And Hugh went sadly to his home, for now he knew that the spirits had mocked him and
punished him, because he troubled their revels on November Eve – that one night of all the year
when the dead can leave their graves and dance in the moonlight on the hill, and mortals should stay
at home and never dare to look on them.
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