The Fairy Witch of Carrick-on-Suir: A Source Book for a Nineteenth-Century Resurrectionist (Fairies and Fairylore Series)

In 1864 Mary Doheny, Tipperary fairy witch extraordinaire, shocked the good folk of Carrick-on-Suir. Mary convinced a local policeman's family - the Reeves - that she could bring back to life five of their dead family members who were, Mary claimed, living among the fairies. The Reeves were led by Mary to see their dead relations at Knockroe (a passage tomb), Ballydine (a fairy rath) and Duggan's cattle shed (on the south bank of the Suir) and even spoke to dead children and parents. Mary was unsurprisingly brought before the magistrates for these modern miracles. In three different trials prisoner and witnesses were closely questioned. Local newspaper reports of these interrogations offer us an unprecedented insight into Irish fairylore, fairy beliefs and fairy magic in the late nineteenth century. No other Irish fairy case - save Bridgid Cleary at Clonmel in 1895 - is as well documented. Inexplicably Mary has been largely ignored by historians. The latest Pwca fairy book gathers together the relevant sources for the first time. Read more