Don't mess with the fairies!

If someone starts acting strangely, it may be because a fairy kidnapped them and left a changeling in their place. If someone in your family is going to die, you might get a visit from a fairy with long white hair called a banshee. And if you move standing stones, called a fairy fort, the fairies might put a curse on you. These are just some of the stories I grew up hearing in Ireland. Part of me still believes them, and I’m not the only one.

Sean Quinn was once the richest man in Ireland, with a fortune of more then €4.7 billion. Now he has only €11,000 in the bank. Many people believe the reason he lost everything isn’t because he made bad business decisions but because the fairies cursed him for moving an ancient burial tomb. The tomb, called the Aughrim Wedge Tomb, was in the same spot, two miles outside the town of Ballyconnell in Co Cavan, for 4,000 years. In 1992 Sean had it moved to the grounds of a hotel he then owned because it was in the way of a new project he wanted to build.

University of Ulster folklore expert Seamus MacFlionn explains, “Cavan is full of ancient sites like these and many people there are superstitious about moving any ancient tomb or fairy tree. People do really believe that to do so brings bad luck. It's part of our ancient Irish history.”

I agree with Seamus. My family have an ancient standing stone on our land in Co. Cork and I would never allow anyone to move it. It’s hard to stop believing things you grew up believing, no matter how crazy they might seem.