Fascinating Fairy mysteries of Donegal book may leave you spellbound

Donegal author Keith Corcoran is hosting a Halloween themed celebration launch and signing for his new book 'Finding Fairy Mysteries in Donegal' on Saturday evening 28th October in Ballintra Community Centre. 
This family friendly launch will include selected stories from the new collection, and fairy themed songs and music by various special guest performers, and a ghost story or two for good measure.

Keith's new book features 62 stories collected from throughout County Donegal and is based on four years of exhaustive research and investigating story leads.

There are 17 stories alone out of 62 from the Bundoran, Ballyshannon, Ballintra, Laghey and the Donegal Town area.

Keith told DonegalLive/Donegal Democrat: "I am both happy and relieved to finally get this book over the line after four  years travelling the length and breadth of Donegal, researching, seeking out, and investigating story leads. Many stories I investigated left me mystified, others enchanted, some genuinely spooked me."

THE FRONT COVER OF KEITH CORCORAN'S NEW BOOK 

"They say the wee folk are active around Halloween (Samhain) so it's perhaps a most fitting time to release this new book. I intend to tour the book with a series of 10 launches around the county this October and November."

Local contributors to the new collection will also be honoured on the night. One of the most famous stories
from the area will feature where a fairy tree on the Rossnowlagh Road held up road improvements work in 1968 and made both national and international news.

Part of Keith's introduction to the book reads:

"There once was widespread belief in the fairies, a time when nine out of ten rural Irish people firmly believed in them. People were once ridiculed if they didn’t believe in the fairies, now they risk facing public ridicule if they do believe in them!
"A modern mantra in our technological, image-driven world is “seeing is believing” but eyesight is only one of our senses.
"During a recent TV documentary produced for RTE entitled ‘Tommy Tiernan’s Epic West’, acclaimed Donegal musician and singer, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, insightfully revealed, “there is a quality of the light in Donegal – your inner vision is more clearer when the mist is down.”
Although the modern world has become a noisy, busy, stressful place, many parts of Donegal are still a dreaming landscape, where an unbounded, unspoilt wildness can be found in places such as Tory Island, the Atlantic coastal districts, much of Inishowen, Glenveagh National Park, Horn Head, Errigal and the Poisoned Glen, Glenfinn, Glenswilly, The Pettigo Plateau, the districts round Gleanclomcille and Glengesh, and the Bluestack Mountains to mention but a few areas.
"There is a wealth of testimonies collected in this book and many others folklore collections to show that you do not need to actually see fairies to feel their presence," he cautioned.

"You may sense them while out walking in nature, you may hear fairy bells or traditional-like music playing,
they may reveal signs, you may even encounter them in your dreams. Many older people claim to have heard the cry of the banshee (Bean sídhe) before a relative passed away," he added in what looks like a compelling book that will add greatly to the lore and mystery of the illusive fairy!

A Matter of Record - Donegal Democrat Archival History and News from the Vaults

This week we read about Grand old man of the Roads, Bob Davitt who died in 1953, but who was one of the few people who had doubtful distinction of reading of his own death in the local paper and then there was accusations of "pull" when Galway/Salthill won an award in the Bord Fáilte Tidy Towns competition of 1963, despite the Donegal resort of Bundoran gaining more marks than the award winners, and in 1972 border smugglers retrieved seized onions in a daring exploit

Early reviewers have described this new collection as “original”, “compelling” and “magical” - a fitting tribute to the people of Donegal who so generously shared their extraordinary stories and beliefs about the wee folk.

Admission is free on the night and food and refreshments will be served as well. The event will begin at 6.30pm while doors will open at 6pm. Everyone welcome.