Unearthing the Macabre Tale of Abhartach, the Irish Vampire

Arkane Curiosities

We all know about the legend of Dracula, But have you ever heard of Abhartach, the Irish vampire? This lesser-known figure from Irish folklore hails from the hauntingly beautiful County Derry in Northern Ireland. Unlike your typical vampire, the story of the Irish Vampire is rooted in ancient legends with a unique twist.

The First Death

Long ago, in the 5th or 6th century, there lived an evil chieftain named Abhartach. Described as a goblin-like figure with a grotesque appearance, he was a possessive and jealous husband and he harbored suspicions of his wife’s infidelity. 

One fateful night, he attempted to climb outside his wife’s bedroom window to catch her in the act. But in a twist of fate, he slipped and plummeted to his death, his life extinguished in an instant. His subjects, recognizing the need to accord him the honors befitting a chieftain, laid him to rest in a most peculiar manner—standing upright.

Yet, as the sun dipped below the horizon on the following day, Abhartach defied the laws of life and death. He returned, a nightmarish revenant, demanding a gruesome tribute from his terrified subjects. With a sinister thirst for their blood, he ordered them to bleed in order to create a bowl of blood for his consumption.

The Second and Third Deaths

As time wore on, the people grew weary of living in perpetual fear. They turned to a local chieftain, Cathán, to rid them of the curse once and for all. Twice, Cathán dispatched the Abhartach and each time the creature returned, demanding more blood from the terrified populace.

Cathán turned to the local druid, seeking guidance from the wise sage. The druid revealed the key to defeating the undead chieftain. Abhartach could only be vanquished by a sword forged from yew wood, buried upside down with his feet reaching skyward. A massive stone placed upon the grave would act as a barrier against his resurrection. Surrounding the stone, the branches of sacred Irish trees, such as hawthorn and rowan, were to be intertwined to further hinder his return.

The druid’s warning was grave and ominous. Should the stone ever be removed, Abhartach would be unleashed once more upon the world. With unwavering determination, Cathán followed the druid’s counsel, executing the sacred ritual to the letter.

The Abhartach Defeated

Finally, the curse was broken. Abhartach was silenced, and the people could breathe a sigh of relief, freed from the clutches of their undead ruler. To ensure the memory of their harrowing ordeal lived on, the twigs surrounding Abhartach’s resting place grew into a formidable thorn tree, and a colossal stone tomb (a dolmen) was erected to seal the memory of their struggle.

Today, only a solitary stone and the ancient tree remain, standing as silent sentinels to the legend of Cathán, Abhartach, and the extraordinary ritual that safeguarded a world from an evil that should never walk among us again.

Over two decades ago, a bold attempt to clear the sinister thorn tree and massive stone marking Abhartach’s resting place was foiled by inexplicable occurrences. Chainsaws broke down three times while trying to cut down the tree, and the chainsaw chain wrapped around the stone intended for removal, snapping and cutting a worker’s hand. The worker’s blood seeped into the ground, leaving the cursed site untouched since, as if Abhartach’s malevolence still guards his unholy resting place.

Inspiration for Dracula

Collected during the late 1800s by renowned folklorist and historian Patrick Weston Joyce, this chilling folktale would have undoubtedly circulated in Dublin, where Bram Stoker served as a civil servant. The eerie connection between the Irish term “droch fhola,” signifying “bad blood,” and the name “Dracula” is an intriguing linguistic parallel that adds another layer of intrigue to the lore surrounding Stoker’s legendary vampire character.

Tim Kane

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How to Annoy a Vampire

Arkane Curiosities

I watched an old documentary on Vlad Dracula hosted by none other than Vincent Price. Most of the information I was already aware of, but one bit jumped out at me. A unique way to annoy a vampire involving sound.

The Resonant Toaca

This documentary showed an Orthodox priest walking through town carrying a large piece of wood, called a toaca. This is a type of portable sematron used to create sound. He would bang on the toaca with a hammer as a way to keep vampires away. Despite scouring the Internet, I can’t find an exact reason for this. My best guess is that it annoyed the vampire. 

Make Your Vampire Do Math

I’ve posted about this before, but the toaca reminded me of another way to annoy vampires. I’d first learned about this in an X-Files episode (Bad Blood). Here we see the quintessential way to piss off a vampire. 

Many Slavic people believe that vampires were forced to count the holes in fishing nets or the number of scattered seeds. It was common for townsfolk to hang a net over their door or spill seeds on the stoop as a way to deter would be blood-drinkers. The most common seed used was mustard seed, also known as eye of newt.

So folks, want to annoy the bejeezus out of your local vampire? Start banging on some wood. And be sure to scatter seeds all over the place. You’ll be safe… at least until the vampire gets done counting.

Tim Kane

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Flying Head Vampire: The Penanggalan

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In Malaysia the Penanggalan detaches its head, leaving its body behind as an empty husk. This flying head vampire seeks out pregnant women to drain their blood. In fact, “Penanggal” or “Penanggalan” in Malay literally means “to detach” or “to remove”. But it’s not just the head. The internal organs dangle below, twinkling like fireflies.

Invisible Tongues

The Penanggalan, who always appears as a woman, looks completely normal during the day. She’ll avoid eye contact and smell strongly of vinegar (a tool of the vampire trade). Typically, Penanggalans take jobs as midwives. 

At night, it twists its head off and soars through the air, intestines and organs dangling below it. The Penanggalan perches on the roof and waits for the woman to go into labor. Then it wriggles an invisible tongue into the house to drain the blood from the mother. 

Legend has it, the tongue can pass through walls or slither through floorboards to reach its victim. Alternately, it will entwine the victim in its long intestines. 

Vinegar Bath

Upon reaching home again, the Penanggalan takes a quick dip in a tub of vinegar. Why, you ask? The vinegar shrinks the organs so it can squirm back into the body suit and pretend to be a person again. 

Snag Those Intestines

Want to keep yourself safe from this horrific creature? Your best bet is to snag those dangling intestines. Often people will scatter thorny leaves on roof or windows. Additionally, they might plant a pineapple tree under their house (Malaysian houses are built on stilts).

Still want a little more protection? Slide a pair of scissors under your pillow.

Mess With the Body

If your intent is to stop the Penanggalan for good, you’ll need to track the vampire to its lair (possibly by following anyone with the strong scent of vinegar). When the head detaches for the nightly peregrinations, you go to work. 

Fill the empty body with shards of broken glass. Then, when the creature returns to crawl into its body, the glass will shred the vampire’s organs. 

If you simply want to mess with the Penanggalan, just flip the body over. These creatures don’t really understand how human bodies work. It will reattach backward. Then the head will be facing in the wrong direction (an easy way to spot the vampire). 

Tim Kane

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The Last of Us: How Well Can Fungus Think?

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In “The Last of Us,” the fungal disease that turns people into “infected” creatures is based on a real-life fungus called Cordyceps that infects insects and controls their behavior. Science fiction? Hell yes. But it’s based on real science. Turns out mushrooms might have a consciousness despite having no nervous system. So the question is: how well can fungus think?

Underground Internet

Some experts argue that fungi may have a form of consciousness that rivals that of animals or humans. It all boils down to the mycelia. Mycelia are thread-like structures that make up the vegetative part of fungi. They range in size from just a few cells to several acres.

Mycelium in fungi collects intelligence and transmits it to anything they’re connected to — information about how to survive and fight disease, warnings of nearby dangers, and also ways to raise a host plant’s defenses. 

In “The Last of Us,” merely, stepping on an active filament from the fungus can trigger the fungal zombies from much further away to activate and attack them. 

Different Levels of Consciousness

Most of us are so hardwired to think of humans with brains as the only things that have a consciousness. Yet if we consider consciousness a continuum, then this opens up the possibility for less complex organisms to have self-awareness. 

I’m not suggesting that mushrooms lead rich, emotional lives. Yet fungal mycelia resemble neural pathways and can span vast distances, creating a web of communication and cooperation that shapes entire ecosystems.

Fungi does support a rudimentary level of consciousness. Mycelia show decision-making capabilities, such as spatial recognition, learning, and short-term memory.

Cordyceps, the culprit for the apocalyptic situation in “The Last of Us,” exhibits complex and highly adaptive behaviors that allows it to manipulate its host and ensure its own survival.

Cordyceps is based on a real world fungus that infects insects. One species of Cordyceps causes infected ants to climb to the top of a plant and attach themselves to a leaf, where they eventually die and release spores that can infect other ants.

In “The Last of Us,” the fungus is portrayed as having a sort of hive mind, with infected individuals acting as part of a larger organism, seeking to spread the infection to new hosts.

Perhaps we have already been infected by such a fungus, and they continue to keep us alive and breathing to propagate their own species. 

Tim Kane

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Hungry Ghosts: Mischievous Spirits

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In Japan, ghosts can be much more than simply chain-rattling spirits. They hunger, and not only for the things you expect. Some of the hungry spirits (or Gaki) yearn for vomit or baby poop (yes, you heard me right). Many of the Gaki originate from sins people did while alive, a group of hungry ghosts are nothing more than mischievous spirits, called yasha.

Nature Spirits into Demons and Back

The yasha are supernatural beings that can range from caring to murderous. They began in India as benevolent nature spirits who watched over the earth and the forests. Yet as they migrated into China, they shifted into ghost-like spirits who preyed on travelers. 

Finally, as these spirits entered Japan, they were seen as a demon-god (kijin) to be worshiped and feared. They mixed with the legends of the amanojaku and oni.

The Last Twenty Gaki

In the last post, we explored the first sixteen hungry ghosts. Here are the other twenty to make the full consort of 36.

17 Underworld Ghosts

These spirits live in caves or with snakes in their burrows. They suffer from hunger and chills, a result of extreme thirst. These Gaki can also create epidemics. In life, they put someone in jail for personal gain. 

18 Supernatural-Power Ghosts

The most powerful of the Hungry Ghosts, these spirits may experience some joy. They inhabit the deep mountains, the middle of the sea, or other remote locations. Demons surround them, constantly staring at them. In life, they abused power by stealing other people’s property. 

19 Blazing Ghosts

The bodies of these spirits continually burn with a blazing fire, making them cry out in pain. They wander the countryside, desiring to loot villages or robbing people. In life, they looted and robbed. 

20 Infant-Excrement-Eating Ghosts

Only the excrement of babies will do for these spirits, who linger around cribs. They target mothers who let their babies sit in their own poop too long. When a child cries, people believe that the ghost has appeared to the child. These spirits are yakṣa rather than the  deceased.

21 Desirable Appearance Ghosts

These ghosts will shift appearance, becoming attractive or repulsive to gain access to food. They can prey on people’s lust. Additionally, they can transform into animals to swoop in to steal food. These spirits are considered yakṣa, a class of nature-spirits. 

22 Island Ghosts

These spirits are always thirsty and live on uninhabited islands. They slurp up the morning dew, but it offers them little respite. The heat of even a single winter day would feel hotter than ten-times a summer’s day. In life, these people abused those in difficult situations, like refugees or lost travelers. 

23 Assistant-to-the-Underworld Ghosts

Also known as Assistants of Yama Armed with Sticks, these hungry ghosts managed other ghosts and spirits. Yama, the Indian god of the Dead, record sinful acts committed by humans and bring these sinners back to Yama. Physically, they have scrunched-up hair draped over their faces and long ears with protruding stomachs. People pray to these ghosts on their deathbed, which means these Assistants linger between the human world and the underworld. 

24 Child-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki are malicious, feeding off the energy of infants. They wander in search of children to kidnap, but are often unsuccessful (thus their hunger). In life, they were healers who promised to cure a sick person with prayers, but abused their position. 

25 Energy-Eating Ghosts

These Gaki lurk around critically ill people and siphon off their energy. They might also target depressed people, gradually creeping into that person’s life to absorb their “vital energy.”

26 Brahmanic Rākṣasa Ghosts

These ghosts haunt crossroads and back all eyes. They linger and await the right opportunity to latch onto a victim and possess the body. While controlling the person, they will act recklessly in an attempt to kill the person. In life, these people were religious leaders who lost their faith. 

27 Hearth Ghosts

These Gaki loiter in kitchens or religious establishments to steal food. They also gorge on temple leftovers, mixed with coal. In life, these were people who stole food from religious sites. 

28 Dirty Street Ghosts

These Gaki live on dirty city streets, skulking in places where vomit and urine stains the streets. They dine off this refuse as their nourishment. 

29 Wind-Eating Ghosts

Each time this ghost reached for food or drink, it proves to be an optical illusion and vanishes with the wind. They are tormented by illusions of sustenance, only to have nothing in the end. In life, these people made empty promises and donations to charity. 

30 Coal-Eating Ghosts

These hungry ghosts wander through cemeteries, searching for the remains of a cremated body. They then scarf down the ashes generated from cremation fires. In life, they were in charge of prisons and let the inmates suffer from hunger. 

31 Poison-Eating Ghost

These ghosts nosh on poisonous fumes and toxic grass. Their food ends up killing them and then they regain their life only to hunger for these poisons again. They live in caves on mountains with extreme hot or cold weather. The mountains are home to wild beasts (lions, hawks or tigers) who pluck out the eyes of these unfortunate Gaki. Additionally, it can sometimes rain knives from the sky. In life, they poisoned someone to steal that person’s property. 

32 Jungle Ghosts

These Gaki roam the jungle, driven by intense hunger. As they traverse the wilds, branches and thorns cut their skin, jungle animals attack them, and fierce birds swoop down. When they finally arrive where they think there’s food, they discover it’s the wrong place. These ghosts are punished for a very specific punishment. Often, virtuous men would plant trees and provide people with water while traveling. These thieves steal the water, making the travelers thirsty and weak, and thus easier to rob. 

33 Living-in-Cremation-Grounds and Eating-Hot-Ashes Ghosts

Similar to the Coal-Eating ghosts, these long titled ghosts lug instruments of torture on their back to mimic the acts they committed in their former lives. In addition, they also carry red-hot irons on their head. In life, they stole offerings and flowers from temples.

34 Living-in-Trees Ghosts

These ghosts are reborn inside trees, where insects and animals chew away their bodies. Also, the weather that batters the tree also affects these ghosts. It’s believed that hermit monks, who live away from civilization, will be tormented by entire forests of these Gaki. In life, they stole wood from Buddhist temples.

35 Crossroads Ghosts

These ghosts reside in the classic haunted area of crossroads. People will make offerings to these spirits to ward off illness or difficulties at work. In life, they stole food from travelers who were crossing through remote parts of the world. 

36 Mara-Body Ghosts

These Gaki superficially feed off the confusion generated by the daily lives of Buddhist temples. They frighten monks with sinister sounds or nightmares. Their goal is to disrupt and undermine the entire community. In life, these people spouted false doctrines. 

Tim Kane

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