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Witches -the death of Bridget Cleary in 1894

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    #62
    Fuinseog
    Registered Users Posts: 5,371 ✭✭✭Fuinseog


    either Bridget Cleary or Biddy Early, a bean feasa feature in the current issue of history Ireland


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    #63
    herisson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,676 ✭✭✭✭herisson


    CDfm wrote: »
    Really, under fiction.

    Though trying to find Irish murder stories is hard.



    I think it is murder to.If you heard something like it today you would think lots or drink or drugs.

    sorry i was wrong! it was Reading the 19th Century which featured Big House Fiction!
    the course was about folktales and the likes! My mistake!

    You are right though it is murder! it is very difficult to know what was his mindset to make him do it!
    Personally i think he was plotting the murder for a while and used the story of a changeling as a cover up!
    but then again he could have genuinely believed she was one!

    well thats my opinion anyway!


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    #64
    CDfm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    Pixie-Fairy wrote: »
    sorry i was wrong! it was Reading the 19th Century which featured Big House Fiction!
    the course was about folktales and the likes! My mistake!

    It is a fascinating subject and we don't have enough of it here in the forum.

    You are right though it is murder! it is very difficult to know what was his mindset to make him do it!
    Personally i think he was plotting the murder for a while and used the story of a changeling as a cover up!
    but then again he could have genuinely believed she was one!well thats my opinion anyway!

    The changeling defense took over and it has become myth.

    (There is another changeling from era and i posted it somewhere.)

    And it is very difficult to get over the Irish RM style stereotype. I am very aware of it in 19th century Anglo-Irish historical writing.


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    #65
    MarchDub
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,731 ✭✭✭MarchDub


    CDfm wrote: »


    The changeling defense took over and it has become myth.


    (There is another changeling from era and i posted it somewhere.)

    So the 'changeling' part wasn't used in the defence then? It was just something that was said and reported locally, is that it?

    CDfm wrote: »
    And it is very difficult to get over the Irish RM style stereotype. I am very aware of it in 19th century Anglo-Irish historical writing.

    Agree - but Yeats used it to advantage. The Fiddler of Dooney is a masterpiece of social commentary.

    When I play on my fiddle in Dooney,
    Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
    :cool:


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    #66
    CDfm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,649 ✭✭✭✭CDfm


    MarchDub wrote: »
    So the 'changeling' part wasn't used in the defence then? It was just something that was said and reported locally, is that it?


    The charge was reduced to manslaughter and the jury convicted and he served 15 years.

    For it to have been successful he would have either have been acquitted or guilty but insane . That did not happen and he was found guilty.

    The story the judge, jury and prosecution did not believe has been the one that has entered popular culture.

    As for Yeats, isn't it well known that he was a ne'er do well and philanderer whose epitaph should really read

    " Cast a cold eye On life, on death. They've left me in France"

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/feb/05/wbyeats


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