Dearg Due – Eire’s Vengeful Vampire of Blood and Stone

January 5, 2026

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For a very long time, there have been tales concerning the Dearg Due, the bloodthirsty vampire of Eire. However how true is the story concerning the feminine vampire although, and has it actually been informed since historic occasions?

Hidden for hundreds of years within the shadowed fields of County Waterford is the chilling legend of the Dearg Due, a ghostly determine born of magnificence betrayed and a thirst for vengeance that will refuse to die. However the extra you peel away from the legend, the extra questions you’re left with.

Learn Extra: Take a look at all ghost tales from Eire

The identify Dearg Due is claimed to imply crimson bloodsucker or the crimson thirst in response to those that inform concerning the legend. The entity has been described as a feminine vampiric demon who seduces males earlier than draining and sucking their blood. And along with The Legend of Eire’s Vampire King Abhartach and the Haunted Big’s Grave, it’s one in every of Eire’s most well-known vampire legends.

The Legend of the Blood Thirsty Dearg Due

As soon as upon a time, a younger lady identified for her magnificence lived in Eire. When and the place is a bit hazy although. Some say this occurred nearer to 2 thousand years in the past in pre-christian occasions. It’s stated it occurred across the space of what’s now Waterford Metropolis in South-East Eire. The traditional Celtic identify for Waterford was “Cuan na Graí” or “The Harbor of the Solar.” That is the oldest metropolis in Eire, based by vikings within the ninth century.

The County Waterford relies on the historic Gaelic territory of the Déise settled within the 4th and eighth century. However who lived there earlier than that as we are able to see by the various megalithic tombs and ogham stones within the county? Round two thousand years in the past when the story is claimed to have occurred?

For a long time, there have been tales about the Dearg Due, the bloodthirsty vampire of Ireland. But how true is the story about the female vampire though, and has it really been told since ancient times? — *Waterford, Eire*

She fell in love with a humble farm labourer and dreamed of a easy life by his aspect. However her father, grasping and chilly, bartered her to a merciless chieftain in alternate for land and wealth and she or he had no say or selection within the matter.

At her wedding ceremony, she was wearing crimson and gold and it was an enormous feast. Her marriage, although, was a tragedy and her husband was each merciless and abusive. Some say that she was locked away in her chambers or a tower. Ensnared in distress, she starved herself in despair to flee her merciless destiny. Slowly, she simply wasted away.

She was buried close to what has been referred to as Strongbow’s Tree in Waterford, and stated to solely be visited by her real love who prayed for her return to him. Her husband married a brand new lady without delay, and her father didn’t take into consideration her a lot in his newfound riches. and in loss of life her grief mutated into one thing darker.

When the primary anniversary of her burial arrived, she rose from the grave, not the light maiden, however a crimson spectre who returned to the home of her father and the mattress of her husband, touching their lips and stealing breath from their our bodies as if it have been blood.

From that hour onwards she haunted the land, drifting by means of night time mists, luring younger males along with her sorrow-soft magnificence solely to empty them totally of life. The tales differ in how lengthy she roamed the land. Some say ten months to a yr. Some say she’s nonetheless there, lurking at the hours of darkness.

The one safeguard, locals say, was to put heavy stones upon her grave or go away salt on the threshold to maintain her from clawing her method out each night time to search out males for her vengeance. In some variations of the legend, they used her former lover as bait who helped wrap her in blessed twigs to make her relaxation in her grave designed for her to remain.

The Historical past Behind the Legend

Now, a robust story that has made its rounds claiming to be historic roots. However how previous is that this story, actually? The place is Strongbow’s tree, stated to be the place she is buried beneath, supposedly within the ruins of an previous churchyard.

Strongbow landed in Eire on 23 August 1170 and attacked Waterford with a power of some 200 knights and one thousand different troops. There have been rumours that Strongbow’s physique was secretly taken from Dublin and re-interred in 1177 to the place the place he married the Irish princess Aoife. That is stated to have been the place the Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford was constructed, and a tree was planted in his reminiscence.

Now, this model would imply that the tree was planted lengthy after the story was stated to have occurred. One other model although, hyperlinks the 2 legends higher. This claims that Strongbow and Aoife have been married on August 25 on the shore of the River Suir beneath an excellent oak tree that got here to be referred to as “Strongbow’s Oak.” It will make sense that ruins of an previous churchyard existed right here, however why would a pre-christian lady be buried there?

Now, which oak tree may Strongbow’s Oak be? An fascinating level is the Reginald’s Tower in Waterford, constructed by the Norman invaders. It’s stated that this was the precise place the place they received married. The positioning is typically known as Dundory (an Irish phrase which implies “fort of oak”), and therefore the tower is sometimes known as the Dundory Tower. It is usually referred to as the Ring Tower. It begs the query. Was it a stone tower they ended up constructing over her grave?

That’s after all, that it truly was a girl the locals feared was a vampire and buried below stones. However did she ever exist? It’s fascinating that this so-called historic legend is first present in writing in 1924 when Dudley Wright wrote in his guide Vampires and Vampirism:

At Waterford, in Eire, there’s a little graveyard below a ruined church close to Strongbow’s Tower. Legend has it that beneath the bottom at this spot there lies a ravishing feminine vampire nonetheless able to kill these she will be able to lure thither by her magnificence.

Nonetheless, when Montague Summers talked about this vampire in his guide The Vampire in Europe from 1928, he additionally talked about that this was a legend the locals had by no means heard about and he spelled her identify, dearg-due. Quick forwarding to Anthony Grasp’s guide, The Pure Historical past of the Vampire, he writes:

In previous Eire there was a traditionally-motivated vampire named the Dearg-due, which implies the crimson blood-sucker. The one approach to maintain the Dearg-due in its grave was to construct a cairn of stones excessive. One other legend claims that there’s a feminine vampire lurking close to Waterford. The precise spot is below a ruined church close to Strongbow’s tree, and it’s to this sinister place that the vampire lures, by her deadly magnificence, males with good crimson blood operating within the veins.

The identify had abruptly modified and spelled otherwise. The Strongbow’s Tower was became Strongbow’s Tree. However the written basis for the legend began to be repeated extra quickly. For a full walkthrough of the legend, try the weblog devoted to debunk theories concerning the Irish language and historical past.

So was the legend concerning the vampiric lady a made up story after the recognition from Dracula printed in 1897 and the Irish connection to Bram Stoker? Or was it maybe one thing older, one thing bloodthirsty solely held again by a pile of stones?

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