Within the rural areas of Derry, Northern Eire, there’s a small dolmen grave underneath a hawthorn tree. It’s stated to be the grave of the vampire king, Abhartach who is alleged to nonetheless be lusting after blood.
Eire’s historical hills and mossy graveyards are not any strangers to ghost tales and stressed spirits. But amongst these tales of banshees and fairies lies one of many island’s oldest, darkest legends — the story of Abhartach, a tyrant chieftain whose insatiable thirst for blood refused to finish, even in loss of life.
Thought by some folklorists to be Eire’s authentic vampire fantasy, Abhartach’s grim story predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and should effectively have been its inspiration.
The Tyrant of Slaghtaverty
In keeping with legend, Abhartach was a merciless and malevolent chieftain who dominated in what’s now Slaghtaverty within the parish of Errigal in Derry, Northern Eire. Though he’s remembered as a vampire, the title and outline of him is way nearer to a dwarf. Because the title suggests, he may need been remembered for his top.
He’s stated to have lived within the fifth or Sixth century, at a time when the Glenullin space of Eire was a patchwork of small kingdoms of tribal warlords had been the mysterious druids nonetheless lived and practiced their magic and when the catholic saints began deciding on the emerald island.
Feared by his personal folks, he was stated to own darkish powers and a fascination with the occult. By way of his observe of darkish magic, he killed his topics for enjoyable. His tyrannical methods grew to become so insufferable that native warriors, determined for aid, conspired to kill him.
In a single model of the story, a neighboring chieftain named Cathán rose up towards Abhartach and struck him down, burying him in a standing grave, marked by a solitary stone. Burying in a standing place was a customized on the time for high-ranking chieftains. However peace wouldn’t come so simply.
In different variations his first loss of life was by way of no fault however his personal and he died when he was stalking his spouse. He was a jealous man and trusted nobody. He thought she was having an affair and crept on the ledge exterior of the citadel to the window exterior her bed room. He slipped and fell to his loss of life and so they shortly buried him for the primary time. However it might not be his final.
The Timeless Menace
The day after his burial, Abhartach returned — clawing his manner out of the earth, demanding blood from his terrified topics to gather in a bowl for him to devour. In some variations of the legend, his topics had been so afraid of him and submitted to him, making blood sacrifices to him, ready for somebody to save lots of them.
Once more, Cathán slew him, and once more, Abhartach returned. It was then the folks sought counsel from a druid or clever elder who revealed the grim reality: Abhartach was no bizarre man, however one of many neamh-mairbh, the undead. In additional fashionable retellings of the story it was a Christian Saint giving the answer to the undead.
To cease his monstrous resurrection, he couldn’t be buried in consecrated floor. As an alternative, he have to be killed with a sword made from yew wooden, buried the other way up, and his grave encircled with thorns and heavy stones to forestall his escape.
Cathán adopted the directions, and Abhartach was lastly trapped — however native legend holds that his stressed spirit nonetheless lingers beneath the earth.
The Cursed Grave of Slaghtaverty
In keeping with a lecturer in Celtic historical past on the College of UIster, Bob Curran, the true citadel he lived in an be discovered between the cities of Garvagh and Dungiven, the place a small hill now stands. He says that it was right here that the fortress of a fifth or Sixth-century chieftain with magical powers known as the Abhartach as soon as resided.
Immediately, the place believed to be Abhartach’s grave is a modest website often known as Slaghtaverty Dolmen or The Big’s Grave. Nestled in a discipline close to the village of Slaughtaverty in Londonderry in Northern Eire, it’s marked by an historical stone surrounded by a hoop of Hawthorn timber and undergrowth. It was once extra stones as remnants of an previous monument, however these have been eliminated over time by native farmers for constructing functions.
Locals declare the spot is cursed; farmers keep away from working the land round it, and unusual misfortunes are stated to befall those that disturb the grave. Some say on misty nights, you possibly can hear faint whispers, or catch the glint of a shadow shifting between the timber — as if Abhartach himself nonetheless walks, looking for blood.
In 1997, makes an attempt had been made to clear the land, however, if native custom is to be believed, workmen who tried to fell the tree discovered that their brand-new chainsaw stopped for no cause on three events. When trying to carry the good stone, a metal chain all of the sudden snapped, chopping the hand of one of many labourers and, considerably, permitting blood to soak into the bottom.
The Dracula Connection
We first have the legend written down in Patrick Weston Joyce’s The Origin and Historical past of Irish Names and Locations from 1870. In fashionable variations of the lore, the story is alleged to be solved by an earlier Christian, and never a druid.
Intriguingly, students have speculated that Abhartach’s legend might have impressed Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stoker, an Irishman born in Dublin, would have doubtless been conversant in the story of the blood-drinking undead chieftain. Whereas Dracula is often related to Vlad the Impaler and Jap European folklore, it’s potential that the sinister determine of Abhartach left its personal mark on Gothic horror’s most well-known vampire.
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References:
The Abhartach / Irish Vampire: Terrifying Story For 2025
Does Abhartach, the vampiric chieftain, nonetheless stalk the Derry hills?
Abhartach the Dwarf King | Emerald Isle Irish and Celtic myths, fairy tales and legends
Abhartach – Eire’s Vampire King – by Siobhán Rodgers
