School: Keelagh

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1. Local Happenings

   

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   Many years ago it was a common thing in this country for the farmers to lose the butter of the churns. They would churn away for hours and hours but all in vain.
   My father remembers one morning when he was going past a house on his way to school to see the shores around the dairy full of milk which the people had being churning for hours and could get no butter so they had to spill the milk and it was believed it was the witches had taken the butter away. Then there was a man who had control over those witches. He came to this house and burned irons in the fire and while he was burning them the person who took the butter came to house for the lend of something but he would not get it as the doors were locked against him and then they knew who took the butter and his spell was broken.
   It was common to sit up every May morning to watch the cows as the witches used to come in the form of hares and suck them.
   An old man in the townland

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. events
      1. hardship (~1,565)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Eileen Smyth

   Gender

   Female

   Informant

   Mr Peter Smyth

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Keelagh, Co. Cavan