The Stray Sod
There is a field in Ballymun called ‘Green Blakey’ where there is supposed to be a stray sod. This means that if you step after dark on this sod you will wander about unable to get out.
My grandfather used to cross this field every night for years on his way home from his work so that he knew every inch of it. One night coming home as usual he happened to stand on the stray sod. He walked round the field for hours but he could not find his way out. Towards morning he turned round and walked in what appeared to him to be the opposite direction to home and this brought him home all right.
Another time my uncle was coming home in the dark across ‘The Wild Field’ in Killeek. He stepped on the stray sod there and lost his way. He walked up and down by the gap for hours with-

If a person happens on a "stray sod" and cannot find his way it is said that if the person takes off his coat and turns it inside out and sits down on it and also turns his cap inside out the spell is broken and he is then able to continue on his journey.It is said that Maria McGoldrick Altachullin (still living) happened to walk on a "stray sod" about fifteen years ago.She was coming home from Kate McGoldrick's, Tullylugfinn about midnight. On Pat Bán's Hill she stood on the "stray sod" and immediately lost her way. She knew the path perfectly well as it was quite near her home. But when she stood on the "stray sod" she didn't know where she was. Her lantern went out and she thought she was in a strange country with mountains around her and crowds of little

Clonsilla has always been a well wooded district. The people from other districts used to come and hide in it in penal times. In Luttrellstown Wood there is a stray sod. Once a man was coming home he stepped on that sod and he kept walking around in a circle till morning. That sod is supposed to be a round circle.Once there was a priest hiding in Luttrellstown. The English knew he was there and they set hounds after him. He went round and round in a circle and then gave a jump to set the hounds off his track that is supposed to be the original of the stray sod. In coolmine woods there is a stray sod it is said that the priest was killed there and anyone who ever steps on a sod where a priest has been murdered will die also.

The Stray SodThe "stray sod" is another belief in this district. There are stray sods in several places - James Paíd's Bog, Altataskin, Pat Bán's Hill, Tullylugfinn, Patrick Dolan's Bog, Altataskin, Commas Mountain, James Pat's Bog, Owencam and McAuley's Hill Tullynamoltra.No one can tell the exact spot where the sod lies as it is only after sunset that it has its power. Anyone who happens to stand on the "sod" immediately loses his way and cannot find his way further. He must keep on travelling until daybreak and sometimes after hours of travelling finds himself back at the place he started. At other times the person may find himself a long distance from the place he lost his way.

Composition "Stray Sod"In every district in Ireland, there is a stray sod. A stray sod is supposed to be the sod under which an unbaptized child is buried.In our land, there is a stray sod. It is situated on the slope of a hill in front of a fort. This is a fairy fort. People say they hear music and singing and see lights in it every night. There are two mounds of earth in this fort. I never heard of anyone going this way yet, but went astray at night.I heard a story of a man named Morris who went astray one night. He was coming from a neighbour's house. It was late in the night, about 12 O' Clock in the night and the moon was shining brightly. On approaching the fort, Morris saw a light and coming on nearer to the fort, he was set astray. He could see nothing around him but bushes. He walked round and round the bushes but could not get his way out. He then turned his coat inside out, sat on a stone and said some prayers. In some minutes

friends at night. One night one of them stepped on a stray sod in Flynn's field - the Flynn's are a family living in Galroostown - and before long they were surrounded with ghosts. They made every effort to get out of the field, but all was in vain. Then the person that stood on the stray sod turned his coat inside out on him and all the ghosts banished from them.

In some fields there is a part of ground called the stray sod. If anybody is crossing the field during the night and they stand on the stray sod they will not be able to get out of that field until daybreak. One night

Long long ago there lived in Donore a woman named Biddy Drumgoole. One night Biddy was coming home after bying a gross of eggs. She was crossing a field and stood on a stray sod. All night she walked round the field, but could not get out. People said she stood on a stray sod.

There is a "stray sod" in one of Miss Murphy's fields in Sicily. Several people went astray in it at dark and had to keep travelling in a circle round it all night. It is supposed that when a person steps on a stray sod he should

1. There are certain fields in this district that containes a stray sod and has a lot of storys connected with them. One of Byrnes fields of the Cavan contains a stray sod. If you were so unluckly to be crossing that field at twelve ocloc at night when the faires are coming they would be there till the next morning going round the field looking for the gate. When you would be coming near the gate you would see it but when you would come up to, the gate would disappear out of your sight.
2. Once upon a time an old woman named Mrs Onews was coming home from the Cavan. On her way home she had to cross one of Byres fields whice the call the big meadow. She was so unlucky to stand on the certain sod that she went round the field for the whole night. At lenth she saw the gate she also saw a white woman standing on it. When the woman disappeared out of sight Mrs Ownes saw the gate and got out of the field.
3. There are two ways to get out of a stray sod in the night. First is to sit down in the field then take out a fag and smoke it. Second is to close your eyes keep them closed for about ten minutes the you can see the gate and can get out.

before the instalment of the system, bore witness to similar cases in their experiene, and my father spoke frequently to us of the "stray sod" of the Manor (the Manor is a townland two miles from Johnstown school.) He said it was of rather frequent occurrence that a belated homeward bound peasant or farmer, having to cross the "Manor fields" found them turned into a pathless, unfamiliar wilderness, by reason of that unlucky stray sod which his unwary feet encountered. Morning alone brought relief and sense of direction to the perspiring, weary, footsore victim of the "The Manor's fairy sod."
Though these tiny denizens of the fairy raths were merely mischievous, and not baleful, the people did not care to encounter them, a fact which allowed the gruesome traffic in dead bodies to go on unchecked. Bodies were needed for post-mortem examination so that medical science might advance, and the "sack em ups" as these who pursued this awful avocation were called later on, could deliver their grim cargo unmolested. If they chanced to meet a benighted traveller, they passed silently as the fairy headless horses, and headless drivers - it required but little disguise to deceive the unsophisticated.

In Ballinvalley there is a field called the Caldra. In this field there are many old graves. In this field also there is a stray sod. They say that there is a child buried under this stray sod. The child it is said was never baptized and that it is not at rest because it never saw the face of God. If people walk on this piece of land it is said that they are sure to go astray. The grass always stays green on this sod and that is the only way people

The Stray Sod of Fennor.
In the field where Fennor is buried there is a stray sod and if anyone walk on this sod he will lose his sight and will go astray.
One night as my father was walking through this field everything seemed to grow dark in front of him and he saw h beautiful lights. He was going along trying to find his way he hit his head against and found his way to the house. When he came into the house he regained his eyesight.
My Uncle who lives near Virginia has a field called the black field which has also a stray sod. One night a man was walking through the field

thing vanished away from before him and he had no trouble getting home and he never asked to go that way again.
This lone bush is also known as a stray sod. This stray sod is believed to be where an unbaptized child was buried. It was understood that no child wasn't baptized was refused christian buried and that known ever since as a stray sod.
Who every goes into that field at night is always led astray.

It is quite a common belief in this district that there is such a thing as a "Stray Sod". If a traveller happens to put his foot on this sod in a field at night time he immediately loses all sense of direction. Stories are frequently told of people spending the whole night aimlessly wandering around fields which they know well, and unable to find their way home till morning. If a traveller happens to lose his way by treading on "a Stray Sod", and takes the trouble of turning his coat inside-out, he will at once be able to know where he is and find his way home. A Stray Sod is supposed to be the spot where an unbaptised child was buried.
There is also the "Hungry Sod" or the Fod Ghorta as it is sometimes called. If a person happens to stand on this sod he is seized with hunger and weakness. The Hungry Sod is supposed to be the spot where an illegitimate unbaptised child was buried secretly.
Patrick Cassidy N.T.
Drumconrath
Ardee

It is said that there is a stray sod in the Flax field in Gaskinstown. Mr. Thomas Heavey of Ganballagh was going

Many people tell stories of a stray sod. If anyone chances to tread on this particular sod he loses all sense of direction and wanders round and round for hours completely lost. The remedy is. Turn your coat or put it on inside if (?) is supposed to bring you to your senses.This stray sod is supposed to cover the grave of an unbaptised child.

In a field of Patrick Gorrey's Clondoogan there is supposed to be a stray sod. If a person stands on this sod he or she will not get out of the field that night.
Once an old woman named Mrs. Malone, was going home from Patrick Gorrey's one night with a can of milk. She had to cross this field as it was the shortest way. The night was very dark and she could hardly see her way. She thought of the Stray Sod but considered it was a lie. When she was half-way across she found she was not going towards the gap. She turned in the direction of it and walked straight for it but she could not get it. She decided to go all round the hedge so that she could not miss it, but she found that she was on the opposite side of the field so she went back to the other side and tried to get through the hedge when a voice said "Dont come out here." She tried to scream but she could not. When morning came she was in the field still. She went home and never went out in the night any more.

My grandfather Christopher Bannon was going home from work one evening and he crossed this field in which the "stray sod" - the same field in which

There is a fort in a field outside Ballynacargy, belonging to a butcher named Gibney, and every night the fairies are supposed to be there.
There is a path going through this fort, and there is a stray sod on this path, but it is not known in what place this stray sod is, but if you out you foot on it, you will be led astray.
A story is told of a boy named Gaynor who lives in Ballynacargy being led astray one night coming home from a wake.
He is supposed to have stepped on the stray sod, and his father found him afterwards near Lakenstown about two miles away at a river named Gurtheen.
He was just going to jump this