Mysterious Celtic Mythology in American Folklore - Hardcover

When Celts from across Britain and Europe migrated to America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they brought with them religious beliefs and superstitions from the old world. These stories of spirits, fairies, demons, and other magical beings were adapted to suit the early settlers' new surroundings and transformed into what America thinks of as its earliest legends.

From lost lands and hidden wealth to witches, vampires, and unexplained dark creatures, author Bob Curran takes the reader on a mythic tour of Celtic legend and its various embodiments in America. The story of Sarah Tillinghast and the vampires of Rhode Island is one of nineteen regionally defined tales included in this collection. Others explore poltergeists, the so-called second sight, the strange powers of conjure man Dr. Buzzard, and the alleged gateway to hell. The origins of such lore and their development in American legend reveal how a modern society still clings to the ancient consciousness that seeks to understand the mysterious world in which we live.

Bob Curran is a prolific writer and an expert on Celtic culture and folklore. He has penned more than fifty books in eleven languages on mythology and history. Curran teaches in Ireland and gives speeches throughout Northern Europe and the United States on folklore and education. Born in Northern Ireland, he held a series of odd jobs- including gravedigger, journalist, script writer, mortuary attendant, and radio programmer-in the United Kingdom and the Americas before returning to his native land. Curran has also worked on underground publications, including Oz, a counterculture magazine in London, and as an educational and cultural adviser for the government of Ireland. He lives with his wife and family in Coleraine, County Derry, Northern Ireland.

Tales of vampires, headless horsemen, witches, devil dogs, and banshees can all be traced back to the ancient Celts. Their mythology included a mystic otherworld from which the souls of the dead, malevolent spirits, and fairies could influence the mortal realm and this was said to be the source of such supernatural beings. Many legends grew from these primitive beliefs and crossed the ocean with immigrants to the New World. In the wilderness of an untamed America, old legends found new life and were adapted by settlers to explain the strange land in which they now found themselves. From Tennessee's Roan Mountain Shapeshifters and the Quaker Seeress of Massachusetts to California's Lost World, Bob Curran explores haunting regional tales and how Celtic mythology has become America's own.

Bob Curran is a prolific writer and expert on Celtic culture and folklore, penning more than fifty books in eleven languages on the subject. He teaches in Ireland and gives speeches throughout Northern Europe and the United States on folklore and education. Curran lives with his family in Coleraine, County Derry, Northern Ireland.