The Abhartach

Before you read

Slaghtaverty, County Derry

The story of the Abhartach was recorded in 1875 by the scholar Patrick Weston Joyce in his book The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places, to explain the name of a place called Slaghtaverty (Sleacht Abhartaigh, “the grave of the Abhartach”), near Garvagh in County Derry. A large stone and an old hawthorn tree still stand there, and local people have long been reluctant to disturb it.

According to the story, the Abhartach was a dwarf and a powerful magician, a cruel chieftain hated by his people. When he was killed, he rose from his grave and demanded a bowl of blood from the veins of his subjects to keep himself alive. He was killed again, and rose again. At last a neighbouring chieftain, Cathán, on the advice of a holy man or druid, killed him with a sword of yew wood, buried him upside down, surrounded the grave with thorns, and placed a great stone on top. He never rose again.

The Dracula question. Bram Stoker, who wrote Dracula (1897), was born in Dublin, and since the late 20th century it has often been suggested that he knew the Abhartach story. However, there is no direct evidence for this: Stoker’s surviving notes for the novel show that he took the name “Dracula” and much of his background from books about Romania and eastern Europe, and many scholars think the Irish connection is speculation. Stories of the dead returning to harm the living are found all over Europe.

A good story deserves to be told well; a claim deserves to be checked.

The story

Retold for this lesson from the account in Patrick Weston Joyce, The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places (1875), and local tradition.

Long ago, in the north of Ireland, in the hills near what is now Garvagh in County Derry, there lived a chieftain called the Abhartach. He was a dwarf, small and twisted, but he was a powerful magician and a cruel ruler, and his people hated and feared him. At last they could bear it no longer, and they asked a neighbouring chieftain, Cathán, to kill him. Cathán did, and the Abhartach was buried standing up, as chieftains were, and the people celebrated.

But the next day the Abhartach was back. He walked out of his grave, pale and terrible, and went among his people, demanding that each of them cut their wrist and fill a bowl with blood from their veins, so that he could drink it and stay alive. Terrified, they obeyed. Cathán came again and killed him again, and buried him again. And again he rose, and again he demanded blood.

In despair, Cathán went to a holy man, some say a druid, who lived in the forest, and asked him what to do. “He cannot be killed,” said the holy man, “but he can be held down. Kill him with a sword made of yew wood. Bury him upside down, with his head deep in the earth. Surround his grave with thorns, and put a great stone on top. Then he will never rise again.”

Cathán had a sword made of yew. He killed the Abhartach with it, buried him upside down, had the grave surrounded with thorns, and placed a huge stone on top. And the Abhartach never rose again. The stone is still there, at a place called Slaghtaverty, the grave of the Abhartach, with an old hawthorn tree growing beside it. Local people say that when workmen once tried to clear the land, their tools broke and a chain snapped, and nobody has tried again.

Talk and write

Discussion and writing

Check the claim. In groups, find two claims on the internet about the origins of a famous story or monster. Report them using the language of evidence and doubt.

Discuss. 1. Why are vampire stories found in so many countries? 2. Why do people like to believe that a famous book was inspired by a local legend? 3. Should old graves and fairy places be protected?

Write (150–180 words). The grave at Slaghtaverty. Write a short article for a travel magazine about the legend, using the passive, have something done, and careful language about the Dracula claim.