August 2, 2025 • 16 mins
Provides an in-depth look into the folklore surrounding leprechauns, exploring their origins, characteristics, and behaviors within Irish mythology and beyond. It discusses their **physical appearance, living habits, professions** like shoemaking and distilling, and their **social structures** including different regional clans. The text also examines their **interactions with humans**, from mischievous pranks to their association with **hidden treasures**, and how their image has **evolved in modern media and advertising**. Furthermore, it **compares leprechauns to similar mythical creatures** like brownies and dwarves, shedding light on the broader spectrum of **"little people" in Celtic traditions**.
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You can listen and download our episodes for free on more than 10 different platforms:
https://linktr.ee/book_shelter
Get the Book now from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/-/he/Bob-Curran-ebook/dp/B07CMMGVLL?&linkCode=ll1&tag=cvthunderx-20&linkId=8936edd7afa0655b46c958d4a8c58726&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the deep dive. We take a whole stack
of sources, pull out the really important stuff, and basically
give you the shortcut to knowing what's what. Today, we're
diving into a world, well a world you think you know,
but it's probably way stranger than you imagine. If you're
picturing the little guy in green pot of gold rainbow,
prepare for a bit of a shock. What if that
(00:21):
whole image is just really clever pr Exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
We're looking into Bob Kerrn's book Leprechauns today and it
really takes you into their hidden world. You get these encounters,
these surprising truths behind the fairy tales.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
We all kind of know some dark stuff. Actually.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Okay, so forget the lucky charms guy for a minute.
Kurrn says, right off the bat, Leprechauns are solitary fairies,
part of the other world, right this place beyond our site,
usually invisible.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
That's the idea. They're not just cute characters. They've got
this surprisingly deep origin story. It's pretty fascinating. Well, the
tradition goes, they weren't good enough for heaven, but not
really bad enough for hell either. They refuse to choose
sides back in the big conflict God and lucifer Ah.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
So they stayed neutral pretty much.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
And that refusal that in decision, it shapes their whole nature.
Complex contradictory. You see it pop up again and again.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
That actually explains quite a bit about their reputation and
current manages. They might not even be that ancient and
Irish lore like seventh or eighth century appearances.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, which suggests they might have been sort of folded
into existing myths, maybe imported, as he puts it, not
purely homegrown.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Perhaps.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Okay, let's strip away the green suit and the buckle shoes.
Then what do they actually look like according to the folklore?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well, definitely not stylish, think untidy, disheveled. Their clothes are practical,
mostly old green coats, sometimes this bottle blue color, red breeches,
woolen stockings, wide brimmed hats, often kind of askew.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And they're touchy about their height.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Apparently sometimes where are these ridiculously high heels to look taller?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It's quite funny really.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So the clothes, the greens and browns. Yeah, it's about camouflage,
not fashion.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Absolutely blending in darting through bushes, muddy pads unseen, which
kind of fits with their personal habits too.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Oh, not big on baths.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Not at all.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Curran describes this aversion to water, so sweaty, strong personal stench,
made worse because they smoke these little clay pits dooties
filled with nasty stuff like dried bird droppings. Okay, and
some apparently use their long, greasy hair like a sleeping.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Bag or cover.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Wow. Definitely bursting the bubble on the cheerful clean image there.
So where do these fragrant individuals hang out?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
It's interesting, not always deep woods or whatever. They're adaptable.
Often they take over existing human spots, ruined houses, old barns,
even fallen.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Churches, fallen churches really, because that's.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
One mentioned on Sanday Island, said to house one. So
they're not just out in the wild. They're kind of
on the fringes of our world, sometimes right beside us.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And there are stories about that, aren't there Humans having
to deal with them even if they can't see them.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Crent Tell's this great story about Nail Hogan, a fisherman
near Kilgobin. He had this ruined castle nearby and he
had to leave part of his catch every day for
this thing inside the thing. He never saw it, never
saw it, only heard its voice demanding its share. It
really shows their unseen presence and how people had to,
you know, keep them happy, placate them.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Makes sense. But they do live in natural places too,
oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Open spaces, ancient mounds, tumuli, wraths, forts, people call them
different things, dry caves, burrows, under tree roots.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
And the classic sign, of course is hearing that little.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Tapping sound their hammer making.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Shoes, exactly the fairy cobbler at work. That's one tradition
that seems pretty strong.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Okay, so we've got these solitary, sort of smelly, hidden beings.
What fuels them? Is it just the gold obsession? What
do they eat or drink?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Ah? Well, drink is a keyword. Their number one thing protein,
ill irish moonshine, strong stuff. Apparently they make it themselves often, Yeah,
in old pots, rusty kettles, using whatever available rubbish is around. Again,
Hygien's not top of the list, and they drink a lot,
staggering amounts, enough to knock out several humans, Kurran says.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
They stay surprisingly agile, doesn't seem to slow them down much.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
What else any actual food?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
They'll scavenge human scraps like bread crusts, but they also
go for things like mushrooms, uh, fairy butter which is
actually a poisonous fungus for us, and silver reed roots,
but honestly, food seems secondary.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Protein is the main event, runs on moonshine and mushrooms
at it.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Now, the big question are they all male? That's the
common idea, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
That's the common belief. Yes, yeah, And for the Irish
Leprekon specifically, Current says there's no real evidence of females elsewhere. Well,
if you look at related figures like the Scottish grogosh
or the phase in Brittany, they are often female and
they share some traits like shape shifting, so the picture
gets a murky when you look wider.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So if there are no Irish female leprechauns, where do
new ones come from?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
How do they exist?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
That's a central mystery. One strong theory, Current explores that
they're actually outcasts from the main fairy world, like stunted,
ugly fairy children who didn't fit in with the beautiful,
graceful tuathaday Donna in types outcasts.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
That sounds harsh, it is.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
He tells this really sad story, the fairy Mother from
County Mayo. A fairy mother has a child with a human,
but the fairy folk reject it. In despair, she throws
the baby at a church font and it just dissolves
into smoke.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, it's a powerful image.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Suggests these rejected, maybe mixed origin children become the solitary leprechauns.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Their looks sometimes hint.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
At it to red or fair hair, suggesting human or
Viking links, maybe different from the usual ethereal fairy look.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And their personality fits that outcast idea too.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Totally solitary, surly practical, not into the fancy balls and
leisure fairy courts. They're the grumpy workers, maybe alienated.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Okay, that paints a picture rather lonely one. And how
long do these grumpy outcasts stick around? Are they immortal?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
They claim huge lifespans, seriously ancient. They'll talk about remembering Cromwell,
who they hate, by the way, or ancient kings like
Brian Borrew who they love, Nile of the Nine Hostages
way of act.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
How do you know if they're telling the truth. They're tricksters, right.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Right, So here's the trick to tricking them. You feed
them wrong information like praise Cromwell. They get so indignant,
so outraged, they start correcting you with specific details and
accidentally reveal how old they really are.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Huh, that's clever, using their own pride against them exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
There's even a mention of a cornish figure, the toll
Carn troll, claiming to remember building Solomon's temple guarding this
mirror of the ages. So yeah, they claim a men's age.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Okay, beyond the famous shoemaking, mending shoes for the other fairies,
the tapping hammer sound what o their jobs do they do? Well?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
They're linked to building things too, ancient mounds, those little
stone houses you find in places like Orkney, and metalwork,
not just shoes, fixing old pots, pans, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
But there's a darker side to the metal work, isn't there. Yeah,
you mentioned dark truths earlier.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yes, this is pretty chilling actually. Kerran describes how they
sometimes take over abandoned human forges. Yeah, and then they
magically forced the ghosts of recently dead blacksmiths to work
for them. Ghosts making them shoe fairy horses, which are
often just sticks or brooms enchanted to look like horses.
He tells the story about a guy, Anthony Hines, who
supposedly saw it happening on Halloween, ghosts of known local
(07:36):
blacksmiths being hit with switches forced to work by leprechauns.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Okay, that is seriously dark. Definitely not the Disney version,
not even close. So these potentially cruel beings. Do they
have any lighter side music arts?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Surprisingly, yes, it's another contradiction. Despite the grumpiness, they apparently
love music. They have incredible memories for ancient two un
supposedly brought by the Tuatha Dedian on long ago. The
Celtic harp is a big instrument for them.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
But knowing them, there's probably a catch to their music too.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Always a cash Kerran warns their music can be dangerous.
It can literally compel you to dance until you drop
from exhaustion. The Leprechaun's reel, they call it.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And didn't someone try to steal their music?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Piper O'Malley from Mayo classic cautionary tale, he overheard a
beautiful tune, stole it, became famous, tried to steal another
one and vanished into a cave forever. Now people say
you can sometimes hear his sad piping from the coast.
Don't mess with their tunes.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Message received, So they have music, any parties, social life.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
They do have specific gathering times. May Eve, Halloween, that's
a big one. When the veil between worlds is thin.
They get up to maximum mischief, then pranks on farmers,
letting livestock out, stealing gates, that sort.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Of thing, classic rural.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Mischief, right, and they gather on Saint Brigid's Day, Saint
Patrick's Day. But Kurran suggests these are mostly just excuses
for well, heavy drinking and maybe trading stolen goods mislaid items,
they'd probably call them, which.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Brings us neatly to the gold, the most famous part.
It's not just a pot at the rainbow's end? Is it?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
No?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Much bigger than that?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
The idea is that each leprechaun guards a piece of
Ireland's secret wealth, hidden treasure from ages past, kings, vikings,
normans just rich misers who buried their loot millions of
pounds worth assozedly.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And they're tricky with money themselves.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Oh absolutely. The classic setup is two pouches. One has
a silver shilling that always magically reappears after you spend it.
The other has a gold coin that turns into leaves
or dust once you accept it as a bribe or.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Payment, designed to frustrate greedy humans exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And speaking of outwitting humans, there's that legendary story.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
The one with the tree.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
That's the one man from Carrie catches a leprechaun, forces
him to show where his gold is buried under a
specific tree. The man marks the tree, maybe ties a
red ribbon or cloth around it, then lets the lepreca
go to fetch as shovel. He comes back and the
leprechaun has tied an identical ribbon on every single tree
in the woods, completely outsmart at him.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Classic leprechaun cunning.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
You gotta admire the nerve. But there's a dark side
to their money too.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Kurran mentions this belief that fairy money can actually damn
your soul. Some leprechauns might try to force you to
take their gold, hoping to condemn you. It adds another
layer of danger.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Okay, So we have these solitary, tricky, boozy, sometimes nasty
gold guarding beings. How does a whole society of them work?
Do they have structure?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Surprisingly yes, Kurran describes quite an organized system despite their
unruly nature. They have distinct clan groups, often regional. Each
has its own leader called himself himself.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I like that, and all the.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Local himselfs apparently are allegiance to a sort of national leader,
the grand himself or fergenon Iam.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And these clients are different, very.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Different personalities like Ulster leprechauns. Laugh Men are great storytellers,
but also so aggressive, sporty, sometimes even sinister. Some supposedly
wear no clothes, just wiry fur. Connaught ones are serious
academic types. Leinster are wild, drunken, dishonest, but rich from
Norman times. Meath leprechauns or snobby diplomats, though their diplomacy
(11:18):
involved clubs and knives, and Munster ones are the most approachable,
fast talkers, but unreliable.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Oh a whole complex society? Do they have laws? How
do they settle disputes between say, a drunk Leinster leprechan
and a snobby meath one.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
They do have laws, though unwritten communal rules enforced by
tribunals of judges called casters. These courts sound chaotic, usually
fueled by loads of protein brought by the community.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Justice by committee, while drunk sounds fair.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Huh. Well, their judgments are final, no appeals, usually fines
or maybe a beating with a special staff of banchal.
And get this, messing with humans isn't a crime in
their courts, but being too sober that can get you
in trouble.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Being too sober is a okay. What about actual religion?
The church? How did they view these beings?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
It was complicated. Mostly the church denounced them servants of
the devil, fallen angels, that sort of thing, but they
also acknowledged that leprechauns seemed to want salvation, sometimes like
trying to catch drops of holy water during baptisms.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Really they wanted to be saved.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
There's this incredibly poignant story Current tells. A leprechaun gets
a human servant Ned to ask Priest Ohagen if creatures
like him have any hope. The priest says, basically, if
you have even one drop of Adam's blood, you have hope.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
And the leprechaun didn't.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Ned relays the message and the leprechaun lets out this long,
terrible sad cry realizing he has no human blood, no hope.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Then he just vanishes.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
It's heartbreaking, really shows this deep sorrow they carry.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
That puts a whole different spin on them. Did the
church try to fight them exorcisms?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yes, especially when leprechaun's got malicious poltergeks stuff, throwing stones,
starting small fires, pinching kids, singing rude songs. Early on,
Holy Men seemed quite effective with exorcisms, but later Kurran
notes leprechauns got tougher, more resistant, even started mocking the priests.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
And they could possess people by being eaten in salads.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
That was one belief. Yes, or influence people, especially clergy
if they send a real spiritual battleground in a way.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Okay, fast forward to now urban sprawl technology. How have
leprechauns coped? You'd think they're old haunts, the mounds, the
lone trees are disappearing.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
They've adapted. It seems belief might have waned in some ways,
but they've found new niches, culverts, drains under cities, abandoned buildings,
especially old pubs.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Old pubs why pubs?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Current suggests they like the lingering atmosphere, the jollity, maybe
the faint fumes of old booze.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
That makes a weird kind of sense. Have their pranks updated.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Too, apparently so get this current suggests they've become skilled electricians, Yeah,
leeching power off the grid, causing glitches and phones, electrical systems,
modern mischief for a modern age, making washing machines, flood
messing with computers, traffic lights.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
They've kept up so.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
They're still around causing digital chaos now. Yeah, but they've
also become well famous masters of pr Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
They somehow managed this huge image shift from grumpy, hidden
fairry to the symbol of Ireland, especially.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
For the diaspora. You know Irish people abroad.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
You see them everywhere, tetowels, souvenirs, ads, lucky.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Charms, Cereal, the Boston Celtic's mascot. It's the ultimate irony,
isn't it. This jolly, well dressed, friendly image is the
opposite of the traditional lore we've been talking about, but
it's worked globally successful branding, and.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
There are movies attractions.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Yep, Darby O'Gill and the Little People Back in fifty nine,
the much much darker Leprechaun horror films. Then you've got
the National Leprechaun Museum in Dublin, that Fairy Cavern and
Carlingford where the pub owner claimed he found a tiny
suit in bones.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
And that guy, the leprechaun.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Whisperer, Kevin Woods, yeah, claims he talks to them.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
He even campaigned to get them.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
EU protected status in two thousand and nine and holds
leprechan hunts. So yeah, they're firmly part of the modern scene,
real or imagic.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
That's quite a journey from grumpy outcasts to EU protection
and cereal boxes.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Their ability to adapt, to hide in plain sight, maybe
even manipulate their own image.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
It's quite something.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
So wrapping this up Bob Curran's book really does shatter
the simple image. Leprechans are way more complex, full of contradictions,
not just as stereotype. Are the remnants of an old race,
fallen gods still out there in the ditches.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Who knows, But despite being frankly quite disagreeable a lot
of the time, there's something fascinating there. Their lack of
vanity is almost refreshing today. Their carefulness with money, their
connection to the land. They don't wreck the place to
get their gold, unlike us. Sometimes they're guardians in their
own weird way.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, they feel like a link to something older, a
sense of history of place in a world that changes
so fast. They kind of are the landscape in a way,
if and protein included.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
They remind you that maybe the most valuable things are
always shiny and obvious. Sometimes the real gold is hidden.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You have to look closely.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So here's a thought to leave you with. In our
world so obsessed with image, with quick winds, maybe the Leprechaun,
hiding away, deeply tied to the earth, reminds us what
actually lasts, what hidden gold, What deeper truths might we
find if we stop looking at the surface and start
looking closer, the way the Leprechaun forces us to
Welcome to the deep dive. We take a whole stack
of sources, pull out the really important stuff, and basically
give you the shortcut to knowing what's what. Today, we're
diving into a world, well a world you think you know,
but it's probably way stranger than you imagine. If you're
picturing the little guy in green pot of gold rainbow,
prepare for a bit of a shock. What if that
(00:21):
whole image is just really clever pr Exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
We're looking into Bob Kerrn's book Leprechauns today and it
really takes you into their hidden world. You get these encounters,
these surprising truths behind the fairy tales.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
We all kind of know some dark stuff. Actually.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Okay, so forget the lucky charms guy for a minute.
Kurrn says, right off the bat, Leprechauns are solitary fairies,
part of the other world, right this place beyond our site,
usually invisible.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
That's the idea. They're not just cute characters. They've got
this surprisingly deep origin story. It's pretty fascinating. Well, the
tradition goes, they weren't good enough for heaven, but not
really bad enough for hell either. They refuse to choose
sides back in the big conflict God and lucifer Ah.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
So they stayed neutral pretty much.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
And that refusal that in decision, it shapes their whole nature.
Complex contradictory. You see it pop up again and again.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
That actually explains quite a bit about their reputation and
current manages. They might not even be that ancient and
Irish lore like seventh or eighth century appearances.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, which suggests they might have been sort of folded
into existing myths, maybe imported, as he puts it, not
purely homegrown.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Perhaps.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Okay, let's strip away the green suit and the buckle shoes.
Then what do they actually look like according to the folklore?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well, definitely not stylish, think untidy, disheveled. Their clothes are practical,
mostly old green coats, sometimes this bottle blue color, red breeches,
woolen stockings, wide brimmed hats, often kind of askew.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And they're touchy about their height.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Apparently sometimes where are these ridiculously high heels to look taller?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
It's quite funny really.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So the clothes, the greens and browns. Yeah, it's about camouflage,
not fashion.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Absolutely blending in darting through bushes, muddy pads unseen, which
kind of fits with their personal habits too.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Oh, not big on baths.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Not at all.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Curran describes this aversion to water, so sweaty, strong personal stench,
made worse because they smoke these little clay pits dooties
filled with nasty stuff like dried bird droppings. Okay, and
some apparently use their long, greasy hair like a sleeping.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Bag or cover.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Wow. Definitely bursting the bubble on the cheerful clean image there.
So where do these fragrant individuals hang out?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
It's interesting, not always deep woods or whatever. They're adaptable.
Often they take over existing human spots, ruined houses, old barns,
even fallen.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Churches, fallen churches really, because that's.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
One mentioned on Sanday Island, said to house one. So
they're not just out in the wild. They're kind of
on the fringes of our world, sometimes right beside us.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
And there are stories about that, aren't there Humans having
to deal with them even if they can't see them.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Crent Tell's this great story about Nail Hogan, a fisherman
near Kilgobin. He had this ruined castle nearby and he
had to leave part of his catch every day for
this thing inside the thing. He never saw it, never
saw it, only heard its voice demanding its share. It
really shows their unseen presence and how people had to,
you know, keep them happy, placate them.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Makes sense. But they do live in natural places too,
oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Open spaces, ancient mounds, tumuli, wraths, forts, people call them
different things, dry caves, burrows, under tree roots.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
And the classic sign, of course is hearing that little.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Tapping sound their hammer making.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Shoes, exactly the fairy cobbler at work. That's one tradition
that seems pretty strong.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Okay, so we've got these solitary, sort of smelly, hidden beings.
What fuels them? Is it just the gold obsession? What
do they eat or drink?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Ah? Well, drink is a keyword. Their number one thing protein,
ill irish moonshine, strong stuff. Apparently they make it themselves often, Yeah,
in old pots, rusty kettles, using whatever available rubbish is around. Again,
Hygien's not top of the list, and they drink a lot,
staggering amounts, enough to knock out several humans, Kurran says.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
They stay surprisingly agile, doesn't seem to slow them down much.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
What else any actual food?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
They'll scavenge human scraps like bread crusts, but they also
go for things like mushrooms, uh, fairy butter which is
actually a poisonous fungus for us, and silver reed roots,
but honestly, food seems secondary.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Protein is the main event, runs on moonshine and mushrooms
at it.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Now, the big question are they all male? That's the
common idea, isn't it.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
That's the common belief. Yes, yeah, And for the Irish
Leprekon specifically, Current says there's no real evidence of females elsewhere. Well,
if you look at related figures like the Scottish grogosh
or the phase in Brittany, they are often female and
they share some traits like shape shifting, so the picture
gets a murky when you look wider.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So if there are no Irish female leprechauns, where do
new ones come from?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
How do they exist?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
That's a central mystery. One strong theory, Current explores that
they're actually outcasts from the main fairy world, like stunted,
ugly fairy children who didn't fit in with the beautiful,
graceful tuathaday Donna in types outcasts.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
That sounds harsh, it is.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
He tells this really sad story, the fairy Mother from
County Mayo. A fairy mother has a child with a human,
but the fairy folk reject it. In despair, she throws
the baby at a church font and it just dissolves
into smoke.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, it's a powerful image.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Suggests these rejected, maybe mixed origin children become the solitary leprechauns.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Their looks sometimes hint.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
At it to red or fair hair, suggesting human or
Viking links, maybe different from the usual ethereal fairy look.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And their personality fits that outcast idea too.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Totally solitary, surly practical, not into the fancy balls and
leisure fairy courts. They're the grumpy workers, maybe alienated.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Okay, that paints a picture rather lonely one. And how
long do these grumpy outcasts stick around? Are they immortal?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
They claim huge lifespans, seriously ancient. They'll talk about remembering Cromwell,
who they hate, by the way, or ancient kings like
Brian Borrew who they love, Nile of the Nine Hostages
way of act.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
How do you know if they're telling the truth. They're tricksters, right.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Right, So here's the trick to tricking them. You feed
them wrong information like praise Cromwell. They get so indignant,
so outraged, they start correcting you with specific details and
accidentally reveal how old they really are.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Huh, that's clever, using their own pride against them exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
There's even a mention of a cornish figure, the toll
Carn troll, claiming to remember building Solomon's temple guarding this
mirror of the ages. So yeah, they claim a men's age.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Okay, beyond the famous shoemaking, mending shoes for the other fairies,
the tapping hammer sound what o their jobs do they do? Well?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
They're linked to building things too, ancient mounds, those little
stone houses you find in places like Orkney, and metalwork,
not just shoes, fixing old pots, pans, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
But there's a darker side to the metal work, isn't there. Yeah,
you mentioned dark truths earlier.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yes, this is pretty chilling actually. Kerran describes how they
sometimes take over abandoned human forges. Yeah, and then they
magically forced the ghosts of recently dead blacksmiths to work
for them. Ghosts making them shoe fairy horses, which are
often just sticks or brooms enchanted to look like horses.
He tells the story about a guy, Anthony Hines, who
supposedly saw it happening on Halloween, ghosts of known local
(07:36):
blacksmiths being hit with switches forced to work by leprechauns.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Okay, that is seriously dark. Definitely not the Disney version,
not even close. So these potentially cruel beings. Do they
have any lighter side music arts?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Surprisingly, yes, it's another contradiction. Despite the grumpiness, they apparently
love music. They have incredible memories for ancient two un
supposedly brought by the Tuatha Dedian on long ago. The
Celtic harp is a big instrument for them.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
But knowing them, there's probably a catch to their music too.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Always a cash Kerran warns their music can be dangerous.
It can literally compel you to dance until you drop
from exhaustion. The Leprechaun's reel, they call it.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And didn't someone try to steal their music?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Piper O'Malley from Mayo classic cautionary tale, he overheard a
beautiful tune, stole it, became famous, tried to steal another
one and vanished into a cave forever. Now people say
you can sometimes hear his sad piping from the coast.
Don't mess with their tunes.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Message received, So they have music, any parties, social life.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
They do have specific gathering times. May Eve, Halloween, that's
a big one. When the veil between worlds is thin.
They get up to maximum mischief, then pranks on farmers,
letting livestock out, stealing gates, that sort.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Of thing, classic rural.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Mischief, right, and they gather on Saint Brigid's Day, Saint
Patrick's Day. But Kurran suggests these are mostly just excuses
for well, heavy drinking and maybe trading stolen goods mislaid items,
they'd probably call them, which.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Brings us neatly to the gold, the most famous part.
It's not just a pot at the rainbow's end? Is it?
Speaker 2 (09:12):
No?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Much bigger than that?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
The idea is that each leprechaun guards a piece of
Ireland's secret wealth, hidden treasure from ages past, kings, vikings,
normans just rich misers who buried their loot millions of
pounds worth assozedly.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And they're tricky with money themselves.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Oh absolutely. The classic setup is two pouches. One has
a silver shilling that always magically reappears after you spend it.
The other has a gold coin that turns into leaves
or dust once you accept it as a bribe or.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Payment, designed to frustrate greedy humans exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And speaking of outwitting humans, there's that legendary story.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
The one with the tree.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
That's the one man from Carrie catches a leprechaun, forces
him to show where his gold is buried under a
specific tree. The man marks the tree, maybe ties a
red ribbon or cloth around it, then lets the lepreca
go to fetch as shovel. He comes back and the
leprechaun has tied an identical ribbon on every single tree
in the woods, completely outsmart at him.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Classic leprechaun cunning.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
You gotta admire the nerve. But there's a dark side
to their money too.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Kurran mentions this belief that fairy money can actually damn
your soul. Some leprechauns might try to force you to
take their gold, hoping to condemn you. It adds another
layer of danger.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Okay, So we have these solitary, tricky, boozy, sometimes nasty
gold guarding beings. How does a whole society of them work?
Do they have structure?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Surprisingly yes, Kurran describes quite an organized system despite their
unruly nature. They have distinct clan groups, often regional. Each
has its own leader called himself himself.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I like that, and all the.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Local himselfs apparently are allegiance to a sort of national leader,
the grand himself or fergenon Iam.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And these clients are different, very.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Different personalities like Ulster leprechauns. Laugh Men are great storytellers,
but also so aggressive, sporty, sometimes even sinister. Some supposedly
wear no clothes, just wiry fur. Connaught ones are serious
academic types. Leinster are wild, drunken, dishonest, but rich from
Norman times. Meath leprechauns or snobby diplomats, though their diplomacy
(11:18):
involved clubs and knives, and Munster ones are the most approachable,
fast talkers, but unreliable.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Oh a whole complex society? Do they have laws? How
do they settle disputes between say, a drunk Leinster leprechan
and a snobby meath one.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
They do have laws, though unwritten communal rules enforced by
tribunals of judges called casters. These courts sound chaotic, usually
fueled by loads of protein brought by the community.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Justice by committee, while drunk sounds fair.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Huh. Well, their judgments are final, no appeals, usually fines
or maybe a beating with a special staff of banchal.
And get this, messing with humans isn't a crime in
their courts, but being too sober that can get you
in trouble.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Being too sober is a okay. What about actual religion?
The church? How did they view these beings?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
It was complicated. Mostly the church denounced them servants of
the devil, fallen angels, that sort of thing, but they
also acknowledged that leprechauns seemed to want salvation, sometimes like
trying to catch drops of holy water during baptisms.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Really they wanted to be saved.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
There's this incredibly poignant story Current tells. A leprechaun gets
a human servant Ned to ask Priest Ohagen if creatures
like him have any hope. The priest says, basically, if
you have even one drop of Adam's blood, you have hope.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
And the leprechaun didn't.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Ned relays the message and the leprechaun lets out this long,
terrible sad cry realizing he has no human blood, no hope.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Then he just vanishes.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
It's heartbreaking, really shows this deep sorrow they carry.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
That puts a whole different spin on them. Did the
church try to fight them exorcisms?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yes, especially when leprechaun's got malicious poltergeks stuff, throwing stones,
starting small fires, pinching kids, singing rude songs. Early on,
Holy Men seemed quite effective with exorcisms, but later Kurran
notes leprechauns got tougher, more resistant, even started mocking the priests.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
And they could possess people by being eaten in salads.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
That was one belief. Yes, or influence people, especially clergy
if they send a real spiritual battleground in a way.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Okay, fast forward to now urban sprawl technology. How have
leprechauns coped? You'd think they're old haunts, the mounds, the
lone trees are disappearing.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
They've adapted. It seems belief might have waned in some ways,
but they've found new niches, culverts, drains under cities, abandoned buildings,
especially old pubs.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Old pubs why pubs?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Current suggests they like the lingering atmosphere, the jollity, maybe
the faint fumes of old booze.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
That makes a weird kind of sense. Have their pranks updated.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Too, apparently so get this current suggests they've become skilled electricians, Yeah,
leeching power off the grid, causing glitches and phones, electrical systems,
modern mischief for a modern age, making washing machines, flood
messing with computers, traffic lights.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
They've kept up so.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
They're still around causing digital chaos now. Yeah, but they've
also become well famous masters of pr Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
They somehow managed this huge image shift from grumpy, hidden
fairry to the symbol of Ireland, especially.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
For the diaspora. You know Irish people abroad.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
You see them everywhere, tetowels, souvenirs, ads, lucky.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Charms, Cereal, the Boston Celtic's mascot. It's the ultimate irony,
isn't it. This jolly, well dressed, friendly image is the
opposite of the traditional lore we've been talking about, but
it's worked globally successful branding, and.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
There are movies attractions.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Yep, Darby O'Gill and the Little People Back in fifty nine,
the much much darker Leprechaun horror films. Then you've got
the National Leprechaun Museum in Dublin, that Fairy Cavern and
Carlingford where the pub owner claimed he found a tiny
suit in bones.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
And that guy, the leprechaun.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Whisperer, Kevin Woods, yeah, claims he talks to them.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
He even campaigned to get them.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
EU protected status in two thousand and nine and holds
leprechan hunts. So yeah, they're firmly part of the modern scene,
real or imagic.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
That's quite a journey from grumpy outcasts to EU protection
and cereal boxes.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Their ability to adapt, to hide in plain sight, maybe
even manipulate their own image.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
It's quite something.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
So wrapping this up Bob Curran's book really does shatter
the simple image. Leprechans are way more complex, full of contradictions,
not just as stereotype. Are the remnants of an old race,
fallen gods still out there in the ditches.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Who knows, But despite being frankly quite disagreeable a lot
of the time, there's something fascinating there. Their lack of
vanity is almost refreshing today. Their carefulness with money, their
connection to the land. They don't wreck the place to
get their gold, unlike us. Sometimes they're guardians in their
own weird way.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, they feel like a link to something older, a
sense of history of place in a world that changes
so fast. They kind of are the landscape in a way,
if and protein included.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
They remind you that maybe the most valuable things are
always shiny and obvious. Sometimes the real gold is hidden.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You have to look closely.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So here's a thought to leave you with. In our
world so obsessed with image, with quick winds, maybe the Leprechaun,
hiding away, deeply tied to the earth, reminds us what
actually lasts, what hidden gold, What deeper truths might we
find if we stop looking at the surface and start
looking closer, the way the Leprechaun forces us to
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