Speaker 1: There's nothing better than feeling comfortable in your own shoes,
Speaker 1: and that doesn't mean flopping down on the count with
Speaker 1: bunny slippers. Maybe you're a parent raising a little rock star,
Speaker 1: or a techno man working from anywhere and jumping from
Speaker 1: one thing to the next. Whoever you are, All Bird
Speaker 1: wants you to be comfortable in your actual shoes too.
Speaker 1: Their wool runners, pipers, and loungers are designed for a
Speaker 1: level of coziness that makes you feel like you can
Speaker 1: do anything. You might even forget you're wearing them. And
Speaker 1: their shoes are so stylish they go perfectly with a
Speaker 1: wear whatever I want attitude. All Birds is all about
Speaker 1: loving mother Nature too, because no one wants to leave
Speaker 1: a bad footprint. Each shoe is carefully crafted from natural
Speaker 1: materials that tread lightly on our planet, from ZQ certified
Speaker 1: marino wool to a bouncing midsill made from sweet foam,
Speaker 1: the world's first carbon negative EVA material made from sugarcane.
Speaker 1: In the Celtic tradition, two days of the year considered
Speaker 1: more important than any other. Like the solstices and equinoxes
Speaker 1: recognized by other ancient cultures, these two days were vital
Speaker 1: waypoints of the calendar. But unlike those other cultures, the
Speaker 1: Celts drew their markers not from movements in the celestial plane,
Speaker 1: but rather from a more earth bound and elemental understanding
Speaker 1: of seasonal change. Labieltony, most commonly held on May the first,
Speaker 1: marks the arrival of summer and its nourishing warmth, the
Speaker 1: livestock driven out to feast on the rich green pastures,
Speaker 1: and the countryside resplendent in bloom. Six months later, it
Speaker 1: is the turn of Sourn to usher in an altogether
Speaker 1: different part of the year, the season of winter and death,
Speaker 1: where green becomes brown and spindley trees stands skeletal and bare,
Speaker 1: the fields long since harvested, turned barren and dark. Traditionally
Speaker 1: held on November first, Like Labieltine, Souren is a fire festival,
Speaker 1: and one that is thought also to mark the beginning
Speaker 1: of the Celtic year. And so it is that on
Speaker 1: every October thirty first, on Sourn Eve, a great fire
Speaker 1: is kindled to celebrate the final cycle of life before rebirth,
Speaker 1: and from this sacred flame all fires will be relt
Speaker 1: to burn anew in the hearth of every home. Today,
Speaker 1: this ancient new Year's Eve, through the mangle of cultural
Speaker 1: appropriation and linguistical nuance, is perhaps better known as Halloween,
Speaker 1: and although its meaning may have changed over the years,
Speaker 1: it has always remained a boundary of sorts, be that
Speaker 1: as a point of transition from one season to another,
Speaker 1: or else in other ways, perhaps a little less tangible,
Speaker 1: For there are some who believe Halloween to also mark
Speaker 1: the time of year when other worlds draw nearest to ours,
Speaker 1: where fairies and hobgoblins mingle with the witches, and the
Speaker 1: spirits of the dead wandered the land. It is thought
Speaker 1: to be an ideal time for divination, too, a window
Speaker 1: of access to the powers of the spirit world, to
Speaker 1: aid spells and the telling of fortunes. If on Halloween
Speaker 1: you come across a looped branch of briarthorne sticking up
Speaker 1: from the ground, you might decide to creep through it
Speaker 1: three times in the devil's name, then afterwards cut a
Speaker 1: piece of it so that you might take it home
Speaker 1: and place it under your pillow. In so doing, it
Speaker 1: is said that you will dream of the one you
Speaker 1: will marry. Perhaps it was just such a game that
Speaker 1: a young girl by the name of Bridget Boland played
Speaker 1: on Halloween afternoon in Ireland's County Tipperary, And perhaps that night,
Speaker 1: as she lay her head to rest, a man did
Speaker 1: come to her in a dream, his handsome face, his
Speaker 1: dark hair, and his striking blue eyes appearing to her
Speaker 1: from out of the flames of a fire, and a
Speaker 1: name whispered like a warning, but long forgotten by the
Speaker 1: first light of day. You're listening to unexplained, and I'm
Speaker 1: Richard McClean. Smith. Bridget had always been different, brighter than most,
Speaker 1: with little concern for how young women were supposed to behave.
Speaker 1: She would often be seen walking the country roads without
Speaker 1: a scarf or a shawl to cover her head, choosing
Speaker 1: sometimes instead to wear a black straw hat trimmed with
Speaker 1: a navy ribbon and a large brown feather. Many in
Speaker 1: the local rural community talked about her behind her back.
Speaker 1: They thought her queer, and say that she considered herself
Speaker 1: a little more special than others. Certainly, it was true
Speaker 1: that she had the disconcerting habit of looking men directly
Speaker 1: in the eye, a pagan trait, if ever there was one.
Speaker 1: But worst of all, she and Michael had been married
Speaker 1: almost eight years, and yet there was no child to
Speaker 1: show for it. It isn't known who it was who
Speaker 1: saw her, or how indeed word got back to Michael,
Speaker 1: but there was little doubting the description of the woman
Speaker 1: from balivad Lee. That afternoon, as the snow covered hills
Speaker 1: glistened under a cold March sun, she had apparently been
Speaker 1: seen disappearing into the trees at the back of Scanlon's
Speaker 1: Field on the bank of Kilna Grannar Hill. The site
Speaker 1: overlooked by the mystical Sleeve Namon Mountain was well known
Speaker 1: to be the location of a fairy fort, a portal
Speaker 1: to the other world, and home to the gentle people,
Speaker 1: though to many they were anything but. It is said
Speaker 1: that they first arrived on flying ships surrounded by dark
Speaker 1: clouds that blotted out the sun for three days. Named
Speaker 1: the tour d Danon, they were torn with red blonde
Speaker 1: hair and pale skin, and blessed with eternal youth. For years,
Speaker 1: they reigned across ancient Ireland before suffering defeat at the
Speaker 1: hands of the Milesians and altogether more earthly people. As punishment,
Speaker 1: they were sent through the many gates and portals that
Speaker 1: littered the landscape into the other world, a place below
Speaker 1: and beyond our own plane of existence. Over time, the
Speaker 1: tour d Danon became known as the AI's She, the
Speaker 1: people of the Mounds, or the She for short. The
Speaker 1: fairy folk. To some, their realm is a place of
Speaker 1: transcendent beauty, their powers and customs to be celebrated. For others,
Speaker 1: they were nothing but danger, their thoughts to be avoided
Speaker 1: at all cost. The slightest act of disrespect might result
Speaker 1: in the theft of a human child, the body taken
Speaker 1: away and the spirit removed, replaced by that of a fairies.
Speaker 1: It is said that when a fairy takes the soul,
Speaker 1: it is only a matter of time before the body
Speaker 1: withers away and die. When Michael was a child, his
Speaker 1: mother had herself been stolen away by the fairy folk.
Speaker 1: It had occurred one afternoon, after which Michael had sat
Speaker 1: at home alone, waiting for days on end, until eventually
Speaker 1: she was returned, with no recollection of where she had been.
Speaker 1: Michael was waiting just so for Bridget. When she returned
Speaker 1: that bitterly cold Monday afternoon, he noticed with some alarm
Speaker 1: the appearance of an uncharacteristic, irritable manner and an unwillingness
Speaker 1: to meet his eyes, how she sat by the hearth
Speaker 1: but seemed incapable of getting warm. The following morning, Bridget
Speaker 1: awoke in the grip of a strange fever, a combination
Speaker 1: of headaches and congestion and the incessant feeling of cold.
Speaker 1: Bridget remained in bed for the rest of the week,
Speaker 1: and by Saturday afternoon her condition had deteriorated further. She
Speaker 1: speaks of not feeling herself, says Michael to Patrick, Bridget's father,
Speaker 1: who also lived in the small laborer's cottage they called home.
Speaker 1: As storm clouds begin to gather outside, Trick, whose wife
Speaker 1: had passed away only the year before, determined that Bridgie
Speaker 1: would not suffer the same fate. He pulled on his
Speaker 1: jacket and walked four miles in the pouring rain to
Speaker 1: alert the nearest doctor. Two days later, with the doctor
Speaker 1: still having failed to appear, Bridget's condition worsened. On the
Speaker 1: Monday morning, Michael too makes the four mile trek to Fetart,
Speaker 1: demanding again that a doctor be sent to attend to
Speaker 1: his wife. That evening, Michael waits in vain for a
Speaker 1: doctor that never comes up above the shadow of the
Speaker 1: earth creeps slowly across the surface of the moon, bathing
Speaker 1: it in a hazy blood red until it was extinguished
Speaker 1: completely in a full lunar eclipse. After yet another restless night,
Speaker 1: as Bridget veered between sleep and delirium, Michael has no
Speaker 1: choice but to make another arduous trip to Fetart. It
Speaker 1: is almost eleven hours later on Tuesday evening when Michael
Speaker 1: arrives back at the cottage, surprised to find Briget's cousin
Speaker 1: Joanna and his friend and neighbor Jack Donne waiting for
Speaker 1: him with a look of deep concern on their faces.
Speaker 1: Looking past them towards the bedroom, Michael can just make
Speaker 1: out Father Cornelius Ryan of near by Dragon Church as
Speaker 1: he administers the last writes to his wife. Father Ryan
Speaker 1: gives Michael his condonlences as he leaves, but John is
Speaker 1: surprised when shortly after Michael pulls him quickly to one side.
Speaker 1: That isn't Bridget, he says. Michael goes on to explain
Speaker 1: how only a few days ago he had watched as
Speaker 1: Bridget stood from her bed, appearing a good two inches
Speaker 1: taller than normal. Moments later, John took a thread and
Speaker 1: limped over to Bridget. John knew all too well about
Speaker 1: the wrath of the she For years, they had plagued
Speaker 1: his house night and day, at one point even taking
Speaker 1: him from his home and injuring his back. After dropping
Speaker 1: him in the yard. Taking the thread, he measured Bridget's legs.
Speaker 1: Sure enough, Michael was right. One of the legs appeared
Speaker 1: to have grown longer than the other. That night, as
Speaker 1: the fire crackled, Done gathered the family together and informed
Speaker 1: them in no uncertain terms that it was not Bridgete
Speaker 1: lying in her bed, but a monstrous changeling. At first
Speaker 1: light the next morning, Michael made his way to the
Speaker 1: nearby village of Quiet Lee and to the local herb doctor,
Speaker 1: Dennis Gainey. He returned a short time later to find Patrick,
Speaker 1: John and Joanna waiting for him, as well as Mary Kennedy,
Speaker 1: Bridget's aunt from across the way. Mary had some bad news.
Speaker 1: Michael's father had taken ill the previous evening but had
Speaker 1: not made it through the night. There would be awake
Speaker 1: that night and kill an all a good ten mile
Speaker 1: journey away. Michael's face was haggard and drawn. He hadn't
Speaker 1: slept in days. He sat by the fire and placed
Speaker 1: the bag of herbs that he had collected from Dennis
Speaker 1: Gainey on the table as Bridget stirred in the bedroom.
Speaker 1: Nobody leaves until this is done, he said. It was
Speaker 1: just before ten o'clock when William and Minnie Simpson, who
Speaker 1: had been alerted by the rumors of Bridget's condition, arrived
Speaker 1: at the Cleary cottage. On their way they were met
Speaker 1: by Joanna and her daughter Katie, who had been sent
Speaker 1: to fetch a fresh pail of milk. Joanna explained it
Speaker 1: was vital that they used beastling's milk, the first milk
Speaker 1: of a cow who had just given birth. It was
Speaker 1: the richest and most flavorsome milk, she said, and it
Speaker 1: was irresistible to the shea all about. The shutters were
Speaker 1: drawn and the front door was locked, but William could
Speaker 1: just about make out the sound of scuffling coming from
Speaker 1: the inside, but when he banged on the door, there
Speaker 1: was no response. Finally, at the sound of a voice
Speaker 1: crying away she goes, the door was flung open. William
Speaker 1: rushed inside to find a stunned Patrick sitting in silence,
Speaker 1: illuminated only by the flickering light of an oil lamp.
Speaker 1: He nodded towards Bridget's room. Just as a terrible scream
Speaker 1: rang out from behind the closed door, William pushed it
Speaker 1: open and gasped. Bridget, dressed in her striped flannel night
Speaker 1: dress and calico chemise, lay on the bed, struggling under
Speaker 1: the weight of four men as they tried to stop
Speaker 1: her from moving. Jack Dunn had her head in his hands,
Speaker 1: gripping her by the ears to keep her still. Pat
Speaker 1: Kennedy was sitting on her right arm, while James did
Speaker 1: the same with her left. William lay across her legs
Speaker 1: with all his weight as Bridget kicked and writhed underneath.
Speaker 1: Just inside the door was Mary and sixteen year old
Speaker 1: William Ahearne, another neighbor, who stood shivering as he held
Speaker 1: a solitary candle in the dark. And at the head
Speaker 1: of the bed stood Michael, holding a saucepan of a
Speaker 1: green milky substance in one hand and a large spoon
Speaker 1: in the other. Bridget screamed again as Michael tried once
Speaker 1: more to pour the potion down her throat. Finally, he
Speaker 1: was able to prise it open, pouring the hot liquid
Speaker 1: down before clamping his hand over her mouth, forcing her
Speaker 1: to swallow it. Are you Bridget Cleary? Screamed, Michael, wife
Speaker 1: of Michael Cleary, in the name of God. William Simpson
Speaker 1: stared on aghast as Bridget moved her head in agreement.
Speaker 1: He also noticed what appeared to be a fresh burnmark
Speaker 1: across Bridget's forehead. While on the floor below the bed
Speaker 1: lay a still smoldering iron fire poker. Michael yelled for
Speaker 1: Mary to pass him the old black saucepan that was
Speaker 1: down by the side of the bed. William drew back
Speaker 1: at the smell of it, sickly sweet and dark yellow
Speaker 1: in color. Michael snatched it from Mary and poured the
Speaker 1: whole thing over his wife. Next, the men lifted her up, and,
Speaker 1: keeping her legs on the bed, held her head and
Speaker 1: body before shaking her violently back and forwards. Away with you,
Speaker 1: they shouted, Come home, Bridget, Boland, in the name of God.
Speaker 1: Bridget screamed again as they flung her back and forth,
Speaker 1: slapping her hands together at the same time. Are you
Speaker 1: Bridget Boland, they asked again, wife of Michael Cleary, in
Speaker 1: the name of God, but Bridget seemed unable to reply.
Speaker 1: John Dunne grew tense. The spell wasn't working. Make down
Speaker 1: a good fire, he said, and we will make her answer.
Speaker 1: The men grabbed her from the bed with done, taking
Speaker 1: her by the head and James by the feet, and
Speaker 1: carried her through to the main room. A low fire
Speaker 1: burned on the hearth as they placed her down gently
Speaker 1: on to the grate. Patrick Boland helped moved her body
Speaker 1: clear of the bars as an exhausted Bridget pleaded to
Speaker 1: be given another chance to state her case. If she
Speaker 1: doesn't answer by midnight, said John, looking at the clock
Speaker 1: showing thirty minutes past eleven, she will be lost forever.
Speaker 1: Are you Bridget Cleary, shouted a desperate Patrick. Answer in
Speaker 1: the name of God, Yes, dadda, I am the daughter
Speaker 1: of Patrick Boland, came the weary reply. Finally satisfied, the
Speaker 1: Kennedy brothers picked their cousin from the great and returned
Speaker 1: her to the bed. Are you always taking care of
Speaker 1: your family? Do you often take care of others and
Speaker 1: not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself,
Speaker 1: To make time for you you deserve it. TELEDOC gives
Speaker 1: you access to a licensed therapist to help you get
Speaker 1: back to feeling your best, to feeling like yourself again.
Speaker 1: With teledoc, you can speak to a licensed therapist by
Speaker 1: phone or video. Therapy appointments are available seven days a
Speaker 1: week from seven am to nine pm local time. If
Speaker 1: you feel overwhelmed sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious,
Speaker 1: depressed or lonely, or you might be struggling with a
Speaker 1: personal or family issue, teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed
Speaker 1: to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy
Speaker 1: to change counselors if needed. For free. Teledoc therapy is
Speaker 1: available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or
Speaker 1: visit teledoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained podcast Today to
Speaker 1: get started. That's t e ladoc dot com slash Unexplained Podcast.
Speaker 1: The following morning of Friday, the fifteenth of March, father
Speaker 1: Ryan arrived surprised to find Bridget in seemingly better health
Speaker 1: than before a sense of relief was cleared throughout the
Speaker 1: family that Bridget had been returned to them, But as
Speaker 1: Ryan proceeds to say mass, Joanna notices a strange look
Speaker 1: on Bridget's face. As Ryan administers the Holy Communion. As
Speaker 1: soon as Ryan has left, Bridget calls out to Joanna. Joanna,
Speaker 1: she says, staring oddly at her cousin father Ryan, gave
Speaker 1: me this to save me. She opened her mouth and
Speaker 1: pointed inside, then pulled out the remains of the blessed
Speaker 1: sacrament with her fingers and rubbed it into the blanket.
Speaker 1: When Joanna lays the news to Michael later that afternoon,
Speaker 1: it comes as little surprise. He had noticed it too,
Speaker 1: Not to mention the way that Bridget had kept asking
Speaker 1: for more milk, how desperate she seemed for it, Michael
Speaker 1: knew all too well that it wasn't uncommon either for
Speaker 1: witches to want the beastling milk too. Sensing her husband's
Speaker 1: dissatisfaction with the previous ritual, Bridget demands that their neighbors,
Speaker 1: Thomas Smith and David Hogan be brought to make a
Speaker 1: judgment in the hope of convincing Michael. Later that evening,
Speaker 1: Smith and Hogan take a seat by the fire, glancing
Speaker 1: nervously to each other. As Michael goes next door to
Speaker 1: collect Bridget. The men remained seated, watching in stunned silence.
Speaker 1: As a weak and exhausted Bridget shuffles into the room.
Speaker 1: She pulled up a bench for herself and sat by
Speaker 1: the fire. Smith asked how she was doing She said
Speaker 1: that Michael was making her out to be a fairy,
Speaker 1: that she was some kind of changeling. Tom nodded and
Speaker 1: looked to Michael. He could see it too, This wasn't Bridget.
Speaker 1: A moment later, Patrick, James, and William returned from the
Speaker 1: wake in somber spirits, but glad to see that Bridget
Speaker 1: was up and sitting by the fire. But Michael kept
Speaker 1: a quiet counsel, never taking his eyes from his wife,
Speaker 1: or whatever it was that claimed to be her. Later,
Speaker 1: Joanna was preparing tea with bread and jam as she
Speaker 1: watched Michael leads Smith and Hogan to the door before
Speaker 1: taking the key from his pocket and locking it behind them.
Speaker 1: James and William went to lie down on Patrick Boland's bed,
Speaker 1: and Mary, who had been taking care of Bridget all afternoon,
Speaker 1: retires to Bridget's bed to get some much needed rest.
Speaker 1: Joanna laid the food out on the table and the
Speaker 1: remaining guests gathered round to eat. Bridget pulled up her
Speaker 1: bench to sit with them, but refused to take the bread.
Speaker 1: You've taken me for your mother, Mick, She said, it
Speaker 1: is her who was taken, not me. The room was
Speaker 1: silent save for the crackling of the fire. Then slowly
Speaker 1: and purposefully, Michael cut out three pieces of bread, spread
Speaker 1: them with butter and jam, and laid them in front
Speaker 1: of Bridget. Eat he said. Bridget looked at her husband
Speaker 1: for a moment before finally picking up a piece and
Speaker 1: taking a bite. Are you Bridget Cleary, my wife, in
Speaker 1: the name of God, asked Michael. Bridget stared at her
Speaker 1: husband as the fire popped and crackled. Yes, she said
Speaker 1: through gritted teeth. Michael motioned again to the two remaining
Speaker 1: pieces of bread, the others watching in stony silence as
Speaker 1: the light of the oil lamp played about their faces.
Speaker 1: Bridget took a second piece and swallowed it down. Are
Speaker 1: you Bridget cleary, my wife, in the name of God,
Speaker 1: asked Michael Patrick tensed in his chair. Yes, said Bridget again.
Speaker 1: Michael looked down at the final piece and pushed it
Speaker 1: towards his wife. Are you Bridget Cleary, in the name
Speaker 1: of God, asked Michael. But Bridget said nothing. If you
Speaker 1: won't take it down, you will go. Then an awful
Speaker 1: scream as Michael leapt upon Bridget, sending her head cracking
Speaker 1: against the earth and floor. Jumping on to her chest.
Speaker 1: He ripped off her clothes, grabbed her by the throat,
Speaker 1: and stuffed the bread into her mouth. Swallow it, he yelled.
Speaker 1: Bridget fought desperately, but Michael held firm. Then with his
Speaker 1: free hand, he pulled a burning log from the fire
Speaker 1: and held it against her head. But Bridget's body had
Speaker 1: gone limp. I think she is dead, he said, turning
Speaker 1: to Joanna. She's burning, shouted William. The cry brought Mary
Speaker 1: stumbling into the room, just in time to see the
Speaker 1: first flames take hold. No one moved as Michael grabbed
Speaker 1: the oil lamp and tipped it out all over Bridget.
Speaker 1: Within seconds, the flames shot across her body. Mary rushed
Speaker 1: at Michael, but he shouldered her back, sending her crashing
Speaker 1: against the table. Don't you see, he said, She's not
Speaker 1: my wife. William made a run for the door, forgetting
Speaker 1: it was locked, but Clearly pushed him away and pulled
Speaker 1: a knife from his back pocket. Nobody leaves until my
Speaker 1: wife is returned. Would you rather have her with the
Speaker 1: fairies than with me? He cried. Patrick Boland stepped forward.
Speaker 1: If I can do anything to save my child, I will,
Speaker 1: he said. Michael explained his plan to Patrick that he
Speaker 1: would bury the body with her mother and then travel
Speaker 1: to the fairy fort at Kill na' granna to wait
Speaker 1: for Bridget's return. It is there that she will appear
Speaker 1: riding a white horse, at which point he will rush forward,
Speaker 1: cut her loose from the straps, and free her finally
Speaker 1: from the fairy's grip. The others retreated to Bridget's bedroom,
Speaker 1: where they remained huddled in terror as Bridget's body continued
Speaker 1: to burn, filling the house with black smoke and the
Speaker 1: stench of burning flesh. In the Mellie William had fainted
Speaker 1: and had to be dragged back by his brothers. Out
Speaker 1: in the main room, Michael stood in silence, watching his
Speaker 1: wife burn in the orange light of the flames. Twenty
Speaker 1: minutes later, they heard the front door slam, followed by
Speaker 1: the sound of locking. For the next hour, the family
Speaker 1: remained barricaded in the bedroom as Mary led them all
Speaker 1: in saying the rosary, only stopping when they heard footsteps
Speaker 1: approached the bedroom door. Paddy Kennedy came Michael's voice, Come
Speaker 1: out now, or I'll drive this knife through you. With
Speaker 1: a little choice. Patrick opened the door, trying his best
Speaker 1: not to gag on the smell. Michael motioned for Patrick
Speaker 1: to help him wrap Bridget in a sheet. Patrick wretched
Speaker 1: at the sight of the body, or what was left
Speaker 1: of it. The skin had burned off, leaving the bone
Speaker 1: sticking out at bizarre angles. A wet mess of intestines
Speaker 1: protruded from her stomach. Then Patrick gasped as Bridget's head
Speaker 1: rolled to the side, revealing a face virtually untouched by
Speaker 1: the flames, but contorted into the most hideous mask of
Speaker 1: terrible suffering. Michael grabbed up the corners and thrust a
Speaker 1: shovel into Patrick's hands. Moments later, they were stood in
Speaker 1: the pitch black of night, a quarter mile from the house.
Speaker 1: At their feet a marshy grave three foot in length
Speaker 1: and two in depth, carved roughly out of the earth.
Speaker 1: Michael slung the body inside, pressing it down with his
Speaker 1: foot before covering it up with branches and soil. Later,
Speaker 1: he scraped the grease of Bridget from his clothes, gathered
Speaker 1: the ash and other remains into a bucket, and dumped
Speaker 1: them onto a heap of manure behind the house. Later
Speaker 1: that morning, at the church in Drangon, Father Michael McGrath
Speaker 1: was preparing for Saint Patrick's day mass, when a red
Speaker 1: faced John Dunne barged into the church. Bridget was missing,
Speaker 1: he said, and her husband Michael, who was waiting with
Speaker 1: Michael Kennedy outside, was in great distress. Dunne asked Father
Speaker 1: McGrath to fetch Father Ryan. When the priests returned, they
Speaker 1: found Michael kneeling at the altar, tearing at his head
Speaker 1: and sobbing uncontrollably. Bridget was missing. He told them she
Speaker 1: had been taken prisoner by the fairy folk. He begged
Speaker 1: Father Ryan for his help, hoping that it might not
Speaker 1: be too late. A deeply disturbed Ryan consulted with Father
Speaker 1: mc grath before entering the police barracks opposite the church
Speaker 1: and returning with Constable Patrick Eden a short time later.
Speaker 1: Cleary went cold at the sight of the officer and
Speaker 1: refused to say any more other than that his wife
Speaker 1: was missing and that he needed help. Constable Eden, suspicious
Speaker 1: of their actions, would later intercept the men on their
Speaker 1: return home just outside the village, but they refused to
Speaker 1: give any more information. When the men returned to the
Speaker 1: cottage in ballyvard Lee, they found it empty save for
Speaker 1: a weeping Patrick Bowland lying on his bed, Michael Kennedy
Speaker 1: returned to the small thatched cottage over the way, and
Speaker 1: John Dunn too returned to his home half a mile
Speaker 1: up the road. That night, Michael Cleary took the first
Speaker 1: of three trips, walking under the cover of darkness towards
Speaker 1: that odd ring of trees on the side of Kilnegrannar Hill,
Speaker 1: and there, as the waning moon shone its gentle light
Speaker 1: from above, Michael stood ready with knife in hand, calling
Speaker 1: out the name of his wife, waiting to cut her
Speaker 1: free from a white horse that never came. If you
Speaker 1: enjoy listening to Unexplained and would like to show your appreciation,
Speaker 1: you can now help support us by going to Unexplained
Speaker 1: podcast dot com forward slash support. All donations, no matter
Speaker 1: how large or small, are massively appreciated. All elements of
Speaker 1: Unexplained are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe
Speaker 1: and rate the show on night Tunes, and feel free
Speaker 1: to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding
Speaker 1: the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have
Speaker 1: an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You
Speaker 1: can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com or
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Unexplained pod. Now, it's time to take
Speaker 1: care of yourself, to make time for you. Teledoc gives
Speaker 1: you access to a licensed therapist to help you get
Speaker 1: back to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed therapist
Speaker 1: by phone or video anytime between seven am to nine
Speaker 1: pm local time, seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is
Speaker 1: available through most insurance or employers. Download the app, or
Speaker 1: visit teledoc dot com Forward Slash Unexplained podcast Today to
Speaker 1: get started. That's t e l a d oc dot
Speaker 1: com Slash Unexplained podcast