Irish Gothic Podcast
Join hosts Spence and Chris on "Irish Gothic," a captivating podcast exploring Ireland's myths and legends. Each episode delves into the rich tapestry of Irish folklore, where ancient tales of faeries, banshees, and Celtic warriors come to life.
From the eerie landscapes of the Emerald Isle to the chilling stories passed down through generations, the duo invites listeners to unravel the mysteries of Ireland's past. Whether you're a folklore enthusiast or new to the tales, "Irish Gothic" promises to transport you into a world where the supernatural intertwines with history. Tune in for a journey filled with spine-tingling stories, cultural insights, and a touch of humour as Spence and Chris uncover the darker side of Ireland's enchanting heritage.
Education purposes only.
Irish Gothic Podcast
EPISODE THREE : THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY
The Irish Gothic Podcast explores the origins of Irish Folk tales. myths and legends in all their dark, fantastical glory and how these vivid yarns continue to resonate across the world to this very day.
Join Hosts Chris Patterson and Spence Wright as they fuse their love for all thing's horror with a wellspring of Irish lore.
From the terrifying figure of the Dullahan to the origins of Halloween itself, if it’s a yarn you’re after, pull up a chair and let ‘Irish Gothic’ fill your ears.
In today's episode, we travel down through the hexagonal stoned landscape of County Antrim's Giant's Causeway. Made up of some 40,000 massive black basalt columns sticking out of the sea, this dramatic sight has inspired legends of giants striding over the sea to Scotland. In this episode, Chris and Spence discuss the legendary Finn McCool, and unearth some lesser known giants from this land.
Hosts: Chris Patterson & Spence Wright
Producer: Rebecca Alcorn
Production Company: Causeway Pictures
Bibliography:
Book your visit to the Giant’s Causeway here! - https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/northern-ireland/giants-causeway
Giants, Dwarfs and Other Oddities, by C. J. S. Thompson (1989)
Fairy Legends and Traditions of The South of Ireland, by T. Crofton Crocker (1844)
Follow us:
Instagram: @irishgothicpod
X: @irishgothicpod
Website: https://irishgothicpod.buzzsprout.com
Show your support for the podcast at: buymeacoffee.com/irishgothicpod
Checkout our other podcast - Hostage to the Devil, real life stories of exorcism and possession. Wherever you get your podcasts.
Causeway Pictures © All rights reserved
www.causewaypictures.com
I know all the folks round these arts and parts. Can't say I know you. Leastways. Not yet. But I dare say I know what you'll be wanting. Some of the crack, maybe. How we yarn with your sup, is it? No harm in that. Come on over. Warm yourself, hmm? I'll warn you though. If it's the old Begara and Blarney shenanigans you're after, you'll not hear them from me. Well, if such, like, pleases you, you sit on. I'll fill your ears. And see what story is meant for you. On this dark old night.
chris-patterson_2_10-23-2024_181531:I'm Chris
spencey-guest437_2_10-23-2024_181541:I'm Spence
chris-patterson_2_10-23-2024_181531:And this is the Irish Gothic Podcast.
chris-patterson_2_11-05-2024_174127:we talk about what people around here like to call the 8th wonder of the world. The Giant's Causeway. Was it created by ancient volcanic eruptions? Or by a giant called Finmacule? Let's find out.
chris-patterson_4_11-05-2024_174547:So, Spence, we have come to somewhere that at least I know I've been. Have you been there?
spence-guest252_4_11-05-2024_174548:Oh, absolutely, been there as a child, you know, nestled the North Antrim coast, if you've any people visiting you always go to the causeway,
chris-patterson_4_11-05-2024_174547:I never went as a child, but as I got older and got married. People would come over to visit us and, of course, I'd end up in the Giant's Causeway or in our other line of work we'd end up working in the Giant's Causeway. so I got to see it mostly as an adult, As they say the eighth wonder of the world, it definitely is a very interesting place, when you first come and you first see the remains of what this causeway was.
spence-guest252_4_11-05-2024_174548:100%. I think our record was three consecutive weekends visiting the causeway with people who were overvisiting. Now, I would never say I would get bored of the place, but I did come close, but it's such a dramatic, uh,
chris-patterson_4_11-05-2024_174547:The whole coastline is beautiful, the north coast of Northern Ireland, or is definitely a fantastic place to visit. I was just reading a quote there from a writer called Samuel Johnson, and he was once asked, Is not the Giant's Causeway worth seeing? To which he replied, worth seeing, yes, but not worth going to see
spence-guest252_4_11-05-2024_174548:didn't see that on any posters!
chris-patterson_4_11-05-2024_174547:No, no, I didn't see that, but, it's definitely one, of if not the number one place to visit in Northern Ireland.
spence-guest252_4_11-05-2024_174548:So where do you fall, Chris, on how it was created? definitely the two disparate versions of how it came about. The scientific one, and the Tale of Giants. don't know which one I want it to be, but what do you reckon?
chris-patterson_4_11-05-2024_174547:Well, I'm thinking, it was formed 50 to 60 million years ago and was a result of successive lava flows. rolling towards the sea and once it got to the sea of course it cooled down and it formed these hexagon shaped columns. Hundreds of them they vary in size from 15 to 20 inches in diameter and they measure up to 82 feet, some of them 25 meters. They're on the cliff sides, they're on the causeway. it's Definitely a very interesting geological site, and there's very few other places in the world that look like that
spence-guest252_4_11-05-2024_174548:So true, man. I mean, you're standing on those stones, and the waves are spraying up around you, and you've got those columns of rock, the organs, in the background. You can imagine yourself almost being in one of those dinosaur movies. It's got that. Ancient feel about it. Despite the tourist, despite the bus that takes you up and down the causeway, it still feels like a step back in time. A place where you can understand legends that weren't maybe quite so scientific to spring out of.
chris-patterson_4_11-05-2024_174547:Well, the interesting thing I've always found, and I don't know about you, is that It always seems to have its own ecosystem where it could be 25 degrees at the top and 10 degrees at the bottom, Or it could be bone dry and raining on the causeway. It has its own little weather system down there.
spence-guest252_4_11-05-2024_174548:Very true. Very true. So what about that more ARIES GOTHIC ESK version of how the Causeway came around
chris-patterson_4_11-05-2024_174547:Oh, you mean the truth.
spence-guest252_4_11-05-2024_174548:THE TRUTH, HA HA HA HA
chris-patterson_4_11-05-2024_174547:obviously before all the geological stuff came about, the locals. They decided to put it down to the most well known giant probably in Ireland, if not the world, Finn McCool. story was first documented by Irish monks in a medieval period, but could be much older. According to the tale, Finn McCool created the causeway so that he could reach out to Scotland and fight his rival, the Scottish giant. Benidona. Finn saw Benidona in the distance and realised he was much bigger than he'd expected what did he do, Spence? He ran away. He ran the whole way back along the causeway because Benidona was three times the size of him. He lost a boot along the way And he ran back to his wife, Una. However, Benidonna followed him across the crossway to bring the fight to Finn. House, he knocked the door and demanded a fight. Una told Finn to pretend to be asleep and covered him with a blanket. She told bead Donna that Finn was out and the sleeping Finn was their only child. Ocean. Bead. Donna took one look at the enormous baby and he feared the size of the father must be. So he fled back to Scotland, tearing up the causeway as he went. So that Finn could not follow him back, leaving only its remnants at the giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and Fingal's Cave in the Scottish Isle of Staffa.
spence-guest252_4_11-05-2024_174548:don't you just WANT that to be true. that Wee twist with the baby, that clever move that Oshie makes, it's brilliant, I think about the landscape more now, there's the giant's boot, It's there. There's a giant organ, the giant heart, which is all part of the geology. Part of the saw that was thrown fell in with water and became more Loch Nay. It's similar to our IT earlier podcasts. People looking at the geography of the land and coming up with these wonderful stories around these things
chris-patterson_4_11-05-2024_174547:You could imagine going down there, I don't know, 7th century, not knowing how this became what it was. Because it's awesome site when you see it. We'll put pictures up on our social media when you go to see it now there's a road down to it, there's obviously a load of tourists, but back then there was no road, there was just this awesome thing that they couldn't find anywhere else in Ireland. So, no wonder myths and legends, grew up around
spence-guest252_4_11-05-2024_174548:To be honest, as a young child going to the causeway, I thought Finn McCool was the one and only giant. Femme Cooke gets all the attention. If we take a look at then the principal character, Of the story, of the fable, in many ways.
spence-guest514_5_11-05-2024_175816:He embodies the character of the landscape. Has to be a giant story, it has to be a big story, mythological. And whilst Una, in many ways, could be seen as the heroine of the piece, the person who shows intelligence and wit and copes under pressure, Femmikul absolutely seems to get all the plaudits. He's the famous giant. It did come as a surprise to me, Chris, you know, when I was researching the causeway and then generally broadening that out, just how many giants there are across Irish mythology and maybe the reason for them. In the fairy tales of the Irish peasantry, 1888, it was noted that the pagan gods of Ireland grew smaller and smaller in the popular imagination until they turned into the fairies, almost shrinking down their importance in size and everything. Whereas, The heroes of a popular imagination, they became bigger. They became giants. So, giants are very much entwined with mythology of Ireland. Pre Christian stories about the causeway suggest that it may even have got its name because of the Fomorians, known as giants. an incredibly fearsome race from Irish mythology. Very H. P. Lovecraft in nature, they are. They are extremely, extremely dark and interesting race. the theory is that the translation of the causeway could be the stepping stones of the Fomorian. So, steeped in history of giants.
chris-patterson_5_11-05-2024_175815:You were talking there about When the heroes got bigger the heroes weren't necessarily larger in stature but they had certain supernatural powers. somebody we've mentioned before, Kil'Kallen. Kil'Kallen was seen as the Irish Achilles from the Troy stories. He was considered a demigod, which in all terms meant he was human but he had supernatural powers. The men of Ulster were Apparently, generally, tall. Cucullum was short, with a bulbous nose and wild, red hair, formed into a sort of halo around his head. he goes into battle, he transformed himself into a giant rage monster. And it wasn't even just metaphorical. Colin literally, physically transformed into a monster.
spence-guest514_5_11-05-2024_175816:it's got that Norse feel and myths of, Berserkers, when they almost transformed, but as you say with C'thun, it was an actual transformation, into this other being that could slay whole armies, you know the darker version of Giants, certainly the darker version of C'thun.
chris-patterson_5_11-05-2024_175815:Well, that's it. I mean, to quote Osborne McKnight, He grows to nine feet tall. Blood spurts from his forehead. One of his eyes bulges out from its socket. His head can turn 360 degrees, like the head of an owl. Once he enters the war spasm, he cannot be defeated. Nine foot tall, that sounds like giants to me.
spence-guest514_5_11-05-2024_175816:Finn McCool is actually starting to look rather tame. another giant, and I may butcher the pronunciation here, but Iliac was another giant. Now, like Finn McCool, he, and many giants it seems, he was one to tear up clumps of boulders and landscape and hurl them here, there, hither and yon. That's a bit of a motif that runs through lots of giants, but this guy Elec was different again and had that sort of darker element that you're talking about, Chris. He used to squish people to death bare hands. When these weapons, these cobbles and boulders that he threw at people when they ran out, When these weapons failed him, he spent his rage on the man that was nearest him, of the men of Arran, the men of Ireland, and bruised him grievously between his forearms and his sides and the palms of his hand, until he made a marrow mass of him, of flesh and bones and sinews and skin. It's almost got that Fee Five Foam rhythm to it, that story
chris-patterson_5_11-05-2024_175815:it's all about fear. They weren't just male giants either. Look at Grána, the Irish giantess,
chris-patterson_7_11-05-2024_181032:to borrow from C. J. S. Thomson's Giants, Dwarfs and Other Oddities
chris-patterson_6_11-05-2024_180802:Garana lived at the rock of Carragagunnal, or Rock of the Candle. The candle originated with tales of Garana lighting a candle at night which she used to lure her victims to their demise. In Thompson's Reckoning, the female giant lay in wait in her cavern, presumably so she could then jump out and attack her victims. But according to T. Crofton Crocker, Fairy legends and traditions of the South of Ireland,
chris-patterson_7_11-05-2024_181032:It is specified that Granny used an enchanted candle to curse those who looked upon the flame. It was actually this curse that led to the person's demise. And I quote, Death was her sport. Like an angler with his rod, the hag would toil and watch, nor think it labour, that the death of a victim rewarded her vigils. Every evening did she light an enchanted candle upon the rock. And whoever looked upon it died before the next morning's sun. Numberless were the victims over whom Garana rejoiced. One after another had seen the light and their death was the consequence. Come the country round to be desolate, And Carragagunnel, the Rock of the Candle, By its dreaded name.
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:Even in this story of our friend, Finn McCool makes an appearance. Finn McCool was the boss, or the leader, of a brave warrior by the name of Regan. And Finn McCool, as it was written by Croker, said that Finn lifted up his voice and commanded that the fatal candle of the High Grana was to be extinguished and he despised poor old Regan to do the job for him. But he still did it. He didn't send him alone, he gave him a cap thrice charmed, basically an enchanted hat, a magical hat to help him take on this, giant. So when I first read that I thought, what good's a hat gonna be? giants are always one step ahead.
chris-patterson_9_11-05-2024_182608:They always are. There's always something about a magical hat.
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:So, as it turns out, the hat was a stroke of genius because what it meant was this thrice charmed cap, as Reagan approached the rock and approached the giant grana, every time the grana almost caught sight of him, the hat dropped down and covered Reagan's eyes,
spence-guest777_8_11-05-2024_181800:So again, we're seeing those totems of protection and magic creeping into the story. So Regan was sent off with this enchanted hat to take on Granna the Hague and extinguish her evil flame. Regan knew that if he caught any glimpse of the candle, he himself would be a dead man, brave warrior or not. But luckily for him, this enchanted cap was called the Cap Thrice Charmed. And what actually happened was, was that every time Regan got closer and was in danger of being spotted and looking upon the face of Grandma, the hat would dip over his eyes and therefore blocking her stare from him. Almost like, you know, not seeing the stare of the Medusa.
chris-patterson_8_11-05-2024_181759:that was, what I was just thinking there, the Medusa, you know, turn you to stone scenario.
spence-guest777_8_11-05-2024_181800:absolutely, we'll not go off on a tangent just yet, but there's loads of stuff on, Greek mythology, giants it all ties in. So anyway, by that method, Regan. He was able to scale the rock, and when Granagh's back was turned, Regan grabbed the candle, tossed it into the river Shannon. Having tossed the candle river,
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:He couldn't resist though, having a little peep at Grana Now that it was safe to do so, now that the candle was gone,
spence-guest777_8_11-05-2024_181800:Before she disappeared altogether,
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:Regan had a look at her and what he describes is rather frightening.
spence-guest777_8_11-05-2024_181800:Another fearsome, fearsome image. She was gigantic in size, it says. Frightful in appearance. Her eyebrows grew into each other with a grim curve. And beneath their matted bristles, deeply sunk in her head, were two small grey eyes. And, Darneth forth baneful looks of evil, and from her deeply wrinkled forehead issued forth a hook's beak, dividing two shriveled cheeks, her skinny lips curled with a cruel, malignant expression, her prominent chin stullet with bunches of grisly hair. And when he beheld this enraged hag, with outstretched arms, prepared to seize and warn him after her gandle, Regan instantly bound it westward from the rock, into the wild and wondrous spring. So. Regan got away, the castle was destroyed, and Grala, never seen again, eh?
chris-patterson_8_11-05-2024_181759:is some image, Spence. That is some image. I, I, I think I went out with her in the 90s.
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:fantastic story, Grizzly, and as you mentioned during that, Crystal, those references, those callbacks to Greek mythology are probably not by accident.
chris-patterson_9_11-05-2024_182608:I wouldn't have thought so.
chris-patterson_8_11-05-2024_181759:looking at those Sinbad movies with the Cyclops and various other famous, creatures, the Minotaur and things like that. There are various versions of Giants globally of course We all know that those versions of Giants Obviously did come from Ireland
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:Whilst we probably can confidently lay claim to Fimbukul being one of the coolest giants, Greeks will probably claim that they were there first. They say that even the word giant comes from the Greek gigantis, meaning earth born. And again, there's the mention of the word earth because of a theory about why giants exist at all. And this certainly applies to the causeway in Fimbukul. It's trying to make sense of a landscape. around us. And, but there are other psychological reasons as well,, why we as human beings perhaps,, create or gravitate towards these stories of giants. And often, the giant serves as symbols of strength and chaos, and also of the unknown. So as we spoke about Before, Chris, and this theme does come up again, it does seem to be about fear and protection. What are the things that are unknown? What are the things we're afraid of? We're at the mercy of weather, and disease, and pestilence, and we're trying to make sense of all these things, giving it a form, even a giant, makes some kind of sense. And it always comes with that magic weapon. In this case, it was the thrice charmed cap.
chris-patterson_8_11-05-2024_181759:I don't want to delve into it too deeply in this podcast, but there's also a place called High Brazil where, legend has it, the giants, the fairies, they all went to live when Christianity took over Ireland, a hidden island off the coast of Galway. So they could still be out there, the giants.
spence-guest777_8_11-05-2024_181800:that's right, and from memory the island appeared on old seafaring maps, as a place that seafarers were aware of, but then it came and went, that's certainly worth a podcast cross.
chris-patterson_8_11-05-2024_181759:definitely is
chris-patterson_9_11-05-2024_182608:Earlier you said Spence giants getting smaller and heroes getting bigger. But I definitely think it's interesting that,, As Christianity took over Ireland, the myths and legends got smaller. It's almost like they were condensed. The leprechauns came condensed into these small, little green men with a top hat. Which, by legend standards, is not true. It's almost like Christianity. The bigger it got, the smaller the belief in these old ways got, which meant the smaller the creatures got.
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:It's almost like a Christian idea and almost like a rebranding and a way of, um, taking these beliefs which meant a lot to the people and almost trivializing them squeeze those leprechaun myths till they literally lay fit on a cereal package. You know, that's where it began. That's where that journey, of almost making them comedic that's where it began.
chris-patterson_9_11-05-2024_182608:You can't tonight take yourself down to Giant's Causeway, There has been a number of things filmed of course, we'll put some photographs and stuff up on our socials, but, If you really want to see it, I believe it appears in an episode of Game of Thrones. It also appears in a film that was made, I think in 2014, called Dracula Untold. A film that I was involved in called Hellboy 2 The Golden Army. Which we flew helicopters over it for. So, there's definitely a good view of it. Way back when you're standing there amongst the druids trying to work out how this place became what it was. these hexagon shaped stones, how, you know, did God himself come down and chip these stones out?
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:Making sense of the landscape, isn't it? Trying to make sense of it. And that particular landscape being so striking, so unusual, it could only have given birth to a fantastical, brilliant story, which still resonates today, like the story of Finn McCool. It had to be big, didn't it? It had to be a larger than life story to go with that landscape.
chris-patterson_9_11-05-2024_182608:to be honest, to me, it's the truth. It has to be the truth. I mean, who's ever heard of volcanoes?
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:Yes, yes. I must say, regardless of the geology of it,, maybe a bit of both is true, Chris. Maybe a bit of both is true.
chris-patterson_9_11-05-2024_182608:Maybe a bit of both. And also, just to go back on your story, you said earlier on that Finn had lifted a handful of land and thrown it at Scotland, just to see if he could get the other giant. And he wasn't quite strong enough, so it never made Scotland. So of course, as you said, the big hole became Lough Neagh in the centre of Northern Ireland. If you look at any maps you'll see it. But that bit of land that landed in the sea, that later became the Isle of Man. So McCool created the Isle of Man out of a slight disagreement with some Scottish people.
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:I suppose that's true, Chris, in fiction, you know, you mentioned sort of contemporary movies that have used the causeway, but I suppose Giants generally, like the BFG, Jack and the Beanstalk, Gulliver's Travels, this idea of dragons, I think they're just, they're powerful symbols,
chris-patterson_9_11-05-2024_182608:wasn't it if you're in Belfast, was it Black Mountain that is shaped like a a large nose
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:Napoleon's nose, they call it, I think,
chris-patterson_9_11-05-2024_182608:It was apparently the, inspiration for the giant, in Gulliver's Travels, which is written by Jonathan Swift. When he saw it one day he thought it looked like a large nose. We have rechristened it Napoleon's nose, right enough. But if you're ever in Belfast and you look up you'll see this protruding black cliffside that sort of does look, you squint, like a giant's nose.
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:Yeah, it's true, it's true, that's absolutely true. more you think about the subject, the more you start to see, I'm starting to see giants everywhere. I'm thinking that even like a character, you were talking about the Gjallarhorn and his, his war spasm. That's not a million miles from the Hulk.
chris-patterson_9_11-05-2024_182608:No, or, a Tasmanian devil in cartoons.
spence-guest99_9_11-05-2024_182609:They are, we could probably just list giants all night. But I suppose the reason for that is that they mean more they resonate to us as human beings. They talk about the human condition, symbols of strength, symbols of struggle. They reflect our fears, our aspirations. Um, right down to our very own hockey team. The Belfast Giants. You know, Giants are very much part and partial life here, certainly in the north of Ireland, across Ireland as a whole.
spence-guest414_10_11-05-2024_184338:So, by their very nature, when we start talking about Giants, we're never going to fit them all into one podcast, Chris.
chris-patterson_10_11-05-2024_184337:No, I don't think So,
spence-guest414_10_11-05-2024_184338:So, if you want to find out any more about the Giants Causeway, or about Giants and some of the topics and things we've talked about in tonight's podcast, check out our show notes.
chris-patterson_10_10-17-2024_205438:You can find us at iris gothic pod on Instagram or X, or if you want to support us, please buy us a coffee
spence_9_10-17-2024_205215:and look, while you're there, give us a follow to keep up with all things in the Irish Gothic Podcast. Send us any Irish myths, legends, stories that you'd like us to delve into next.
chris-patterson_10_11-05-2024_184337:And please come back next week where we're going to face one of the biggins, St. Patrick.
Looks like your story has found you. I wish It were another. But what's meant for you, won't go by you. I'm sorry. Ach, now. No need to look so scared, eh? Enjoy the fire. Have a sop. Sure. Is it all just Irish Gothic? All just Irish Gothic.
chris-patterson_10_10-23-2024_190653:The Irish Gothic Podcast was brought to you by Causeway Pictures. It's hosted by Chris Patterson and Spence Wright. And was produced by Rebecca Alcorn. All rights reserved.
chris-patterson_10_10-17-2024_205438:Check out our other podcast, Hostage to the Devil, which delves into the dark world of possession and exorcism. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts.
