From the unexplained to the mundane, come join
us on a Journey to the Fringe. Hello and welcome
to Journey to the Fringe. Now, finally, Irish
friendly. Now, I'm sure you've all picked up
on this. That is the underlying Irish discrimination
that our show relied on from day one. But we
have been asked to cut this out and to make amends
for it. for these past transgressions we bring
you a leprechaun episode hooray stereotypes hooray
wait yeah it was in the mission statement wasn't
it from day one yeah it was you can go read it
i assume everybody is already read up on it because
that's why we write those nice episode notes
each week as well because everybody's reading
all the episode notes in our mission statement
yeah all the time Anyhow, I'll let you take over
because it is a Chelsea episode. Where the episode
should start. Today, in celebration of St. Patrick's
Day and also what Taylor just said, we're diving
into the fringy world of leprechauns. Why do
we pronounce it leprechaun and not leprechaun?
It should be leprechaun, actually. I read a book.
to children in my life about leprechauns and
it comes from the word loopershawn or something
like that and it's literally just a bastardization
yeah yeah those bastards those bastard english
speakers it's not like german i wonder how german
pronounces it anyhow we have a whole episode
to talk about so enough of the pure way these
mischievous little bastards i presume are Did
they do it? It might have been. It fucking might
have been them. Probably was. Just add that into
a bullet point about them at this point. They're
a beloved part of Irish folklore, but there's
much more to them than little green outfits,
pots of gold, and delicious marshmallow bits
sprinkled throughout an otherwise shitty cereal.
Grab your shamrocks and get ready for a journey
through the history and mystery of leprechauns.
Leaper -chons. Most of us picture a leprechaun
as a tiny bearded man dressed in his little green
cute outfit with a red beard and a hat. They're
often seen as cobblers. I don't know if you picture
that when you picture a leprechaun. I do, but
that's because the book told me to. Okay, good.
Yeah, see? They're making shoes and they're known
for their love of gold, which they hide at the
end of rainbows. And they're known for enjoying
a good practical joke such as, you know, how
we pronounce leprechaun. And their mischievous
nature and elusive behavior make them a fascinating
subject of folklore. But where did these magical
beings come from? Let's take a look into the
original sightings and history of the leprechaun.
As Taylor alluded to, or it just said, but I
have more information on that I forgot that I
had here, Leprechaun comes from the Middle Irish
word? Middle Irish? Yeah, kind of like Middle
English. Because there'd be Old Irish, Middle
Irish, Modern Irish. What's Middle English? Middle
English is like the 1600s. Why did they speak
differently then? Um, it's because language evolves.
but weirdly like usually middle is where the
printing press was invented so the words written
are written how they'd be pronounced in the middle
english style but we've evolved language and
that's why we end up with silent letters and
things that don't sound the way they're supposed
to uh -huh okay and that's why today we say things
like skibbity and oh hi But, like, I listened
to somebody reading a common prayer in Middle
English, and, like, the word night is pronounced
connigget. Why are you listening to that? It
was on YouTube. Are you serious? It just came
up, yeah. It was pronounced connigget, which
I was like, wow. It wasn't. Yeah. Was it actually?
Uh -huh. And that's, like, a word that makes
so much more sense now. That's just fucking ridiculous.
Okay, we gotta move on. Yeah. Leprechaun. comes
from the Middle Irish word luchurpan or lupurcan,
meaning small body. Leprechauns are considered
a type of solitary fairy in Irish folklore and
they are known for their secretive and elusive
nature, often leading people on wild goose chases
in search of their hidden treasure. Maybe there
isn't a hidden treasure, maybe that's the practical
joke. That actually probably is their ultimate
practical joke. One of the earliest known references
to leprechauns appears in the medieval tale Ectra
Fergus Mac Laetii, where King Fergus Mac Laetii
encounters three leprechauns. The story goes
that Fergus Mac Laetii, King of Ulster, falls
asleep on the beach and wakes to find himself
being dragged into the sea by three Luthor pain.
he captures his abductors who grant him three
witches in exchange for release. Which kind of
reminds me of the gym. Over time, these creatures
became more ingrained in Irish culture and storytelling.
In McNally's 1888 account, the Leprechaun was
not in fact a professional cobbler, but was...
they're professionals? Yeah. I would have thought
that they were just amateurs, but I don't know
where that logic came from. But I guess that's
neither here nor there. It was frequently seen
mending his own shoes as he runs about so much
he wears them out with great frequency. This
is, he claims, the perfect opportunity for a
human being to capture the Leprechaun, refusing
to release him until the Leprechaun gives his
captors supernatural wealth. The leprechaun has
been classed as a solitary fairy like I already
said by the writer and an amateur folklorist
William Butler Yeats and Yeats was part of a
revivalist literary movement greatly influential
in calling attention to the leprechaun in the
late 19th century. It is stressed that the Leprechaun,
though some may call it Faery, is clearly to
be distinguished from the Ossi, or the good people
of Gaelic folklore similar to Elves, of the Faery
Mounds, Siddi and Rass. The Leprechaun being
solitary is one distinguishing characteristic,
but additionally the Leprechaun is thought to
only engage in pranks on the level of mischief.
Yeah, people don't die. Basically. I think they
can be maimed, but not killed. But I was just
gonna say, like, what about accidental death?
Would that also be considered mischief? That's
actually a great question with that, if they
didn't intend the person to die. I feel like
it's still mischief, and I'm sure they would
classify it as that. Yeah. requiring special
caution, but in contrast, the Aussie may carry
out deeds more menacing to humans. As we move
through history, the image of the Leprechaun
evolves, just like Middle English. Originally
depicted in red clothing, according to Yeats,
the solitary fairies were red jackets whereas
the trooping fairies wore green. Yeats's leprechaun
wore a jacket with seven rows of buttons with
seven buttons to each row. Yeats described that
on the western coast, the red jacket is covered
by a frieze one. What is this? Oh, a frieze is
like a long hooded jacket. Like F -R -I -E -S
-E? Yeah, F -R -I -E -Z -E. It looks like a priest
outfit. Whereas in Ulster, the creature wears
a cocked hat and when he is up to anything unusually
mischievous, he leaps onto a wall and spins,
balancing himself on the point on the hat with
his heels in the air. According to McNally, the
Universal Leprechaun is described as follows.
Oh, okay. Oh, so he was like a monk. Yeah. Monks
come from Ireland too, don't they? No, I'm thinking
about a druid. It could be druid. It could be
a druid. I only know that she has abductees.
Where's that Scotland? That is Scotland, but
they didn't have druids. Scrooge is a... He's
Scottish. Scottish, right? Okay. According to
McNally, the universal leprechaun is described
as follows. He is about three feet high and is
dressed in a little red jacket or roundabout
with red breeches buckled at the knee, gray or
black stockings and a hat cocked in the style
of a century ago over a little old withered face.
Round his neck is an Elizabethan ruff and frills
of lace are on its wrists. On the wild west coast,
where an Atlantic wind bring almost constant
rains, he dispenses with ruff and frills and
wears a freeze overcoat over his pretty red suit,
so that unless on the lookout for the cocked
hat, ye might pass a leprechaun on the road and
never know it's himself that's in at all. This
is a lot of focus on what they're wearing and
the outfits seem rather elaborate. And that is
when I picture a leprechaun it is a fairly elaborate
getup. Like I'm not going out in a three -piece
suit that is color coordinated every single day.
You don't want to do up that many buttons and
buckles and stuff. Did he not describe them having
like 49 buttons on their jacket? Seven rows by
seven? You gotta think most of them are just
gonna be for show. Yeah. Imagine having to do
49 buttons up every time you put a shirt on I'm
not choosing that shirt You'd never like really
got talked into it by the salesman. You had no
other choice. You're not changing ever No You
got to wear a bib or something if you're eating
just in case because you're not taking either
that or they're filthy just covered in dirt Actually
Chelsea I am curious as anybody ever describe
how they smell Because I'm wondering if they
do actually have another suit that they wear,
or if they do ever take that one off. I don't
think they do, because, you know, they only have
the one outfit that's so elaborate. Gotta think,
if they wore anything else, it'd be spotted in
something else, right? Yeah. So it's universal.
But I guess I can, we can stop there. They're
all wearing the same thing! No, but Chelsea,
if you saw something that was that size and it
wasn't wearing a green suit, you wouldn't say
you thought a leprechaun not in a green suit,
you might say you saw a gnome. or another entity.
So we don't actually know for sure, do we? But
I feel like nobody focuses as much on what the
other little guys are wearing. Like, I just,
how long have I been talking about elaborate
outfits? No, and even like, we've all seen like,
guardian gnomes. Maybe they're known for it.
I couldn't even describe to you what the clothes
are they're wearing at all, in any way. Other
than that like, red dunce cap that they wear.
Yeah, I mean, maybe they're going for best dressed
Harry. Maybe. But again, is it that we don't
see them? Nobody's seen a leprechaun without
a green suit, or is it we see them but we don't
think they're leprechauns because they're not
wearing green suits? I think at this point, it's
hard to say. No, that'd be a good study to do
though, hey? No, it really would be. But how
many people? Okay, we'll talk about - Yeah, we'll
keep going and maybe he'll come up. Yeah, let's
keep going. description varied by region, but
let's take a look at not only how the descriptions
vary between regions, but also how to vary from
what we envision your standard leprechaun as
being today. So, more about how they dress, because
you thought that wasn't enough. The Northern
Leprechauns, or Loggery Men, wore a military
red coat and white breeches with a broad brim
pointed hat on which he would sometimes stand
upside down. Okay, I guess this is a summary
of everything I just said. The Lurigaddon of
Tipperary wore an antique slash jacket of red
with peaks all around and a jockey cap, also
sporting a sword which he uses as a magic wand.
I don't know that I would trust that and why
is he wearing a fucking jockey cap? Why? Oh,
yeah, and especially like jockeys are known as
little people too. Is that why the jockeys adopted
that? Or jockeys? Wait, did the Simpsons not
predict this? Did anyone ever think of this?
They had to at some point. They had to. Maybe
it's because they're not wearing the outlandish
outfit. So it threw them off. I'm pretty sure
there's that one episode of Simpsons where they
get the horse. Is there? And all the jockeys
are like magical creatures. I think they're leprechauns,
but they might not be. They might be elves. I
know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah.
I can't remember what they are. But Simpsons
knew them. It's just the dress. We didn't ever
associate them with being a leprechaun because
they weren't wearing the leg. We're learning
so much. Yeah, but they kind of were. They just
spread rumors that they only wear green. This
is crazy. Okay, Lyric. con of Carrie was a fat
Percy little fellow whose jolly round face rivals
in redness, the cutaway jacket he wears that
always has seven rows of seven buttons in each
row. What is Percy? Well, I thought it was like,
you know, pursed lips. Maybe it means a sour
face. Because its face is all pursed. Yeah. This
guy is not an attractive little fellow. No. I'm
glad you were picturing a not -attractive fellow
too. The clericon of Monaghan wore a swallow
-tailed evening coat of red with green vest,
white breeches, black stockings, shiny shoes,
and a long cone hat without a brim, sometimes
used as a weapon. The hat? Yep. Huh. Good for
them. They have very functional hats. Yeah, not
only that. One of them's got a jockey hat. One's
got one you can balance on and one's got a weapon.
One's got a sword that he says is a magic wand.
The modern image of the leprechaun sitting on
a toadstool having a red beard and a green hat
is a more modern invention or borrowed from other
strands of European folklore. The most likely
explanation for the modern day leprechaun appearance
is that green is traditionally a national Irish
colour. dating back as far as 1642, the hat might
be derived from the old style of outdated fashion
still common in Ireland in the 19th century.
This style of fashion was commonly worn by Irish
immigrants to the United States since some Elizabethan
-era clothes were still common in Ireland in
the 19th century, long after they were out of
fashion as depicted by the stage Irish, also
known as drunk Irish. for Patty Whackery. Man,
just so many terms are actually just like Irish
slander, I think is a good way to put it. Like
the Patty Wagon is just like such a racially
charged word. I never put that together. Yeah.
Interesting. The buckled shoes and other garments
also have their origin in the Elizabethan period
in Ireland. The tales grew richer and more colourful
with each generation adding their own twist to
the legend. It's no wonder that these stories
captured the hearts and minds of the Irish people
and as time went on leprechauns had become synonymous
with luck and fortune as well as Saint Patrick's
Day. The belief was that if you could catch one,
you'd be rewarded with a pot of gold. Some places
say three wishes. Yeah, I've weirdly seen it
interchangeable. And the wishes are always like
super wording dependent. Like they're playing
the practical jokes through their wishes. Yeah.
I think that's also a djinn thing, which is kind
of weird. A couple djinn things have already
come up where they grant a wish, but it's like
secretly evil and it's like the dark side of
the wish. Yeah. But leprechauns aren't just confined
to ancient folklore. In recent years, there have
been numerous sightings and stories on platforms
like Reddit. Let's take a look at some of these.
Are we going to cover that really big one on
YouTube where the news story covered it? Okay.
Can you stop jumping ahead and ruining everything,
ruining the episode? Damn it. Are you a leprechaun?
Who's to say? First up is a mass sighting of
a leprechaun. Creighton the leprechaun. Now,
I'm not sure how to say this. I want to say Creighton,
but it could be Crichton. Creighton, yeah. Likely
Creighton. I'm not going to describe this to
you at all. No, I'm going to let this news report
do all the explaining in general, if I can get
in there. Well, just in time for St. Patrick's
Day, crowds are coming by the dozens to get an
up -close view at what some say is a piece of
Irish folklore. Some people in the Crichton area
of Mobile say a leprechaun is taking up residence
in their neighborhood. A leprechaun. NBC 15's
Brian Johnson has more. Curiosity leads to large
crowds in Mobile's Crichton community. Many of
you bring binoculars, camcorders, even camera
phones to take pictures. To me, it look like
a leprechaun to me. All I gotta do is look up
in the tree. Who else in the leprechaun say yeah?
Yeah! Eyewitnesses say the leprechaun only comes
out at night. If you shine a light in its direction,
it suddenly disappears. This amateur sketch resembles
what many of you say the leprechaun looks like.
others find it hard to believe and have come
up with their own theories and explanations for
the image. This guy helping to direct traffic
says he's prepared for his encounter with the
leprechaun. He's suited up from head to toe.
This war is all spells right here. This is a
special leprechaun flute which has been passed
down from thousands of years ago from my great
great grandfather who was Irish. I just came
to help out. Others just came to get lucky. This
might sound incredibly racist. But this is a
very black part of Alabama, and this guy is saying
that his family passed down for a thousand generations.
Something to protect them from leprechaun. I
don't think they did. They probably didn't. Can
I unpause it? Yeah, you can go. Give me the gold!
I want the gold! This is Brian Johnson, NBC 15
News. People will do anything for a pot of gold.
I mean, anything. You know what I like? I like
the amateur sketch of the leprechaun. It looks
like somebody got a really good look at it and
got that good drawing out there. Who did that?
I want to know who sketched that. I don't know,
maybe Brian sketched it. I like how they said
they showed up with camera phones. Like, they
would never see that now. Yeah, no, you just
show up with phones. Camera phones. Yeah, now
you just show up with phones. Everybody knows
it as a camera. One particularly famous sighting
occurred in 1989 when a group of tourists claimed
to have seen a leprechaun dancing on a rock near
the village of Carlingford. They described him
as wearing a green coat and a hat that looked
suspiciously like it had been borrowed from a
gnome convention. the tourists were so convinced
that they even snapped a photo though it looked
more like a blurry blob than an actual leprechaun
oh yeah i've seen that um just so everybody's
aware carlingford is in ireland so this would
be like it's homeland okay good did not look
that up i just assumed in 1900 a man named thomas
mcgowan claimed he had encountered a leprechaun
while out fishing near loft nay yeah that they
did irish can be hard not in the same way that
australians hard because australians made up
i'm just gonna go with it according to his account
the leprechaun offered him three wishes in exchange
for his silence about their meeting mcgowen he
didn't get the wishes mcgowen being the clever
chap he was wished for wealth health and an endless
supply of whiskey because who wouldn't However,
he later regretted his choices when he found
himself with more gold than he could carry and
an insatiable thirst for whiskey that left him
perpetually tipsy. Lesson learned. Be careful
what you wish for when dealing with leprechauns.
And if you're going to wish for unlimited wealth,
you don't need to wish for whiskey. You can buy
it. That's true. Feel like I go with Unlimited
wealth and I'll just say in a light form so like
not like a light bulb Like don't twist my words
leprechauns. It's like a bank account. I don't
want a pot of gold. It's too heavy Yeah, but
then See, I think that's actually super easy
for the leprechauns to deal with as a practical
joke, is they just report you to your taxing
service, whatever country you're in, the IRS,
the CRA, and boom, you're in jail for probably,
I don't know, money laundering of some kind.
I mean, there's a spot on the form to tick. Leprechaun
wish, right? Oh, right, right. I forgot about
that. Yeah. I haven't done my taxes yet for the
year, so. Yeah, no, I've just never had to take
that box, but I've always wanted to. This is
definitely not money laundry. Here's that shit
box for paranormal means. Okay, so let's get
to the freaking reddit. You still have to remit
though, just so we're all clear. Yes, you absolutely
have to. The leprechauns know what to. But they
won't tell you. Unless you wish that they tell
you all the terms and conditions. And no one's
gonna fucking wish for that. User martleed. When
this happened in Ireland I thought I'd share
it again. There are areas here in Ireland where
belief in fairies, elves, etc. is commonplace.
Look up fairy rings or fairy trees. A friend
of mine was in Donegal at his grandparents' holiday
home years ago. He went out for a walk with his
grandmother. When they were coming home they
had to cross a large field that they crossed
many times before. I mean even if they were unfamiliar
with the field that would be okay by me. They
walked in the direction of the house. As they
walked, they chatted, but both felt a little
uneasy. They were walking and walking for longer
than usual, but seemingly they were getting no
closer to the house. My friend eventually said
to his grandmother that he was scared, but they
kept walking. In the distance, their neighbour,
the farmer who owned the field, was standing
at a gate calling to them and asked if they were
having trouble. His grandmother shouted back
that they were. He laughed and shouted, it's
fine, the we folk are just playing with you.
Take off your coats and put them on inside out.
Feeling rather stupid, they did as he suggested.
Then they walked directly to the house without
a problem. He doesn't like to talk about it too
much for fear of being ridiculed, but he swears
that he was never more frightened than he was
on that day. That's kind of a cool story actually.
Yeah, yeah I like that. What do you think that
farmer saw? That prompted him to ask if they
were having trouble. It's a good question. I
wonder if he's used to that in the area Like
do you think they're walking around in circles
or just like Walking super slow like they were
in like, you know when he slows something down
Well, I'm wondering if they just kept like passing
the same location maybe Like they just kept walking
past him. Yeah And he just snickers and he's
like, you guys have been trouble. Yeah, almost
like, you know, like a wormhole and it takes
you back to the spot. Yeah. I mean, at that point,
I mean, he seemed to have the answer, so I guess
he wouldn't be weirded out by it at all. No,
the answer. OK, next one is user existential
dread 14. Hey, remember Uncomfortable Truths?
Do you mean the guy who used to? Yeah, I know.
We don't twitch anymore. That's the problem.
We do not twitch anymore, sadly. I wonder if
he listens. That is the weird thing about not
streaming live. We have no idea who these people
are. No. Feel free to say hello. Oh, except that
one guy who corrects our grammar, yes. Which
you are appreciated. Yes. We know we're mispronouncing
a great deal of words. I personally know two
people who believe they've seen a leprechaun.
Just as the title states, I personally know two
people who truly believe they've seen leprechauns.
These two stories are unfortunately going to
be rather long, but I want you to get the full
details. I'll post a too long didn't read at
the end. Although these stories take place in
Western Pennsylvania, which is not in fact in
Ireland, it is in North America. The first story
takes place in 1991. My ex -boyfriend's dad was
the chief of police of a small town located directly
outside of a city. He had several police officers
who worked for him and one was a young rookie
cop whom I will call Mike. The police officers
in that jurisdiction often assisted the city
police with calls. Mike was going to such a call
on cold day in the beginning of March. He was
driving down a road that on either side was A
field of tall, dead brown grass. All of a sudden,
Mike saw what he thought was an animal coming
out of the grass on the left side. He said he
saw the next sequence of events in slow motion.
He tried to slow his cruiser down. He saw that
it was not an animal, but indeed a small, bald,
dirty man dressed in ragged clothes. approximately
two feet tall, running out from the grass. He
slammed on the brakes. The cruiser did not stop
fast enough and he hit the small man with the
front of his car. The man flew up in the air.
Mike jumped out and ran to the front. He said
he looked right down at the small man, who he
then noticed had reddish brown hair. The little
man began a screaming evil laugh and hopped up
running into the grass on the right side of the
road. Mike ran after him, but all he heard was
the sound of his evil mocking laugh. Back to
the station, he was visibly shaken. My ex's father
said he was pale white and he could barely choke
out the story. When he finished telling them
what happened, everyone except my ex's dad began
howling with laughter. The other cops teased
him relentlessly about the leprechaun story.
Since it was about three weeks before St. Patrick's
Day, one of the cops went to the dollar store
and bought a leprechaun hat. Left it on Mike's
doorstep with a note stuck in the prim saying,
I'm coming for you, Mikey. These guys are assholes.
The next morning, Mike came in crying and told
my ex's father he was quitting the police. My
ex's father believed Mike and said he could tell
he was extremely sincere in his belief that he
did a leprechaun. That is great. Sorry, that's
hard to read out loud. He told the other cops
to leave him alone about it and Mike worked with
him for years to come. I first heard this story
from my ex's father. I could tell he really believed
Mike had seen what he'd seen. Later that year,
Mike was over at my ex's house. I asked Mike
about the story. He grew pale and quiet probably
because he was terrified of ridicule. And he
told me exactly the same story my ex's father
had told me earlier. And he always insisted that
he hit a leprechaun this car that day. And you
know the leprechaun just did that to fuck with
him too. Oh, yeah. Can you imagine that happening
and being like, how the fuck am I going to explain
this to anybody? Oh, I would not tell people
about that. No, I'm surprised Mike did. I'm wondering
if it left like a dent or something where it
hit, so he had to explain that. Like, why, how
did you, how did you mess up the car? No, he
wouldn't put it in the story if that's why he
had to tell yeah true cuz I'm not telling that
story straight up. I'm not At that point you
just denied the damage to your car like I don't
see anything You go you go hit a tree with worry
about explaining that story No, that's not a
story for telling so Until, you know what, I
would tell it, but I would probably save it for
like, the worst possible situation to ever tell
that story in. Like... Like, say at... My kid's
wedding. One of those big social events that
we talk about that we give you guys conversation
ideas for. Yeah, no, that's the perfect place,
but you want to wait until like, everyone's listening.
Yep. I'd say it very awkwardly at first until
everything gets really quiet. Yeah, yeah. That's
the perfect place. That's totally something I
would say to work. I saw it at LoverCon once.
Everybody stops. I'm sure I have something interesting
to add to this party, and then I tell that story.
Okay, his second story takes place in 1998. My
childhood best friend Susan grew up in one of
the most haunted houses I've ever been in my
life, which is a story for another day. She lived
in an old farmhouse way out in the country that
has been - could you imagine if this is a story
of like, they keep seeing people walking past
and they're like, you guys have in trouble? It's
the firmer story. She lived in an old farmhouse
way out in the country that has been in her family
for generations. It's important to understand
how her upstairs was set up. You'd go up the
staircase to essentially a dead end, with hallways
on either side of the staircase. To the right,
it was a very large bedroom, which was her parents'
room. To the immediate left was her sister's
room, then Susan's room, then an open hallway
which led to the bathroom and smaller back bedroom.
Susan's bedroom, I can't picture this at all.
Susan's bedroom had an open doorway into the
hallway that faced the bathroom and small bedroom.
This is all nonsense to me. I've always had my
abilities. Susan would often tell me of odd things
that hap - in her house. Also, she said I would
often discuss odd things that happened to both
of us when I would go over there. One morning
she came into school and told me in a whisper
that she had seen a leprechaun in the hallway
of a room that ate before. I could tell that
scared her. I asked her if she'd seen it before
and she said she had. She said she'd heard rustling
noises out in the hallway and gotten out of her
bed to peek around the corner. In the corner
of the hall she saw a small man, approximately
two feet, in dirty clothes with red hair. Oh
my god! It's the same guy! She froze with red
hair! They're all dirty clothes! We knew it!
He's filthy! She froze with fear then she said
the man disappeared She said she'd seen him before
out of the corner of her eye moving in the hallway
at all hours of the day I remember her clear
as day saying to me that it did not look like
the leprechaun on the lucky terms box Being an
amateur paranormal investigator, even at nine,
I asked her to draw me a picture. I still have
the picture somewhere at my parents. She drew
a small man with red hair standing in her hallway.
She believed she saw the leprechaun one more
time. Then she told me she never saw it again.
It should be noted too that Susan was not asleep
or in her bed the time she thought she saw the
leprechaun. She would see it out in the hallway
or out of the corner of her eye while she was
upstairs. I believed too. She only saw it over
a six month period. A lot of strange things.
happened to her at her house and I know she believed
what she saw she wasn't just making up stories.
Now that I'm older and do paranormal investigation
myself I believe that what Mike and Susan both
saw are what we call Tommy knockers. Tommy knockers
are leprechaun -like creatures believed by immigrant
coal miners to live in the mines and move tools
and such things. This being western Pennsylvania
each location where the leprechaun was seen was
above or near a coal mine. They are often described
as dirty scraggly sharp featured looking little
men with reddish hair. I cannot express how sincere
both of them were to me when telling me their
stories. Interesting. Never heard. I thought
Tommy Knockers were something else. Yeah, gonna
say I've never heard of it actually. So that's
an interesting one. Well, let's add it to the
list and we'll find out what it is. One more
for the road. User blue silk tree. I haven't
shared this story with many people as skeptics
are quick to write off experience. Oh, and sorry,
Chelsea, just before we move on from that, I
do find it interesting that it was in a haunted
house. So it's known for other paranormal activity.
Yeah. The other thing that I liked about that
one was that or noticed that she saw it from
the corner of its eye. It was like a very paranormal.
feature of it and I believe a lot of time elves
and nature spirits and stuff like that, that's
where you see them a lot is the corner of your
eye. It reminds me of a book I read a long time
ago called John Dies at the End and that was
normal people seeing paranormal. But you fucking
ruined it. This is not ruining it at all but
one of the tests for like figuring out whether
or not somebody was open to paranormal is he
would like start describing a situation to them
and then they'd see something in a box if they
weren't looking at it in the corner of their
eye. yeah just interesting hey isn't that what's
his face's book uh david long that's always on
yeah he's on uh he's been on behind the bastards
a couple times a couple times he's the one who
recommended they do that i do like that mine
that everybody got oh i forget what it's called
but their lungs bled to death it was like i vaguely
remember yeah i can't remember the name of it
but yeah we can move on I remember that vaguely.
I haven't shared. Oh, yeah around seven years
ago when I was staying at my dad's house I woke
up in the middle of the night to see what I now
believe was a leprechaun I know that sounds absolutely
ridiculous, but this experience was so creepy
It still gives me the chills to this day. I grew
up in my dad's house and always felt like home
It doesn't have any creepy vibes or a history
of paranormal activity. It's just a normal house
I was sleeping in my bedroom and I woke up facing
the left side of my room. In the space about
1 .5 meters in front of me I saw this small man,
maybe 3 feet tall, dancing in a circle. Since
I'd just woken up my eyes weren't fully adjusted
so I could only make out the outline of this
thing and couldn't see any facial features. I
hope this makes sense but it wasn't a shadowy
being. It was a solid mass as real as a person
standing in the room. He was wearing a top hat
and the dancing was really strange and it was
hard to describe. The only way I can think of
explaining it is that he was hunched over doing
an exaggerated tiptoeing motion. Anyway, I'm
watching it dance for around 10 seconds, which
doesn't sound like a long time, but it was enough
time for me to properly wake up and wonder what
on earth I was looking at. I was shocked and
frozen thinking this can't be real. After watching
it dance in the short space of time, it suddenly
stopped in its tracks, seemed to turn around
towards me and begins coming at me with speed.
I screamed and flipped to the other side of the
bed to turn the light on. When I looked back
to the side of the room where it had been, it
was gone. Needless to say, I kept the light on
and didn't go to sleep again until it was light
outside and my dad was awake. For a long time
I explained the separation as a creepy small
man dancing around my room in a top hat. It wasn't
until I told my boyfriend about it years later
he said it sounded like a leprechaun that it
clicked. Where do you think it might have been?
Can you imagine that though? Like these things
have like they turn on a dime. Just having a
good dance and it just comes right at you. I
think this is top variant stories for any episode
other than the one for the skinwalker of that
grandpa that saw the inside out. Oh yeah, just
the emotional manipulation of leprechauns is
top level. It is top level. It really is. It
really is. It is something else and I have quite
enjoyed these stories and I have to say there
you have it. It's a fascinating history and evolution
and sighting of leprechauns from their ancient
roots to their modern day dancing sightings.
And I especially like that there are sightings
outside of Ireland which means that either A.
these things have traveled or can travel between
continents or they've existed here this whole
time in North America. I'm glad you brought that
up. I don't know that really. Anything would
bound them to Ireland. No, but like... Unless
of course it was a magical island and then in
terms of that I could see them never being able
to leave it. But it's very rare that these things
often are just bound to one specific region.
No, but at the same time the entire history of
it is up until like the eighteen nineteen hundreds.
Irish sightings and Irish stories. Yeah, we could
be thinking that it's something else though until
we actually... Yeah, it could just be the cultural
interpretation of that area. Then what would
it be? Yeah. I don't know that I've heard of
any sightings of stuff like that prior to a leprechaun.
Gnomes, yeah. Things like that. A little... But
these guys are so well dressed. So well dressed
and like distinctly red hair from Ireland. Yeah.
So I don't... yeah. They look Irish. They look
Irish. They also apparently look like they could
be a crackhead sometimes. And also, little known
fact, our jockeys. Yeah. Jockey sighting. Yeah,
I forgot about that one. We had so many of those
in our childhood Chelsea. Yes, we were just surrounded
by leprechauns, which sounds like a weird sentence
to say that we were that ingrained around jockeys,
but we were. It wasn't weird. It was a little
weird. That's the episode. Don't think about
it too much. You get lore when we give it and
that is it. Yeah, that's all you get. And with
that, I have been Taylor. Here with Chelsea,
we are Journey to the Fringe. Thank you all for
listening and we'll see you next week. Bye. Thank
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