Dearg-Due….. An Irish Vampire

”Hell Hath no fury, like a woman scorned”.

We all know that the Author of the most famous Vampire Dracula, was the Irish writer Bram Stoker. In fact we can also claim Sheridan Le Fanu who wrote the novella, “Carmilla”.  Le Fanu is known to have drawn on his Irish homeland for his early stories. Many historians have noted that Carmilla is the first true Vampire novel ever created,  and was probably a big influence on Bram Stoker. The Vampire whilst not always fitting the description of these Victorian era novels have in fact existed in almost every ancient culture around the globe. So it is fitting that Ireland has its own version of the creature. The Dearg-Due which means Red Blood Sucker is a Vampire which dates back to Celtic Ireland. During my research I have found some interesting leads which link this creature to a certain Celtic deity, however as this link appears to be a demonization of an old god by the Christian Church I would prefer to explore the story more before presenting it here. So I will instead tell the story of the most commonly known account of our Ancient Vampire, The Dearg-Due, a tale worthy of comparison to the best Shakespearian tragedy.

Our story tells of a girl of legendary beauty, with blood-red lips and pale blonde hair. whose name seems to have been lost in the sands of time. She was being forced into an arranged marriage against her will by her father, but as it happens she was in love with another, a local peasant boy. Unfortunately her cruel father whom was only interested in the wealth he would acquire from the union, forbade the pair from seeing each other and the arranged marriage went ahead. The husband whom was many years older than the girl was a cruel bastard whom treated her badly. After some months of enduring her terrible life she eventually gave up all hope that her true love might find some way to rescue her.  Now some say that her husband beat her to death, some say that she died of a broken heart but others say that she committed suicide as she could no longer cope with her abusive husband and the miserable life she was forced into. She is said to have been buried in a small lonely grave, near “Strongbow’s Tree,” in County Waterford. Legend says that with her last breath she vowed a terrible vengeance.

 Her husband was said to have taken another wife, while her body was still warm in her death bed. Her cruel father and family were so busy with their new wealth lives to care about her demise. The only person who mourned her passing was the young peasant boy. He visited her grave many times where he spoke of his desire to see her again and prayed for her to come back to him. As the story goes, she arose from her grave the following year on the very date she died. Overcome  with anger and vengeance, she firstly visited her father’s house. Finding him asleep in his bed, she leaned over him and placing her lips over his where she sucked the life breath from him till there was no more. She then visited her husband. He was said to have been engaged marital exploits with his new wife and never noticed her enter the room. Overcome with a furious rage she went into a frenzied attack on the couple, this time her attack was so ferocious that she not only drained the pair of their life breath but also their blood. The surge of fresh blood through her dead body made her feel alive again. She uses her beauty to prey on lustful young men. Luring them away to a quite place only to sink her teeth into their  throats and deprive them of their blood. Her hunger for blood became  all that she knew. So eager to quench her thirst,  she forgot all about her young love and never saw him again. Each night she rises from the earth to feast like a wild beast returning to her grave a bloody corpse and thus the Dearg-Due was born. She is said to rise from her grave at will and uses her beauty to lure unsuspecting men to their death. It is said that the only way to stop the Dearg-Due is to  pile stones on her grave and in doing so prevent her from rising and taking her fill of life blood from her potential victims. Locals are said to have done this for many years,  but… sometimes they forget…

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