Abhartach, The Evil Vampire Creature From Irish Folklore
Public DomainA still from 1922’s Nosferatu, a film which depicts a similar vampiric creature.
The tale of Abhartach, also known as Avartagh, is an early Irish legend recounted in Patrick Weston Joyce’s 1870 collection, The Origin and History of Irish Names and Places. Although “Abhartach” technically means “dwarf,” and he is often described as such, Abhartach actually has much more in common with another famous figure: Dracula.
The Abhartach was said to be a tyrannical warlord who, using black magic, reigned over the Irish countryside in the 5th century.
“This dwarf was a magician,” Joyce wrote, “and a dreadful tyrant, and after having perpetrated great cruelties on the people he was at last vanquished and slain by a neighboring chieftain; some say by Fionn mac Cumhaill.”
According to Irish mythology, however, the warrior didn’t slay Abhartach just once. Like many other vampires from legends around the world, Abhartach rose from his grave several times to drink the blood of his subjects.
For years, Abhartach terrorized the Irish countryside, demanding blood sacrifices from the frightened villagers. Desperate to end their suffering, a brave warrior sought the help of a wise Druid (or priest, in some versions), who revealed to him the key to finally defeating Abhartach.
The wise man told him that Abhartach was a creature called a “naemh-mairbh,” a living corpse sustained by dark magic. For Abhartach to die for good, he needed to be slain with a sword made of yew wood and buried upside down.
Armed with this knowledge, the brave hero — Fionn, in some tellings — struck Abhartach down with the enchanted sword and buried him upside down with a heavy stone over his grave to prevent him from rising again. Thus, peace was restored to the land.
Abhartach’s story is eerily similar to the story of Dracula, to the point where some scholars have even cited his tale as the true inspiration for Bram Stoker’s vampire novel, rather than the often-cited Vlad the Impaler.
