Petticoat Loose, Evil Spirit That Takes The Spirits Of Children
Ghost/Paranormal
Wednesday 18th, January 2023
This evil spirit is known as Petticoat Loose in the Waterford and Tipperary areas of Ireland, or in Cork as Moll Shaughnessy and also know by the name Sprid na Bearnan in Limerick.
The tale of Petticoat Loose haunting a man travelling on the road to a priest's house at night. It transpires that Petticoat Loose is damned because she killed an unbaptised child. Petticoat Loose is banished to the Red Sea or in some tales, Bay Lough where she must make ropes of sand or carry out some other futile task for the rest of her days.
In Irish tradition the spirits of dead children are usually related to the fairy rath and their voices are heard crying or their footprints are seen on the fairy fort.
Anne O’Connor recounts a story of a priest who comes across three lights while he is on a journey. The two brighter lights are the ghosts of baptised children, while the duller light belongs to an unbaptised child.
Happily he baptises the duller lit child on the spot and the child’s light becomes as bright as the others.
Folklorist Anne O’Connor discusses Petticoat Loose from Irish folklore in the video above.
From an episode of 'Of Night and Light and the Half Light' which was broadcast on the 21st of July 1982.
The presenter of this show was Donncha Ó Dúlaing.
The tale of Petticoat Loose haunting a man travelling on the road to a priest's house at night. It transpires that Petticoat Loose is damned because she killed an unbaptised child. Petticoat Loose is banished to the Red Sea or in some tales, Bay Lough where she must make ropes of sand or carry out some other futile task for the rest of her days.
In Irish tradition the spirits of dead children are usually related to the fairy rath and their voices are heard crying or their footprints are seen on the fairy fort.
Anne O’Connor recounts a story of a priest who comes across three lights while he is on a journey. The two brighter lights are the ghosts of baptised children, while the duller light belongs to an unbaptised child.
Happily he baptises the duller lit child on the spot and the child’s light becomes as bright as the others.
Folklorist Anne O’Connor discusses Petticoat Loose from Irish folklore in the video above.
From an episode of 'Of Night and Light and the Half Light' which was broadcast on the 21st of July 1982.
The presenter of this show was Donncha Ó Dúlaing.
