Blind Man's Bluff

When the railway was built in Donegal many people were delighted at the development. It gave them the opportunity to travel longer distances without having to spend hours waking or cycling - their normal modes of transport.

However, there was cause for dispute when it was discovered that the engineers intended to run the line through an area where a fairy tree was growing and which was said to be used as a crossroads by the wee folk themselves. Quite a few of the locals were working casually on the job clearing away the ground, and it was their duty to destroy the tree. But to the foreman's amazement all his men refused to approach it. They tried to explain to the foreman that to interfere with it would induce bad luck, but he was not from Donegal and had little time for these local superstitions. He threatened the men with the sack if they dared to disobey his orders, yet they appeared quite prepared to lose their jobs rather than venture near the tree. The foreman saw little sense in dismissing all the men as it would take more time to replace them than he could afford. He decided that the best course of action was to be to perform the job himself. After all, it was only superstition, wasn't it?

As the foreman was preparing the dynamite to clear the ground it exploded for no reason, leaving him blind for the rest of his life. Apparently, a short time before the incident, one of the local men had seen a group of fairies dancing and singing around the tree in what had obviously been some kind of warning. Unfortunately this had been ignored with dire consequences.

Back