06 November 2005 In Search Of The Real Dracula After a lifetime of studying vampire literature and associated myths it came as a bit of a surprise to find Dracula wasn't safely tucked away in the Carpathian Mountains but was a little bit closer to home. In fact, he was interred only a stone's throw from where my family used to live. So, one chilly spring day, Dave, ER and myself decided to go vampire hunting and see if there was any truth to the story. You see, it was always thought that Bram Stoker based his story on Romanian myths, especially since Vlad Dracul was a real-life historical figure. However, even though Vlad was particularly bloodthirsty and well-deserving of his 'impaler' nickname, there's never been any evidence to link him to blood-drinking. Could it have been that Stoker heard the tale of a vampire in his native Ireland and simply chose Transylvania as a more exotic location? After all, a nobleman from Eastern Europe sounds much more romantic than a Chieftan from the hills of County Londonderry. I was familiar with the area my family had lived in for even though they moved just before I was born we still had many friends and relatives in the area and often made return visits. It's a district steeped in lore and tradition - as a child I played in the ruins of a church founded by Saint Columba and made wishes in holy wells blessed by Saint Patrick. I knew of a place high in the forest where there were footprints embossed in stone and which was called 'The Saint's Track' and as an adult I know it's a site where Kings stood to be formally crowned by the holy men of their time, long before Christianity ever came to this Isle. Christianity had barely taken hold in Ireland when the chieftan Abhartach ruled over the Glenullin district during the fifth century. He was reputed to be a socerer and so evil that his subjects appealed to another local Chieftan, Cath�n, to rid them of his rule. Cath�n killed Abhartach but only for him to rise from his grave the following night to demand blood from the veins of the subjects who had asked for his death. Cath�n slew him again, but it seemed nothing would keep Abhartach in his grave. Finally Cath�n sought advice from a local holy man - whether he was Christian or Pagan is not known, but the instructions were to kill Abhartach by piercing his heart with a sword made from the wood of a yew tree then buried upside down, his body sprinkled with thorns and heavy stones placed over the burial site. This was duly done and Abhartach has seemingly stayed in his grave from that day until now - and the 'Leacht Abhartach' or 'Abhartach's Sepulchre' is still there, if you know where to look. It's not easy to find. There's no tourist trail, no souvenir shops selling cuddly bats and we were only able to find it because our mother knew of the place as the 'Giant's Grave', although she'd never heard the vampire story that accompanied it, although she knew plenty of other tales of ghosts that supposedly haunt the district. Perhaps our late father knew of Abhartach, since it was our paternal family who lived in the district, and thought it best not to tell his young bride such gruesome stories or perhaps it's steeped in the subconscious of the people who still live there not to repeat the story in case it disturbs Abhartach's uneasy rest. No matter, we decided to visit the site for ourselves and see what was left. As I said, it's not easy to find, even with directions and you eventually have to drive along a private lane before you find the field where the grave is situated. Wondering how we were going to explain to the owners that we were there to view the vampire's grave, the three of us crossed fields until we came to the site. At one time it was a large monument, clearly visible, but over the years stones were removed for other buildings - but there, in the middle of a field, stands a solitary thorn tree beside several larges slabs of stone laid in the earth. According to the story, the thorn tree grew from the thorns that were placed around Abhartach's corpse and the stones that cover the grave itself must never be removed if Abhartach is to stay in his uneasy resting place. We were looking at stones that had stayed in place for almost sixteen hundred years and somehow I doubt they'll be removed in years to come. Now I'd love to say there was an eerie atmosphere, but like the rest of the district it's just incredibly tranquil and breathtakingly beautiful. Sadly, Stoker never visited the district himself but he would have been familiar with Abhartach's legend as it was recounted in a popular book written in 1880 and published in Dublin. Perhaps it was for the best since the local people don't seem keen to draw attention to the vampire links in their district - as I commented to Dave and ER at the site, anywhere else in the world and this would be a tourist attraction. Some day I still hope to visit Transylvania, but when I do I'll know that despite the Dracula tours the area doesn't hold the same signifinance as that lonely field, high on an hillside in Northern Ireland.
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