The
Leprechaun & Carlichaun story
that changed the world’s understanding of the little people.
A TRUE STORY
Ireland has been synonymous with Leprechauns as far back as anyone can remember. It was no surprise therefore when in 1989 a man from Carlingford Co. Louth informed the world that he had found the first authentic suit and bones and 4 gold coins belonging to the little people on the Cooley mountains close to the Slate Rock and beside a Wishing Well on Foy mountain.
The man P.J.O’ Hare didn’t realise at the time that they had been left there in an attempt to attract human kind to their desperate plight. They would need human help to survive. Millions of the little people had lived in Ireland from the beginning of time but now only 236 survived. P.J. died not knowing why the artefacts were left for him to find them .
He was never gifted with seeing any in his lifetime . The suit and bones remain in his pub to this day on display, but no one knew the whereabouts of the gold coins.
Four years after he died a disbelieving friend of his Kevin Woods was fixing a wall in Carlingford on Ghan Road and found a leather purse with 4 gold coins in it. He brought it to the mountain and to his amazement saw 3 leprechauns. They told him he must get more people to believe in them otherwise the 236 remaining would not survive. He told him why they had all disappeared.
Leprechauns are spirits who show themselves in a form that those who see them are comfortable with. Kevin Woods or “McCoillte” Irelands last leprechaun whisperer explains: Leprechauns should never have interacted with humans, but they did in 802 A.D. when the Vikings arrived in Ireland and burned Carlingford twice.
They attached their spirit to the human spirit to help the plight of the Irish. They continued to do this throughout the centuries. Following the famine in Ireland in 1845 when many people died, and others left for foreign shores, the leprechaun spirit travelled with them.
As years went by, and the Irish grew more prosperous the need for anything of the spirit was discarded for other beliefs and the leprechaun spirit died in them.
By approximately 1987 there were only 236 believers left which kept the 236 alive. It was then that they reached out for help to survive. Woods and a local committee lobbied the E.U. for 6 years and the leprechauns were granted E.U. protection as a species in 2009 under the European Habitats Directive .They live below Foy Mountain above Carlingford. He followed this with a book in 2010 “The Last Leprechauns of Ireland” relating the story of their lives from the beginning of time till today. Their story is told as a timeline of the leprechauns witness to the changes in the geology mythology and social history of Ireland and the Cooley Peninsula in particular.
By 2012 Woods was aware of energy emanating from the ground at Ghan Road Carlingford.
He discovered two tunnels there one which ran from the mountain to that point and another that runs below the sea.
Their story offers an insight into every story ever told about Leprechaun’s; it offers a rational explanation to the belief that there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow and dispels many of the untruths told about them. ——–
“Each year we fence off the protected area and hide ceramic Leprechauns close to the area of the slate rock to celebrate the protection order. We sell Leprechaun Hunting Licences and people search for the €1000 hidden below them. Thousands come every year now and thousands now believe again in their existence. Each new human spirit who believes is now linked to one of the 236.Their future seems secure as a species. The next hunt is on Sunday March 29th starting at 2pm at the village green Carlingford Co Louth.”
McCoillte (Woods) calls himself and is known locally as “A Leprechaun Whisper”
He explains
“Leprechaun’s are spirits who can the take the form of what we as humans wish them to be. In my case I see them, as most of us envisage them to be. Small men 12 to 14 ins tall wearing the traditional green of Ireland suitable adorned with gold buckles and belt fastenings.”
“Many people claim to see angles or ghosts or spirits of one kind or another. We personally may not see them but when others do our minds easily conjure up an image that is familiar to all of us”.
Asked if he communicates with them regularly He said
“Yes I can, whenever I wish. I have the gift”
What happens when you die. Is the gift lost for good? I asked
“It would be- but I have been given an option to pass on the coins to the eldest of a family of 7 sons- 3 hours before I die or at any time before that; If I don’t the gifts will be lost forever”.
Do you know of such a family?
“Yes the little folk have made it easy for me. I have 7 sons but I am finding it difficult to let go. Everything in me wants to hold on to the last minute—but of course none of us know when death will visit us. It’s a bit of a dilemma for me. A wee bit like St Augustine “ make me a saint Lord but not just yet” Where did all the millions of Leprechauns go? How did they die out? “
You might need to read their story to find out the totality of what occurred .
However their demise began when they started to interact with humans. By doing so the spirits of humans and Leprechauns became intrinsically linked. As humans began to disbelieve in the little people so the Leprechaun’s spirit died too.
“That’s why only 236 survived. They represented the 236 Humans who still firmly believed just before the suit and bones and coins were left by them to be found”
Perfect for 
