Irish Folklore - The Garvagh Vampire

Abhartach - The Vampire Magician.

Garvagh from the Irish Garbhach, meaning 'rough place’ is a village in the County of Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It was founded in the early 17th Century. But long before its appearance the land about the area was infamous, as it was said to be the haunt of a Vampire, who went by the name of Abhartach.

Abhartach is the oldest recorded Vampire legend in Western Europe, dating back to 5th or 6th Century AD, and some people believe it may have been the inspiration for Bram Stokers ‘Dracula.’ Today this undead terror is said to be buried by an old thorn tree, and though his sepulchre is gone, it is believed that the rocks about the tree are the remains of its capstone.

Abhartach’s Grave is known as the ‘Slaghtaverty Dolmen’, a dolmen being an older term for a portal tomb. The word Slaghtaverty comes from the Irish ‘Sleacht Abhartach’, meaning Abhartach’s grave or grave-mound, it is located by a thorn tree, about which no grass is said to grow. Below is an account of this monstorous entity.

There is a place in the parish of Errigal in Londonderry, called Slaghtaverty, but it ought to have been called Laghtaverty, the laght or sepulchral monument of the abhartach [avartagh] or dwarf . This dwarf was a chieftain, a magician, and a dreadful tyrant, and after having perpetrated great cruelties on his people he was at last vanquished and slain by a neighbouring chieftain; some say by Fionn Mac Cumhail. He was buried in a standing posture, but the very next day he appeared in his old haunts, more cruel and vigorous than ever. And the chief slew him a second time and buried him as before, but again he escaped from the grave, and spread terror through the whole country. The chief then consulted a druid, and according to his directions, he slew the dwarf a third time, and buried him in the same place, but this time with his head downwards; which subdued his magical power, so that he never again appeared on earth. The laght raised over the dwarf is still there, and you may hear the legend with much detail from the natives of the place.

In a more recent versions of the story, Abhartach is said to drink the blood of his victims, and is referred to as one of the neamh-mairbh, or walking dead. He can only be stopped by being slain with a sword made of yew wood, surrounding his grave with thorns, and placing a large stone on top of the burial site.

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