aughisky

A fairy water-horse. They haunt lakes, and in evenings graze on land. If a person steal between them and water and put a halter on them, they are subdued till they see their lake, into which they then dash with rider, and perhaps tear him to pieces.

The aughisky which haunted Lough Corrib, County Galway, had a serpent's body and horse's head. It fed in churchyards on bodies till killed. A famous aughisky in Lough Treagh, Connemara, used to beat people.1 The one from Lough Mask, County Mayo, preyed on cattle until it was killed by a monk from Toormakeady.

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References

Notes

  1. The Folk-Lore Journal. Vol. 2. (1884). London: Elliot Stock, p. 62.

Source

  • Wright, J. (1905). The English dialect dictionary. Vol. 6. London: H. Frowde.