Witch trials in the European or American sense were not common in Ireland although they did occur. In this book the stories of four remarkable court cases that took place from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century are told; other chapters chronicle the extraordinary lives of individuals deemed to be practitioners of the black arts – hedge witches, sorcerers and sinister characters.

The book gives a unique insight into the fascinating overlap between witch belief and the vast range of fairy lore that held sway for many centuries throughout the land.