An Púca (The Pooka)

If you are going to take a shortcut home this Halloween, you might encounter the Púca, and if you do, make sure to bring your spurs. There's something deeply unsettling about a talking horse that appears out of nowhere in the dead of night and insists you get on its back. This Halloween, we're getting acquainted with the púca: Ireland's shapeshifting troublemaker, known to appear as everything from a black horse to a half-horse, half-pig monstrosity (and even a barrel?) Traditionally it was said that after Halloween it was no good to eat the berries in the hedgerows, not because of rot, but because the Púca had spat in them. But what the púca is most related to in Irish folklore is the so called 'Wild Ride' it brought people on. If the stories are anything to go by, a chance encounter with one could leave you dumped in a bog, halfway across the country, or at a fairy banquet. Wild midnight rides, strange bargains, and the curious ways people tried to outsmart the creature. Its all in there! oOoooooooooOoh!