Nov 3, 2026 · 27 min · 11 segments
In this episode Luke reads from three of the myths most associated with Samhain. That good old time, just gone by, where the otherworld and our human world kiss and hold hands and which leads us into…
Luke ConroyHost
Samhain, this night when the boundary between the Otherworld and Arras dipped, was the backdrop to more than one of the defining moments of his journey to become the hero we all know today.
By this point in our tale, Fionn had already lived a remarkable life, even for a boy.
With his family caught up in a dangerous feud, Fionn was raised in secret by two warrior women in the forest, protected from those who wanted him dead.
Raised deep in the bowels of the wood, as he grew older, Fionn improved as a hunter and a fighter.
He travelled across Ireland, learning from warriors and poets, and eventually acquired the wisdom associated with the famous salmon of knowledge.
About his first of many encounters with the fairy beings which ventured from their mounds upon the thinning of the veil.
Fionn learned of a beautiful maiden named El, who lived within a fairy mound at Brí El.
Every year, around Samhain, men travelled to the mound to seek her hand in marriage.
Every time a group arrived to court the maiden, one of their companions would be mysteriously killed, and nobody knew who was responsible for it.
But as they approached, they found another man already dead, once again with no sign of the culprit.
Determined to discover who is responsible, Fionn seeks advice from another warrior named Fíochal.
As night fell, the fairy mounds up upon the hills began to open before him, their ramparts disappearing, revealing great fires burning within them.
Fionn could hear them speaking of exchanges and bargains between the inhabitants of these two hidden places.
Samhain, this night when the boundary between the Otherworld and Arras dipped, was the backdrop to more than one of the defining moments of his journey to become the hero we all know today.
By this point in our tale, Fionn had already lived a remarkable life, even for a boy.
With his family caught up in a dangerous feud, Fionn was raised in secret by two warrior women in the forest, protected from those who wanted him dead.
Raised deep in the bowels of the wood, as he grew older, Fionn improved as a hunter and a fighter.
He travelled across Ireland, learning from warriors and poets, and eventually acquired the wisdom associated with the famous salmon of knowledge.
About his first of many encounters with the fairy beings which ventured from their mounds upon the thinning of the veil.
Fionn learned of a beautiful maiden named El, who lived within a fairy mound at Brí El.
Every year, around Samhain, men travelled to the mound to seek her hand in marriage.
Every time a group arrived to court the maiden, one of their companions would be mysteriously killed, and nobody knew who was responsible for it.
But as they approached, they found another man already dead, once again with no sign of the culprit.
Determined to discover who is responsible, Fionn seeks advice from another warrior named Fíochal.
As night fell, the fairy mounds up upon the hills began to open before him, their ramparts disappearing, revealing great fires burning within them.
Fionn could hear them speaking of exchanges and bargains between the inhabitants of these two hidden places.
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