Play recording: Deaf Coach, The (1)
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- Teideal (Title): Deaf Coach, The (1).
- Uimhir Chatalóige Ollscoil Washington (University of Washington Catalogue Number): 840121.
- Uimhir Chnuasach Bhéaloideas Éireann (National Folklore of Ireland Number): none.
- Uimhir Roud (Roud Number): none.
- Uimhir Laws (Laws Number): none.
- Uimhir Child (Child Number): none.
- Cnuasach (Collection): Joe Heaney Collection, University of Washington, Seattle.
- Teanga na Croímhíre (Core-Item Language): English.
- Catagóir (Category): lore.
- Ainm an té a thug (Name of Informant): Joe Heaney.
- Ainm an té a thóg (Name of Collector): unavailable.
- Dáta an taifeadta (Recording Date): 31/01/1984.
- Suíomh an taifeadta (Recording Location): University of Washington, United States of America.
- Ocáid an taifeadta (Recording Occasion): evening class.
- Daoine eile a bhí i láthair (Others present): unavailable.
- Stádas chóipcheart an taifeadta (Recording copyright status): unavailable.
The Deaf Coach, a supernatural coach that passes people’s houses at certain times of the year (such as Hallowe’en), is a common enough archetype in Irish folklore.
In this telling, Joe says that you can both hear and see it coming. Both the horses and the two men driving them are headless. Inside the coach is a man with the head of a billy-goat. This character holds a big quart of blood in his paw-like hands. If he sees an open door he throws the blood in through it, causing everyone in the house to die within nine months.
Joe refers to turnips and cabbages being thrown at doors (he does not specify who throws them), which he says is a warning to people that the púca is on the way. ‘The púca’, in this case, probably refers to the man with the head of a goat. In other tellings (see Deaf Coach, The (2)) Joe specifies from the outset that the coach is carrying a púca.