Irish gold: The Fetches is a hidden preternatural treasure
Originally published at The Preternatural Post. Please leave any comments there.
All the canon characters and many of the celebrities on Twitter are going to die!
Ok, so that may be a bit melodramatic but the truth is a fetch is a harbinger of death according to Irish folklore. A fetch, by the way, is a supernatural double, something like a doppelgänger. The exact history of fetches is unclear, as is their purpose. Some say they are spirits associated with dying and nightmares, or perhaps even beings sent to collect the souls of the dying. It isn’t even clear what seeing one’s fetch means, since John Banim, who wrote the book on fetches in 1825, points out that only when a fetch appears at night is it a sign of impending death. For those fortunate enough to see their fetch in the morning, it is an indication of a long life.
When Banim wrote The Fetches in 1825, the fetch superstition was prevalent in Ireland. It’s worth noting that Ireland at the time was strongly Christian. Banim himself attended seminary, so the enduring nature of the legend of the fetch up to that time is somewhat remarkable. This is particularly so since they seem to have largely vanished from the supernatural lexicon in recent centuries.
The Fetches is a tale of gothic suspense that could easily have sprung from the same stormy weekend as Frankenstein. It is more than a passing similarity. Both cast a medical man, a man of both learning and fortune, in an evil light.
Along with several fetches, Banim weaves ghosts, war, tragedy, first love and even the devil himself into a tale of romantic horror who pleasing terror stems at least in part from the verbal dexterity Irish authors are noted for. The old-fashioned tone and broad Irish brogue can make reading The Fetches a challenge, yet somehow, these linguistic acrobatics add more to the story than they take away. Readers are left with a sense they have stumbled upon something secret, revealed only to a select few and then only in whispers.
The Fetches has much to recommend it to both the preternatural fan and the skeptic. The plot follows the argument both for and against the existence of supernatural beings in a modern world. It is an argument which persists to this day and in which the reader may, or may not, see a reflection of themselves. Some of the discussion, to be sure, can be discounted. Science and logic and culture have changed somewhat over nearly two centuries. Some of the points, however ar not so easily dismissed and in these aspects of the telling modern readers will find the greatest treasure.
