Fear Dubh
Fear Dubh is a very rare Scottish myth that describes a creature who has a certain habit of haunting people. The name Fear Dubh, even though the legend is Scottish, translates from Irish to English as ‘The Dark Man’. Now, because these two nations are close by general proximity, this likely means the myth was influenced by Irish culture. The dating of the myth is unknown, as it is so obscure and doesn’t have a base story.
As the legends go, there is an entity named Fear Dubh who ‘haunts’ or follows the footsteps of lone travelers passing through woodlands.The base legend itself doesn’t describe much past this, but for primary purposes it doesn’t need to.
Starting with Fear Dubh’s name, as stated before it translates to the ‘Dark Man’. This correlates information back to Romania, Germany, and of course modern myth. The piece that correlates here is that each of these describe dark clothing. Be a black piece of cloth, a suit,or blatantly ‘all in black’. The ‘dark’ aspect, is quite possibly a reference to this.
As far as the haunting, following, and stalking of lone travellers, information is further correlated. Recall that in german myth, Der GroBmann chases children in his forest. Also with modern Slenderman, he is known for his haunting/stalking habits. However, as a difference, it does not mention specifically targeting children.
Of course also is the setting of this myth, woodlands. while it doesn’t depict a specific forest as in Germany, it does still unify this idea of forestry between Germany, Romania, and modern myth.
As the legends go, there is an entity named Fear Dubh who ‘haunts’ or follows the footsteps of lone travelers passing through woodlands.The base legend itself doesn’t describe much past this, but for primary purposes it doesn’t need to.
Starting with Fear Dubh’s name, as stated before it translates to the ‘Dark Man’. This correlates information back to Romania, Germany, and of course modern myth. The piece that correlates here is that each of these describe dark clothing. Be a black piece of cloth, a suit,or blatantly ‘all in black’. The ‘dark’ aspect, is quite possibly a reference to this.
As far as the haunting, following, and stalking of lone travellers, information is further correlated. Recall that in german myth, Der GroBmann chases children in his forest. Also with modern Slenderman, he is known for his haunting/stalking habits. However, as a difference, it does not mention specifically targeting children.
Of course also is the setting of this myth, woodlands. while it doesn’t depict a specific forest as in Germany, it does still unify this idea of forestry between Germany, Romania, and modern myth.
An account of fear dubh
There has also been a relatively recent account recorded from 1960 Scotland. The account is this:
“Although I can remember my granny telling me stories about a lot of Scottish folk tales, she only ever mentioned the Fear Dubh once, and that was in church. I was about eight, and was spending the summer holidays with her.
She took me to church one Tuesday morning, and told me to wait by the font while she spoke to Father MacAndrews. And all she said was the name, and then “He’s been at the bairns’ window again”. The priest just nodded, and said he’d be round later.
I was a curious child, so I took a walk around the house later. It was built on the edge of woodland, so close that the branches of an ash tree almost touched the window. Ivy grew up the side of the house, but it was dying back in long thin patches, the leaves wrinkled and sort of wet-looking.
My granny made me say my prayers that night, and put her rosary beads under my pillow. And I fell asleep to the sound of wet leaves brushing against my window. And I dreamed of a thin man who looked at me, even though he had no eyes, and tried to touch me, even though he had no hands.
I can’t actually remember much of the next few days. My mum says it was the trauma of my grandma’s funeral that’s made those days so blurry, but I don’t understand why, because I coped okay with other funerals round about that age. And I don’t understand how Father MacAndrews died of a heart attack the same night (he was only thirty, and fit as a butcher’s dog).
And if Gran died of a stroke, I don’t understand why the police sealed off the house and woodland. It wasn’t the local police either; they were all big serious men in dark blue with riot gear on. You’d have thought that their presence would have meant that local vandals would have stayed away, but they didn’t, and poor Grans’ house got firebombed a few weeks later. The walls are still standing though. You can see the long thin streaks that the smoke’s made on the white walls. Looks almost like an octopus’ tentacles, reaching for you.
I’ve still got the rosary, and even though people laugh, I sleep with it under my pillow. Because if I don’t, I dream. About the sound of wet leaves sliding softly across a window, and the way he is still watching me, even though he has no eyes.”
Though sounding like a fair account, the main problem is that the electronically published date of this is February 23, 2011. Suspicious much? This is HIGHLY recent, in both perspectives. If the person is about eight in the story, and this is supposed to date back to 1960, than at the published date the author would be about 59 years old. However, not completely disregarding the account, it does leave it open to suggest that this was a past event.
After conducting some extra research, there was no found evidence of a Father MacAndrews, but being such a small figure that is fairly reasonable. Also, in searching for houses that were firebombed in 1960, but yet again was unable to find anything. Leaving this story very questionable for it’s authenticity...
Now hypothetically, if this account is authentic, one would like to point out a few things that correlate and differentiate information.
Firstly, it mentions something being at ’the bairns’ window‘. Now, assuming this is Fear Dubh, we can see correlation of this information to Germany. Remember back to german myth where Der GroBmann would come tapping at the doors of children? Well, this sounds relatively similar to that.
It is apparent also that this story’s setting takes place around woodland, correlating information from Germany, Romania, and modern myth. As always, the setting has a reference to a forest like area.
The description in this line is particularly similar to the other myths; “And I dreamed of a thin man who looked at me, even though he had no eyes, and tried to touch me, even though he had no hands.“
Firstly, it mentions whom we assume to be Fear Dubh as a thin, skinny, slender, figure. This correlates back to German and modern myth. Being thin was one of the qualities found in the Der GroBmann myth, and with little needed explanation, it is also a trait in Slenderman myth.
Secondly, it mentions that fear Dubh has no eyes, which goes back to German and modern myth. While stories had many variations of this in Germany, the modern Slenderman is particularly known for his faceless appearance. Now it is notable in this story that only the eyes are mentioned to be missing. So it leaves room to question if he possessed the rest of his face, just as a possible difference.
The third reference from this segment is that he had no hands. Now, this is a reference that relates to German lore, but only slightly. Some of the stories from German myth depict his limbs to be handless. However as a MAJOR DIFFERENCE, there is no mention of Fear Dubh having multiple upper limbs, as with Germany, Romania, and modern myth.
The last possible item to be noted are the marks on the house after it was fire bombed. “ You can see the long thin streaks that the smoke’s made on the white walls. Looks almost like an octopus’ tentacles, reaching for you.“It isn’t a very clear reference, but it does mention tentacles-like-marks, which might be from fear Dubh, but the entry is not clear enough to assume that.
“Although I can remember my granny telling me stories about a lot of Scottish folk tales, she only ever mentioned the Fear Dubh once, and that was in church. I was about eight, and was spending the summer holidays with her.
She took me to church one Tuesday morning, and told me to wait by the font while she spoke to Father MacAndrews. And all she said was the name, and then “He’s been at the bairns’ window again”. The priest just nodded, and said he’d be round later.
I was a curious child, so I took a walk around the house later. It was built on the edge of woodland, so close that the branches of an ash tree almost touched the window. Ivy grew up the side of the house, but it was dying back in long thin patches, the leaves wrinkled and sort of wet-looking.
My granny made me say my prayers that night, and put her rosary beads under my pillow. And I fell asleep to the sound of wet leaves brushing against my window. And I dreamed of a thin man who looked at me, even though he had no eyes, and tried to touch me, even though he had no hands.
I can’t actually remember much of the next few days. My mum says it was the trauma of my grandma’s funeral that’s made those days so blurry, but I don’t understand why, because I coped okay with other funerals round about that age. And I don’t understand how Father MacAndrews died of a heart attack the same night (he was only thirty, and fit as a butcher’s dog).
And if Gran died of a stroke, I don’t understand why the police sealed off the house and woodland. It wasn’t the local police either; they were all big serious men in dark blue with riot gear on. You’d have thought that their presence would have meant that local vandals would have stayed away, but they didn’t, and poor Grans’ house got firebombed a few weeks later. The walls are still standing though. You can see the long thin streaks that the smoke’s made on the white walls. Looks almost like an octopus’ tentacles, reaching for you.
I’ve still got the rosary, and even though people laugh, I sleep with it under my pillow. Because if I don’t, I dream. About the sound of wet leaves sliding softly across a window, and the way he is still watching me, even though he has no eyes.”
Though sounding like a fair account, the main problem is that the electronically published date of this is February 23, 2011. Suspicious much? This is HIGHLY recent, in both perspectives. If the person is about eight in the story, and this is supposed to date back to 1960, than at the published date the author would be about 59 years old. However, not completely disregarding the account, it does leave it open to suggest that this was a past event.
After conducting some extra research, there was no found evidence of a Father MacAndrews, but being such a small figure that is fairly reasonable. Also, in searching for houses that were firebombed in 1960, but yet again was unable to find anything. Leaving this story very questionable for it’s authenticity...
Now hypothetically, if this account is authentic, one would like to point out a few things that correlate and differentiate information.
Firstly, it mentions something being at ’the bairns’ window‘. Now, assuming this is Fear Dubh, we can see correlation of this information to Germany. Remember back to german myth where Der GroBmann would come tapping at the doors of children? Well, this sounds relatively similar to that.
It is apparent also that this story’s setting takes place around woodland, correlating information from Germany, Romania, and modern myth. As always, the setting has a reference to a forest like area.
The description in this line is particularly similar to the other myths; “And I dreamed of a thin man who looked at me, even though he had no eyes, and tried to touch me, even though he had no hands.“
Firstly, it mentions whom we assume to be Fear Dubh as a thin, skinny, slender, figure. This correlates back to German and modern myth. Being thin was one of the qualities found in the Der GroBmann myth, and with little needed explanation, it is also a trait in Slenderman myth.
Secondly, it mentions that fear Dubh has no eyes, which goes back to German and modern myth. While stories had many variations of this in Germany, the modern Slenderman is particularly known for his faceless appearance. Now it is notable in this story that only the eyes are mentioned to be missing. So it leaves room to question if he possessed the rest of his face, just as a possible difference.
The third reference from this segment is that he had no hands. Now, this is a reference that relates to German lore, but only slightly. Some of the stories from German myth depict his limbs to be handless. However as a MAJOR DIFFERENCE, there is no mention of Fear Dubh having multiple upper limbs, as with Germany, Romania, and modern myth.
The last possible item to be noted are the marks on the house after it was fire bombed. “ You can see the long thin streaks that the smoke’s made on the white walls. Looks almost like an octopus’ tentacles, reaching for you.“It isn’t a very clear reference, but it does mention tentacles-like-marks, which might be from fear Dubh, but the entry is not clear enough to assume that.