For a while now I’ve been acquiring a mild interest in matters of ‘high strangeness’ as some term it – the unexplained, the somewhat paranormal. I touched upon some of this in my Irish novels A West Cork Mystery and A Contract of Honour. WB Yeats and Lady Gregory were my touchstone writers in learning of the myths, legends and folklore of Ireland. You’d be hard pressed to find a land where the imprint of otherworldly beings is such a part of the landscape and the people’s psyche, where new roads are re-routed to leave a sacred hawthorn tree undisturbed.

Acceptance of alternative forms of existence has been more or less been driven out of us by the changes (I hesitate to call them advances) in the way we live our lives these days. The world is a vastly different place than it was 100, even 50 years ago. Technology in particular has had the effect of moving us ever faster forwards, seeking more and more from life, leading us away from what used to be a certain understanding of our place in the world, and in the landscape, nature.

The landscape. The natural world. How we continue to destroy it in the pursuit of gain. I’ll leave that to better researchers, writers, campaigners. Instead, over the next few posts, I want to explore some basic aspects of high strangeness – some famous cases, a few not so well known, maybe drilling back down to my home island and a few fascinating goings-on here. I doubt there will be conclusions, but it might be fun.

But first, a word about Wikipedia. Undoubtedly a great resource, it is where we often go to first for information on many subjects. When it comes to the paranormal though, you name it, Wiki will grudgingly give some undeniable facts and cite some research. Invariably though the entry will be hedged about with ‘lack of scientific evidence’ and will generally take the sceptical line. Always read Wiki along with your own scepticism.

So follow along and maybe chip in with your own observations.