The Beast of Ballitoy

            The town’s people in Ballitoy, Ireland celebrate the holiday of Alberich every year, in thanks for their children.  Long ago, in the 17^th century, children would disappear and never be heard from again.  It was said that a beast would snatch the children from their beds in the night for a duration of three weeks a year.  The disappearances of the children lasted from 1610 to 1637.

            Fear was spread throughout the village and on to the surrounding villages.  Many people left the area and moved away from their Hell out of fear that their children would be taken just like so many others had been.  Others stayed out of pride, believing that they were too good for it to happen to them.  They were mistaken.

For 27 years, children were taken from their homes and families, never to be seen or heard from again.  Nobody knows what had ever happened to the children that were taken; nobody will ever know.  Their bodies have never been found and the beast was never caught.  They say a stranger came to town in 1637; it is said he preformed a ritual that warded off the beast.

Since then, there have been no more disappearances to anyone’s knowledge that were to have been caused by the beast.  The stranger left town shortly after performing the ritual and left nothing behind, not even his name.  To this day, no one knows what happened to the beast or if there was an actual beast, or what happened to the bodies of the children.  Some suspect that the village had a serial killer with a sick fascination with children. Some believe in the myth, and some don’t know what they should believe.