Fuath – An Evil Spirit

Here is a very short anecdote―leaving the original spelling intact―written down by John Ewen (Iain Eòghann) MacRury, from Torlum, Benbecula concerning the Fuath. By anyone’s standards it was best avoided and it seems to have haunted those remotest of places ready to pounce on an unexpectant wayfarer.

Fuath,
Is considered an invissible
spirit generally in a
whirel wind & in sec-
luded places or felt
at wakes of wicked
people. A bad omen
for any family as they
are to loose all their
possession[s] shortly.

Elsewhere in Carmina Gadelica, Carmichael glosses the wordFuath as ‘a spectre, a kelpie, a demon, a water-fiend frequenting glens, rivers and waterfalls.’

References:
CW 1, fol. 12v.
Carmina Gadelica, ii, p. 296.
Image: Am Fuath © Andy Paciorek http://www.batcow.co.uk/strangelands
This and many other images can be found in the Strange Lands book:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1957828