Seals have long been woven into the fabric of coastal life in Ireland, inspiring a rich tradition of beliefs, stories, and customs. In folklore, seals were often seen as enchanted beings—wise women, fallen angels, or reincarnated fishermen. Many tales describe encounters where seals spoke, pleaded with, or warned fishermen who sought to harm them, reflecting their mystical connection to both land and sea.

Certain Irish families, such as the Coneelys, O’Kanes, Dowds, O’Sheas, and Gallaghers, were believed to descend from unions between mortals and enchanted seals. A recurring motif in folklore tells of mortal men discovering seal-women in human form on the shore, stealing their magical cloaks that allowed them to transform, and taking them as wives. These unions often ended when the seal-woman found her cloak, returning to the sea and leaving her husband and children behind.

In this edition of Blúiríní Béaloidis, Jonny Dillon is joined by Ailbe van der Heide to explore the folklore of seals. Together, they traverse Ireland’s coasts and islands, delving into stories that blur the boundaries between nature and culture, appearance and reality. These liminal beings offer a window into the interplay of human imagination and the natural world, inviting us to reconsider the mysteries that lie at the edge of land and sea.

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