The puca has some features in common with the each uisge and kelpie, in that it tries to get travelers onto its back and then takes them for terrifying rides. We've never been able to figure out these stories. If you were walking alone in the woods late at night, and a weird critter appeared and wanted you to get on its back so it could take you for a ride, would you do it? We didn't think so. But apparently, not everyone feels the same way, because people are always getting taken for the rides of their lives. Unlike the water spirits, the puca doesn't automatically kill its riders-but that isn't out of the question. It can appear as an eagle or a goat, but is usually seen as a black horse with glowing yellow eyes.
We're very interested in stories about supernatural beings with glowing yellow eyes. Dad was too:
PUCA seems to be a distant cousin of the wild hunt. Quebec version, CHASSE-GALERIE, where an unlucky lumberjack gets taken for a ride with the devil on a haunted canoe. Wild hunt riders recruit accidental viewers to join them, and some can never leave. Often there's a warning not to leave until a certain event has occurred, and the new rider alights to find that centuries have passed. (Typical of visits to the lands of fairies, where time doesn't pass at the same rate-see also KITSUNE stories from Japan.)
Perhaps PUCA takes riders through time? To the underworld?
Would like to know more. Creatures with this kind of ability have ANSWERS, and ANSWERS are what I need.
The puca can speak, and if offended, it will come to the home of the offender and demand that the offender come for a ride. If refused, it will destroy crops and ruin the homestead. It also demands certain annual sacrifices. If crops are brought in after Samhain (which you post-pagans know as Halloween, but which originally was a celebration of bringing in the last harvest), the puca will be angry, and it is traditional to consider anything remaining in the fields on November 1 property of the puca. Some farmers also leave part of their crops unharvested as an offering. If these protocols are followed, the puca may appear on November 1 and offer prophecies.
YOU ARE READING
Supernatural the book of monsters, demons, spirits and ghouls
Non-FictionI'm just writing the whole Supernatural The Book Of Monsters, Spirits, Demons, And Ghouls book for people who don't have access to it.® xx All copyrights go to Alex Irvine, I don't own anything here :)
