Biddy Early : Short Biography

Born Biddy O'Conner, Biddy Early is a controversial figure of Irish history. 

She was born in Faha in 1798. 

Biddy's mother and father both died before their daughter was 16. Her mother had a great knowledge of the healing properties of plants which she passed on to Biddy before her death. It was her talents as a healer, as well as some more supernatural occurences, that have placed a question mark over Biddy. Still to this day many people wonder whether or not she was a witch. 

Married and widowed twice, Biddy due to be evicted from her home as she had no means to pay her rent. On the eve of her eviction her deceased son appeared to her in a dream and told her the words to say to the men who would come to forcibly remove her from her home. The story goes that by her command the two men were frozen to the spot in the road and once released ran away never to return. 

Biddy carried a magical blue bottle supposedly given to her by the same deceased son who had spared her from her eviction. This bottle allegedly gave Biddy the ability to see into the future. People travelled from all over Ireland seeking Biddy's eerily accurate predictions and her herbal remedies. 

Biddy died in April 1874, but her magical blue bottle was never found. It is said that it was only ever on load from the Faeries and that they took it back upon her death.