#the sluagh

[girl-named-matty]

MCTober2025 week four: Boggart

Matty has had a total of two Boggarts in her entire lifetime. One could be boiled down to more of a childhood fear but alas it was one she didn't get over until her later teens.

Matty's first Boggart was a "Sluagh", a prominent figure in Celtic Folklore. A Sluagh is a "host of the dead" essentially meaning they were the hosts of the dead who were not forgiven after their death, meaning they did not get into Heaven. These hosts were people who were dishonest or evil in their lives and therefore are vengeful to living people. The Sluagh also had a particular taste for people who had fallen in love. In most Folklore, the Sluagh roamed the earth on Samhain.

So, what started Matty's fear? As a joke, members of the Ambrose family would tell fake stories to their children about how the Sluagh would come at night and kidnap/eat children who had been acting naughty or bad as a way to trick them into being good. Naturally, Matty's uncle, Conor, thought Matty would be able to see past the lie and not believe the story when he told it to her but unfortunately for him, Matty did believe it (she was about seven or eight at the time lol.) It scared the daylights out of her and no matter how many times Conor backtracked so hard and explained to her the lie. He felt absolutely horrible because it ended up being Matty's biggest childhood fear.

Now this isn't the reason why Matty was a good kid lol. The whole reason WHY Conor thought she'd be able to see through the lie of the story was because Matty was a good kid and also he thought she was old enough to remember the story surrounding the Sluagh but alas, she did not lol. So the fear of the Sluagh followed her up until she was about fourteen or fifteen years old until she eventually got over it.

Matty's second and current Boggart is actually something she holds herself, more specifically the ancient magic she wields. Developed during her seventh year, following the events of sixth year when she had to take on all the ancient magic that had been in the repository after it was responded, Matty slowly began to lose herself mentally in the sheer power of the magic from the repository on top of the magic she already wielded. And although she never gave into it, she still made decisions she entirely regretted and things that she'd carry along with her for life.

Her greatest fear is losing herself to her magic and killing those who she loves. If she were to see a Boggart, what she'd see is herself, covered in blood as the ones she loves the most are scattered around her. That is her greatest fear that she developed while slowly losing herself to the magic and seventeen years old. Clearly, she quickly tried to get that in check after the events of seventh year and disciplined herself HARD so that she could keep a hold of herself but her greatest fear was always in the back of her mind.

Despite using her ancient magic every day to help people, especially as an Auror, the fear is still prominent. As more loved ones come into her life (ex: her children, friends, etc...) the fear is harder and harder to get over but luckily for her she has an amazing support group of friends and family who help ground her so that she doesn't allow her anxiety to accidentally bring her greatest fears to true.

[lilystargazerwhite]

ZUN dimorphism.

[briefbestiary]

They descend from the west, seeking to snatch the souls of the living before even Death can reach them. Do not dare to speak their name, for should their attention land on you, your only remaining salvation would be to sacrifice another's life in your place.

[saltwatersovereign]

Hits different (AKA Not Today, Fae)

One of the most fascinating and well known groups of fae are the Sluagh; the faeries of the notorious Wild Hunt. I read about them even in childhood, captivated by the seemingly stark contrast between them and other known faerie groups. Once I forayed into spirit work I began to sense them, always peripherally, when they travelled through my area. It was always just a little buzz of a feeling; a blip on my radar that lasted a few days and fully forgotten soon after.

Not this year.

Yesterday was the first frost of winter and I couldn’t tell you why, whether it’s my senses strengthening or them just passing (much!) closer by or if it had anything to do with the death toll this year, but last night? They were right outside my window, quite literally. My clairaudience is not my strongest spiritual sense but I heard the odd chime-like sound of them as clearly as an old clock ticking. It was unique; not a high pleaseant tinkling sound, but something like a weathered homemade wind chime crossed with chains; I can’t explain it well. What I can tell you? They knew I was here.

Yup, took a while, but once again like the bat signal, me being a psychopomp drew them right to me. I was spoken to quite considerately. A representative of theirs respectfully asked me to meet with them in this energetic layer that was very much “here” and simultaneously not here. Again, I can’t explain it well. Maybe it’s a higher level of bi-location, I’ll try to make sense of it later. Being invited so cordially, I tenuously agreed. That changed as their collective energy intensified and my sleep-addled brain realized who/what I was dealing with.

I ran, y’all.

I meet the human dead and dead animals often. Two of my companions, Scout and Lily, are deceased. Sariel is an angel of death. I am not new to dead entities in the slightest, but what can I tell but that Sluagh energy hits different and I noped tf out of there.

Cheers to the hours of analysis my poor brain will dedicate to this encounter.

[myhauntedsalem]

The Sluagh

In Irish and Scottish folklore, the Sluagh were the spirits of the restless dead. Sometimes they were seen as sinners, or generally evil people who were welcome in neither heaven nor hell, nor in the Otherworld, who had also been rejected by the Celtic deities and by the earth itself. Whichever the underlying belief, they are almost always depicted as troublesome and destructive. They were seen to fly in groups like flocks of birds, coming from the west, and were known to try to enter the house of a dying person in an effort to carry the soul away with them. West-facing windows were sometimes kept closed to keep them out. Some consider the Sluagh to also carry with them the souls of innocent people who were kidnapped by these destructive spirits.

[myhauntedsalem]

The Sluagh

In Irish and Scottish folklore, the Sluagh were the spirits of the restless dead. Sometimes they were seen as sinners, or generally evil people who were welcome in neither heaven nor hell, nor in the Otherworld, who had also been rejected by the Celtic deities and by the earth itself. Whichever the underlying belief, they are almost always depicted as troublesome and destructive. They were seen to fly in groups like flocks of birds, coming from the west, and were known to try to enter the house of a dying person in an effort to carry the soul away with them. West-facing windows were sometimes kept closed to keep them out. Some consider the Sluagh to also carry with them the souls of innocent people who were kidnapped by these destructive spirits.

[myhauntedsalem]

The Sluagh

In Irish and Scottish folklore, the Sluagh were the spirits of the restless dead. Sometimes they were seen as sinners, or generally evil people who were welcome in neither heaven nor hell, nor in the Otherworld, who had also been rejected by the Celtic deities and by the earth itself. Whichever the underlying belief, they are almost always depicted as troublesome and destructive. They were seen to fly in groups like flocks of birds, coming from the west, and were known to try to enter the house of a dying person in an effort to carry the soul away with them. West-facing windows were sometimes kept closed to keep them out. Some consider the Sluagh to also carry with them the souls of innocent people who were kidnapped by these destructive spirits.

[myhauntedsalem]

The Sluagh

In Irish and Scottish folklore, the Sluagh were the spirits of the restless dead. Sometimes they were seen as sinners, or generally evil people who were welcome in neither heaven nor hell, nor in the Otherworld, who had also been rejected by the Celtic deities and by the earth itself. Whichever the underlying belief, they are almost always depicted as troublesome and destructive.

They were seen to fly in groups like flocks of birds, coming from the west, and were known to try to enter the house of a dying person in an effort to carry the soul away with them. West-facing windows were sometimes kept closed to keep them out. Some consider the Sluagh to also carry with them the souls of innocent people who were kidnapped by these destructive spirits.