watchingthedaisies

Miseog

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The ruins of Miseog’s Home

Peggy Boyle known as Miseog, was a prophetess who lived in the townland of Ballymanus, a couple of miles from my home here in County Donegal.

Background

Miseog, a native Irish speaker, was born in 1816 and married Paddy Harley, who made several trips to work in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. In those days a passage was available by boat, and passengers could board from nearby Gola Island. The island is seen near the end of this video filmed from the ruins of their home.

Her brother Manus was one of the first pioneers to travel to California in 1868, settling in San Fransisco.

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The ruins of her brother Sean’s house

Miseog died around 1898/9 and is believed to be buried in the cemetery in the village of Kincasslagh.

Prophecies  

She made many predictions that were passed on by word of mouth. One of her most notable being:

“One day large white birds would come down from the sky at the “Tra Ban” (white beach) and carry people away”

Donegal Airport is now sited alongside the Tra Ban of Miseog’s prophecy!

The following video shows local historian Seimidh O’Dubhthaigh standing in the runs of Miseog’s home, with Donegal Airport and the Tra Ban in the background.

Donegal Airport was voted the second most scenic airport in the world by PrivateFly in 2017.

I apologise for the poor sound quality of the video but it was a rather windy day…

Seimidh was sharing the story of Miseog’s prediction of the airport, and the large white birds.

Donegal Heritage

Seimidh facilitates historical research and tours in the Rosses area of Donegal. He also produces full family histories or ancestral trees, guided tours or virtual tours of ancestral homes, and is a panellist for Ireland’s Heritage in Schools scheme. You can read more about his research on http://www.donegalheritage.com

Further Predictions

On a more tragic note Miseog predicted ” A great ball of fire would fall on Portabhoige, and many lives would be lost.”

Sadly, on 10 May 1943 at 9.50 pm, nineteen young men lost their lives when a mine exploded on rocks in Portabhoige. The dead included my father’s brother Eddie.

Dad and his brother Francie had been amongst the onlookers as the mine approached the shore. Thankfully, they had both started walking homewards when the mine exploded.

Such a terrible tragedy.

The Coming of The Railway

It is also believed that Miseog said ” The Much Dhubh (Black Pig) will come from the east with flames of fire coming from its nostrils, and make it its way westward until stopped by the sea.”

The first train made its way to Burtonport, a village on the edge of the Atlantic on 9 March 1903.

Weather

Miseog also said that there would be “no difference between summers and winters,” – so very true!

and

“Beidh Caisleain Os Coinn na Tra agus beidh conai don strainseir ann” translating as

“There will be a castle above the strand as a place for strangers.”

A beautiful hotel now stands in the village of Annagry, called Caisleain Oir or ” Golden Castle.” https://facebook.com/cohotel/

Miseog’s daughter Beiti gave birth to a son Jimmy, who eventually became a father to Mary and Teresa Ward, the visionaries mentioned in my previous post The Rock

Brigid P. Gallagher is a retired natural medicines therapist, passionate organic gardener and author of “Watching the Daisies- Life lessons on the Importance of Slow,” a holistic memoir dedicated to the art of mindfulness and healing from debilitating illness.

 

 

63 comments

  2. I love this story! Thank you for so much background research into it and for the input from seimidgh. I could hardly hear it for the wind though do you have his transcript?

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  11. This is so very beautiful to read. My only regret is that I do not know how to pronounce the names. Might you be able to place the phonetic pronunciations alongside. Fabulous read!!

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  13. Wonderful to see this and so much information. It amazes me how they predicted events and the descriptions they gave. Black Pig exactly that must have been a little frightening to see. The area looks very condusive to being connected to the all, peace and clean near the flowing sea.

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  18. Brigid, this was a fascinating post and I loved learning about Peggy and her prophecies… is she very well known in Ireland? I get spine tingles at how she foresaw the airport with its ‘big white birds’ and then had to smile at how there would be no difference between summer and winter! 😀

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  19. I love stories like this Brigid. It was wonderful learning about Peggy and her prophecies. And I have just read your post about Kerry Rock shrine- it seems pretty obvious that visionary gifts are passed down through families.It is fantastic your father was spared the mine tragedy. I am a big believe in that we all have a path or fate to follow and that life takes us where we are meant to go.

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  21. Brigid I think you captured Miseog in that first picture, can you see the white mist, it’s just right of center, you can see it above the rocks and between the two white houses. I also think there might be two “ghosts” in the video with Seimidh. It’s blurry to the right of him and to the left in the sand. Maybe it’s the camera but everything else is in focus. What a very fascinating story. I’m sorry about your Dad’s brother and the others, how tragic indeed. I love her description of trains. Thanks for sharing all this history, so interesting! xo

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    • Bless you Debbie. You are the first to comment on the mists. I think Miseog was pleased to be featured. I booked the tour with Seimidh which would normally be a group but no one else came. I was able to ask lots if questions and get her house to myself. She was quite a woman. X

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      • Ahhh so you saw it too! I think she was pleased too. She was very hospitable. Oh you had the tour guide all to yourself, how fortunate. I would have loved that tour, what fun. That kind of history is right up my alley. ☺ xo

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