Piseóg: Bad Luck of the Irish
Date: 13 February 2026
Venue: The Playhouse, 5-7 Artillery St, Derry, Derry, BT48 6RG
Dark historian Andrew Johnston of Alternative Ulstours marks Friday the 13th with a new talk on Ireland's deep relationship with superstition.
Dark historian Andrew Johnston of Alternative Ulstours marks Friday the 13th with a new talk on Ireland's deep relationship with superstition. From 'Irish wives' tales' to folk magic and witchcraft, he will uncover how psychology, probability and culture intertwine to shape our sense of luck and logic. Andrew will investigate the 'piseóg', a centuries-old Irish word meaning both a superstitious belief or practice, or a charm or spell, deliberately enacted with evil intent.
In its more benign form, a piseóg covers familiar notions such as counting magpies to determine your fate or thinking a broken mirror brings seven years of misfortune – quaint convictions often used to explain everyday occurrences. Andrew will also explore the scarier side of the piseóg, the ancient fear that bad luck is the consequence of upsetting the wrong people – or supernatural beings.