The Cooper's Wife is Missing
The Trials of Bridget Cleary

In 1895 Bridget Cleary disappeared from her cottage in rural County Tipperary and remained missing for several days. At last her body was discovered, bent, broken, and badly burned in a shallow grave. This book draws on firsthand accounts to investigate the mystery behind her disappearance.

In 1895 26-year-old Bridget Cleary disappeared from her cottage in rural County Tipperary and remained missing for several days. At last her body was discovered, bent, broken, and badly burned in a shallow grave. Within a few days, her unimaginable story came to light: for almost a week before her death she had been confined, starved, threatened, physically and verbally abused, exorcised, and finally burned to death by her husband, father, aunt, cousins, and neigbours, who had collectively confused a simple flu with possession by the fairies. In this book, the authors try to make sense of this outlandish, unfathomable, medieval "trial" and murder. Drawing on firsthand accounts, contemporary newspaper reports, police records, trial testimony, and a wealth of folklore, they weave a tale of magic, madness, and mystery.