Allen Foster has written eight other books, many of which feature quirky stories from Ireland in days gone by

Author Allen Foster joined us on The Big Breakfast Blaa to discuss his latest compendium of the bizarre: Historical Irish Oddities features stories such from around Ireland, which range from a Cashel man being evicted while in his coffin, to a Lismore man who travelled to Fermoy pulled along by a pig, a badger, two cats, a goose and a hedgehog.

You can find out more here.

Who is Allen Foster?

Allen is a freelance journalist and researcher, based in Enfield County Meath. He's written eight other books, including Foster's Book of Irish Murder, Foster's English Oddities, and Dead Funny - the Little Book of Curious Irish Gravestone Inscriptions. He told us that he researched thousands of records, including many medical records, for this latest book.  Allen told us that he's always been fascinated by stories that don't necessarily make it into mainstream textbooks, but deserve their place in history nonetheless.

Waterford features heavily

It turns out that when it comes to bizarre stories, we've clocked up many here in The Deise over the years! Allen regaled us with a few snippets about Waterford from Historical Irish Oddities. These included the rather odd story of a lady from Lismore who swore, under oath, that after taking some medicine prescribed to her by a doctor in Cork, she proceeded to vomit up a little four legged creature resembling a water rat. The creature was subsequently preserved in jar. We also heard about a tourist visiting Tramore back in the 1800s, who had an unfortunate bout of sleepwalking and managed to fall 15 feet from his hotel bedroom window (and lived to tell the tale.)

If you like our interview with authors on WLR, check out Antoinette Tyrell, discussing her debut novel Home to Cavendish.

And below is the link to Allen Foster, talking to Ollie and me on The Big Breakfast Blaa this morning..

https://soundcloud.com/wlrfmwaterford/allen-foster-joins-ollie-and-mary-to-discuss-his-new-book-historical-irish-oddities