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Cavan is a sparsely populated county in north central Ireland, immediately south of the border with Northern Ireland and midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea. The countryside is dotted with lakes and hills, and the River Shannon, the longest in Ireland, originates in the rugged Cuilcagh Mountains in the west of Cavan.

Cairn tombs and crannog islands dating from ancient times abound in Cavan and Magh Sleacht Plain, near Ballyconnell, was once an important Celtic pagan shrine. Here was located the dreaded Crom Cruach, the Bloody Bent One, the Elder King, the Chief Idol of Ireland.

In ancient days Magh Sleacht, which means “Plain of Adoration,” was the location of a mighty stone, covered all in hammered gold, which was the stone image of Crom Cruach. In those days, he was surrounded by twelve smaller stones, gods in ready attendance on the whims of the mighty Old One. Here parents came to sacrifice one third of their children to Crom on Samhain night (October 31st) in exchange for a year full of milk, corn, fertile cattle and a fertile growing season. The god horrified many because of his terrible demands and it was dangerous to worship him because worshippers themselves often died in the orgiastic bloodbath that he required.

The worship of Crom Cruach is said to have been demanded by King Tigernmas whom some describe as a Roman Chieftain, while others claim he was one of the last of the Formorian Kings. Still others believe Crom to be the manifestation of Moloch, the ancient god of the idolatrous Hebrews to whom they sacrificed half their newborn children in a trial by fire. The similarities do not end there. King Tigernmas himself died in worship of the Bloody Bent One, killed by rabid followers in an orgy of blood.

Many believe that the legend is simply that, a legend. Others point to the mention of Crom Cruach in the St. Patrick legend: they claim that when Patrick established Christianity at nearby Armagh, he went to Magh Sleacht and defeated Crom, and having done so, caused the golden idol to sink into the earth. In recent times, however, some followers of the pagan faith have rediscovered Crom Cruach and, perhaps he has been waiting patiently to answer their call.