Changeling: The Tragic Tale of Bridget Cleary
SEASON 4 : EPISODE 53
MARCH 13, 2026
The bonus content on Patreon for this episode covers more late 19th and early 20th century cases like that of Bridget Cleary where modern psychiatry has offered an explanation for these seemingly bizarre cases.
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ARTICLES
HERSTORY OF THE MONTH: Bridget Cleary
The Burning of Bridget Cleary: Witches, Fairies and the Danger of Superstition
The Haunting True Story of Bridget Cleary’s “Changeling” Murder
A Real-Life Changeling? The Murder of Bridget Cleary
The Tragic Murder of Bridget Cleary, the Irish “Fairy Wife”
Bridget Boland Cleary Famous memorial
Mass Hysteria Isn't Just a 'Panic' — What It Means and Why It Happens
VICTORIAN SOCIETY TIP
Fairy Magic – Protection Practices in Irish Society
Irish Folklore, Myth & Legend: The Fairies
How to Protect Yourself from Faeries
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INTRO
Hello everyone, welcome to A Good Night for a Murder, a Victorian true crime podcast.
My name is Kim, and tonight’s case unfolds more like a horror story than true events. This happened in the middle of the 19th century in rural Ireland, and while this once incident has become more well known, there are likely dozens if not hundreds of other similar events that took place across the region for possibly centuries.
This is the story of Bridget Cleary
But first, a Victorian society tip.
TIP
Since fairy lore figures heavily in tonight’s story, I thought it would be a good idea to learn about how to protect yourself from fairies
In case you are not familiar, fairies, as they appear in Irish folklore, can broadly be defined as supernatural creatures with human appearance, magical powers, and a trickster disposition.
They live in a world alongside ours that, by and large, humans cannot see
If humans impede on their world somehow, that bodes badly for the humans
But sometimes they can be helpful too!
So it was important to remain in their good graces
Which is harder to do than it sounds
And sometimes, they didn’t even care!
Like humans, they have their own personalities and sometimes they just felt like messing things up
So, seeing as one could find themselves as an unwilling participant in a fairie interaction, let’s talk about how to defend yourself or at least try to coexist peacefully!
First and foremost is: Try to keep out of their way!
There are some key places fairies are known to hang out and you want to avoid them
These include fairy hills or forts, fairy rings, fairy paths, and fairy trees
Fairy hills or forts are spots in nature with vague circulate borders
And it’s important to leave them undisturbed
Don’t walk through them, build on them, cut back the brush or let cattle graze on them
Those who do disturb fairy forts - their on purpose or accidentally - could find themselves maimed, killed or the victim of financial ruin.
They might also just disappear.
Fairy rings are smaller than fairy forts, and you can recognize them by a ring of mushrooms or greener than usual grass
These are the result of the fairies dancing - usually under the moonlight where they only become detectable by humans the next day
If a human steps inside, they will become invisible to others outside the ring
Once you’re inside, you may be forced to dance to the point of exhaustion, death, or madness
While it is very hard to get back out, it’s not impossible, but it does require intervention from someone on the outside - which may be hard to come by if they can’t see you
But supposing someone knows you’re in there, one thing they can do is throw wild marjoram and thyme in to the circle to confuse the fairies
Also the rescuer can touch the victim with iron
They can also reach in to the fairy ring with branch of a mountain ash tree and pull the victim back out
It’s commonly said though that it will take a year and a day at least before the person can be rescued
And if you do make it back out, you may not be quite the same
You may find you have no memory of the incident
Or what felt like a very short time in fairy world was actually months or even years in the human world
There also may be holdovers from the fairy world that can affect you as a human
In one story man could not retain his human form and turned to dust moments after being plucked out
In another they were no longer able to eat human food and starved
And in another, after being rescued, a woman touched a bit of iron and disappeared again!
So, it’s best to avoid those all together
Be careful though, because fairies are very good at luring humans in
It’s said wearing a hat or clothes backwards can confuse the fairies then you’re less likely to fall victim
Hawthorne trees, especially those standing alone, are usually guaranteed to be haunted by fairies
So not only must you beware of fairy forts, fairy rings, and fairy trees, but also the fairy paths that connect these places
Where humans build our roads using natural borders like valleys, mountains, rivers, or lakes, those rules don’t apply to fairy paths
Fairy paths are straight lines connecting these magical places and like all other things in the fairy world, humans can’t see them
Which leaves ample opportunity for us to get in their way…
Builders would map out the floor plan of a new construction, then place a pile of stones at each corner and leave it overnight
If in the morning, the stones were undisturbed, it was safe to build there
It was also not advised to use white quartz in construction as it was said to be a fairy stone
If you did accidentally build your house on a fairy path though… well… that’s unfortunate…
Homeowners have been known to knock down corners of their house they suspected intersected with a fairy path
They also might leave the doors and widows open all night so fairies could pass through easily
If fairies did knock down a building in their way though, it usually only happened twice
Upon being rebuilt a third time, the house would remain standing
Fairies could honestly be anywhere though
Caves, barrows, hollow trees, gnarled roots were all places fairies could hang out
So seeing as overlap between fairies and humans was bound to happen, let’s move on to discussing some tactics to keep yourself safe
First, how to protect your home
Various plants and herbs were said to be effective in deterring fairies including garlands of marsh marigold or primroses above your door
It was common to protect stables with these as well, otherwise fairies might borrow your horses in the night, leaving them exhausted by morning
St. John’s Wort. was also effective as well as berries, leaves or wood from rowan, mountain ash, or holly trees
Iron is also said to deter fairies
It’s common to still see an iron horseshoe over a door for good luck
Fairies also had an aversion to bread
It’s product of the home and hearth and taming of nature
So they didn’t like it
Another tactic, since fairies were notoriously hard to keep away, was to instead appease them
Many homes left offerings of milk or butter on their porch for fairies
But you can’t be in your home all of the time
So next let’s talk about some ways to protect yourself when you’re out and about
First, charms or walking sticks made from the wood of rowan or ash trees could be worn or carried
It’s also said that possessing a four leaf clover would allow you a one time chance of seeing fairies or through their glamour or magical disguises
It was a tradition to sew several clovers into a tiny bag to be worn around the neck.
Keeping an iron nail in your pocket at all times was a good habit, and if you thought you might be approaching somewhere fairies might be you could wear your coat inside out to try and confuse them
Again, bread worked just as well on the road as it did in the home
If it didn’t repel them, you could always offer some as a peace offering and hopefully go on your way
A handful of oatmeal in your pocket could have a similar effect
Another common problem was fairies stealing or extracting nourishment from food brought to those working in the fields
In this case, sprinkling the food with salt would keep it safe
Children were especially susceptible to fairy pranks or even kidnapping
So here’s some tips to keep your littles safe
Hang a pair of iron shears hung on the wall near a baby’s bed
Create daisy chains to be worn around the neck or head
Tuck a piece of bread inside the child’s clothes, especially if they had to be taken outside at night
Or sew iron nails or amber beads in to the hems of their clothing
If you did run afoul of the fairies, it was common to consult a wise woman
These were professional or semi-professional practitioners of magic from the medieval period to the early 20th century, who primarily worked with spells and charms
So that’s it, pretty simple right?
Peacefully coexist, don’t go looking for them, and the last bit of advice I can convey is… don’t talk about them too much…
Hm… I think that’s the perfect place to end for tonight!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONTENT WARNING
A Good Night for a Murder is a true crime podcast that does cover stories including death, violence, sexual assault, and other adult themes.
Please take care while listening.
EPISODE
So, I think the best way to go about this case, is to first just relate the events that happened.
Then we’ll go back and try to understand the reasoning and motives that created it.
So, Bridget Boland was born in 1869 in Tipperary County, Ireland
At the age of 18, she met Micahel Cleary in the town of Clonmel where they both worked
Michael was a cooper - meaning he made barrels, and kegs, and that sort of thing
Bridgit was working as an apprentice dressmaker
The pair met in the month of July in 1887, and by August, they were married!
After they were married, instead of moving in together, Bridget continued living with her parents while Michael stayed in Clonmel to work
Bridget purchased a Singer sewing machine for her dressmaking, and she also looked after her own flock of chickens and sold eggs to her neighbors
And this was kind of a big deal for a woman at the time - Bridget was really kind of a boss babe - which was not always well received in the community
Some viewed the arrangement as somewhat usual - though conceded as long as they were happy…
But for others, Bridget was far too independent for how folks did things around there
Things changed though in February of 1894 when Bridget’s mother died, and she and Michael became responsible for the care of her elderly father, Patrick
Because Patrick could not work, he qualified for what essentially was low income affordable housing
The Cashel Poor Law Guardians had recently constructed a number of cottages in the area - each including two bedrooms, a loft, kitchen, and outhouse
Bridget and Michael were able to move in to one of these with her father
Their cottage specifically, was south-facing and set before Slievenamon (sleeve-na-mon) mountain, commanding a sweeping view of the entire valley
It was arguably the nicest house in the whole village
However, despite being so desirable, it had been passed over several times before
The reason being, it was rumored to have been built on the site of a fairy ringfort
The role of fairies in Ireland is vast and could take up an entire podcast in itself to explore
But, for our purposes tonight, we can broadly define fairies as creatures with human appearance, magical powers, and a penchant for trickery.
And fairie ring forts, are where they lived
Tales associated with fairy forts typically relate a curse or retribution enacted upon those who would disturb or destroy the structures including the stealing of farm animals or people - typically women or children - never to be seen again
I feel like, here in 2026, if you asked people if they believed in fairies, the majority would answer no, they are fiction
But in 1894 Ireland, the majority would very well have answered yes!
So you understand why it was really quite bold of the Cleary’s to move in to this cottage…
On March 4th of 1895, Bridget got sick with a nasty lung infection
Over the next few days, Bridget’s family walked to the local doctor three times to ask him to call on Bridget
When he finally came over a week later on March 13th, the doctor said her outlook was pretty grim, and suggested a priest be called to administer last rites
Over the approximately week and half since Bridget had fallen ill, she’d shown no improvement
She’d only gotten sicker and sicker, and now, a priest was to be called?
Bridget’s family did not understand how this otherwise healthy, vivacious young women, well and walking around one day was laid so low the next, that she was now at death’s door
And this is when whispers of the fairies started…
Over the next 2 days, several of Bridget's friends and family members attended to her
On the 15th, Michael summoned the priest, Father Ryan, back to the Cleary household for spiritual support and advice
When Father Ryan arrived, he found Bridget alive, but agitated
Michael said he had not been giving her the medicine the doctor prescribed as he didn’t think it would be effective in what was actually wrong with Bridget…
Father Ryan asked him what he meant, Michael somewhat cryptically replied to the effect that, “‘People’ may have some ‘remedy of their own’ that might do more good than doctor's medicine…”
Father Ryan gave Bridget communion, then departed.
That night is when everything came off the rails
Neighbors and relatives gathered at the Cleary house that night, where some of them agreed that the only explanation for Bridget not getting better was because she was not, in fact, Bridget anymore, but a changeling
They suspected that the real, human Bridget had been kidnapped by the fairies, and what they had in the house now was actually a fairy disguised to look like Bridget - and that’s why she was so sick
Bridget’s husband Michael decided tonight was the night: he was getting his wife back
He attempted to force feed Bridget some sort of remedy, which she refused
At this Michael became enraged, and threw her down on the hearth threatening her with a burning piece of wood, as fairies are known to be fearful of fire
Bridget certainly was afraid at this point, which only incited Michael more
He threw an oil lamp down on the hearth which splattered all over Bridget causing her clothes to catch fire
Now remember this is happening in a house full of people
When others tried to intervene, Michael prevented them, reminding them that was not Bridget and had not been for over a week
And all were forced to stand there and watch Bridget burn to death on the hearth
By the next day, rumours had begun to circulate that Bridget was missing
Local police began inquiring about Bridget’s whereabouts and the priest, Father Ryan, noticed Michael fervently praying - apparently standing vigil in the home
When questioned, Michael stated that his wife had been taken by the fairies, and he was now waiting for her to come back
Over the course of the next couple days, statements were gathered about the others that had been in the house, and what had transpired.
On March 22, the burned body of Bridget Cleary was found in a shallow grave
A coroner’s inquest returned a verdict of death by burning
Charges of murder were brought against Michael Cleary, Bridget’s father Patrick Boland, and three others present - Mary Kennedy, James Kennedy, and Patrick Kennedy
Four more who were present that night were also charged with “wounding”
The trial began on July 3 where the jury was led out to a storage building where Bridget’s body was being kept to view the charred remains
This convinced jurors of the horrible suffering Bridget had endured and ultimately 7 of the 9 defendants would be handed down sentences
The sentences were:
5 years of penal servitude for Patrick Kennedy,
6 months of hard labor for Michael Kennedy,
18 months hard labor for William Kennedy,
6 months of hard labor for Bridget’s elderly father, Patrick Boland,
3 years penal servitude for John Dunne,
and 20 years of penal servitude for Michael Clearly, who was convicted of manslaughter
The manslaughter verdict was handed down on the grounds that Michael had not intended to kill his wife, but cure her
He would serve 15 years before he was released in April of 1910, after which he moved to Liverpool, emigrated to Montreal, Canada, and then remarried all in the same year…
The case made waves because at the time, Irish Home Rule was an active political issue in England
The English used the Cleary case as evidence that the Irish were an uneducated and brutal people who were unable to govern themselves
So, those were the events as they transpired,
But now let’s take some time to unpack the lore and superstition, as well as motive behind this unfortunate case
Bridget’s downfall came from Michael’s belief that Bridget had become a changeling.
Fairy belief, in general, was pervasive in rural Irish communities at the time and had long coexisted beside Christian doctrine
We briefly stated before that fairies are creatures with human appearance, magical powers, and are tricksters.
They exist in kind of a hidden world alongside humans where they can bestow favor upon those who treat them with respect, or pretty much mess stuff up!
Anything from spoiled milk, to damaged crops, to injury and death could be attributed to fairies
Changelings specifically, were fairies who were sent to live in the human world, for whatever reason
Beautiful women and children were especially susceptible to being snatched by fairies and replaced by a changeling
It was said that the fairies wanted these women and children to sometimes embolden their own lineage, to keep as servants, or sometimes to punish those they felt had wronged them
They were even more susceptible if they ventured near a fairy ringfort
And remember, the Cleary’s cottage was said to have been built right on top of one
You would know someone was a changeling usually by a sudden decrease in health and vivacity
If someone suddenly became sick and the doctor couldn’t find any reason,
Or if a child started to regress, or was seemingly born healthy then failed to thrive…
Sometimes even if a child was just fussy or even particularly gifted in intelligence….
Those were all indicators that your real friend or family member had been swapped with a fairie trying it’s best to masquerade as a human
So, here and now in the 21st century, scientists and scholars have arrived at generally accepted explanations for much of this
What people living during the 19th century thought were fairy ringforts, we’ve been able to discover were early prehistoric dwellings dating back to the late Iron Age to early Christian times
These early civilizations built circular structures marked by earth banks, ditches, or primitive stone walls
Over time, the structures obviously decayed until all that remains are vague circular perimeters that no longer resembled anything man-made
It’s also reasoned that babies or children labeled as changelings, could actually have been developmentally disabled or experiencing regressive autism
Often these conditions are not apparent at birth, but over time, the child will start to miss developmental milestones and it becomes evident that something about that child is different
We know these are almost always conditions that were present since birth
But those living in 19th century Ireland would just see a normal, healthy baby until a certain point where the child inexplicably decline
They were not aware of genetics or chromosomal abnormalities
They thought some sort of outside force as at work, and blamed it on fairies and changelings
Now that we understand a bit more about fairies and changelings, we can go inside the Cleary household a bit more
So, on the day Bridget Cleary became ill, she had been out making her usual egg deliveries
It was noted that she had a habit of lingering near somewhere called Kylenagranagh (kill-nah-mahn-ah) Hill that was also rumored to be the site of a fairy fort
When she got home, she reported having a raging headache when she went to bed, which quickly turned in to a fever and lung infection
Bridget was very sick
She probably contracted some virus that went in to her chest and became a bacterial infection
She needed antibiotics - but they didn’t have those back then
No one could understand why Bridget wasn’t getting any better
She was otherwise a young, healthy, vibrant woman and her quick decline terrified her neighbors and family
To them, this wasn’t a normal illness, something else was going on
Now as we discussed, fairy lore ran deep in 19th century Ireland, and a local traditional storyteller, John Dunne, was the first to suggest to Michael that maybe the woman in Bridget’s bed, was not Bridget…
This seed, grew in Michael’s brain, and he eventually came to the realization that Bridget actually seemed more beautiful than her usual self, and she was also 2 inches taller
Others likely argued this point with Micheal but he was her husband, and he knew her better than anyone, so he would not be convinced
By the time the doctor and priest had been, Michael had already decided that their help was of no use in their house, and he visited a man named Dennis Ganey who was described as a “fairy doctor”
Dennis Ganey was well versed in remedies and charms for undoing fairy magic
He prescribed a tincture of herbs and the first milk produced from a cow after calving, which Michael made
But when he tried to get Bridget to drink it, it was so bitter that she gagged
Michael took this as further evidence that she was indeed a fairy and they needed to escalate their plan
Michael, her father, John Dunne and Dennis Ganey pinned Bridget down and forced her to drink the mixture
They threw urine on her and threatened her with a hot poker
At first it was reported that she fought them, “wild and deranged,” but then she seemed to calm
The men took this to mean the remedies were having an effect, but in all likelihood, Bridget was probably terrified and exhausted, and hoped compliance might stave them off
After this, Michael began aggressively interrogating Bridget to prove she was her human self
The number three holds significance in fairy lore so everything Michael asked of her, he asked three times
Still suffering from a fever and infection, Bridget was pushed to the point of delirium and struggled to answer him consistently
Each time she failed, they would haul her out of bed and repeat threatening her with the hot poker
Bridget likely knew that if she couldn’t manage to convince them she wasn’t a changeling, they were going to kill her.
So at some point, she rallied herself, got up, got dressed, and asked for breakfast
Those in the house watched her carefully
Then, Bridget asked if they had any milk for breakfast
It was said that fairies always craved fresh milk…
At this, Michael flew in to a rage, and again accused her of being a changeling
Bridget was at the end of her rope herself, and clapped back that Michael’s mother had been one to fraternize with the fairies, and that’s why he thought she was too
Michael’s sanity was hanging by a thread as it was, but them it snapped
He demanded she eat 3 pieces of bread to prove that she was not a fairy
She ate two but paused a moment too long before bringing the third piece to her lips
Upon seeing this, Michael grabbed her by the throat and threw her down before the fire
She asked for tea or water to eat the bread with but Michael refused, and forced 2 more pieces of bread in to her mouth
When she could not manage the 3rd, he was convinced - this was not his wife
He stripped her down to her chemise, and threw her in the hearth, before a room full of people, mind you
At this point, all present said they tried to intervene but Michael threw the kerosene lamp down, which caused Bridget to catch fire, then he held back the onlookers as Bridget burned
All the while he insisted it was not his wife he was burning, and they’d soon see her go up the chimney
Once it was clear that Bridget was gone, he locked everyone in the house, and left to go bury the charred remains of her body.
The next morning, John Dunne brought an agitated and bereft Michael to church to receive a blessing
But the priest didn’t think Michael was in a state to receive the sacrament
When he tried to ask John Dunne what happened, his answer was so bizarre, the priest went straight to the police, who, as we discussed earlier, opened an investigation and eventually discovered Bridget’s body
While they carried out their investigation, it was said that Michael sat and waited at the nearby fairy fort for 3 days and nights, waiting for Bridget to return on a white horse
This certainly sounds fantastical to us
And despite a general widespread belief in fairy lore, it did indeed sound fantastical to a lot of people at that time as well
They wondered if Michael just use the changeling story as an excuse for murder, and looked for other motives
One being the ever present motive of misogyny and jealousy
Bridget led a very independent and modern lifestyle for the time and place
She had her own seamstress business where she made enough money to purchase an expensive sewing machine
She had her side hustle of selling eggs
She was married but continued to work and lived separately from her husband
And the couple did not have any children
Plus, she was said to be quite outgoing and beautiful
A lot of the local wives didn’t like this
Neither did a lot of the local men
And Michael certainly would have felt pressure for being responsible for bringing his wife to heel
This stemmed rumors that Bridget was having an affair with a man who lived near Kylenagranagh (kill-nah-mahn-ah) Hill and that is why she’d lingered there that day
Some suggest that was the real reason for Michael’s rage and eventual murder of his wife Bridget
However, most scholars agree with the courts of the time that Michael did genuinely think he wife was a changeling and his intention was not to kill her, but to get her back
Today, we have a name for this too
It’s called Capgras delusion, or folie à plusieurs (pluh-zhur) - which means the “madness of several”
Capgras delusion is a psychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent, other close family member, or pet has been replaced by an identical impostor
It’s a syndrome named after Joseph Capgras who was a French psychiatrist that first described the disorder in 1923
Folie à plusieurs (pluh-zhur) or “madness of several” is best understood as shared psychosis
This syndrome is most commonly diagnosed when the two or more individuals live in proximity, may be socially or physically isolated, and have little interaction with other people
Of which rural Irish communities could qualify
A sub classification is folie imposée (im-pose-zee), in which one dominant person forms a delusional belief during a psychotic episode and imposes it on another person or persons
Which, I’m not a psychiatrist, but this sounds close to what happened inside the Cleary house
Another possibility is that it was a case of mass hysteria that started with Michael
Like folie à plusieurs (pluh-zhur), mass hysteria tends to show up among people who belong to the same close, often isolated, group or community.
It arises during sudden tension and anxiety, which spreads amongst the group
I personally think the latter explanation is the most reasonable
I believe Michael did develop some sort of Capgras delusion that spread in varying degrees to her father and neighbors
However, St. Patrick’s day is right around the corner, and it seems pretty harmless to implement some of the strategies for warding off fairies that we talked about earlier…
Just in case…
I’m curious to know what you think about this case though
Do you think Michael truly thought Bridget was a changeling?
Do you think his sentence was just?
What about the others who stood by and let it happen?
Do you believe in fairies!?
If you head on over to Instagram, TikTok or YouTube @agoodnightforamurder, you can let me know there.
I’ve also posted some photos of the Clearys, their home and a fairy ringfort, in case you need to know how to recognize them…
You can also see the photos and source links for this episode on the episode blog on my website at agoodnightforamurder.com
The bonus content for Patreon members for this episode is three more unfortunate historic murder cases where Capgras syndrome and folie a deux played a role
Listen through the outro music to hear a short preview of this Patreon bonus content
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Thank you for listening,
And I will talk to you again soon