"The 'Jacky Lantern' (jack o' lantern) story has got a bit mixed up; normally that belongs to the fields of hungry grass"
In this part of Ireland the Jackie Lantern and The Hungry Grass are two very distinct traditions.
As you say the HG is associated with mass unmarked famine graves, but, that er than getting lost on them, yo are said to experience acute griping hunger pains.
There is said to be a patch of it at The hand Cross a few miles out of Miltown Malbay - just beyond the location of two other local legends.
Diarmuid and Gráinne's bed is a prehistoric dolmen associated with the Finn Cycle legends
It is said that the couple were on the run from a jealous Finn MacCumhal and they stopped on the slopes of Mount Callan for a night's rest
They collected together three large stones, 2 about five feet long, the other about 8 feet (photograph on the Musical Traditions site to our 'Around the Hills of Clare' notes) and formed it into a bed.
Dairmuid was said to have carried the two uprights, one under each arm, Gráinne brought the cap-stone down in her apron.
It is claimed that if a couple were unsuccessful in producing children, the wife should spend the night sleeping under the stones - she will wake up next morning pregnant.
The other local legend in the area is a bit more down to earth, it is referred to as 'The House of Blazes', though no evidence of a building remains.
One of the singers we recorded told us of it, describing it as a haunted house, having been told by his parents to steer clear of it.
We discovered recently that it was in fact, a 'knocking shop' where the local farers would drop into regularly to 'relieve the pressures of life!'
Interesting place, West Clare.
Jim Carroll