The Cruelty Man

The Cruelty Man
Every country has a long, rich tradition of invoking supernatural threats in order to keep children in line by frightening them into good behaviour.  “Here comes the Bogeyman!” was, for centuries, a refrain ringing throughout rural Ireland, but this was not, as in other cultures, a common allusion to a mythical creature but instead referred not to some fantastical being but to a real man – also known as the Cruelty Man.  Yes,there really were Irish Cruelty Men who freely roamed the country looking for children to take from their families and communities. Parents told their children in whispers that if they misbehaved, “The Cruelty Man will get you.” 

The Cruelty Man was regarded as menacing figure in Irish society and held in fear by the local, suspicious communities. He had no set appearance in the mind of an adult or child, but was simply a non-specific and monstrous embodiment of terror. Conceptions about him varied drastically from household to household within the same community, although it was generally known that he wore a brown shirt and it was thought that over his shoulder he carried a big sack that would accommodate any size of child.  

The Cruelty Man, a shadowy, elusive, diabolical entity who feasted on the fears of vulnerable children was a creature born of a strange amalgam of Christian confusion and Christian superstition. In Celtic Folklore there is a creature called a “Púca,” meaning “something frightening”. Although generally considered to be bringers of bad fortune, they could either help or hinder rural communities. The Púca could have dark or stark white fur or hair and were said to be shape-changers who could take on the appearance of horses, goats, cats, dogs or hares. They could also take a human form while retaining various animal features such as long ears or a tail.

Children who were kidnapped by the Cruelty Man would say that he was a dark, ugly, gaunt and evil-looking man and was bloodthirsty and vampire-like. Superstitious stories even reported that some were cannibals - hunting down, killing, and eating the kidnapped children.  Like the cry of the Irish Banshee, hearing the Cruelty Man coming was considered an omen of enslavement and death.
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In Ireland at the time, it was a prodigious undertaking to dodge the Cruelty Men who roamed freely and answered to no one, operating in dark places in order to frighten unsuspecting children. The Cruelty Man might have been the local  and ‘benevolent’ priest, postman, teacher, butcher, or baker, but in most cases he was an active or retired policeman. But no matter what his regular job was, his role as the Cruelty Man, a shadowy, amorphous ghost who hid in plain sight in the community, was to snatch and imprison children found on the loose in the countryside or on the streets of any village, town or city and then deliver them to a Religious-run Institution. The monetary reward was usually half a crown per child.

This sum was paid to them by the local Industrial School or Magdalene Laundry where the hapless child was incarcerated, put to work and doomed to be a slave for the rest of their wretched childhood, and, in some cases, adulthood. Of course many died as child or adult without ever again knowing freedom. The Religious Orders were always looking for more children as these Institutions were not orphanages or even charities, but were fully developed businesses - making money for the Irish Catholic Church on the backs of slaves. The Cruelty Man might have been evil incarnate, but he also had an alliance with desperate Irish Religious-run Institutions The bounty payments he received from the Priests, Brothers and Nuns were reimbursed by the Irish Government who were in collusion with the Church to keep these hellholes well-stocked with an unending stream of fresh slaves for their workhouses, convents, parish houses, Industrial Schools, and Magdalene Laundries.  For the choicest specimens there was also the very lucrative business of selling these emotionally damaged – and now officially orphaned - children, usually abroad.

The vengeful spirit of the Cruelty Man delivering destitute children to the Religious-run Institutions, broke many a child’s heart and even years later, drove many of the frightened children to commit suicide, after suffering the long period of painful child rape, brutality and neglect.

That’s why the Cruelty Men were scouring the country, preying on the poor and stealing their children. Everyone’s most-feared childhood villain was the local Irish Cruelty Man. The Cruelty Men were not a legend created by a fearful and suspicious people, but the name belonged to real people and it was used to intimidate, frighten and terrorise the local communities in which they operated.

We here in Ireland know him as the Cruelty Man, but really, it turns out that every culture has a name for this figure who goes bump in the night and is used to instil fear.  The common people of Ireland, in thrall to their master, the Roman Catholic Church, learned well the lessons of its Clerics around the world -,fear is an excellent motivator. Owen Felix O'Neill ​