‘Miscellany of weird stories from Ireland’

Westmeath man Brinsley McNamara has released his personal brand of tour guiding, based on his popular social media profile, Weird Ireland.

The book, titled Weird Ireland: An Unofficial Guide to the Island, is a handbook of all the unique places to visit around the country.

Brinsley (not his real name) set up his Weird Ireland account on Instagram in January, following on from the success of his original account, Weird Westmeath.

Within the first week, he had more than 2,000 followers on TikTok and, by March, he had more than 200,000 followers on Instagram.

"I anticipated that would happen but it all happened faster than I would have expected," Brinsley told the Westmeath Examiner.

But, while things happened quite quickly with Weird Ireland, Brinsley admits that he had "cut his teeth" on social media with his previous profile, Weird Westmeath, which allowed him, over the course of three years, to learn about videos and just what would get him the engagement he needed to increase his reach.

His short and snappy video adventures were initially confined to his home county, but once he had the hang of it, he started travelling around the country showing off some of the most unusual places.

"It’s like anything when you’re planning a new endeavour. They say that an overnight success takes years in the making. So it might seem as if I just had it in January and within six weeks, there was like 200,000 followers, but really it was a couple of years in the making."

While some people might describe Weird Ireland as a coffee table book, Brinsley prefers to see it as more of a toilet shelf book, because it’s a series of two or three paragraph stories that are simple and quick to read – perfect for the smallest room in the house!

"I describe it as a great miscellany of weird and interesting history, stories, and people from around the country," he said.

The book explores Ireland’s quirkiest tales, from gravity-defying hills and music-playing bridges, to chairs that "cure madness" and UFO sightings. Brinsley takes the reader off the beaten path and into Ireland’s most fascinating oddities.

Brinsley’s distinct voice, combined with whimsical illustrations by Eoin Whelehan, brings to life local legends, folklore and curious relics and is perfect for anyone who loves uncovering the strange, rare and wonderfully peculiar.

The book is available now from all good bookstores.

This clip from Nationwide is among the videos on the Weird Westmeath YouTube channel.