Hungry grass

 Hungry grass or fairy grass is an Irish folklore. It's creepy and frightening legend about an area of grass, different to other patches of grass, rooted in cursed soil and was planted by malevolent spirits. Anyone walking over the cursed grass were doomed to suffer with both weakness and hunger. Some other believe this grass is caused by an unshriven corpse buried there. To avoid this, someone who must cross over the hungry grass can protect themselves by bringing along food to eat. 

The Irish Potato Famine happened in the years between 1845 and 1852 gave more emphasis on the legend of the hungry grass, and manifested a cruel supernatural entity called the Hungry Man, who people feared the most. It was said that hungry grass and the Hungry Man ate people, including fishermen and farmers. 

Hungry grass originally came from a site called Knockday, or "Hungry Hill". It's a magical and beautiful place with ancient megaliths and a beautiful big waterfall. People have mysteriously vanished on this hill, but there is a story of a man who went there, found the grass moving like snakes and wrapping around him, but the grass blades fell away from him when he took a bite of an apple. Later he went to a village and was told the hill was dangerous as it consumed people. Feeling annoyed that the man survived the hungry hill, bad fairies planted hungry grass everywhere. A wall was built around the Hungry Hill and famine stopped. It's believed that if the wall falls, famine will return. 

The myth of hungry grass appeared in 1811 in Ozarks region of Missouri, USA, by Irish settlers in the area when an earthquake happened. It was believed that was caused by a "Gortach", a supernatural creature that liked to damage crops and kill people. A century later, farmers who smoked hemp were immune to the monster who wrecked havoc each night. Festivals were held that put off the monster, although the culture was ceased with a change in law in the 1930's. In recent times the festivals returned after more relaxed laws for hemp and cannabis.  

Source: Books by William Carleton.