Ireland's Blarney Stone may be baloney: study
Millions of tourists may have been romancing the wrong stone on a castle battlement in southern Ireland in an effort to get the "gift of the gab", according to a new study.
The authenticity of the Blarney Stone, kissed by about 400,000 tourists a year, has been questioned by Mark Samuel, an archaeologist and architectural historian, and Kate Hamlyn in a new book.
According to legend, kissing the stone at Blarney Castle, near Cork, endows the kisser with the gift of gab or great eloquence and skill at flattery.
But the authors say the present stone only came into use in 1888 -- for health and safety reasons.
Up until then, those wishing to place their lips on the stone had to be dangled from the castle by two people holding their ankles.
Today those wishing to ensure they will never be tongue tied lie on their back and, holding on to an iron railing, lean backwards from the parapet walk to smooch the stone.
Blarney Castle dismisses the theory that the current stone is not the one with the claimed magical powers.
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The authenticity of the Blarney Stone, kissed by about 400,000 tourists a year, has been questioned by Mark Samuel, an archaeologist and architectural historian, and Kate Hamlyn in a new book.
According to legend, kissing the stone at Blarney Castle, near Cork, endows the kisser with the gift of gab or great eloquence and skill at flattery.
But the authors say the present stone only came into use in 1888 -- for health and safety reasons.
Up until then, those wishing to place their lips on the stone had to be dangled from the castle by two people holding their ankles.
Today those wishing to ensure they will never be tongue tied lie on their back and, holding on to an iron railing, lean backwards from the parapet walk to smooch the stone.
Blarney Castle dismisses the theory that the current stone is not the one with the claimed magical powers.