Introduction
Finnegan Donnelly loved to sit by the fire and tell his stories. Supposedly they had all happened, these tales of terror. How he had survived to tell them was anybody’s guess, but he was always there by the fire just the same, waiting for anyone to come and sit and hear his stories.
“Let’s have a pint and talk a while”, he would say. But unless you were fast, you would never get a word in before he launched into one of his stories. And once he did, you were there for the duration, there was no escape.
That’s where my story starts. I was travelling across Long Island on a chilly fall night, when I stopped in a little town called Sayville, to find something to eat and a place to spend the night. I stopped in a local tavern, and that’s where I met Finnegan. Through that long night he regaled me with story after story. I was amazed with the life he had lived. I promised him that if I was to ever retell his stories that I would give him credit, as is his due. So with that in mind, I am dedicating this book to Finnegan Donnelly and the life he lived. Thank you Finnegan, you have changed my life for the better.
Ken Barr
Long Island
