My Irish Literature professor, Kevin Murphy, once told us all a myth. The premise has stuck with me, but I had to read up on it to recall the smaller details.

According to the legend, a flying ship once appeared above a monastery in Clonmacnoise during a quiet congregation of monks. As you can imagine, the vessel dropped the anchor, which fell through the roof and struck the stone floor of the church. Out of pure bewilderment, the clergymen snatched up the hook and attempted to move it away, but something quickly interrupted them. A sailor, presumably from the floating ship, swam down through the hole in the ceiling as if he was submerged in ocean water. He attempted to grab the anchor away, but the monks persisted in their theft. “For God’s sake!” he gargled, “Let me go! You’re all drowning me!” The holymen released the anchor at the sound of his plea, allowing the man to swim away with the hook underarm. The ship was never seen again.

Again, welcome to Ireland.