Alice Lannon was born in St. Jacques the daughter of Tom and Julia McCarthy. The family moved to Terrenceville when Alice was a young girl. She lived most of her adult life in Southeast Placentia.
Alice was a born storyteller. For more than 25 years she told stories at festivals and special heritage events. She was interviewed by international folklorists and her storytelling was documented on film. Alice got her gift of storytelling from her grandmother Mary (Strang) McCarthy who retold the stories she had been told by an elder1y aunt born in Lawn around 1820.
In 1991 some of these stories were preserved in a book which Alice co-wrote with her brother MichaelMcCarthy. It is called Fables, Fairies & Folklore of Nfld. Alice went on to co-author two more books with Mike "Ghost Stories from Newfoundland Folklore and Yuletide Yams.
Alice Lannonis considered to be one of our foremost storytellers. Her rich stories and fairy tales evoked evenings sitting around the kitchen, a wood stove crackling, waves breaking on the shore and the dim light of a kerosene lamp casting shadows around the room as listeners hung onto every word.
A Few of Lannon's Recitation
The Big Black Bull of Hollow Tree
Three young girls encounter a man cursed to roam the world as a bull (recorded at the 2010 Storytellers of Canada Conference Courtesy of the Digital Archives of Memorial University).
The Good and Bad Fairies
Annemarie O'Keefe gets taken by the fairies while picking berries(recorded at the 2010 Storytellers of Canada Conference Courtesy of the Digital Archives of Memorial University).
The Loss of the Marion
A short story of treachery at sea and the ghost of a murdered young sailor (recorded at the 2010 Storytellers of Canada Conference Courtesy of the Digital Archives of Memorial University).
Open, Open, Green House
Maggie is determined to spend three nights in a haunted castle and win a bag of gold for her father (recorded at the 2010 Storytellers of Canada Conference Courtesy of the Digital Archives of Memorial University).
