Ghosts and legends
· Lasnamäe
Legend of the Old Woman of Iru
The story of Iru Ämm keeps the memory of a roadside boulder alive after the original stone disappeared.
In the folklore associated with Iru Ämm, a person turns to stone and travellers give meaning to a familiar boulder. Variants of the tale exist; its characters cannot be treated as documented biographies. Another story concerns the stone itself: after the original boulder was lost, its name and the legend continued to mark the place. A landmark can therefore survive in memory even when its physical focus has vanished. Consider Iru as a meeting point of routes and storytelling.
Practical information
Address: Iru
Use public paths when exploring Iru. Do not assume every local stone is the original Iru Ämm; distinguish later markers from the vanished boulder.