Welsh Folk Lore

E >> Elias Owen >> Welsh Folk Lore

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"Mae ar dir Rhiwogo, ar ochr Cader Idris, graig a elwir.
'_Careg-gwr-drwg_,' byth ar ol y Sabboth hwnw pan ddaeth yno at drigolion
plwyfydd Llanfihangel Pennant ac Ystradgwyn, pan oeddynt wedi ymgasglu i
chwareu cardiau, a dawnsio; ac y rhoddodd dro o amgylch y graig gan
ddawnsio, ac y mae ol ei draed ar y graig eto."

This in English is as follows:--There is on the land belonging to
Rhiwogo, on the side of Cader Idris, a rock called _The Rock of the Evil
One_, so named ever after that Sabbath, when he came there to join the
parishioners of Llanfihangel Pennant and Ystradgwyn, who had gathered
together to play cards and dance, and there he danced around the rock,
and to this day the marks of his feet are to be seen in the rock.

There were, perhaps are, in Pembrokeshire, two stones, called the Devil's
Nags, which were haunted by Evil Spirits, who troubled the people that
passed that way.

_Ceubren yr Ellyll_, the Hobgoblin's Hollow Tree, a noble oak, once
ornamented Nannau Park, Merionethshire. Tradition says that it was
within the trunk of this tree that Glyndwr buried his cousin, Howel Sele,
who fell a victim to the superior strength and skill of his relative.
Ever after that sad occurrence the place was troubled, sounds proceeded
out of the tree, and fire hovered over it, and, according to a writer in
_The Cambro-Briton_, vol. i., p. 226:--

E'en to this day, the peasant still
With cautious fear treads o'er the ground;
In each wild bush a spectre sees,
And trembles at each rising sound.

One of the caves in Little Orme's Head, Llandudno, is known as _Ogof
Cythreuliaid_, the Cave of Devils.

From the preceding names of places, which do not by any means exhaust the
list, it will be seen that many romantic spots in Wales are associated
with Demons.

There are also sayings in Welsh connected with the Evil One. Thus, in
our days may be heard, when it rains and the sun shines at the same time,
the expression, "_Mae'r Gwr Drwg yn waldio'i wraig_"--the Devil is
beating his wife.

Besides the Biblical names, by which Satan is known, in Wales, there are
several others in use, not to be found in the Bible, but it would seem
that these names are borrowed being either importations or translations;
in fact, it is doubtful, whether we possess any exclusively Welsh terms
applied solely to the Devil. _Andras_ or _Andros_ is common in North
Wales for the Evil One. Canon Silvan Evans in his Welsh Dictionary
derives this word from _an_, without, and _gras_, grace; thus, the word
becomes synonymous with gracelessness, and he remarks that, although the
term is generally rendered devil, it is much softer than that term, or
its Welsh equivalent _diawl_.

_Y Fall_ is another term applied to Satan in Wales. Dr. Owen Pugh
defines the word as what is squabby, bulky. The most common expressions
for the devil, however, are _Cythraul_, and _diawl_, or _diafol_, but
these two last named words are merely forms of Diabolos. Other
expressions, such as Old Nick, Old Harry, have found a home in Wales. _Y
gwr drwg_, the bad man, _Gwas drwg_, the wicked servant, _Yr yspryd
drwg_, the wicked spirit, _Yr hen fachgen_, the old boy, and such like
expressions, are also common. Silly women frighten small children by
telling them that the _Bo_, the _bogey_, the _bogey bo_, or _bolol_,
etc., will take them away if they are not quiet.

_Ghosts_, _or Spirits_.

Ghosts, or Spirits, were supposed to be the shades of departed human
beings who, for certain reasons, were permitted to visit either nightly,
or periodically, this upper world.

The hour that Spirits came to the earth was mid-night, and they remained
until cock-crowing, when they were obliged to depart. So strongly did
the people believe in the hours of these visits, that formerly no one
would stay from home later than twelve o'clock at night, nor would any
one proceed on a journey, until chanticleer had announced that the way
was clear. Christmas Eve, however, was an exception, for during that
night, no evil Spirit could appear.

It was thought that if two persons were together, one only could see the
Spirit, to the other he was invisible, and to one person only would the
Spirit speak, and this he would do when addressed; otherwise, he remained
silent.

Ghosts re-visited the world to reveal hidden treasures, and the murdered
haunted the place where their unburied bodies lay, or until vengeance
overtook the murderer, and the wicked were doomed to walk the earth until
they were laid in lake, or river, or in the Red Sea.

The presence of Spirits was announced by a clanking of chains, by
shrieks, or other horrible noises, and dogs, and horses, were credited
with the power of seeing Spirits. Horses trembled and perspired at their
presence, and dogs whined and crouched at their approach.

The tales which I shall now relate throw a glimmering light on the
subject now under consideration.

_The Gloddaeth Ghost_.

The following tale was told the Rev. Owen Jones, Pentrevoelas, by Thomas
Davies, Tycoch, Rhyl, the hero in the story.

I may say that Gloddaeth Wood is a remnant of the primaeval forest that
is mentioned by Sir John Wynn, in his _History of the Gwydir Family_, as
extending over a large tract of the country. This wood, being
undisturbed and in its original wild condition, was the home of foxes and
other vermin, for whose destruction the surrounding parishes willingly
paid half-a-crown per head. This reward was an inducement to men who had
leisure, to trap and hunt these obnoxious animals. Thomas Davies was
engaged in this work, and, taking a walk through the wood one day for the
purpose of discovering traces of foxes, he came upon a fox's den, and
from the marks about the burrow he ascertained that there were young
foxes in the hole. This was to him a grand discovery, for, in
anticipation, cubs and vixen were already his. Looking about him, he
noticed that there was opposite the fox's den a large oak tree with
forked branches, and this sight settled his plan of operation. He saw
that he could place himself in this tree in such a position that he could
see the vixen leave, and return to her den, and, from his knowledge of
the habits of the animal, he knew she would commence foraging when
darkness and stillness prevailed. He therefore determined to commence
the campaign forthwith, and so he went home to make his preparations.

I should say that the sea was close to the wood, and that small craft
often came to grief on the coast. I will now proceed with the story.

Davies had taken his seat on a bough opposite the fox's den, when he
heard a horrible scream in the direction of the sea, which apparently was
that of a man in distress, and the sound uttered was "Oh, Oh." Thus
Davies's attention was divided between the dismal, "Oh," and his fox.
But, as the sound was a far way off, he felt disinclined to heed it, for
he did not think it incumbent on him to ascertain the cause of that
distressing utterance, nor did he think it his duty to go to the relief
of a suffering fellow creature. He therefore did not leave his seat on
the tree. But the cry of anguish, every now and again, reached his ears,
and evidently, it was approaching the tree on which Davies sat. He now
listened the more to the awful sounds, which at intervals reverberated
through the wood, and he could no longer be mistaken--they were coming in
his direction. Nearer and nearer came the dismal "Oh! Oh!" and with its
approach, the night became pitch dark, and now the "Oh! Oh! Oh!" was
only a few yards off, but nothing could be seen in consequence of the
deep darkness. The sounds however ceased, but a horrible sight was
presented to the frightened man's view. There, he saw before him, a nude
being with eyes burning like fire, and these glittering balls were
directed towards him. The awful being was only a dozen yards or so off.
And now it crouched, and now it stood erect, but it never for a single
instant withdrew its terrible eyes from the miserable man in the tree,
who would have fallen to the ground were it not for the protecting
boughs. Many times Davies thought that his last moment had come, for it
seemed that the owner of those fiery eyes was about to spring upon him.
As he did not do so, Davies somewhat regained his self possession, and
thought of firing at the horrible being; but his courage failed, and
there he sat motionless, not knowing what the end might be. He closed
his eyes to avoid that gaze, which seemed to burn into him, but this was
a short relief, for he felt constrained to look into those burning orbs,
still it was a relief even to close his eyes: and so again and again he
closed them, only, however, to open them on those balls of fire. About 4
o'clock in the morning, he heard a cock crow at Penbryn farm, and at the
moment his eyes were closed, but at the welcome sound he opened them, and
looked for those balls of fire, but, oh! what pleasure, they were no
longer before him, for, at the crowing of the cock, they, and the being
to whom they belonged, had disappeared.

_Tymawr Ghost_, _Bryneglwys_.

This Ghost plagued the servants, pinched and tormented them, and they
could not get rest day nor night; such was the character of this Ghost as
told me by Mr. Richard Jones, Ty'n-y-wern. But, said I, what was the
cause of his acts, was it the Ghost of anyone who had been murdered? To
this question, Jones gave the following account of the Ghost's arrival at
Tymawr. A man called at this farm, and begged for something to eat, and
as he was shabbily dressed, the girls laughed at him, and would not give
him anything, and when going away, he said, speaking over his shoulder,
"You will repent your conduct to me." In a few nights afterwards the
house was plagued, and the servants were pinched all night. This went on
days and days, until the people were tired of their lives. They,
however, went to Griffiths, Llanarmon, a minister, who was celebrated as
a Layer of Ghosts, and he came, and succeeded in capturing the Ghost in
the form of a spider, and shut him up in his tobacco box and carried him
away, and the servants were never afterwards plagued.

_Ffrith Farm Ghost_.

I am indebted to Mr. Williams, schoolmaster, Bryneglwys, for the history
of this Ghost.

It was not known why Ffrith farm was troubled by a Ghost; but when the
servants were busily engaged in cheese making the Spirit would suddenly
throw mortar, or filthy matter, into the milk, and thus spoil the curds.
The dairy was visited by the Ghost, and there he played havoc with the
milk and dishes. He sent the pans, one after the other, around the room,
and dashed them to pieces. The terrible doings of the Ghost was a topic
of general conversation in those parts. The farmer offered a reward of
five pounds to anyone who would lay the Spirit. One Sunday afternoon,
about 2 o'clock, an aged priest visited the farm yard, and in the
presence of a crowd of spectators exorcised the Ghost, but without
effect. In fact, the Ghost waved a woman's bonnet right in the face of
the priest. The farmer then sent for Griffiths, an Independent minister
at Llanarmon, who enticed the Ghost to the barn. Here the Ghost appeared
in the form of a lion, but he could not touch Griffiths, because he stood
in the centre of a circle, which the lion could not pass over. Griffiths
persuaded the Ghost to appear in a less formidable shape, or otherwise he
would have nothing to do with him. The Ghost next came in the form of a
mastiff, but Griffiths objected even to this appearance; at last, the
Ghost appeared as a fly, which was captured by Griffiths and secured in
his tobacco box, and carried away. Griffiths acknowledged that this
Ghost was the most formidable one that he had ever conquered.

From this tale it would appear that some ghosts were more easily overcome
than others.

_Pont-y-Glyn Ghost_.

There is a picturesque glen between Corwen and Cerrig-y-Drudion, down
which rushes a mountain stream, and over this stream is a bridge, called
Pont-y-Glyn. On the left hand side, a few yards from the bridge, on the
Corwen side, is a yawning chasm, through which the river bounds. Here
people who have travelled by night affirm that they have seen ghosts--the
ghosts of those who have been murdered in this secluded glen.

A man who is now a bailiff near Ruthin, but at the time of the appearance
of the Ghost to him at Pont-y-Glyn was a servant at Garth Meilio--states
that one night, when he was returning home late from Corwen, he saw
before him, seated on a heap of stones, a female dressed in Welsh
costume. He wished her good night, but she returned him no answer. She,
however, got up and proceeded down the road, which she filled, so great
were her increased dimensions.

Other Spirits are said to have made their homes in the hills not far from
Pont-y-Glyn. There was the Spirit of Ystrad Fawr, a strange Ghost that
transformed himself into many things. I will give the description of
this Ghost in the words of the author of _Y Gordofigion_.

_Ysbryd Ystrad Fawr_.

"Yr oedd Ysbryd yn Ystrad Fawr, ger Llangwm, yn arfer ymddangos ar
brydiau ar lun twrci, a'i gynffon o'i amgylch fel olwyn troell. Bryd
arall, byddai yn y coed, nes y byddai y rhai hyny yn ymddangos fel pe
buasent oll ar dan; bryd arall, byddai fel ci du mawr yn cnoi
asgwrn."--_Y Gordofigion_, p. 106.

_Ystrad Fawr Ghost_ in English is as follows:--

There was a Ghost at Ystrad Fawr, near Llangwm, that was in the habit of
appearing like a turkey with his tail spread out like a spinning wheel.
At other times he appeared in the wood, when the trees would seem as if
they were on fire, again he would assume the shape of a large black dog
gnawing a bone.

_Ty Felin Ghost_, _Llanynys_.

An exciseman, overtaken by night, went to a house called Ty Felin, in the
parish of Llanynys, and asked for lodgings. Unfortunately the house was
a very small one, containing only two bedrooms, and one of these was
haunted, consequently no one dared sleep in it. After awhile, however,
the stranger induced the master to allow him to sleep in this haunted
room; he had not been there long before a Ghost entered the room in the
shape of a travelling Jew, and the Spirit walked around the room. The
exciseman tried to catch him, and gave chase, but he lost sight of the
Jew in the yard. He had scarcely entered the room, a second time, when
he again saw the Ghost. He again chased him, and lost sight of him in
the same place. The third time he followed the Ghost, he made a mark on
the yard, where the Ghost vanished and went to rest, and was not again
troubled. He got up early and went his way, but, before long, he
returned to Ty Felin accompanied by a policeman, whom he requested to dig
in the place where his mark was. This was done, and, underneath a
superficial covering, a deep well was discovered, and in it a corpse. On
examining the tenant of the house, he confessed that a travelling Jew,
selling jewelry, etc., once lodged with him, and that he had murdered
him, and cast his body in the well.

_Llandegla Spirit_.

The tale of this Spirit was given me by Mr. Roberts, late Schoolmaster of
Llandegla. A small river runs close to the secluded village of
Llandegla, and in this mountain stream under a huge stone lies a wicked
Ghost. The tale is as follows:--

The old Rectory at Llandegla was haunted; the Spirit was very
troublesome; no peace was to be got because of it; every night it was at
its work. A person of the name of Griffiths, who lived at Graianrhyd,
was sent for to lay the Ghost. He came to the Rectory, but the Spirit
could not be overcome. It is true Griffiths saw it, but in such a form
that he could not approach it; night after night, the Spirit appeared in
various forms, but still the conjurer was unable to master it. At last
it came to the wise man in the form of a fly, which Griffiths immediately
captured, and placed in a small box. This box he buried under a large
stone in the river, just below the bridge, near the Llandegla Mills, and
there the Spirit is to remain until a certain tree, which grows by the
bridge, reaches the height of the parapet, and then, when this takes
place, the Spirit shall have power to regain his liberty. To prevent
this tree from growing, the school children, even to this day, nip the
upper branches, and thus retard its upward growth. Mr. Roberts received
the story I have given, from the old Parish Clerk, John Jones the weaver,
who died a few years ago.

_Lady Jeffrey's Spirit_.

This lady could not rest in her grave because of her misdeeds, and she
troubled people dreadfully; at last she was persuaded or enticed to
contract her dimensions, and enter into a bottle. She did so, after
appearing in a good many hideous forms; but when she got into the bottle,
it was corked down securely, and the bottle was cast into the pool
underneath the Short bridge, Llanidloes, and there the lady was to remain
until the ivy that grew up the buttresses should overgrow the sides of
the bridge, and reach the parapet. The ivy was dangerously near the top
of the bridge when the writer was a schoolboy, and often did he and his
companions crop off its tendrils as they neared the prescribed limits for
we were all terribly afraid to release the dreaded lady out of the
bottle. In the year 1848, the old bridge was blown up, and a new one
built instead of it. A schoolfellow, whom we called Ben, was playing by
the aforesaid pool when the bridge was undergoing reconstruction, and he
found by the river's side a small bottle, and in the bottle was a little
black thing, that was never quiet, but it kept bobbing up and down
continually, just as if it wanted to get out. Ben kept the bottle safely
for a while, but ere long he was obliged to throw it into the river, for
his relations and neighbours came to the conclusion that that was the
very bottle that contained Lady Jeffrey's Spirit, and they also surmised
that the little black restless thing was nothing less than the lady
herself. Ben consequently resigned the bottle and its contents to the
pool again, there to undergo a prolonged, but unjust, term of
imprisonment.

_Pentrevoelas_.--_Squire Griffith's Ghost_.

A couple of workmen engaged at Foelas, the seat of the late Squire
Griffiths, thought they would steal a few apples from the orchard for
their children, and for this purpose one evening, just before leaving off
work, they climbed up a tree, but happening to look down, whom should
they see but the Squire, wearing his three-cornered hat, and dressed in
the clothes he used to wear when alive, and he was leaning against the
trunk of the tree on which they were perched. In great fright they
dropped to the ground and took to their heels. They ran without stopping
to Bryn Coch, but there, to their horror, stood the Squire in the middle
of the road quietly leaning on his staff. They again avoided him and ran
home every step, without looking behind them. The orchard robbers never
again saw their late master, nor did they ever again attempt to rob the
orchard.

_David Salisbury's Ghost_.

I will quote from _Bye-Gones_, vol. iii., p. 211, an account of this
Spirit.

"There was an old Welsh tradition in vogue some fifty years ago, that
one David Salisbury, son of _Harri Goch_ of Llanrhaiadr, near
Denbigh, and grandson to Thomas Salisbury hen of Lleweni, had given
considerable trouble to the living, long after his remains had been
laid in the grave. A good old soul, Mr. Griffiths of Llandegla,
averred that he had seen his ghost, mounted upon a white horse,
galloping over hedges and ditches in the dead of night, and had heard
his 'terrible groans,' which, he concluded, proceeded from the weight
of sin troubling the unhappy soul, which had to undergo these
untimely and unpleasant antics. An old Welsh ballad entitled 'Ysbryd
Dafydd Salbri,' professed to give the true account of the individual
in question, but the careful search of many years has failed me in
securing a copy of that horrible song.

GORONWY IFAN."

This Spirit fared better than most of his compeers, for they, poor
things, were, according to the popular voice, often doomed to ride
headless horses, which madly galloped, the livelong night, hither and
thither, where they would, to the great terror of the midnight traveller
who might meet this mad unmanageable creature, and also, as it would
seem, to the additional discomfort of the unfortunate rider.

It is, or was believed in Gyffylliog parish, which is in the recesses of
the Denbighshire mountains, four or five miles to the west of Ruthin,
that the horses ridden by Spirits and goblins were real horses, and it
was there said when horses were found in their stables at dawn in a state
of perspiration that they had been taken out in the night and ridden by
Spirits about the country, and hence their jaded condition in the
morning.

It was also thought that the horses found in the morning in their pasture
ground with tangled manes and tails, and bodies covered with mud, had
been during the night used by Spirits, who rushed them through mire and
brier, and that consequently they presented the appearance of animals who
had followed the hounds in a long chase through a stiff country.

There is a strong family likeness between all Ghost stories, and a lack
of originality in their construction, but this suggests a common source
from which the majority of these fictions are derived.

I now come to another phase of Spirit Folk-Lore, which has already been
alluded to, viz., the visits of Ghosts for the purpose of revealing
hidden treasures. The following tale, which I took down from the mouth
of John Rowland, at one time the tenant of Plas-yn-llan, Efenechtyd, is
an instance of this kind of story.

_A Ghost Appearing to point out Hidden Treasures_.

There is a farm house called Clwchdyrnog in the parish of Llanddeusant,
Anglesey, which was said to have been haunted by a Spirit. It seems that
no one would summon courage to speak to the Ghost, though it was seen by
several parties; but one night, John Hughes, Bodedern, a widower, who
visited the house for the purpose of obtaining a second Mrs. Hughes from
among the servant girls there, spoke to the Ghost. The presence of the
Spirit was indicated by a great noise in the room where Hughes and the
girl were. In great fright Hughes invoked the Spirit, and asked why he
troubled the house. "Have I done any wrong to you," said he, addressing
the Spirit. "No," was the answer. Then he asked if the girl to whom he
was paying his attentions was the cause of the Spirit's visit, and again
he received the answer, "No." Then Hughes named individually all the
inmates of the house in succession, and inquired if they were the cause
of the Spirit's visits, and again he was answered in the negative. Then
he asked why, since no one in the house had disturbed the Spirit, he came
there to disturb the inmates. To this pertinent question the Spirit
answered as follows:--"There are treasures hidden on the south side of
Ffynnon Wen, which belong to, and are to be given to, the nine months old
child in this house: when this is done, I will never disturb this house
any more."

The spot occupied by the treasure was minutely described by the Spirit,
and Hughes promised to go to the place indicated. The next day, he went
to the spot, and digging into the ground, he came upon an iron chest
filled with gold, silver, and other valuables, and all these things he
faithfully delivered up to the parents of the child to be kept by them
for him until he should come of age to take possession of them himself.
This they faithfully did, and the Spirit never again came to the house.

John Rowland, my informant, was a native of Anglesey, and he stated that
all the people of Llanddeusant knew of the story which he related to me.
He was eighty-three years old at the time he told me the tale, and that
was in October, 1882.

But one of the most singular tales of the appearance of a Ghost is
recorded in the autobiography of the grandfather of the late Mr. Thomas
Wright, the well-known Shropshire antiquary. Mr. Wright's grandfather
was a Methodist, and in the early days of that body the belief in
apparitions was not uncommon amongst them. The story was told Mr.
Wright, sen., in 1780, at the house, in Yorkshire, of Miss Bosanquet
(afterwards the wife of Fletcher of Madeley), by Mr. John Hampson, sen.,
a well-known preacher among the Methodists, who had just arrived from
Wales.

As the scene of the tale is laid in Powis Castle, I will call this
visitation

_The Powis Castle Ghost revealing a Hidden Box to a Woman_.

The following is the narrative:--It had been for some time reported in
the neighbourhood that a poor unmarried woman, who was a member of the
Methodist Society, and had become serious under their ministry, had seen
and conversed with the apparition of a gentleman, who had made a strange
discovery to her. Mr. Hampson, being desirous to ascertain if there was
any truth in the story, sent for the woman, and desired her to give him
an exact relation of the whole affair from her own mouth, and as near the
truth as she possibly could. She said she was a poor woman, who got her
living by spinning hemp and line; that it was customary for the farmers
and gentlemen of that neighbourhood to grow a little hemp or line in a
corner of their fields for their own home consumption, and as she was a
good hand at spinning the materials, she used to go from house to house
to inquire for work; that her method was, where they employed her, during
her stay to have meat, and drink, and lodging (if she had occasion to
sleep with them), for her work, and what they pleased to give her
besides. That, among other places, she happened to call one day at the
Welsh Earl of Powis's country seat, called Redcastle, to inquire for
work, as she usually had done before. The quality were at this time in
London, and had left the steward and his wife, with other servants, as
usual, to take care of their country residence in their absence. The
steward's wife set her to work, and in the evening told her that she must
stay all night with them, as they had more work for her to do next day.
When bedtime arrived, two or three of the servants in company, with each
a lighted candle in her hand, conducted her to her lodging. They led her
to a ground room, with a boarded floor, and two sash windows. The room
was grandly furnished, and had a genteel bed in one corner of it. They
had made her a good fire, and had placed her a chair and a table before
it, and a large lighted candle upon the table. They told her that was
her bedroom, and she might go to sleep when she pleased. They then
wished her a good night and withdrew altogether, pulling the door quickly
after them, so as to hasp the spring-sneck in the brass lock that was
upon it. When they were gone, she gazed awhile at the fine furniture,
under no small astonishment that they should put such a poor person as
her in so grand a room and bed, with all the apparatus of fire, chair,
table, and candle. She was also surprised at the circumstance of the
servants coming so many together, with each of them a candle. However,
after gazing about her some little time, she sat down and took a small
Welsh Bible out of her pocket, which she always carried about with her,
and in which she usually read a chapter--chiefly in the New
Testament--before she said her prayers and went to bed. While she was
reading she heard the room door open, and turning her head, saw a
gentleman enter in a gold-laced hat and waistcoat, and the rest of his
dress corresponding therewith. (I think she was very particular in
describing the rest of his dress to Mr. Hampson, and he to me at the
time, but I have now forgot the other particulars).

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