Folk-Lore of West and Mid-WalesDavies, Jonathan Ceredig
History
Folk-Lore of West and Mid-Wales
Davies, Jonathan Ceredig
Folklore -- Wales; Wales -- Social life and customs
About 70 or 80 years ago, Monachty, a fine mansion in the neighbourhood
of Aberaeron, was rumoured to be haunted. My informant is an old man
named James Jones, Golden Lion, Llanarth. Jones said that when he was
a boy at Pantycefn, he often felt almost too terrified to go to bed,
as it was reported that the Monachty ghost was so small that it could
go through even the eye of a needle; and his father's humble cottage
was not without holes especially the window of his bedroom.
At last, however, Students from Ystrad Meurig College were sent
for to Monachdy to lay the ghost, which they did, so Jones said,
and they doomed the unearthly being to cut a rock near Llanrhystyd,
which proves that students, as well as Clergymen and ministers,
had the reputation of being able to lay spirits.
THE "LAYING" OF THE STACKPOLE GHOST.
Stackpole Court, the beautiful residence of the distinguished Earl of
Cawdor, is famous for its legendary lore. "Seven hundred years ago,
Giraldus Cambrensis tells the story of Sir Elidur de Stackpole's
demon steward, whose name was Simon; and in the more modern times the
neighbourhood was haunted by the spirit of an old lady. This ghost
appeared in the form of a party consisting of two headless horses,
a headless coachman and a headless lady in her carriage.
At last the ghost was "laid" by the Parson of St. Patrox, who doomed it
to empty a pond with a cockle shell for a ladle, so that the phantom
is not seen now.
There are several versions of this ghost story, and Col. Lambton,
of Brownslade, who is much interested in Folk-Lore and Antiquities,
informed me that the headless lady was known as "Lady Mathias."
The idea of giving employment to a spirit is most ancient, and in
Grecian and Roman Mythology we find that the Danaides, or the fifty
daughters of Danaus, who all, except one, slew their husbands on their
wedding night, were doomed in Tartarus to draw water in sieves from
a well until they had filled a vessel full of holes.
It seems from the following story, which I obtained from the
Rev. J. Jones, Brynmeherin, near Ystrad Meurig, that a ghost will
not follow one through water:--
SHAN AND THE GHOST.
About 35 years ago, there lived at Ynysfach, near Ystrad Meurig,
an old man and an old woman known as "Shon and Shan."
Shon was working in North Wales, for he was a quarryman at the time,
but he came home occasionally to spend his holidays with his wife,
especially about Christmas time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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