One of the most interesting old mansions in Guernsey is that of La Haye du Puits, in the parish of Le Castel, with its tower rising above the roof, its handsome “porte cochère” and its pepper box turrets. It has the appearance of having been built early in the sixteenth century, and it is known to have been, in the reign of Henry VIII., the residence of a family of considerable local antiquity and importance, of the name of Henry, who had also property in Salisbury, where they were known by the anglicised form of their patronymic, Harris. It passed from their possession into that of the Le Marchant family, to one of whom it still belongs, in the reign of James II.[133] It is just one of those sort of places that one might expect to find some legendary tale or old superstition attached to; but we are not aware that either La Haye du Puits, or the neighbouring estate of St. George, claims any special property in the spectral appearance, which, from time to time, is seen at Le Mont au Deval--a steep ascent over which the high road between the two properties passes. Persons travelling at night along this road, which in some parts is thickly overshadowed with trees, have occasionally met with a funeral procession, preceded, as is customary in Guernsey, by a clergyman and his attendant clerk, and composed of the usual carriers, pall bearers, mourners, and attendant friends. The cortège takes its mournful way in perfect silence--and well it may--for, of the many persons who compose it, not one is the bearer of a head! [Illustration: “Le Coin de la Biche,” St. Martin’s.] There are those, it is said, who affirm to having met it, but it is looked upon as of evil augury. The death of some one in the neighbourhood, or of some member of the family of the person who has the misfortune to fall in with it, is believed to follow close upon the appearance of the headless company.[134] [133] EDITOR’S NOTE.--It was bought by Joshua Le Marchant from the heirs of Pierre Henry, June 3rd, 1674. [134] From Mr. Denys Corbet. EDITOR’S NOTE.--In Mr. Paul Sebillot’s _Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute Bretagne_, Tome I., p. 270, we meet with nearly the same superstition. “Un jour un homme de la Ruèe était à dire ses prières. Il vit un enterrement qui passait à quelque distance de lui; un homme portait la croix, puis venait la chasse, les prêtres et des hommes. Huit jours après, un homme qui était né à la Ruèe mourut, et son enterrement eut lieu comme celui que l’homme avait vu.” EDITOR’S NOTES. “LE COIN DE LA BICHE.” There is a lane leading from the post-box at the “Carrefour David,” on the Saints’ Bay Road to “La Marette,” at the Villette, which was formerly supposed to be haunted by a spectre in the form of an enormous nanny-goat.