Natural history -- England -- Wiltshire; Wiltshire (England) -- Description and travel
The carters, who have to spend some considerable time every day with
their horses in the stable, still retain a large repertory of legendary
ghost lore. They know the exact spot in the lane where, at a certain
hour of the night, the white spectre of a headless horse, rushing past
with incredible swiftness and without the sound of a hoof, brushes the
very coat of the traveller, and immediately disappears in the darkness.
Another lane is haunted by a white woman, whose spectre crosses it in
front of the spectator and then appears behind him. If he turns his
head or looks on one side in order to escape the sight of the
apparition, it instantly crosses to that side. Indeed, no matter in
which direction he glances, the flickering figure floats before him,
till, making a run for it, he passes beyond the limits of the haunted
ground.
Near by the hollow, where the stream crosses the lane, is another
spirit, but of an indefinite kind, that does not seem to take shape, but
causes those who go past at the time when it has power to feel a mortal
horror. A black dog may be seen in at least two different places: the
wayfarer is suddenly surprised to find a gigantic animal of the deepest
jet trotting by his side, or he sees a dark shadow detach itself from
the bushes and take the form of a dog. The black dog has perhaps more
vitality, and survives in more localities, than all the apparitions that
in the olden times were sworn to by persons of the highest veracity.
They may still be heard of in many a nook and corner. I have known
people of the present day who were positive that there really was
`something' weird in the places where the dog was said to appear.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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