Witchcraft and superstitious record in the south-western district of ScotlandWood, J. Maxwell (John Maxwell)
History
Witchcraft and superstitious record in the south-western district of Scotland
Wood, J. Maxwell (John Maxwell)
Folklore -- Scotland; Witchcraft -- Scotland
The tenant's mother sat one morning at her spinning-wheel; an invisible
power bore her along, and plunged her in the Mill-Isle burn, a voice
mumbling the while, 'I'll dip thee, I'll draw thee,' till the old dame
became unconscious. Great was the surprise of the family at dinner-time
when grandmamma was missed. Every corner of the buildings was searched.
The goodman and his wife became alarmed, while the lads and lassies ran
madly about interrogating one another with 'Where's granny?' At last a
well-known voice was heard--'I've washed granny in the burn, and laid her
on the dyke to dry!' Away the whole party ran; and sure enough the poor
old woman lay naked on the dyke, half dead with cold and fright.
Several of the neighbouring clergymen tried to lay this ghost, but all in
vain. If they sang, the ghost drowned the united efforts of the company.
Eventually, however, it was laid by the Rev. Mr Marshall of Kirkcolm,
already referred to as a zealous prosecutor of witches, by the almost
unclerical method of roaring and shouting it down."(79)
On the confines of Stoneykirk parish, in the Moor of the Genoch, there is
a plantation locally known as "Lodnagappal Plantin',"[43] concerning which
report tells of an apparition in the form of a headless woman who almost
invariably carried a light for the dire purpose of luring the unwary to
death in the treacherous moss-holes so numerous in the neighbourhood.
Fuller details are available of yet another "white woman" and her
unwelcome methods. Early last century, when the mail packet crossed from
Portpatrick to Ireland, a carrier, who lived at High Ardwell, regularly
journeyed backwards and forwards to Portpatrick to bring supplies for
the district. On his way home he was more than once alarmed and troubled
by a woman in white, who stopped his horse and even caused his cart to
break down. Once, indeed, the horse was so affected that it became quite
incapable of moving the load, compelling the carrier in great distress to
unyoke, and, mounting the horse, to make for home. His fears were not much
lessened by finding that the white lady was seated behind him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive