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...
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 Go...
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...
A woman sold a pig at Beaumaris to a man called Dick y Green; she could not that day sell any more, but the following market day she went again to Beaumaris. Dick was there waiting...
Mr. Hamer in his Parochial Account of Llanidloes published in The Montgomeryshire Collections, vol x., p. 249, states that he has in his possession two charms that were actually us...
This was a dangerous Spirit. People passing along the road were stoned by it; its work was always mischievous and hurtful. At last it was exorcised and sent far away to the Red Sea...
Another supernatural being associated with water was the Gwrach y Rhibyn. She was supposed to reside in the dripping fog, but was seldom, if ever seen. It was believed that her shr...
Should the feathered songsters sing before February it is a sign of hard, ungenial weather. This applies particularly to the blackbird and throstle. The following lines embody this...
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 fo...
By repeating the following doggerel lines the worst case of toothache could be cured-- Peter sat on a marble stone, Jesus came to him all alone. What's up, Peter? The toothache, my...
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...
Pigs used to be credited with the power of seeing the wind. Devils were fond of assuming the form of, or entering into, pigs. Pigs littered in February could not be reared. This I...
The heron as it flies slowly towards the source of a river is said to be going up the river to bring the water down, in other words, this flight is a sign of coming rain. The same...
Hunting this sprightly little animal became at Christmas the sport of our rustic population. A number of lads gathered together, and proceeded to the woods to hunt the squirrel. Th...
The joy with which the first swallow is welcomed is almost if not quite equal to the welcome given to the cuckoo. One swallow does not make a summer is an old saw. There is a super...
The crane is often mistaken for the heron. When the crane flies against the stream, she asks for rain, when with the stream she asks for fair weather. This bird is said to be thin...
The cuckoo is a sacred bird. It is safe from the gamekeeper's gun. Its advent is welcomed with pleasure. Have you heard the cuckoo? is a question put by the fortunate person who fi...
A ring made out of the offertory money was a cure for fits. About the year 1882 the wife of a respectable farmer in the parish of Efenechtyd called at the rectory and asked the rec...
One of the forms that witches were supposed to change themselves into was that of a cat. In this metamorphosed state they were the more able to accomplish their designs. The follow...
One of the wicked Spirits which plagued the secluded Valley of Llanwddyn long before it was converted into a vast reservoir to supply Liverpool with water was that of Cynon. Of thi...
A key is taken, and placed on the 16th verse of the 1st chapter of Ruth:--And Ruth said, intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goes...
A white cock was looked upon as an unlucky bird, thus:-- Na chadw byth yn nghylch dy dy, Na cheiliog gwyn, na chath ddu. Never keep about thy house, A white cock, nor black cat.
One of the servant men at Dolfawr, some years before Mr. Williams lodged there, laughed at Betty'r Bont's supposed power. However, he lived to repent his folly. One night after he...
This was a bird that came flapping its wings against the window of the room in which lay a sick person, and this visit was considered a certain omen of that person's death. The bir...
The eggs of the swan are hatched by thunder and lightning. This bird sings its own death song.
Take a branch of elder tree, strip off the bark, split off a piece, hold this skewer near the wart, and rub the wart three or nine times with the skewer, muttering the while an inc...
I. LLANLLECHID CHURCH. There was a tradition extant in the parish of Llanllechid, near Bangor, Carnarvonshire, that it was intended to build a church in a field called Cae'r Capel,...
Mr. Williams writes of the same servant man who figures in the preceding tale:--However, after that, she (Betty'r Bont) turned him into a grey mare, saddled him, and actually rode...
The traditional stories that are still extant respecting the determined opposition to the erection of certain churches in particular spots, and the removal of the materials during...
It must have been a consolation to those who believed in the power of wicked Spirits to trouble people, that it was possible to lay these evil visitors in a pool of water, or to dr...