HAUNTED HIGHWAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2571, 24 June 1903, Page 66

HAUNTED HIGHWAYS.

Mr R. Carnsew has a creepy record of the haunted roadss of Cornwall in Temple Bar for April. Here ore some extracts. —

Those who have occasion to travel by night on the lonely roads of the West of England are beset by haunting terrors that railways, county councils, or board

are stiil poweiless to assuage. In the Cornish temper iment there is happily implanted a deep dislike to education or enlightenment in any form whatsoever, which will, perhaps, always keep this people primitive and not too aggressively wise in their generations. The twentieth century Cornishman beheves in ghosts, pixies, spriggans, knockers, and other spirits that may be met with on the wild moorlanr 1 <•■>• waste sea beaches of his native county. The fact that he is reticent on these subjects with "foreigners " only shows that such beliefs are his' true convictions, absorbed during the impressionable years cf_^hildhood, never to leave him. Of such are the stories of spectre coaches witch hounds, or ghostly ships that sail weirdly against wind and tide, or even over the land. These usally

, centre round some celebrated person or unj accountable stranger who has made an im- , pression upon the local mind during life. I It is a curious fact that men who were ! greatly admired and respected by their ' clannish country folk whilst they lived among them have become the heroes of . legends of lost or restless spirits. Probably 1 this is because any extraordinary faculties j were, and indeed still are, ascribed to the agency of witchcraft. Thus, after the death of any great man, when his personal magnetism ceases, his mighty works are considered : - ' ' except by the help of the devil, *— . -hjj to Western tradition, Sir Francis Drake, like Socrates, was counselled and aided by a familiar demon, who certainly deserves the thanks of posterity, for he enabled the admiral to destroy the Armada. From a rock in Plymouth Sound, J still called Devil's Point, these two comjj.mions, tho man and the spirit, cut pieces of wood and threw them in.o the harbour waters with many incantations. Immedi- , ately these touched the sea they became gunboats, well armed and manned , at tho head of this magic fleet the gallant sailor and adventurer 'defeated the proud navy of Spain. Certainly strange echoes are to be heard after dusk in these high-banked lanes, where the bushes, stunted by the sea wind, almost close overhead. Many a belated horseman, hearing sounds of rumbling and clattering than can hardly come from the hoofs of his single steed, gives the rein to his frightened mount and ridps hard to outpace the spectral carriage in the narrow road where two carts cannot pass one another. But the story told with most graphic detail is that of L.idy Howard, who goes from Tavistock i.orihwards towards ' Okehampton, in an opposite direction to that taken by Sir Francis Drake. Tavi- - stock stands near some of tho loftiest heights of Dartmoor, go that the imaginations of its inhabitants are instinctively bent towards the unc.inny or supernatural by the grand forms of the high Tors, the mystery of their creeping mists, the dangerous bogs, and wild loneliness of the moorland in whose midst they dwell. Possibly, this accounts for their roads and paths being infested by ghostly dangers almost as vivid as the actual ones. Lady Howard's career was checkered and stirring, though there is no proof whatever that she was so black as she is painted in the legends. Undoubtedly she was a woman of strong will and energy, probably troubVd with but few scruples where her sovereign pleasure was disputed. She was daughter and heiress of i Fitze of Fitzford ; she married, in the j course of a long life, no less than four hus- • bands, and, according to traditioja*_jniur1 dered them all, not to mention diver other persons whom fhe found superfluous. Acj cordingly, every night in the year, at the stroke of midnight, phe issues from the ancient gate of Fit^fordi, seated in a skeleton coach, made from the bones of her four husbands. To complete the design of this j gruesome vehicle, J .here is a pir.nacle at each ; top come»" decorated with a skull belonging to one of these unlucky wights. So Lady ! Howard rides in state from Tavistock to Okehampton, a black hound running before her, who plucks a single blade of grass in Okehampton Churchyard, which he carries . back to Fitzford in his mouth. When there is no grass left in Okehampton. the weird of his wicked mistress will be accomplished, and her soul may rest in peace Perhaps the most alarming of all these terrors of the roads are the headless hounds that hunt at midnight, and are apt to mistake weary wayfarers for their quarry. Chief of those, for the western moors appear to be hunted more regularly by demons at night than by legitimate packs in the i daytime, are the wish hounds of Dartmoor and the hounds of Trege'argle, in Cornwall. ] The wish hounds are so-called from the charming word "whisht,' in the eld Cornish tongue, meaning eerie, uncmny, melancholy, ■with a dash of the supernatural. Their is held at Wistmaii's Wood, that mystic grove of primeval oaks, knotted, twisted, and worn with age and rough weather,

the last remnant of the vast forests once covering the tors of Dartmoor. To animals these hounds are specially harmful ; any honest dog that hears their TJay immediately sickens and dies, whilst hordes are found in their stalls exhausted, and covered with mire, having been pixy -ridden in the infernal chase all night. In Cornwall, John Tregeagle is still a name to conji.re with, though centunes must hove elapsed since he dwelt among men. It reen>s probable that many myths and kgen-Js of an older world have clung about his history, yet he may have had a real existence, for all that. At least, tiadition gives him a local habitation as the rich squire of Trevorder, near Bodmin. and it is said that many monuments to the Tregeagle family exist in the church of St Breock In his lifetime, as now, his name was a terror to all the countryside, for he ;s described as having been a monster of wickedness Nevertheless, by a taidy repentance and largo gifts to the monks of St. Breock, he contrived, if not to die in the odour of sanctity, at least to cheat the devil for a season. One curious .story about him tells how the evidence of his spirit was given in a court of law. Tregeagle had been gunidian, trustee, or steward to the* estate of an absent friend In this capacity he destroyed ancient deeds, forged now one«, sold large portions of the land, and appropriated the money After his death these transactions gradually came to light, and led to a complicated Hw->uit, in ■which the rightful heir wps in danger of being entirely dispossessed. In despair he applied to an old prie.st, renowned for wisdom and occult knowledge. Fixing his eyes upon the young man, this priest significantly asked if he had great faith and courage. At first lie shrank back, but as his case grew desperate and 4 1ip <l<';y of ♦•' ' i reproached, lie consented that Treg«agle's spirit should be raised to give evidence on his behalf. It may well be imagined that there was a\iestricken horror in the Court of Justice at Bodmin when this witness from the gravp, but too well-known to all present during life, was produced. llis t-xamination di--closed the involved system of fraud that he had practised for many year?, and the heir

won his case triumphantly. By any other means this would have been impossible. But now the unfortunate youth found himself in far worse difficulties than before ; having raised this evil spirit, it proved impossible to rnaka him return to his place, and, moreover, legions of fiends 6wanned about the council-chamber, clamouring for their lawful prey. All the priests, holy men, white witches, soothsayers, and seers in the West — a mighty company, without doubt ! — were called together. At last they prevailed to bind the demons that hunted Tregeagle from seizing this unhappy soul, until he should accomplish the task of weaving a hard rope from the sands of Padstow Harbour. Tregeagle, though he could scarcely wish to be g torn by the spectre hounds who bayed constantly at his heels, yet ardently desired to' destroy the man who had disturbed his rest in the church of St. Breock. Therefore, one frosty night he managed to complete his task by pouring fresh water on his twine of sand, thus freezing it into a hard rope. Then, though himself a quarry, he pursued the heir, determined to have a companion, in misfortune. Fortunately for the young man he held his innocent child' in his arms, and this circumstance preserved him unhurt, for against purity the fiends were powerless. Tregeagle was then doomed to empty Dozmary Pool, on the high moors near Towtor and Brown Willy, with a limpet shell that had a hole in it. This task has hitherto kept him employed, as the lake is said to be bottomless ; but if he ever pauses in his occupation he is pursued by the devil and his dogs across the waste. Thus it happens that their cry, mingled with his howlings, is still heard with fear and trembling by benighted travellers.