He had known
more than one instance in his time. One old woman, who pretended to
have seen this phantom procession, was an object of great awe for the
whole year afterwards, and caused much uneasiness and mischief. If she
shook her head mysteriously at a person, it was like a death-warrant;
and she had nearly caused the death of a sick person, by looking
ruefully in at the window.
There was also an old man, not many years since, of a sullen,
melancholy temperament, who had kept two vigils, and began to excite
some talk in the village, when, fortunately for the public comfort, he
died shortly after his third watching; very probably from a cold that
he had taken, as the night was tempestuous. It was reported about the
village, however, that he had seen his own phantom pass by him into
the church.
This led to the mention of another superstition of an equally strange
and melancholy kind, which, however, is chiefly confined to Wales. It
is respecting what are called corpse-candles, little wandering fires,
of a pale bluish light, that move about like tapers in the open air,
and are supposed to designate the way some corpse is to go. One was
seen at Lanyler, late at night, hovering up and down, along the bank
of the Istwith, and was watched by the neighbours until they were
tired, and went to bed.
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