Fiends, Ghosts, and Sprites Part 4

The peasantry of Norfolk, Northampton, &c. have, for the prevention of epileptic fits, implicit confidence in a ring made from nine sixpences, obtained, by gift, from persons of the opposite s.e.x, or from the money contributed at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

There is a charm for cramp in the leg which must be familiar to most persons. It runs thus:--

"The devil is tying a knot in my leg!

Mark, Luke, and John, unloose it, I beg!

Crosses three we make to ease us, Two for the thieves, and one for Christ Jesus."

This formula, with a little modification, was applicable also to other fleeting but painful affections. Coleridge states that when he was at the Blue-coat School there was a charm for one's foot when asleep, which ran thus:--

"Foot, foot, foot! is fast asleep!

Thumb, thumb, thumb! in spittle we steep; Crosses three we make to ease us," &c.

We have seen a charm for the toothache, which we believe has now fallen into desuetude, but which, from its singularity, is worthy of preservation. It is as follows:--

"In the name of G.o.d: Amen.

"As Jesus Christ pa.s.sed through the gates of Jerusalem, he heard one of his disciples weeping and wailing. Jesus saith unto him, Simon Peter, why weepest and wailest thou? Simon Peter saith unto him: Lord, the pain in my tooth is so grievous, I can do nothing. Jesus saith unto him: Arise, Simon, and the pain in thy tooth shall be eased; and whosoever shall keep those words in remembrance or writing shall never be troubled with the pain in the tooth:--

"In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen."

The coral and bells which are suspended round the necks of children for their amus.e.m.e.nt, were originally used with very different intentions.

Those who professed the occult sciences attributed several very wonderful properties to coral, it being regarded by them as a preservative against evil spirits, poison, and certain diseases.

The ringing of bells was also, formerly, considered to be of great effect in terrifying and causing evil spirits to fly away. Nor did their influence cease there; they were esteemed efficacious for the dispersion of tempests; or, it would be more correct to say, that a cotemporary superst.i.tion was, that tempests, thunder and lightning, and high winds, were caused by evil spirits, or devils, who in this manner endeavoured to wreak their rage on man; hence, in the Golden Legend of Wynken de Worde, it is said that "evil spirytes that ben in the region of th'

ayre, dowt much when they hear the bells rongen, an this is the cause why the bells ben rongen when it thondreth, and whanne great tempests and outrages of wether happen, to the ende that the feinds and wycked spirytes should be abashed and flee, and cease of the movynge of tempest." This superst.i.tion probably dates from the period when it became customary to exorcise, bless, and baptize the bells suspended in churches,--a custom which originated in the tenth century.

The use of the coral and bells was derived from these superst.i.tions, and they were at first suspended from the neck as an amulet which was protective from the influence of evil spirits.

Certain events are still regarded as omens by the peasantry in many districts.

If a magpie cross our path, it is said that we shall prove unlucky, unless we immediately cross ourselves; and an old rhyme says of the magpie:--

"One is a sign of sorrow; two are a sign of mirth; Three are a sign of a wedding; and four a sign of a birth."

In Devonshire, if a person sees four magpies, it is regarded as an omen of death in his family. If a pigeon is seen sitting on a tree, or comes into the house; or if a swarm of bees alight on a dead tree, or the dead bough of a living tree, it forebodes death in the family of the owner.

In Derbyshire, if the sun shines through the boughs of the apple-trees on Christmas day, it is considered as a presage of a good crop the ensuing year.

Of all the superst.i.tions entertained previous to the advent of Christ, none have, however, been more fully perpetuated among Christian nations than that of spectral apparitions,--the visible appearance of the deities worshipped, or of the disembodied spirits of the dead--_ghosts_.

This was due not only to the nature of the causes inducing spectral apparitions (causes which are inseparable from the physical const.i.tution of man), but also to the confirmation which the belief was thought to receive from Holy Writ.

The character of the superst.i.tion, as it has been retained down to the verge of the present period in our own country, and as it is still entertained in many countries, is very similar to that which it bore in the remotest periods of antiquity.

The deities of those nations who had distinct and defined ideas respecting their G.o.ds, are reputed to have appeared from time to time to their votaries, a.s.suming the form in which they were most commonly pourtrayed in the temples.

Thus the G.o.ds which aeneas bore from the destruction of Troy and carried into Crete, appeared to him in that island:

"'Twas night, when every creature, void of cares, The common gift of balmy slumbers shares; The statues of my G.o.ds (for such they seem'd), Those G.o.ds whom I from flaming Troy redeem'd, Before me stood, majestically bright, Full in the beams of Phbe's entering light.

Then thus they spoke and eased my troubled mind: 'What from the Delian G.o.d thou go'st to find, He tells thee here, and sends us to relate.

Those powers are we, companions of thy fate, Who from the burning town by thee were brought, Thy fortune follow'd, and thy safety wrought.

Through seas and lands, as we thy steps attend, So shall our care thy glorious race befriend.

An ample realm for thee thy fates ordain, A town that o'er the conquer'd world shall reign.

Thou, mighty walls for mighty nations build; Nor let thy weary mind to labours yield: But change thy seat; for not the Delian G.o.d Nor we have given thee Crete for our abode.

A land there is, Hesperia call'd of old, (The soil is fruitful, and the natives bold-- Th' otrians held it once), by later fame Now call'd Italia from the leader's name.

Iasius there, and Darda.n.u.s, were born; From thence we came and thither must return.

Rise, and thy sire with these glad tidings greet: Search Italy; for Jove denies thee Crete.'

Astonished at their voices and their sight, (Nor were they dreams, but visions of the night; I saw, I knew their faces, and descry'd, In perfect view, their hair with fillets tied), I started from my couch; a clammy sweat On all my limbs, and shivering body, sate.

To heaven I lift my hands with pious haste, And sacred incense in the flames I cast."[33]

Among Christian nations visions of this character have also been common; and the religious writings of every age of the Church contain numerous instances of apparitions of the Trinity, of our Lord, of the canonized, and the powers of evil.

But the most familiar phase of the ghost-belief is that of the visible manifestation of the spirits of the dead; and probably few, if any, races are without a superst.i.tion of this nature.

The Grecians and Romans believed that the souls of the dead (_manes_) roamed about the earth, having power to interfere with the affairs of man and inflict evil. The spirits of those who had been virtuous during life were distinguished by the name of _lares_ (under which name we have in a previous page alluded to them as tutelary deities) or _manes_; and the spirits of the wicked were termed _larvae_, or _lemures_, and often terrified the good, and haunted the wicked and impious. These ghosts were also deified, and they were known as the _Dii Manes_; and the stones erected over the graves in Roman burial-grounds had usually inscribed upon them the letters D.M., or D.M.S., that is, _Dis Manibus_, or _Dis Manibus Sacrum_,--"Sacred to the Manes G.o.ds." Sacrifices were offered to these deities, the offerings being termed _religiosae_, in contradistinction to those offered to the superior G.o.ds, which were denominated _sacrae_; and during the festivals held in honour of the ghosts (_Lemuria_ or _Lemuralia_), it was customary to burn black beans over the graves, and to beat kettles and drums, in order that, by the noxious odour of the former, and the noise of the latter, the ghosts might be frightened away, and no longer terrify their relations.

We have already given several examples ill.u.s.trative of the parallelism which exists between the accounts we possess of the apparitions of Grecian and Roman deities, and those manifestations of celestial personages which are recorded to have occurred in more modern times. A similar resemblance exists between the accounts given of the spectral appearance of the spirits of the dead.

In the Odyssey (B. XI), Ulysses, previous to descending into h.e.l.l, is described as offering "solemn rites and holy vows" to the dead:--

"When lo! appear'd along the dusky coasts, Thin, airy shoals of visionary ghosts; Fair, pensive youths, and soft, enamour'd maids; And wither'd elders, pale and wrinkled shades Ghastly with wounds, the form of warriors slain Stalk'd with majestic port, a martial train: These and a thousand more swarm'd o'er the ground, And all the dire a.s.sembly shriek'd around."

A striking ill.u.s.tration of the similarity of ancient and modern ghost-stories, in all essential points, is contained in the description given in the aeneis (B. II) of the apparition of the ghost of Hector to aeneas, at the destruction of Troy:--

"'Twas in the dead of night, when sleep repairs Our bodies worn with toils, our minds with cares, When Hector's ghost before my sight appears: A b.l.o.o.d.y shroud he seem'd, and bath'd in tears; Such as he was when by Pelides slain, Thessalian coursers dragg'd him o'er the plain; Swoll'n were his feet, as when the thongs were thrust Through the bored holes; his body black with dust; Unlike that Hector, who return'd from toils Of war, triumphant in aeacians' spoils, Or him, who made the fainting Greeks retire, And launch'd against their navy Phrygian fire.

His hair and beard stood stiffen'd with his gore, And all the wounds he for his country bore Now streamed afresh, and with new purple ran."

An equally, if not more marked example, is recorded by Pliny, the consul at Sura.

A house at Athens was grievously haunted by a spirit, which, during the night, restlessly roamed through the apartments, dragging, apparently, a heavy chain after it. Athenodorus, the philosopher, hired the house, determined to reduce the spirit to order and silence. In the depth of the night, while pursuing his studies, the silence was broken by the noise of rattling chains, which approached the room where he sat.

Presently, a spectre entered, and beckoned to him, but the philosopher took no notice. The spectre agitated its chains anew, and then he arose and, following his ghostly guide, he was led into the court-yard of the house, to a certain spot, when the spectre vanished. He marked the place, and on the following day caused the ground to be dug up and searched, when beneath it they found the skeleton of a man in chains.

The bones were publicly burned, and from that time the spirit ceased to haunt the mansion.

A belief in ghosts was one of the most prominent of the superst.i.tions of the ancient inhabitants of Northern Europe. It was customary with the Scandinavians, as with the Grecians, to perform certain ceremonies at the tombs of the dead, to propitiate the ghosts, and facilitate their entrance into the halls of bliss.

The ghosts of the departed warriors, after they had entered their airy halls, were supposed to pursue pleasures similar in character to those which had engaged their attention on earth. They listened to the strains of immortal bards; followed the chase over the illimitable fields of heaven; visited the scenes of their former glories; and when resting within their tombs, they would talk of mortal men, and sing the songs of other worlds. Airy and unsubstantial as a wreath of mist, they often wandered on the surface of the earth. The ghost of a mighty hero, clothed in a panoply of lurid clouds, and armed with a meteor, might be seen brooding o'er his tomb, or attended "by a ridge of formless shades," it swept across former battle-fields. The men of bygone days, wreathed in their vapoury robes, and reposing on clouds, hovered on the midnight blast, which bore in its mighty cadences the echoing sounds of the voices of the dead; or "like the new moon seen through the gathered mist, when the sky pours down its flaky snow, and the world is silent and dark,"[34] the spirits of the maidens glided over the rugged hills, or roamed on the pebbly sh.o.r.e.

The early Scandinavian traditions and historical writings, are pregnant with ghosts and other supernatural agents. Mr. Howitt[35] quotes from one of the Eddaic songs, which records the lives of a hero named Helge and his wife Sigrun, the following singularly interesting scene.

Helge died, and the body was laid in its cairn. In the evening Sigrun's maid pa.s.sed the cairn, and saw the ghost of Helge ride into it with a numerous train. Addressing the ghost, the maid said, "Is it an illusion that I see, or the Eve of the Mighty, that ye ride your horses and urge them with your spurs? Or are the heroes bound for their homes?" The ghost replied, "It is no illusion which thou seest, nor the Eve of the Mighty; though thou seest us, and we urge our horses with our spurs; neither are the heroes bound for their homes."

The maid then went to her mistress and said, "Haste thee, Sigrun, from the hill of Seva, if the leader of the battle thou desirest to see. Open is the cairn; Helge is come; the war-scars bleed. Helge bade thee to still his dripping wound." Sigrun went to the cairn, and entering it, said to the shade of her dead husband, "Now am I as joyful of our meeting as Odin's ravens when, long-fasting, they scent the warm food, or the day-wearied when they behold the close of day. I will kiss my lifeless king before thou throwest off thy b.l.o.o.d.y cuira.s.s. Thy hair, O Helge! is pierced through with frost, or with the dew of death is the hero slain. Cold are the hands of the friend of Hogne. How, therefore, King, shall I find a cure for thee?"--"Thou only, Sigrun! on the hill of Seva," replied the ghost, "art the cause that Helge is here, slain by the dew of sorrow. Thou weepest, gold-adorned one! burning tears, maid of the sun-glowing south! Before thou sleepest, every tear shall fall b.l.o.o.d.y on the breast of the Prince, pierced through with the cold of thy grief. But we will drink the precious mead together, though we have lost gladness and lands. Yet no one sings a song of woe, though he sees a wound in my breast. Now are the brides closed in the cairns, and the princely maidens are laid beside us."

Sigrun made a bed in the cairn, and said, "Here have I, Helge, prepared rest for thee; rest free from all trouble. Son of the Ylfinga! I will sleep in thy arms as formerly, when my hero lived." The ghost answered, "No longer will I say that thou art unfaithful on the hill of Seva.

Since thou sleepest in the embrace of the dead in the cairn, thou fair daughter of Hogur! And yet thou livest, offspring of kings! Time is to ride the red ways. Let the pale steed tramp the steeps of the air. In the west must we be, by the bridge Vindhjalen, ere the c.o.c.k in Walhalla wakes the sons of victory."

In the Eyrbyggja Saga (written before A.D. 1264; period when the events recorded occurred, A.D. 883) is an account of certain spectral apparitions which followed the death of a lady whose commands upon the death-bed had not been obeyed. This story is almost unique in character, and it is a singularly interesting example of the ghost-belief of Iceland at an early period.

On the evening of the day when the corpse was being removed to a distant place of sepulture, an apparition of the lady was seen busily preparing victuals in the kitchen of the house where the bearers reposed for the night. On the night when the conductors of the funeral returned home, a spectral appearance resembling a half-moon glided around the boarded walls of the mansion, in a direction opposite to that of the sun, and continued its revolutions until the domestics retired to rest. "This apparition was renewed every night during the whole week, and was p.r.o.nounced by Th.o.r.er with the wooden leg to presage pestilence and mortality." Shortly after, a herdsman showed signs of being persecuted by demons, and one morning he was found dead in bed, "and then" (to quote literally from Sir Walter Scott's abstract of the Saga) "commenced a scene of ghost-seeing unheard of in the annals of superst.i.tion. The first victim was Th.o.r.er, who had presaged the calamity. Going out of doors one evening, he was grappled by the spectre of the deceased shepherd as he attempted to re-enter the house. His wooden leg stood him in poor stead in such an encounter; he was hurled to the earth and so fearfully beaten that he died in consequence of the bruises. Th.o.r.er was no sooner dead than his ghost a.s.sociated itself to that of the herdsman, and joined him in pursuing and a.s.saulting the inhabitants of Froda.