GhostHidden
The spirit in the fishpond
Twelve parsons read, and one read backwards.
Private, don't visit
- What's there
- Private country house and park
- Legend from
- Berkshire Local History Recording Scheme (1930)
- Tone
- Eerie
Twelve parsons, a psalm read backwards, and a ghost bound in a fishpond.
A Welford man's spirit could not rest and haunted a big barn by the road near the gates of Welford House. Twelve clergymen were sent to lay it. Two curious villagers hid in the straw to watch. The clergy read a psalm in a ring, but the spirit would not come in until the twelfth man read it backwards. The spirit bargained for two mice from the straw, but was given two cockerels instead and tore them apart. It was then bound to the fishpond by Welford House, where it is said to stay.
One sourceOnly one written account of this legend has been found so far.