WitchHidden
The keyhole hare
The hounds ran her down, and she went through the keyhole.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Open farmland and lanes
- Legend from
- Long (1886) via folk archive notes
- Tone
- Light-hearted
An old woman, a hare, a pack of hounds, and a keyhole just big enough.
The Isle of Wight Folk Archive notes, quoting W. H. Long's 1886 collection, tell of an old woman who lived around Hale Common or Arreton. She was said to turn herself into a hare for fun. One day the hounds of Mr Thatcher of Wackland were close on her heels, and she escaped by slipping through the keyhole of a door. The same notes record that a witch at Wackland was believed to take the form of a black cat. This is the only fetched source for these stories.
One sourceOnly one written account of this legend has been found so far.