CYHYRAETH: OR DEATH SOUND.
The Cyhyraeth was another death portent. It has been described as a wailing or moaning sound heard before a death, and it was thought to be a sound made by a groaning spirit. This spirit was never seen, only its sound was heard.
According to “British Goblins” by Sikes, one David Prosser, of Llanybyther, heard the Cyhyraeth pronouncing the words “Woolach! Woolach!” before a funeral.
According to the same book “this crying spirit, especially affected the twelve parishes in the hundred of Inis Cenin, which lie on the south-east side of the river Towy, ‘where some time past it groaned before the death of every person who lived that side of the country! It also sounded before the death of persons ‘who were born in these parishes, but died elsewhere.’
“Sometimes, the voice was heard long before death, but not longer than a quarter of a year. So common was it in the district named, that among the people there is a familiar form of reproach to any one making a disagreeable noise, or children crying or groaning unreasonably was to ejaculate ‘Oh’r Cyhyraeth!’ A reason why Cyhyraeth was more often heard in the hundred of Inis Cenin, was thought to be that Non, the mother of St. David lived in those parts where a village is called after her name Llanon.”