See Keightley’s Fairy Mythology, Vol. II., p. 294. La Normandie Romanesque, p. 128. Folk-Lore Journal, Vol. I., p. 292.
Editor’s Notes.
In Notions Historiques sur les Côtes-du-Nord, by M. Habasque, there is mentioned a goblin called Mourioche, and it is said “Mourioche qui revêt toutes les formes; Mourioche, la monture du diable, qui vole avec la rapidité de l’éclair, qui parsément des points lumineux, et qui s’allonge tant que l’on veut, assez du moins pour porter quatre personnes.
“Cinq jeunes filles partirent un soir pour aller chercher un des chevaux de la ferme qui était dans la prairie. L’une d’elles monta sur le dos de la bête; puis une seconde; alors le cheval s’allongea, et il y eut place pour la troisième, et les cinq filles finirent par s’asseoir sur son dos qui s’allongeait à mesure. La monture des filles se mit en marche, et quand elle fut arrivée au milieu du ruisseau, elle disparut comme si elle s’était évanouie en fumée, et laissa les filles tomber dans l’eau. Le vrai cheval était déjà rendu à la porte de son écurie.”—Traditions et Superstitions de La Haute Bretagne, Tome II., p. 66.
The Spectral Cortège.
One of the most interesting old mansions in Guernsey is that of La Haye du Puits, in the parish of Le Castel, with its tower rising above the roof, its handsome “porte cochère” and its pepper box turrets. It has the appearance of having been built early in the sixteenth century, and it is known to have been, in the reign of Henry VIII., the residence of a family of considerable local antiquity and importance, of the name of Henry, who had also property in Salisbury, where they were known by the anglicised form of their patronymic, Harris. It passed from their possession into that of the Le Marchant family, to one of whom it still belongs, in the reign of James II.[133] It is just one of those sort of places that one might expect to find some legendary tale or old superstition attached to; but we are not aware that either La Haye du Puits, or the neighbouring estate of St. George, claims any special property in the spectral appearance, which, from time to time, is seen at Le Mont au Deval—a steep ascent over which the high road between the two properties passes. Persons travelling at night along this road, which in some parts is thickly overshadowed with trees, have occasionally met with a funeral procession, preceded, as is customary in Guernsey, by a clergyman and his attendant clerk, and composed of the usual carriers, pall bearers, mourners, and attendant friends. The cortège takes its mournful way in perfect silence—and well it may—for, of the many persons who compose it, not one is the bearer of a head!
“Le Coin de la Biche,” St. Martin’s.