Game Feathers.
—I do not see that any of your numerous correspondents have mentioned the common belief among the poor in this county (Sussex), that a person cannot die if his bed is stuffed with game feathers. A friend of mine a little time back was talking to a labourer on the absurdity of such a belief; but he failed to convince the good man, who, as a proof of the correctness of his belief brought forward the case of a poor man who had lately died after a lingering illness. "Look at poor Muster S——, how hard he were a dying; poor soul, he could not die ony way, till neighbour Puttick found out how it wer,—'Muster S——,' says he, 'ye be lying on geame feathers, mon, surely;' and so he wer. So we took'n out o'bed, and laid'n on the floore, and he pretty soon died then!"
NEDLAM.
Isle of Man Folk Lore.
—A young person from Castletown tells me as follows:—
A woman walking over Barrule met two fairy armies going to battle, which was to begin on the ringing of a bell; she pulled the bell, and in consequence both armies attacked her, and kept her prisoner for three years, when she escaped.
A little girl, walking over a bridge, was offered by three little men (one after the other) a farthing, which she persevered in refusing; knowing that, if accepted, she would have been carried off.
A labouring man, passing by a house which is said to be haunted by soldiers, saw a soldier from Castletown sitting on a stile; and, on going up to tell him that the bugle had sounded, the soldier vanished into air, and the man saw a ball of fire before him all the way home.
A white lady walked through a room one evening when the doors were bolted and barred, and could not be found anywhere; a murder was once committed in a room of this house, and, although the boards have been moved, blood will come again.
At Peel, a witch with a basin of water said that the herring fleet would never return; every ship was lost, and she was put in a barrel with spikes, and rolled down the hill, the grass never having grown since; "and I saw the mark all down."