A Ghost Rabbit as Big as a Sheep January 17, 2016
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Welsh ghost stories always have something extra: maybe it is the water, maybe Methodism, maybe coal dust… They are, in any case, always worth reading. This one starts with a nun that is admittedly not very promising but bear with her.
Llangynwydd, which is in the Llynvi Valley, has a ghost scare on just now. Near the pillage are the ruins of an old British castle, known as Castle Coch. Local tradition has it that in the ruins a chest of gold is buried, and is supernaturally guarded. One evening about a week ago a terrified villager saw the figure of a tall, ethereal-looking nun cross the castle moat, climb to the top of the ruins, and then vanish.
So the nun is guarding the remains of the treasure. This is already pretty baroque by the standards of English ghosts: there best case scenario a nun is pining for love and occasionally walks through a wall. But this is a special nun.
A farmer, standing on the ruins the twilight, next saw the spectre. His dogs rushed towards it, only to recoil before a rabbit as big a sheep, which had taken her place!
Remarkable. There are a number of British horror rabbits, including the deadly rabbit of Rochdale: go to the church there at your risk. But this is perhaps the only genuinely scary rabbit in the entire canon: as big as a sheep… Imagine the ears.
On the lady’s last appearance a number of watchers advanced upon her in a circle. As they got closer she was transformed into a hare, which vanished into thin air.
The hare of course was an ancient British omen, and also the preferred vehicle of witches as they dashed across the countryside.
At this stage the strange affair rests. The spook’s appearance has usually been about seven o’clock, and every night watchers from various parts of the valley, including many colliers, gather near the spot.
So not only do we have a shape-changing nun we have a rural ghost riot. Does it get any better? drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
There are three modern ghosts associated with Castle Coch, all boring, all, indeed, of almost English mediocrity and no hint of shape-changers or rabbit ears as long as your leg.
Bruce T, 30 Apr 2016, with a great rabbit ghost story that cannot go to waste. Back in the mid 1920’s my Grandfather and some of his cronies were hanging out behind his father-in-law’s store on a late Saturday afternoon, drinking hard cider and admiring his brother in law’s new Smith and Wesson revolver. My Grandfather was known far and wide as a crack shot and when an unlucky rabbit happened to pop out on to the nearby railroad tracks one of the fellas said, “Betcha can’t hit it from here, Dick.” Grandpa said, “All right, if I hit it you buy the whisky tonight, if I miss it’s on you.” Grandpa picks up the pistol and takes the rabbit’s head off from twenty five yards away. He looks at his buddy and says, “It looks like the liquor is on you, Bill. You might want to head out so you get back by dark.” Grandpa’s buddy agreed and the fellow and friend set off for the bootleggers house on foot. Grandpa said they waited for the fellows on the store’s porch. They were gone for a long time. Grandpa figured they’d backed out of the bet. He said they were just about to call it a night when they heard a scream and the two fellows came running around the side of the building yelling, “Frecks, Frecks!!”, referring to my great Uncle, “Get your gun! Get your gun!, Frecks saw that they were drunk and scared asked, “What’s wrong?” “What’s wrong?” yelled one,”I’ll tell you what’s wrong, that damned rabbit is comin’ down the tracks with it’s head in it’s mouth!” The porch crew goes around the side to see the great wonder, and sure as Hell, they see something with shining eyes and pointy ears coming down the tracks with the rabbits head in it’s mouth.Grandpa admitted when telling the story that he wasn’t quite sure what it was when he first saw the shape until it stepped a little closer. Here came a young red fox down the tracks with the rabbit in it’s mouth. My Great-Grandfather who overheard the entire episode while trying to close the store, yelled out, “I told you boys not drink Ol’ Man Mason’s liquor! Get back to work, Frecks! Rabbit with it’s head in it’s mouth….. Bunch of damned idiots!” My Grandpa loved to tell that story. He and his friends gave those two guys grief for years over that incident, yelling “Here come’s that rabbit with it’s head in it’s mouth!” at them every time the two of them got excited about something.
