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object-oriented programming techniques, including UML, event-driven programming,
and generic programming using type parameters.

Early Introduction to Classes

Any course that really teaches Java must teach classes early, since everything in Java
involves classes. A Java program is a class. The data type for strings of characters is a
class. Even the behavior of the equals operator (==) depends on whether it is
comparing objects from classes or simpler data items. Classes cannot be avoided,
except by means of absurdly long and complicated “magic formulas.” This book
introduces classes fairly early. Some exposure to using classes is given in Chapters 1
and 2. Chapter 5 covers how to define classes. All of the basic information about
classes, including inheritance, is presented by the end of Chapter 8 (even if you omit
Chapter 7). However, some topics regarding classes, including inheritance, can be
postponed until later in the course.

Although this book introduces classes early, it does not neglect traditional
programming techniques, such as top-down design and loop design techniques. These
older topics may no longer be glamorous, but they are information that all beginning
students need.

Generic Programming
Students are introduced to type parameters when they cover lists in Chapter 12. The
class ArrayList is presented as an example of how to use a class that has a type
parameter. Students are then shown how to define their own classes that include a
type parameter.

Language Details and Sample Code

This book teaches programming technique, rather than simply the Java language.
However, neither students nor instructors would be satisfied with an introductory
programming course that did not also teach the programming language. Until you
calm students’ fears about language details, it is often impossible to focus their
attention on bigger issues. For this reason, the book gives complete explanations of
Java language features and lots of sample code. Programs are presented in their
entirety, along with sample input and output. In many cases, in addition to the
complete examples in the text, extra complete examples are available over the
Internet.

Self-Test Questions
Self-test questions are spread throughout each chapter. These questions have a wide
range of difficulty levels. Some require only a one-word answer, whereas others
require the reader to write an entire, nontrivial program. Complete answers for all the
self-test questions, including those requiring full programs, are given at the end of
each chapter.

Exercises and Programming Projects

Completely new exercises appear at the end of each chapter. Since only you, and not
your students, will have access to their answers, these exercises are suitable for
homework. Some could be expanded into programming projects. However, each
chapter also contains other programming projects, several of which are new to this
edition.

Support Material
The following support materials are available on the Internet at
www.pearsonhighered.com/irc:

For instructors only:

Solutions to most exercises and programming projects

PowerPoint slides

Lab Manual with associated code.

Instructors should click on the registration link and follow instructions to receive a
password. If you encounter any problems, please contact your local Pearson Sales
Representative. For the name and number of your sales representative, go to
pearsonhighered.com/replocator.

For students:
Source code for programs in the book and for extra examples

Student lab manual

VideoNotes: video solutions to programming examples and exercises.

Visit www.pearsonhighered.com/cs-resources to access the student resources.

Online Practice and Assessment with

MyProgrammingLab
MyProgrammingLab helps students fully grasp the logic, semantics, and syntax of
programming. Through practice exercises and immediate, personalized feedback,
MyProgrammingLab improves the programming competence of beginning students
who often struggle with the basic concepts and paradigms of popular high-level
programming languages.

A self-study and homework tool, a MyProgrammingLab course consists of hundreds

of small practice problems organized around the structure of this textbook. For
students, the system automatically detects errors in the logic and syntax of their code
submissions and offers targeted hints that enable students to figure out what went
wrong—and why. For instructors, a comprehensive gradebook tracks correct and
incorrect answers and stores the code inputted by students for review.

MyProgrammingLab is offered to users of this book in partnership with Turing’s

Craft, the makers of the CodeLab interactive programming exercise system. For a full
demonstration, to see feedback from instructors and students, or to get started using
MyProgrammingLab in your course, visit www.myprogramminglab.com.

VideoNotes
VideoNotes are designed for teaching students key programming concepts and
techniques. These short step-by-step videos demonstrate how to solve problems from
design through coding. VideoNotes allow for self-placed instruction with easy
navigation including the ability to select, play, rewind, fast-forward, and stop within
each VideoNote exercise.

Margin icons in your textbook let you know when a VideoNote video is available for
a particular concept or homework problem.

Contact Us
Your comments, suggestions, questions, and corrections are always welcome. Please
e-mail them to savitch.programming.java@gmail.com.
Preface for Students
This book is designed to teach you the Java programming language and, even more
importantly, to teach you basic programming techniques. It requires no previous
programming experience and no mathematics other than some simple high school
algebra. However, to get the full benefit of the book, you should have Java available
on your computer, so that you can practice with the examples and techniques given.
The latest version of Java is preferable.

If You Have Programmed Before

You need no previous programming experience to use this book. It was designed for
beginners. If you happen to have had experience with some other programming
language, do not assume that Java is the same as the programming language(s) you
are accustomed to using. All languages are different, and the differences, even if
small, are large enough to give you problems. Browse the first four chapters, reading
at least the Recap portions. By the time you reach Chapter 5, it would be best to read
the entire chapter.

If you have programmed before in either C or C++, the transition to Java can be both
comfortable and troublesome. At first glance, Java may seem almost the same as C or
C++. However, Java is very different from these languages, and you need to be aware
of the differences. Appendix 6 compares Java and C++ to help you see what the
differences are.

Obtaining a Copy of Java

Appendix 1 provides links to sites for downloading Java compilers and programming
environments. For beginners, we recommend Oracle’s Java JDK for your Java
compiler and related software and TextPad or DrJava as a simple editor environment
for writing Java code. When downloading the Java JDK, be sure to obtain the latest
version available.

Support Materials for Students

 Source code for programs in the book and for extra examples

Student lab manual

VideoNotes: video solutions to programming examples and exercises.

Visit www.pearsonhighered.com/cs-resources to access the student resources.

Learning Aids
Each chapter contains several features to help you learn the material:

The opening overview includes a brief table of contents, chapter objectives and
prerequisites, and a paragraph or two about what you will study.

Recaps concisely summarize major aspects of Java syntax and other important
concepts.

FAQs, or “frequently asked questions,” answer questions that other students have
asked.

Remembers highlight important ideas you should keep in mind.

Programming Tips suggest ways to improve your programming skills.

Gotchas identify potential mistakes you could make—and should avoid—while

programming.

Asides provide short commentaries on relevant issues.

Self-Test Questions test your knowledge throughout, with answers given at the
end of each chapter. One of the best ways to practice what you are learning is to
do the self-test questions before you look at the answers.

A summary of important concepts appears at the end of each chapter.

Online Practice with

MyProgrammingLab
A self-study and practice tool, a MyProgrammingLab course consists of hundreds of
small practice problems organized around the structure of this textbook. The system
automatically detects errors in the logic and syntax of your code submissions and
offers targeted hints that enable you to figure out what went wrong—and why. Visit
www.myprogramminglab.com for more information.

VideoNotes

These short step-by-step videos demonstrate how to solve problems from design
through coding. VideoNotes allow for self-placed instruction with easy navigation
including the ability to select, play, rewind, fast-forward, and stop within each
VideoNote exercise. Margin icons in your textbook let you know when a VideoNote
video is available for a particular concept or homework problem.

This Text Is Also a Reference Book

In addition to using this book as a textbook, you can and should use it as a reference.
When you need to check a point that you have forgotten or that you hear mentioned
by somebody but have not yet learned yourself, just look in the index. Many index
entries give a page number for a “recap.” Turn to that page. It will contain a short,
highlighted entry giving all the essential points on that topic. You can do this to check
details of the Java language as well as details on programming techniques.

Recap sections in every chapter give you a quick summary of the main points in that
chapter. Also, a summary of important concepts appears at the end of each chapter.
You can use these features to review the chapter or to check details of the Java
language.
Acknowledgments
We thank the many people who have made this eighth edition possible, including
everyone who has contributed to the first seven editions. We begin by recognizing and
thanking the people involved in the development of this new edition. The comments
and suggestions of the following reviewers were invaluable and are greatly
appreciated. In alphabetical order, they are:

Christopher Crick—Oklahoma State University

Christopher Plaue—University of Georgia

Frank Moore—University of Alaska Anchorage

Frank Witmer—University of Alaska Anchorage

Greg Gagne—Westminster College

Helen Hu—Westminster College

Paul Bladek—Edmonds Community College, Washington

Paul LaFollette—Temple University

Pei Wang—Temple University

Richard Cassoni—Palomar College

Walter Pistone—Palomar College

Many other reviewers took the time to read drafts of earlier editions of the book. Their
advice continues to benefit this new edition. Thank you once again to:

Adel Elmaghraby—University of Louisville

Alan Saleski—Loyola University Chicago

Anthony Larrain—DePaul University

Arijit Sengupta—Raj Soin College of Business, Wright State University

Asa Ben-Hur—Colorado State University

Ashraful A. Chowdhury—Georgia Perimeter College

Billie Goldstein—Temple University

Blayne Mayfield—Oklahoma State University

Boyd Trolinger—Butte College

Charles Hoot—Oklahoma City University

Chris Hoffmann—University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Dan Adrian German—Indiana University

Dennis Brylow—Marquette University

Dolly Samson—Hawaii Pacific University

Donald E. Smith—Rutgers University

Drew McDermott—Yale University

Ed Gellenbeck—Central Washington University

Faye Tadayon-Navabi—Arizona State University

Gerald Baumgartner—Louisiana State University

Gerald H. Meyer—LaGuardia Community College

Gobi Gopinath—Suffolk County Community College

Gopal Gupta—University of Texas, Dallas

H. E. Dunsmore—Purdue University, Lafayette

Helen H. Hu—Westminster College

Howard Straubing—Boston College

James Roberts—Carnegie Mellon University

Jim Buffenbarger—Boise State University

Joan Boone—University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

John Motil—California State University, Northridge

Ken Slonneger—University of Iowa

Laird Dornan—Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Le Gruenwald—University of Oklahoma

Lily Hou—Carnegie Mellon University

Liuba Shrira—Brandeis University

Martin Chetlen—Moorpark College

Mary Elaine Califf—Illinois State University

Michael Clancy—University of California, Berkeley

Michael Litman—Western Illinois University

Michael Long—California State University

Michael Olan—Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

Michal Young—University of Oregon

Michele Kleckner—Elon University

Nan C. Schaller—Rochester Institute of Technology

Peter Spoerri—Fairfield University

Ping-Chu Chu—Fayetteville State University

Prasun Dewan—University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Ricci Heishman—North Virginia Community College

Richard A. Johnson—Missouri State University

 Richard Ord—University of California, San Diego

Richard Whitehouse—Arizona State University

Robert Herrmann—Sun Microsystems, Inc., Java Soft

Robert Holloway—University of Wisconsin, Madison

Robert P. Burton—Brigham Young University

Rob Kelly—State University of New York at Stony Brook

Ryan Shoemaker—Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Stan Kwasny—Washington University

Stephen F. Weiss—University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Steven Cater—Kettering University

Subramanian Vijayarangam—University of Massachusetts, Lowell

Tammy VanDeGrift—University of Portland

Thomas Cortina—Carnegie Mellon University

Thomas VanDrunen—Wheaton College

Y. Annie Liu—State University of New York at Stony Brook

We thank Frank Carrano for his revision of the fifth edition of this textbook. Last but
not least, we thank the many students in classes at the University of California, San
Diego (UCSD), who were kind enough to help correct preliminary versions of this
text, as well as the instructors who class-tested these drafts. In particular, we extend a
special thanks to Carole McNamee of California State University, Sacramento, and to
Paul Kube of UCSD. These student comments and the detailed feedback and class
testing of earlier editions of the book were a tremendous help in shaping the final
book.

W. S.

K. M.
Dependency Chart
This chart shows the prerequisites for the chapters in the book. If there is a line
between two boxes, the material in the higher box should be covered before the
material in the lower box. Minor variations to this chart are discussed in the
“Prerequisites” section at the start of each chapter. These variations usually provide
more, rather than less, flexibility than what is shown on the chart.
1-2 Full Alternative Text
Features of This Text
Recaps
Summarize Java syntax and other important concepts.

Remembers
Highlight important ideas that students should keep in mind.

Programming Tips
Give students helpful advice about programming in Java.
Gotchas
Identify potential mistakes in programming that students might make and should
avoid.

FAQs
Provide students answers to frequently asked questions within the context of the
chapter.
Listings
Show students complete programs with sample output.
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
himself appearing in the form of a gentleman. I could think from the sound
of the saddle and the shining stirrups that the saddle was a new one. On we
went along the dark narrow lane till we came to the turnpike road, when it
became a little lighter, which gave me courage to turn my eyes to see what
kind of a man he was. The horse looked like a soldier’s horse, a splendid
one, and his feet like the feet of a calf, without any shoes under them, and
the feet of the gentleman in the stirrups were also like the feet of a calf. My
courage failed me to look what his head and body were like. On we went
till we came to the cross-road. I had heard many a time that a ghost leaves
everybody there. Well, to the cross road we came. But ah! I heard the sound
of the ground as if it were going to rend, and the heavens going to fall upon
my head; and in this sound I lost sight of him (the Spirit). How he went
away I know not, nor the direction he went.”

A SPIRIT IN A CAVE.

Sometimes we hear of haunted caves, where spirits are said to be seen or

heard. One of such places is the Green Bridge Cave, near Pendine,
Carmarthenshire.

There is a story in the neighbourhood that long ago an old fiddler entered
once into this cave with his fiddle and a lighted candle to see his way, and
that his candle went out when he was in, so that he failed to find his way
out of the cave again. He is heard there sometimes, so it is said, playing his
fiddle.

A SPIRIT IN A RIVER.
Near Llandyssul, in Cardiganshire, and the borders of Carmarthenshire,
there is a pool in the River Teivi, known as the “Pool of the Harper.” When
I visited the village a few years ago I was told that it is said that an old
harper was drowned there long ago; and that it is still believed by some that
on a fine summer afternoon, one hears his spirit playing his harp in the
pool.

APPARITIONS OF GOOD SPIRITS.

It is not, often we hear in Wales of Good Spirits appearing; but the Rev.
Edmund Jones in his “Relation of Apparitions,” a curious old book
published some generations ago, gives the following narrative of
Apparitions of Good Spirits:—

——“There lived at a place called Pante, which is between Carmarthen and

Laugharne towns, one Mr. David Thomas, a holy man, who worship the
Lord with great devotion and humility; he was also a gifted brother, and
sometimes preached. On a certain night, for the sake of privacy, he went
into a room which was out of the house, but nearly adjoining to it, in order
to read and pray; and as he was at prayer, and very highly taken up into a
heavenly frame, the room was suddenly enlightened, and to that degree that
the light of the candle was swallowed up by a greater light, and became
invisible; and with, or in that light a company of Spirits, like children, in
bright clothing, appeared very beautiful, and sung; but he recollected only a
few words of it, ‘Pa hyd? Pa hyd? Dychwelwch feibion Adda’ (How long?
How long? Return ye sons of Adam.) Something like Ps. xc. 3 . After a
time he lost sight of them: the light of the candle again came to appear,
when the great light of the glorious company was gone. He was immersed
in the heavenly disposition, and he fell down to thank and praise the Lord;
and while he was at this heavenly exercise the room enlightened again; the
light of the candle became invisible, and the glorious company sung; but he
was so amazed at what he saw and heard that he could remember only the
following words, ‘Pa hyd? Pa hyd yr erlidiwch?’ (How long? How long,
will ye persecute the godly Christians?)

“After a while, they departed, and the candle light appeared. Any Christian
who enjoyed much of God’s presence will easily believe that D. T. was now
lifted up very high in the spiritual life by this extraordinary visitation from
heaven.”

SPIRITS REMOVING CHURCHES.

There are several legends in West and Mid-Wales, especially in

Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire, in which spirits or some other
mysterious powers, play a prominent part in the removal of Churches from
one site to another.

LLANDDEUSANT (CARMARTHENSHIRE).

I am indebted for the following to the Rev. H. M. Williams, Vicar of

Lledrod:—

There is a tradition in the parish of Llanddeusant, that the parish church was
to have been built at first at Twynllanan, in the centre of the parish; but the
stones that were put up during the day were removed in the night, to the
spot where the church now stands.
LLANBISTER CHURCH (RADNORSHIRE).

The Rev. Professor Tyrrell Green, St. David’s College, Lampeter, writes to
me thus:—

“Jonathan Williams in his History of Radnorshire, p. 194, ed., 1859, says

that near Llanbister Church is a piece of land on which it was originally
intended to have erected the Church, but tradition reports that the
accomplishment of this design was prevented by the intervention of
supernatural agency. “The tradition that a supernatural being carried away
in the night whatever was built of the church during the day, is still kept
alive, because the warden claims an annual rent of 2s. 6d. for the vacant and
unconsecrated site of the originally intended church.” In the same book
mention is made of an old custom prevailing in this parish, viz., the
payment of a certain tax or tribute called “Clwt-y-Gyllell,” or Knife Money,
imposed on a certain corner of a field on some estates, consisting of a
certain number of groats.

PENBRYN CHURCH.

For the following legend, I am indebted to Mr. Prys Williams, Y. Wenallt,

an eminent antiquarian in the southern part of Cardiganshire:—

The intended original site of the Church of Penbryn, according to tradition,

was Penlon Moch, near Sarnau, where now stands St. John’s Mission
Church; but all the materials they brought there, and built in the course of
the day, were removed during the night by invisible hands to where it now
stands. There is a similar tradition concerning Bettws Ifan.
LLANWINIO (CARMARTHENSHIRE).

When the attempt was first made to build this church, everything put up in
the day fell down in the night, till at last the builder threw his hammer into
the air.

The church was then built on the spot where the hammer fell and the work
progressed without further hindrance.

In this story we do not hear of a spirit removing the material, but it is

evident that it was believed that the falling down in the night of what was
put up in the day, was caused by some supernatural agency.

LLANGAN (CARMARTHENSHIRE).

In the middle of the parish there is a field called Park y Fonwent, where,
according to local tradition, the church was to have been originally built,
but the stones brought to the spot during the day, were removed by invisible
hands during the night to the spot where the present church now stands,
accompanied by a voice saying, “Llangan, dyma’r fan,” (Llangan, here is
the spot).—See Arch. Cam., 1872.

MAROS.

Not far from Pendine, Carmarthenshire, is a field called Church Park, a

short distance to the west from the church. In this field it was intended at
first to build the church, but invisible spirits during the night removed both
stones and mortar to the spot where the church now stands. There is also a
tradition that two giants were buried in the field.

LLANGELER CHURCH.

Llangeler parish is in Carmarthenshire, and on the borders of Cardiganshire.

There is a tradition in the district that it was at first intended to build
Llangeler Church on a spot known as “Parc-y-Bwci,” but what had been
built during the day, was transported in the night to the site of the present
church. There is no mention here that the agency was a spirit; but the name
of the spot is very suggestive, for Parc-y-Bwci means the Goblin’s Park.

LLANFIHANGEL GENEU’R GLYN.

The parish church of Llanfihangel Geneu’r Glyn, is situated about five

miles north of Aberystwyth, and it is seen from the train. About a mile from
the church and the village, there is a respectable farm house, named
Glanfread, or Glanfread-fawr which belongs to the Gogerddan Estate. It is
evident that Glanfread was a place of importance once, and long ago gentry
lived there, and it was the birthplace of Edward Llwyd, the author of
Archæoligia Britanica. It is also believed that the house received its name
from St. Fraed, a devout woman who, according to local tradition, came
over from Ireland to build a church on the spot.

There is a legend still extant in the neighbourhood that when the work of
erecting the church on the spot was actually commenced, the portion built
during the day was pulled down during each night. At last a voice from the
spirit world was heard to speak as follows:—
 “Glanfread-fawr sy fod fan hyn,
Llanfihangel yn ngenau’r Glyn.

“Glanfread-fawr is to be herein,
Llanfihangel at Genau’r Glyn.”

What the spirit meant by these words was that the church was to be built at
Genau’r Glyn, and that Glanfread-fawr farm or mansion was to occupy the
spot they were then trying to build the church; and in accordance with the
Spirit’s direction the church was after this built where it now stands instead
of at Glanfread.

The above tradition was related to me by Lady Hills-Johnes, of Dolaucothy,

an intelligent lady who has been a friend to me for nearly twenty years. The
late Bishop Thirwall wanted Lady Hills-Johnes to write a book on the
Legends of Wales.

Llanfihangel, of course, is the Welsh for St. Michael, or rather Michael’s

Church; but as the early Welsh Christians generally dedicated their churches
to Welsh Saints, it seems probable that the ancient name of this church was
Llanfread; and the name of the farm Glanfread, where it was first intended
to build the church seems to suggest this. Perhaps the church was re-
dedicated to St. Michael by the Normans, for we know that William the
Conqueror seized some lands in the neighbourhood, and that particular part
of the parish is known to this day as “Cyfoeth y Brenin,” (the King’s
wealth).

St. Michael was a favourite patron of churches with the Normans, as it was
believed that an apparition of the Archangel had been seen by Aubert,
Bishop of Avranches, directing him to build a church on Mount St. Michael
in Normandy.
LLANWENOG.

From a paper read before the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society, by the

Rev. J. Morris, Vicar of Llanybyther, I find that there is a tradition still
extant that Llanwenog Church was also removed by supernatural agency
from one site to another.

These popular legends are, undoubtedly, very old, and are current not only
in Wales, but in parts of Scotland also as the following from Sir Walter
Scott’s Notes to the Lay of the Last Minstrel prove:

——“When the workmen were engaged in erecting the ancient church of

Old Deer, in Aberdeenshire, upon a small hill called Bissau they were
surprised to find that the work was impeded by supernatural obstacles. At
length the Spirit of the River was heard to say:

“It is not here, it is not here,

That ye shall build the church of Deer;
But on Taptillery,
Where many a corpse shall lie.”

“The site of the edifice was accordingly transferred to Taptillery, an

eminence at some distance from where the building had been commenced.”

As to the origin of these legends or traditions of the mysterious removal of

churches, it is not easy to arrive at a correct explanation. Some writers are
of the opinion that they contain a record, imaginative and exaggerated, of
real incidents connected with the history of the churches to which each of
them belongs, and that they are in most cases reminiscences of an older
church which once actually stood on another site. Others see in these stories
traces of the antagonism, in remote times, between peoples holding
different religious beliefs, and the steps taken by one party to seize and
appropriate the sacred spots of the other.

That some of these tales have had their origin in primitive times, even
anterior to Christianity, is probable.
APPARITIONS OF THE DEVIL.

In many of the Welsh Ghost Stories, the spirit or ghost was supposed to
have been none other than the evil one himself.

The visible appearance of his satanic majesty was quite as common in

Wales as in other countries, though, strange to say, he is often depicted as
an inferior in cunning and intellect to a shrewd old woman, or a bright-
witted Welshman, as the following two curious stories show:—

THE LEGEND OF THE DEVIL’S BRIDGE IN

CARDIGANSHIRE.

The Devil’s Bridge in the northern part of Cardiganshire is so called from

the tradition that it was erected by him upon the condition that the first
thing that passed over it should be his. The story which is well-known is
something as follows:

An old woman called Megan Llandunach had lost her cow, and espied the
animal across the gorge. When bewailing her fate, the Devil appeared and
promised to build her a bridge over the gorge under the condition that the
first living thing which crossed should be surrendered into his hand, “and be
beyond redemption lost.” Megan agreed, the bridge was completed; she
took from her pocket a crust of bread and threw it over the bridge, and her
hungry dog sprang after it. So the Devil was balked in his design after all
his trouble in erecting the bridge.
PENTRE-CWRT FOLK AND THE DEVIL.

Once upon a time the devil was offended with the people of Pentre-Cwrt, in
Carmarthenshire, and decided to drown them. One day in order to do this
mischief the Evil One was seen going along with a big shovelful of mound;
and when he came to the parish of Llandyssul in Cardiganshire, which was
only about two miles from Pentre-Cwrt, he met with a cobbler who carried
a very large bundle of old shoes. After saluting the devil the cobbler asked
him to where did he intend taking the shovelful of mound? “To the mouth
of Alltcafan,” was the reply. “For what purpose?” asked the cobbler again.
“To dam the River Teivy so as to drown the people of Pentre-Cwrt,” said
the devil. Now the cobbler was a very shrewd man, and in order to frustrate
the evil design of the Old Gentleman, he told him that the place where he
intended to dam the river was very far away. “How far is it?” asked the
devil. “I cannot tell you the exact distance,” replied the cobbler, “but in
walking from there I have worn out all these shoes.” “If that is so,” said the
devil, “it is too far, for I am already tired,” and down did he throw the
shovelful of mould, and the shovelful which the devil threw down is to be
seen to this day, and known as Cnwc Coedfoel.—See Hanes Plwyf
Llangeler, gan D. Jones.
 DEVIL’S BRIDGE.

Sometimes the devil manifests himself in a ball of fire, at other times in the
form of a pig, mouse, calf, dog, or headless horse, and even as a gentleman
on horseback, as we have already seen in the Rhosmeherin ghost story.

When I was in North Pembrokeshire a few years ago, I was told by several
old people in the village of Eglwyswrw that the Evil One sometimes was to
be seen at Yet Wen in that neighbourhood; occasionally as a “white lady,”
but more often as a white cat.

The people of the same village informed me that Yet Wen, Pen’rallt, was
also a favourite resort of the devil, and that a woman once in passing the
spot at night, shouted “Come out you d——l,” and the next moment a white
cat appeared.

Nags Head, in the same county was once haunted by the devil, as it seems
from the following story of long ago:—

THE EVIL ONE APPEARING AT NAG’S HEAD IN

THE FORM OF A DOG.

“As Mr. David Walter, of Pembrokeshire, a religious man, and far from fear
and superstition, was travelling by himself through a field called the Cot
Moor, where there are two stones set up called the Devil’s Nags, which are
said to be haunted, he was suddenly seized and thrown over a hedge. He
went there another day, taking with him for protection a strong fighting
mastiff dog. When he had come near the Devil’s Nags there appeared in his
path the apparition of a dog more terrible than any he had ever seen. In vain
he tried to set his mastiff on; the huge beast crouched, frightened by his
master’s feet and refused to attack the spectre. Whereupon his master boldly
stooped to pick up a stone thinking that would frighten the evil dog; but
suddenly a circle of fire surrounded it, which lighting up the gloom, showed
the white snip down to the dog’s nose, and his grinning teeth, and white tail.
He then knew it was one of the infernal dogs of hell.”
“THE OLD GENTLEMAN” APPEARING IN
PEMBROKESHIRE, AS A BLACK CALF.

A black calf was supposed to haunt a stream that flowed across the road that
leads from Narberth in Pembrokeshire to the adjacent village Cold Blow.
People returning late that way were sure to get frightened as they passed
and, as a consequence, they would go a long distance out of their way to
avoid the haunted stream. One night, or rather early morning, two villagers
were going home from a fair caught the terrible calf and took it home,
locking it up safely with some cattle, but it had vanished when morning
came.

A GHOST SEEN IN THE FORM OF A CALF IN

CARDIGANSHIRE.

Rhosygarth, between Llanilar and Lledrod, was a well-known haunted spot

in former times. This demon often appeared on the road to travellers late at
night in the form of a calf, but with a head much like that of a dog. Many
years ago, Mr. Hughes, of Pantyddafad, was going home one night on
horseback; but just as he was passing Rhosygarth, the ghost appeared, and
passed across the road right in front of the horse. My informant, Thomas
Jones, Pontrhydfendigaid, was a servant at Pantyddafad, heard the old
gentleman often speaking about the ghost he had seen at Rhosygarth, and
that Mr. Hughes was great-grand-father to Dr. Hughes, of Cwitycadno,
Llanilar. Mr. Jones also added that he knew a young man who always
laughed when people talked about seeing ghosts; but one night, a man (as
he at first thought), followed him for about a mile, and after coming close to
him, vanished into nothing. The young man nearly fainted, and after this
never doubted the reality of the world of spirits.
A DEMON ASSUMING THE FORM OF A HORSE.

Sir John Williams, Bart, now of Aberystwyth, informed me that when a boy
in the neighbourhood of Gwynfi, Carmarthenshire, he often heard some of
the old people speak of a ghost which haunted the road in that part of the
country in former times. This ghost was known as “Bwci,” and always
assumed the form of a horse. It is an old belief of the Celts that demons
assumed the form of horses, and one of these mythic beings was the Water
Horse, so well-known in North Scotland. It was also known in Wales once.

THE GWYLLGI, OR DOG OF DARKNESS.

The Gwyllgi was a frightful apparition of a mastiff with baleful breath and
blazing red eyes. In former times, an apparition in this shape haunted Pant y
Madog, in the neighbourhood of Laugharne, Carmarthenshire. A woman
named Rebecca Adams, passing this spot late one night, fell down in a
swoon, when she saw the spectral dog coming towards her. When within a
few yards of her it stopped, squatted on its hounchers, “and set up such a
scream, so loud, so horrible, and so strong, that she thought the earth moved
under her.” I was informed at Llangynog five years ago, that Spectral Dogs
still haunt that part of Carmarthenshire; and more than one of my
informants had seen such apparitions themselves.

A spirit in animal form was not always a demon; sometimes the Spirit of a
mortal was doomed to wear this shape for some offence.
It was once believed that the Evil One, either from lust, or from nefarious
designs, assumed the form of a young man or a young woman.

The following two stories, the first from South Pembrokeshire, and the
other from Gower, have reference to this belief.

“A DEMON STEWARD.”

Giraldus Cambrensis in his Itinerary through Wales (Bohn’s edition, page

110) says:—

“In the province of Pembrock (Pembroke), another instance occurred, about

the same time, of a spirit’s appearing in the house of Elidore de Stakepole,
not only sensibly, but visibly, under the form of a red-haired young man,
who called himself Simon. First seizing the keys from the person to whom
they were entrusted, he impudently assumed the steward’s office, which he
managed so prudently and providently, that all things seemed to abound
under his care, and there was no deficiency in the house. Whatever the
master or mistress secretly thought of having for their daily use or
provision, he procured with wonderful agility, and without any previous
directions, saying, “You wished that to be done, and it shall be done for
you.” He was also well acquainted with their treasures and secret hoards,
and sometimes upbraided them on that account; for as often as they seemed
to act sparingly and avariciously, he used to say, “Why are you afraid to
spend that heap of gold or silver, since your lives are of so short duration,
and the money you so cautiously hoard up will never do you any service?”
He gave the choicest meat and drink to the rustics and hired servants,
saying that “Those persons should be abundantly supplied, by whose
labours they were acquired.” Whatever he determined should be done,
whether pleasing or displeasing to his master or mistress (for, as we have
said before, he knew all their secrets), he completed in his usual expeditious
manner, without their consent. He never went to church or uttered one
catholic word. He did not sleep in the house, but was ready at his office in
the morning. He was at length observed by some of the family to hold his
nightly converse near a mill and a pool of water; upon which discovery, he
was summoned the next morning before the master of the house and his
lady, and, receiving his discharge, delivered up the keys, which he had held
for upwards of forty days. Being earnestly interrogated, at his departure
who he was? he answered, “That he was begotten upon the wife of a rustic
in that parish, by a demon, in the shape of her husband, naming the man,
and his father-in-law, then dead, and his mother, still alive; the truth of
which the woman upon examination, openly avowed.”

A DEMON TEMPTING A YOUNG MAIDEN IN

GOWER.

For the following tale I am indebted to Mr. T. C. Evans (Cadrawd) the

eminent antiquarian and folk-lorist of Llangynwyd:

“Once upon a time there lived a fair and gentle maiden in the
neighbourhood of the Demon’s Rock, who often wandered out in the sunset
and balmy summer evenings to meet her lover, and would return with her
countenance radiant with joy, and the bright light of inexpressible rapture
beaming in her love-lighted eye. Evening after evening would she stray out
alone to the trysting place to meet her lover, and seemed as happy as a bird
that warbles its morning song when the early sun gladdens the earth.
However, it chanced that one of her companions followed her one
moonlight night—saw the maiden go to a widespreading oak, and heard the
whispering soft and low. She was surprised that she could not observe
anyone, neither could she hear any reply to the maiden’s sweet and loving
voice. Affrighted, she hastened back and said that a mysterious dread had
crept over her while listening and watching her companion; they kept it
secret, but questioned the maiden on her return. She said that her lover was
a gentleman, and that she had promised to meet him the next evening in the
same spot. The next evening they followed her again and saw her
addressing the empty air—they felt assured now that it must be the Spirit of
Darkness that was tempting the girl. Her companions warned her and told
her how she had been watched, and that they could not see who or whom
she spoke to.

“She became alarmed, but yet could not refrain from meeting her lover, (as
she supposed), once again, as she had made a vow and bound herself by a
solemn promise to meet him in this valley in the dead hour of the night. She
was also bound to go alone. It was a fearful trial. The night came, the moon
hid itself, and dark clouds swept hurriedly across the sky. With blanched
cheeks and trembling steps the maiden approached the appointed place. She
held (firmly grasped) in her hand a Bible, and as the traitor approached, a
straggling gleam of moonshine revealed his form; and oh! horrible to relate,
she saw the cloven hoof! With one long piercing cry for protection from
heaven she fled; at the same instant the valley was filled with wild
unearthly shrieks. The roar of the deafening thunder shook the hills to their
foundations; wild and blinding lightnings, together with yells and howls
from the legions of baffled fiends rushed by on the startled air.

“The bewildered whirlwinds dashed through the woodlands, snapping the

oaks of a century like fragile reeds, or hurling them like feathers down into
the brook—now a boiling torrent that swept all before it. In the morning a
strange scene of devastation presented itself, and the woods seemed
crumbled up; the valley was a chaotic mass of confusion, while in the
centre of the hamlet was this huge stone which they say the vengeful demon
tore from its firm bed on the hillside, and flung at the flying maiden as she
evaded his grasp. It remains in the spot where it was cast, and is known as
the Demon’s Rock.”

There is also a story all over Wales of the Evil One appearing to a young
man as a lovely young lady.
SATAN AND SABBATH BREAKERS; OR THE “OLD
GENTLEMAN” APPEARING IN MANY FORMS TO A
MAN WHO TRAVELLED ON SUNDAY.

The late Rev. Elias Owen, “Welsh Folk-Lore,” page 152, Vicar of
Llanyblodwel, received the following tale from his deceased friend, the
Rev. J. L. Davies, late Rector of Llangynog, who had obtained it from
William Davies, the man who figures in the story:—

“William Davies, Penrhiw, near Aberystwyth, went to England for the

harvest, and after having worked there about three weeks, he returned home
alone, with all possible haste, as he knew that his father-in-law’s fields were
by this time ripe for the sickle. He, however, failed to accomplish the
journey before Sunday; but he determined to travel on Sunday, and thus
reached home on Sunday night to be ready to commence reaping on
Monday morning. His conscience, though, would not allow him to be at
rest, but he endeavoured to silence its twittings by saying to himself that he
had with him no clothes to go to a place of worship. He stealthily, therefore,
walked on, feeling very guilty every step he took, and dreading to meet
anyone going to Chapel or Church. By Sunday evening he had reached the
hill overlooking Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn, where he was known, so he
determined not to enter the village until after the people had gone to their
respective places of worship; he therefore sat down on the hill side and
contemplated the scene below.

“He saw the people leave their houses for the House of God, he heard their
songs of praise, and now he thinks he could venture to descend and pass
through the village unobserved. Luckily, no one saw him going through the
village, and now he has entered a barley field, and although still uneasy in
mind, he feels somewhat reassured, and steps on quickly. He had not
proceeded far in the barley field before he found himself surrounded by a
large number of small pigs. He was not much struck by this, though he
thought it strange that so many pigs should be allowed to wander about on
the Sabbath Day. The pigs, however, came up to him, grunted and
scampered away. Before he had traversed the barley field he saw
approaching him an innumerable number of mice, and these, too,
surrounded him, only, however, to stare at him, and then disappear. By this
Davies began to be frightened, and he was almost sorry that he had broken
the Sabbath Day by travelling with his pack on his back instead of keeping
the day holy. He was not now very far from home, and this thought gave
him courage and on he went. He had not proceeded any great distance from
the spot where the mice had appeared when he saw a large grey-hound
walking before him on the pathway. He anxiously watched the dog, but
suddenly it vanished out of sight.

“By this, the poor man was thoroughly frightened, and many and truly
sincere were his regrets that he had broken the Sabbath; but on he went. He
passed through the village of Llanilar without any further fright. He had
now gone about three miles from Llanfihangel along the road that goes to
Aberystwyth, and he had begun to dispel the fear that had seized him, but to
his horror he saw something approach him that made his hair stand on end.
He could not at first make it out, but he soon clearly saw that it was a horse
that was madly dashing towards him. He had only just time to step on to the
ditch, when, horrible to relate, a headless white horse rushed passed him.

“His limbs shook and the perspiration stood out like beads on bis forehead.
This terrible spectre he saw when close to Tan’rallt, but he dared not turn
into the house, as he was travelling on Sunday, so on he went again, and
heartily did he wish himself at home. In fear and dread he proceeded on his
journey towards Penrhiw. The most direct way from Tan’rallt to Penrhiw
was a pathway through the fields, and Davies took this pathway, and now
he was in sight of his home, and he hastened towards the boundary fence
between Tan’rallt and Penrhiw. He knew that there was a gap in the hedge
that he could get through, and for this gap he aimed; he reached it, but
further progress was impossible, for in the gap was a lady lying at full
length, and immovable, and stopping up the gap entirely. Poor Davies was
now more terrified than ever. He sprang aside, he screamed and then fainted
right away. As soon as he recovered consciousness, he, on his knees, and in
a loud supplicating voice, prayed for pardon. His mother and father-in-law
heard him, and the mother knew the voice and said, “It is my Will! some
mishap has overtaken him.” They went to him and found he was so weak
that he could not move, and they were obliged to carry him home, where he
recounted to them his marvellous experience. The late Rector of Llangynog,
who was intimately acquainted with William Davies, had many
conversations with him about his Sunday journey, and he argued the matter
with him, and tried to persuade him that he had seen nothing, but that it was
his imagination working on a nervous temperament that had created all his
fantasies. He, however, failed to convince him, for Davies affirmed that it
was no hallucination, but that what he had seen that Sunday was a
punishment for his having broken the Fourth Commandment.

“Davies ever afterwards was a strict observer of the Sabbath.”

THE DEVIL AND LLANARTH CHURCH.

A writer in the Arch. Cam., 1850, page 73, says:—

In the Churchyard of Llanarth, near Aberaeron, on the South side of the

Church, there is an inscribed stone (not hitherto published) of the twelfth
century. It bears a cross covering the stone with four circular holes at the
junction of the arms. The inscription is on the lower limb of the cross; but
as it is made of a micaceous sandstone, part has been split off, and the
inscription is much mutilated.... The current tradition of the place
concerning it is, that one stormy night, some centuries ago, there was such a
tremendous shindy going on up in the belfry that the whole village was put
in commotion. It was conjectured that nobody but a certain ancient
personage could be the cause of this, and, therefore, they fetched up his
reverence from the vicarage to go and request the intruder to be off. Up
went the vicar with bell, book and candle, along the narrow winding
staircase, and, sure enough, right up aloft among the bells there was his
majesty in person! No sooner, however, had the worthy priest began the
usual ‘conjurate in nomine, etc.’ than away went the enemy up the
remaining part of the staircase on to the leads of the tower. The Vicar,
nothing daunted, followed, and pressed the intruder so briskly that the latter
had nothing else to do than to leap over the battlements. He came down
plump among the gravestones below; and, falling upon one, made with his
hands and knees the four holes now visible on the stone in question.

Another writer in “Y Brython” for 1859, says, that the Devil’s purpose in
troubling Llanarth Church was to rob it of one of its bells and carry it to
Llanbadarn Fawr Church, near Aberystwyth, twenty miles distant, as the
latter, though once a cathedral, had only two bells, whilst the former, only a
parish church, had four. And an old story still lingers in the neighbourhood
of Llanarth that the Devil whilst thus engaged in carrying the bell, put it
down and rested and re-arranged his heavy load at the very commencement
of his journey, and a particular spot between the church and the river on a
road known as “Rhiw Cyrff,” is pointed out as the place where the D——l
put down the bell. Moreover, it is added that from that day forth, the sound
of Llanarth bells cannot be heard from that spot, though it is only a few
yards from the church tower.

The Llanarth legend is the only story in Wales that I know of in which the
Spirit of darkness carries a church bell, as it was believed in old times that
the Evil One was afraid of bells, and fled away at the sound of them.

There are, however, traditions of churches troubled by the Devil in other

parts of Wales besides Llanarth, and in the old superstitious times the north
door of a church was called “Devil’s Door.”

It was thought that as the priest entered the church through the south door,
the Evil Spirit was obliged to make his exit through the north door.

It might also be added that in former times no one was buried on the north
side of a churchyard, as it was known as the “Domain of Demons.”
HOW TO GET RID OF GHOSTS, SPIRITS, GOBLINS,
AND DEVILS, ETC.

In some parts, especially on the borders of Cardiganshire and

Carmarthenshire, it is believed that any one carrying a knife in his hands,
will never see or be troubled by a spirit, even when passing a haunted spot
in the depth of night.

When staying for a short time in the parish of Llandyssul about five years
ago, I was told that there lived a few years ago a certain man in the village
of Pontshan in that parish, who, when coming home late one night, saw a
ghost on the roadside whilst passing a well-known haunted spot in the
neighbourhood. The man took out his knife from his pocket, and the ghost
vanished. After this, whenever he passed a haunted place the man held a
knife in his hand, and never saw a ghost again. In South Pembrokeshire, a
V-shaped twig of the mountain ash was considered a protective against
spirits.

It was also believed once in all parts of Wales that to wear body-linen inside
out, and to nail a horseshoe against the door kept away both evil spirits and
witches. Even in the present day people all over the world think that there is
some “good luck” in finding a horseshoe, and to a young girl it means a
new lover.

When a spirit troubled a house in Wales, it was sometimes customary to call

together the most godly persons in the parish to hold a prayer-meeting; at
other times a conjurer, or a priest was sent for, for it was formerly thought
that a clergyman had the power to “lay” or exorcise spirits. There were
particular forms of exorcising. When the Devil was in the belfry of Llanarth
Church, Cardiganshire, the Vicar went to drive away the Evil One, with
“Bell, Book, and Candle.”

Until the time of Henry VIII., it seems that it was customary to curse
mortals, as well as to exorcise fiends “with bell, book and candle”; for in an
old book called “Dugdale’s Baronage,” published in 1675, it is said that in
the 37th. year of Henry III., “a Curse was denounced in Westminster Hall
against the violation of Magna Charta, with bell, book and candle.”

And in Fox’s account of the ceremony of excommunication, we are told that

three candles were carried before the clergy, and that as each candle was
extinguished prayer was made that the souls of malefactors and schismatics
might be “given over utterly to the power of the fiend as this candle is now
quenched and put out.”

YSPRYD PENPOMPREN PLAS OR A SPIRIT “LAID”

IN A BOTTLE.

Penpompren Plas is a small mansion near Talybont in North Cardiganshire.

The late Mr. John Jones, Bristol House, informed me that there was a spirit
there once troubling the family, and the servants, and especially the head
servant who had no peace as the ghost followed the poor man everywhere
whenever he went out at night, and often threw water into his face. At last
the servant went to a wise man or a conjurer. The Conjurer came with him
to Penpompren Plas to “lay” the Spirit, and transformed it into an insect, in
a bottle, which was securely corked. Then the bottle was thrown under the
river bridge close by.

There are many such stories in different parts of the country; and it is said
that under the Monument Arch of Old Haverfordwest Bridge in
Pembrokeshire, a spirit has been laid for a thousand years, and that at the
expiration of that time it will again be free to roam the earth to trouble
people.

About 60 years ago, a spirit which appeared in all forms, pig, mouse, hare,
etc., at Alltisaf, Llanfynydd, in Carmarthenshire, was “laid” by the
celebrated wizard, Harries, of Cwrtycadno. I was told of this by two old
men in the village of Llanfynydd about five years ago.
THE “LAYING” OF THE HAVOD UCHTRYD GOBLIN.

Havod Uchtryd is a large mansion a few miles from Devil’s Bridge, in

Cardiganshire, and there is a tradition in the neighbourhood that in the time
of the celebrated Colonel Johnes about the beginning of the last century the
place was haunted by a mischievous goblin. Fortunately, however, there
happened to be a wizard nor far off, and the squire, so it is said, sent for him
to Havod to lay the ghost. The conjurer came and when he arrived at the
spot where the haunting usually took place he surrounded himself with an
enchanted circle which the spirit could not break through. Then he opened a
book and went through various incantations to invoke the spirit, which
presented himself in various forms; first it appeared as a bull, secondly as a
bulldog; and at last as a fly which rested on the wizard’s open book. In an
instant the enchanter closed the book, and thus caught the evil one in a trap,
and was only allowed to go out under the conditions that he should betake
himself to the Devil’s Bridge, and there with an ounce hammer and tintack
cut off a fathom of the rock. But notwithstanding this “laying” of the spirit
one hundred years ago, there is a rumour still throughout the whole North
of Cardiganshire, that Hafod is still haunted.

THE MONACHDY GHOST DOOMED TO CUT THE

ROCK NEAR LLANRHYSTYD.

About 70 or 80 years ago, Monachty, a fine mansion in the neighbourhood

of Aberaeron, was rumoured to be haunted. My informant is an old man
named James Jones, Golden Lion, Llanarth. Jones said that when he was a
boy at Pantycefn, he often felt almost too terrified to go to bed, as it was
reported that the Monachty ghost was so small that it could go through even
the eye of a needle; and his father’s humble cottage was not without holes
especially the window of his bedroom.

At last, however, Students from Ystrad Meurig College were sent for to
Monachdy to lay the ghost, which they did, so Jones said, and they doomed
the unearthly being to cut a rock near Llanrhystyd, which proves that
students, as well as Clergymen and ministers, had the reputation of being
able to lay spirits.

THE “LAYING” OF THE STACKPOLE GHOST.

Stackpole Court, the beautiful residence of the distinguished Earl of

Cawdor, is famous for its legendary lore. “Seven hundred years ago,
Giraldus Cambrensis tells the story of Sir Elidur de Stackpole’s demon
steward, whose name was Simon; and in the more modern times the
neighbourhood was haunted by the spirit of an old lady. This ghost
appeared in the form of a party consisting of two headless horses, a
headless coachman and a headless lady in her carriage.

At last the ghost was “laid” by the Parson of St. Patrox, who doomed it to
empty a pond with a cockle shell for a ladle, so that the phantom is not seen
now.

There are several versions of this ghost story, and Col. Lambton, of
Brownslade, who is much interested in Folk-Lore and Antiquities, informed
me that the headless lady was known as “Lady Mathias.”

The idea of giving employment to a spirit is most ancient, and in Grecian

and Roman Mythology we find that the Danaides, or the fifty daughters of
Danaus, who all, except one, slew their husbands on their wedding night,
were doomed in Tartarus to draw water in sieves from a well until they had
filled a vessel full of holes.

It seems from the following story, which I obtained from the Rev. J. Jones,
Brynmeherin, near Ystrad Meurig, that a ghost will not follow one through
water:—

SHAN AND THE GHOST.

About 35 years ago, there lived at Ynysfach, near Ystrad Meurig, an old
man and an old woman known as “Shon and Shan.”

Shon was working in North Wales, for he was a quarryman at the time, but
he came home occasionally to spend his holidays with his wife, especially
about Christmas time.

On one occasion, however, when Shan expected her husband home the day
before Christmas as usual, Shon came not. Nine o’clock in the evening she
went out to meet him or to search for him and to prevent him spending his
money on beer at a public house which his friend, a saddler kept at
Tyngraig. But her husband was not at the public house, nor was he seen
anywhere, so the old woman had to return home in disappointment. It was a
cloudless moonlight night, almost as light as day, but the road was lonely
and the hour late, and when she had walked some distance, to her great
terror, she noticed a ghost in the field making his way nearer and nearer to
her till at last the strange object came to the hedge on the roadside quite
close to her. Frightened as she was, she struck the ghost with the strong
walking-stick which she held in her hand, saying “D——l! thou shalt
follow me no longer.”

When Shan struck the ghost her walking-stick went right through the head
of the strange object, but she did not “feel” that it touched anything—It was
like striking a fog; but the spirit vanished into nothing, and Shan walked on.
The ghost was now invisible, but the old woman “felt” that it still followed
her, though she could not see it; but when she was crossing a brook she
became aware that her pursuer left her.

TWO YOUNG WOMEN AND THE GOBLIN.

Two young women, daughters of a farmer in the parish of Llandyssul, were

walking home one night from Lampeter Fair. After reaching the very field
in one corner of which the house in which they lived stood, they wandered
about this field for hours before they could find the building, though it was
a fine moonlight night.

It seemed as if the farm house had vanished; and they informed me that
they were convinced that this was the doings of the Goblin, who played
them a trick.

The Welsh word for Goblin is Ellyll.

CHAPTER VII.
 DEATH PORTENTS.
A
mong the most important of the superstitions of Wales
are the death portents and omens; and this is perhaps
more or less true of every country. About a generation
or two ago, there were to be found almost in every
parish some old people who could tell before hand
when a death was going to lake place; and even in the
present day we hear of an old man or an old woman,
here and there, possessing, or supposed to possess, an insight of this kind
into the future.

Mrs. Lloyd, Ffynnonddagrau, Llangynog, Carmarthenshire, told me five

years ago that there lived at Ffynnonddagrau, an old man named Thomas
Harries, who always foretold every death in the parish as he possessed
second sight. John Thomas, Pentre, who worked about the farms, called
with my informant one day on his way home; he was in good health then,
but on the very next day he was very ill and soon died. Harries had foretold
the death of the poor man some days before he was taken ill. He had also
foretold the death of one Howells, who was buried at Ebenezer Chapel, and
of an old woman known as Rassie of Moelfre Fach, as well as the death of
one Thomas Thomas about 35 years ago. People were almost frightened to
see Harries as he so often foretold the death of someone or other, and his
predictions were always correct. My informant also added that Harries only
died about 20 years ago.

THE “TOILI” OR PHANTOM FUNERAL.

With the exception of Corpse Candle, the most prominent death portent in
West and Mid-Wales is the “Toili” or spirit funeral; a kind of shadowy
funeral which foretold the real one. In the very north of Cardiganshire, such
apparition is known as “teulu” (family); but throughout all other parts of the
county it is called “toili.” Toili, or Toeli is also rather general in
Carmarthenshire; in North Pembrokeshire, however, it is called
“Crefishgyn.”

There are tales of phantom funerals all over the Diocese of St. David’s, and
the following account of a Twentieth Century Phantom Funeral in
Pembrokeshire is interesting, as my informant himself was the man who
witnessed the strange apparition, or a foreshadowing of a funeral which
actually took place soon afterwards.

A PRESENT DAY PHANTOM FUNERAL.

A young man who lives in the Gwaun Valley, between Pontfaen and
Fishguard informed me in the beginning of November, 1905, that he had
just seen a phantom or a spirit funeral only a few weeks previously.

A friend of his, a young porter at a Railway Station in the neighbourhood of

Cardiff, had come home ill to his native place in Pembrokeshire, and his
friend, my informant, one night sat up by his bedside all night. About three
o’clock in the morning the patient was so seriously ill that my informant in
alarm hurried to call the father of the poor sufferer to come to see him, as
the old man lived in a small cottage close by. As soon as he went out
through the door into the open air, to his great astonishment he found
himself in a large crowd of people, and there was a coffin resting on some
chairs, ready to be placed on the bier; and the whole scene, as it were,
presented a funeral procession, ready to convey the dead to the grave. When
the young man attempted to proceed on his way, the procession also
proceeded, or moved on in the same direction, so that he found himself still
in the crowd. After going on in this manner for about a hundred yards, he
managed to draw one side from the crowd and soon reached the house of
his sick friend’s father, and nearly fainted. Three days after this vision the
seer’s friend died; and on the day of the funeral the young man noticed that
the crowd stood in front of the house and the coffin resting on chairs exactly
as he had seen in the apparition. I may add that my informant who had seen
the phantom funeral was so terrified even at the time when I saw him, that
he was too much afraid to go out at night. It so happened that I was staying
in that part of Pembrokeshire at the time, so I went to see the man myself,
and a clergyman accompanied me.

AN APPARITION!

I obtained the following account of a phantom funeral from the Rev. John
Phillips, Vicar of Llancynfelyn, North Cardiganshire. The scene of the story
was Cilcwm, Carmarthenshire:—

A PHANTOM FUNERAL.
Though more than thirty years have run their course since the incident
which is to be described here occurred, still the impression which it left on
the writer’s mind was so vivid and lasting that he finds not the slightest
difficulty in recalling its minutest details at the present moment. Some
experiences are so impressive that time itself seems powerless to efface
them from the memory, and of such the following appears to be an instance:
—

It happened in the early Spring, just when the days were perceptibly
lengthening, and a balmy feeling was creeping into the air, and a glad sense
of hope was throbbing throughout the whole of nature. A boy of ten, or may
be a couple of years younger, tired out after a hard day of play and pleasure,
sat resting on a log near a lonely house, in a sparsely populated district. As
he sat, he gazed down a long stretch of white and dusty road leading away
past the house. As a rule, few and far between would be the travellers who
used that unfrequented road. The sole exception would be on a Sunday,
when perhaps a dozen or more of the neighbours might be seen wending
their way, to or from the nearest place of worship. Intense, therefore, was
the boy’s surprise, when on this week-day, his eyes discerned a goodly
company turning the corner in the distance, and proceeding in an orderly
procession along the stretch of straight road which his vantage ground
commanded. He watched it keenly, and wondered greatly. Never had he
before seen such a crowd on that particular road. As the people drew nearer
and nearer, something of solemnity in their orderly and silent manner struck
on the watcher’s imagination, but no sense of anything akin to the
supernatural obsessed his mind for a second, still he failed not to mark, that
for so large an assemblage, it was remarkably noiseless. Twenty yards,
more or less, from where the youthful watcher sat, a footpath leading over a
piece of wet and barren land joined the road. This path, which could be
traversed only in dry weather, terminated half a mile away, at the door of a
solitary cottage inhabited by a farm hand named Williams, who dwelt there
with his wife and several young children. When the crowd arrived at the
spot where the path ran on to the road, there seemed to be a momentary
hesitation, and then the procession left the road and took to the footpath.
The watcher strained every nerve, in an effort to recognise some one or
other in the crowd, but though there was something strangely familiar about
it all, there was also something so dim and shadowy, as to preclude the
possibility of knowing anyone with certainty; but as the tail end of the
procession curved round to gain the path, something he did observe, which
caused a thrill, for the last four men carried high on their shoulders a bier,—
but it was an empty bier. Soon as the multitude was out of sight, the boy
rushed to the house, and related his curious experience. No thought of
anything weird and uncanny had so far crossed his mind, and his one desire
at the time was to gain some information as to where the people were bound
for. Neither could he just then understand the manifest consternation, and
the hushed awe, which fell upon his hearers as he unfolded his tale.
Amongst these there happened to be a visitor, an old dame of a class well
known in many parts of rural Wales in those days. It was her habit to stroll
from farm to farm along the country side, regaling the housewives with the
latest gossip. In return she would be sure of a meal, and also something to
carry home in her wallet. Naturally, such a character would be shrewd and
keen, knowing well not only what tales would suit her company, but also
the truth, or otherwise, of any tales which she herself might be a listener to.
In addition, the old dame in question was generally supposed to be immune
from all fear, and cared not how far from home she might be when the
shades of night overtook her. On the present occasion, although a few
minutes before, she had been on the point of starting, and was indeed only
waiting to be handed her usual dole of charity, no sooner had she heard the
lad’s strange tale, than she flatly declared that no power on earth could
move her to travel an inch further that evening, and so at the expense of
much inconvenience to the household a bed had to be prepared for her.
However, she started early on the following morning, and long before noon,
owing mainly to her assiduous diligence, the news had travelled far and
near, that a phantom funeral had been seen on the previous evening. Her
tale made a deep impression throughout the country-side. Those prone to
superstition,—and it must be confessed, they were many,—lent a ready ear.
A few,—and these prided themselves on their commonsense,—doubted.
The latter class were not slow to point out, what they considered to be, a
fatal flaw in the evidence. The supposed funeral was travelling in a
direction, which led away from the churchyard. Had it been going down the
road instead of up, they argued, that there might be something in it. Then
again, it took the footpath, and it was pointed out, not only that funerals
kept to the high roads, but that this particular path, could not by any stretch
of imagination be said to lead to any burial ground. This seemed a
reasonable view to take, and as one day succeeded another, without
anything unusual happening, the excitement cooled down. However, within
a few weeks Williams, who lived in the cottage across the marsh was taken
ill. At first, it was thought that he had contracted a chill, and it was hoped
that he would soon be well again. The nearest medical man lived six miles
away, and that caused further delay. On the fifth day the doctor came, but he
came to find that it was too late for his skill to be of any avail. A glance at
the patient had satisfied him that it was a case of double pneumonia, and
that the end was rapidly approaching. A few hours later and Williams had
drawn his last breath. Three days more and the funeral took place. As is the
custom in country places, the neighbours from far and near attended, and on
their way a group of men called at the burial place for the bier. This group
was joined by others so that long before the house of mourning was reached
the procession was a large one. It travelled up the long stretch of road where
the lad had watched that mysterious crowd, in the twilight six weeks before.
The same lad watched again, and when the procession reached the point,
where the footpath branched away across the fields, the man who acted as
leader stopped, and raised his hand, while the procession hesitated for a
moment, then looking at his watch, the leader spoke in low clear tones,
“men,” said he, “it is already getting late if we go round by the road, it will
get very late; we will take the path.” He led the way and as his followers
swept round the curve, the lad saw that the last four men carried on their
shoulders an empty bier. It was being taken to fetch the body.

THE NEUADDLWYD “TOILI.”

John Jones, Coed-y-Brenin, near Neuaddlwyd, was going home one

evening from Derwen-gam; and as he walked along he found himself
suddenly in a phantom funeral, and was so pressed by the crowd of spirits
that he nearly fainted. At last he managed to escape by turning into a field.