such a creature inside the trap of a jam jar. Woman by a stream, from The London Illustrated News, 1875 But in the local village lore, although no water babies were ever caught, there is talk of something sinister inhabiting the water - a story that tells how, on still dark nights, the cries of a wailing child can be heard. The origin of the 'haunting' is said to stem back to the time when a village rector lived in the house with only his daughter for company. The local gossips would have it that the girl appeared to be with child, with all manner of aspersions cast as to who the father might happen to be. However, no child was ever seen and the scandalmongers tongues were stilled - until the night when a poacher was walking along the banks of the stream, when he heard the cries of a mewling babe and, on further investigation, was shocked to discover a tiny corpse. In the tradition of these things, it is still said to this very day that if you walk past the stream at night you might also hear the cries of the child who was either born or concealed in the water; abandoned there and left to drown. And now, in Elijah's Mermaid , the VV has made her own allusion to this tragic story and, hopefully, to have laid the ghost of whatever it is that cries at night. Friday, 28 September 2012 Hampton Court is