The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-05-19

Vaettylis. On this point Mr.. Brand
has rightly remarked that the naturalists
Of the dark ages "owed many obliga-
tions to our fairies, for, whatever they
found wonderful and could not account
for, they easily got rid of by charging
to their account. Thus they called
those which have since been supposed
to have been the heads of arrows o.
spears, before the use of iron was
known, Elfshots.
A Danish tradition afIirms that Jack
o. LANTERNS are the spirits of unrighteous
men, who by false glimmer seek TO
mislead the wayfarer and to decoy him
into bogs and moors. The best safe
guard against them, when they appear,
is to turn ones cap inside out. One
should never point at them, as they will
come IL pointed at. 1t is also said that,
il any one calls them, they will come
and light the person who called. A
popular belief in Sweden says that
+" Observation-Disclosures" was formerly
q mover of landmarks, and for his un-
just acts is doomed to wander backward
and forward with light in his hand,
as If he were in search of something.
Thus he who in his lifetime has been
guilty of such a crime is believed to
have no peace or rest in his grave after
death, but to rise every midnight, and.
with lantern in his hand, to proceed
to the spot where in days gone by the
landmark had stood which he had
removed. On reaching
the place, however, he is seized, says
Mr.. Thorpe, with the same desire which
instigated him in his lifetime when he
went forth to remove his neighbours
and he says as he goes. in q
harsh, hoarse voice: 1T is right! it is
right! it is rightr' But. on his return
ing, qualms of conscience and anguish
seize him, and he then exclaims: 1t
is wrong! it is wrong! it is wrongr'
There is also q Danish tradition which
informs us that near Skovby, on the
Isle of Falster, there are many Jack-o'-
Lanterns. They are believed to be the
souls of fland-measurers, who, having in
their lifetime perpetrated injustice in
their measurements, are doomed to run
up Skovby bakke at midnight, which
they measure with red-hot irons, OK
claiming, "Here is the clear and right
boundary! from here to there" By
another curious notion the Will'o-the-
Wisps are represented to be the souls of
uubaptized children. On one occasion,
n Dutch parson. happening to 60 home
to his village late one evening, fell in
with no less than three of these fiery
phenomena. Remembering them to be
the souls of unbaptized children, he
solemnly stretched out his hand and
pronounced the words of baptism over
them. Much, however, to his consterna-
ton and surprise, in the twinkling of
an eye n thousand or more OF these ap-
parations suddenly made their appear
ance mo doubt earnestly wanting to be
baptized. The good man, runs the
story, was so terribly frightened, that,
forgetting all his kind Intentions, he
took to his heels and ran home as fast
as his legs could take him. In Lusatia,
where the same superstition prevails,
these fires are supposed to be quite
harmless, and the souls of the un-
baptized children to be relieved from
their destined wanderings so soon as
any pious hand throws handful of
consecrated ground after them. A
Brittany piece of folklore is that the
Porte-brandon appears in the form
Of child bearing n torch, which he
turns around like q burning wheel-oo-
casionally setting fire to the villages
which from some inexplicable cause
are suddenly wrapped in flames. Ac-
cording to Netherlandish tradition, be-
cause the souls of these wretched
children can not enter heaven, they,
under the form of ''Jack-o Lanterns" !"
takc their abode In the forests, and in
dark and desert places, where they
mourn over their bitter lot Whenever
they are fortunate enough to see any one,
they run up and hasten before him, in
a. el&<<~~ -. -aNa
that they may get baptized. Should
no one take compassion on them, it is
said that they must forever remain
without the gates of Paradise.
Among other legends connected with
this subject, we may mention one cur
rent on the Continent, thus recorded
high Rhon, near Bischofsheim, there
are two morasses-known as the red
and black morass-where two villages
are reported to have stood which sunk
into the earth on account of the disso-
two morasses there appear Mt night
partitions Of light. They float and fiat.
but arc now less frequently seen than
Ah tlC oidOu n SOoo many NCah
ago, two or three of these fiery maidens
came occasionally to the village OF
Wustersachsen and mingled with the
dancers at wakes. They sang with in.
expressible sweetness; but they never
remained beyond midnight. When
their allowed time had elapsed there
they followed. Then they went to the
mountain singing, and soon vanish ed
out of the sight Of the people who fol.
lowed, watching them with curiosity.
Such are some of the principal
legends and superstitions that have
been connected with this strange
phenomenon, the majority of which,
while investing it with a supernatural
origin, regard it as an object of terror;
and. on this account, in our own and
other countries, the peasantry still look
upon it as thing to be avoided. Itwas
formerly thought to have something
ominous in its nature, and TO presage
death and other misfortune. Thus, in
Buckinghamshire, species of this
phenomenon locally known Us 1.-THE
wat" was said to haunt prisons.
Oftentimes before the arrival of the
judges at the assizes it has, we are told,
been known to make its appearance
like a little flame, being considered
fatal to every prisoner to whom it be-
came visible. Tho same dread is at.
tached to itin Sussex, and Mrs. Latham,
IN her "West Sussex Superstitions,"
tells us that in a village where she once
resided the direction of its rapid, undu'
lating movement was always carefully
observed. from an anxiety to ascertain
where it would disappear, as it was be-
lieved to be
Z" The hateful messenger of heavy things,
OF death and dolor telling"
to the inhabitants of the house nearest
that spot. Considerable alarm was on
one occasion created by pale light be-
ing observed to move over the bed of q
sick person. and. after Pickering foi
some time in different parts OF the
room. to vanish through the window
II hannanoA hn~oror kot ho vst tav.x