The Book of the Preacher of Ely

Summary

During the late Middle Ages, ghost stories were often recorded in manuals containing material that could be adapted for use by itinerant preachers. This story comes from a fifteenth-century manuscript which is likely to have been the commonplace book of a preacher who had connections with Ely and its cathedral, but whose travels took him much further afield (the inclusion of material relating to Lancashire may well have been a means of adding convincing local colour during a preaching journey to the north of England). Some of the details of the story – the journey by night along a lonely road, the looming shadow of a spirit suffering the tortures of Purgatory, the readiness of the living to finance the redemption of the dead – resemble those Yorkshire tales about the restless dead recorded by the Monk of Byland (see Part Three), but in its simple and touching conclusion this account falls firmly into the Miracula tradition of medieval ghost stories.

The Hair that Turned to Gold

From Master Richard de Puttes comes a story dealing with the celebration of the Mass, in the year of the Lord 1373. A man from Haydock in the county of Lancashire kept a mistress with whom he had two sons; when she died, he married another woman. One day he went to a nearby black-smith's forge, which specialised in the preparation and sharpening of ploughshares, in order to obtain a coulter. The blacksmith lived at the estate of Hulme, two miles from Haydock.

As he came back that night, the man had just reached the cross beside the road which is called Newton Cross when he was subject to the most terrifying experience. In his fear, he gazed around in the darkness and saw what seemed to be a dark shadow. He begged it not to hurt him, and asked who it was. From within the shadow came a voice: ‘Have no fear. I am the woman who was once your lover and I have been allowed to approach you and ask for help.’ When the man asked how things were with her, she replied: ‘Not well. But you can help me if you are willing.’