Ghost ships, smugglers and monsters of the sea

Tales of Wihtlore: Folklore and Stories from a sacred isle

This month I talk about Ghost shops, smuggler and monsters of the seas.

We cover the following:

If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.
Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark –Brandy for the Parson,
'Baccy for the Clerk.
Laces for a lady;
letters for a spy,
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by! - A Smuggler’s Song, Rudyard Kipling

The Crows Curse: The old fishermen, sailors and smugglers of the Isle of Wight would never set sail if a crow had rested upon the bow of their boat. An ill wind is said to blow and those that venture forth ever return alive. Some say that when their bodies are recovered, their eyes are gone and their bodies are abound by scratches.

The Mermaid's Lament Tails of Mermaids have been around for centuries, sometimes seen as sirens and the harbingers of death to those that sail the seas. The cunning fold and storytellers of the Island talk of a group that once lived by the needles. Cold of skin, blood of ice and a heart that was just as frozen. This tale reminds us that just because your heart is cold, doesn’t mean it will always be that way.

Smuggler’s Betrayal They say there is honour amongst thieves, but that isn’t always the case. Just up from Freshwater Bay there is a place called Afton – spring-head of the Western Yarr. It is a strange place, close to holiday makers but far enough to hide ghosts of not only those who were betrayed but those who did the betraying.

The Saint Marie On the 20th April, 1313, the Saint Marie of Bayonne was wrecked off the cost of Chale. Lord Walter de Godeton sent his men down to collect all the goods and bring them back to his stores. He was later found guilt of plundering the wine (as it had not made it’s way onto the shore and past the tide line when taken). But this tale is not about the lord, but the story of the phantoms that the wreck left behind.

HMS Eurydice 24th March, 1878 the HMS Eurydice, a 26 gun, 921 ton frigate was on it’s way back to Portsmouth when it hit extreme weather as it passed Ventnor. The ship sank, claiming over 300 lives, with only 4 making it ashore to tell the story. That is not the end of the story…

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