The Spectre Hound.
Until the latter half of the nineteenth century there might have been
numbered among the curious old buildings for which the township of
Godley has long been famed, a low, old-world farmstead of the style
that is now fast fading away. It was a small, picturesque building,
and stood upon a portion of Godley Green, surrounded by a prettily
laid-out cottage garden. Its occupants combined farming with other
pursuits, and in one part of the building handloom weaving was carried
on to a comparatively late period. The farm was pulled down, as
already indicated, in the latter half of the nineteenth century; and a
handsome modern residence has been erected near the site on which it
stood.
There is a curious legend told about this old building. It is said to
have been haunted; and the ghost, in the form of a spectre hound, is
still supposed to roam at nights over the fields which were formerly
attached to the farm. The legend runs that some persons were done to
death in some mysterious fashion in the building; and that ever since,
an evil spirit, in the shape of a great yellow hound, has haunted the
neighbourhood. Old people who can remember the farm, state that in it
there was a certain flag on the stone floor, which bore the stains of
blood; and that no amount of swilling and scrubbing could ever remove
the stains. What became of the stone when the house was pulled down is
not known.
Many persons--residents in Godley, and others who have had occasion to
be in the neighbourhood said to be haunted--have seen the spectre
hound, careering over the fields and through the lanes during the
night-time. The occupants of the adjoining farms have been awakened
from their sleep in the dead of the night by the noises made by the
cattle in the fields; and on looking from their windows have seen the
terrified animals dashing wildly across the fields, chased by the
horrible form of the great ghost-hound, which with hanging tongue,
protruding eyes, and deep sepulchral baying, drove them round and
round.
Children, returning along the country lanes from school on winter
evenings, have seen the hound dash past, and have reached home
well-nigh frightened out of their wits. Young lovers, walking arm in
arm along the quiet lanes, seeking some secluded spot wherein to dream
of love and happiness, have been put to flight by the spectre; and the
more timid maids from the farms have been afraid to venture out after
dark.
The wife of one of the farmers, when returning home one night, after
delivering the milk in the neighbouring towns, was driving slowly
along the lane past the site of the demolished farmstead, when the
horse suddenly stood still, and began to tremble violently. At that
instant the form of the giant hound, yellow in colour, with horrible
staring eyes, sprang from the field, leaped over the fence into the
lane, and with great strides like the galloping of a horse raced down
the lane in the direction of a well which is sunk close to another
farm. Full of fear the good woman reached home, and told her father
what she had seen. The old man, merely shook his head, and said
quietly:
"The yellow hound. So you have seen the yellow hound?"
"What is it--what does it mean?" asked the daughter.
"Some day I will tell you," said he. "But not now. If you have seen it
once, be sure you will see it again."
Some time afterwards the old man himself came quietly home, and told
his daughter that he, too, had just seen the hound.
"It was sitting by the edge of the old well," said he, "looking into
the water. Its eyes were staring wildly, and foam dropped from its
lips."
"What is it--what does it mean?" again asked the daughter.
But the old man only shook his head, and answered:
"Who can tell?"
Again the woman saw the hound in the fields of their own farm, and
sometimes it appeared without head. A great hound it was, life-like
enough at first appearance, but clearly a spectre, terrible to see.
Another lady saw the hound when she was a child, and several times
during her life it has appeared before her. This is her narrative:
"The first time I saw it was in the lanes, when I was walking with a
relation, older than myself. I was a child at the time, and although
startled was not too frightened to think of trying to scare it away.
As it kept pace with us, I looked out for some stones to fling at it;
but my relative caught hold of me and said: 'Don't; you mustn't throw
at it, or it will attack us, and tear us to bits. It is the
ghost-hound.' Since then I have seen it several times. It is not a
pleasant thing to meet, and I have no wish to see it again."
Yet a third lady saw the ghost-hound between the years 1890 and 1900.
"I was staying at ---- Farm," said she; "and I went down to the well
to get some water. It was a winter night, and on a pool near the well
was a strong sheet of ice. While the buckets were filling I went
towards the ice, thinking to enjoy a slide. But when I reached the
pool, there stood the hound. It was about the size of a lion, its skin
much the same as a lion's in colour, and it had eyes as large as
saucers. At first I thought it must have been a lion that had escaped
from Belle Vue, or from some menagerie; and as it came towards me I
backed away. I was too terrified to turn and run, but kept my face to
it, as I retreated. When I neared the house it disappeared. I shall
never forget the sight as long as I live. It was a dreadful thing to
see."
A tradesman of Hyde--a fishmonger, who made a weekly journey round
Broadbottom, and came homewards across Godley Green--once saw the
spectre, and his story is equally sensational.
"It was as big as a cow," said he, "its skin a light tan colour. I was
walking down the lane with my basket on my shoulder, when suddenly I
saw the thing beside me. It kept pace with me as I walked; if I stood
still, it stopped, and if I ran, it ran also. I could not overtake it.
I was not more than a yard from the hedge, and the ghost was between
me and the hedge. I struck at it, but hit nothing; for my hand went
clean through it as through air, and my knuckles were scratched by the
hedge. My blood ran cold, and I was terribly frightened. Then it ran
in front of me, and then came back, and passed me again; it did not
turn round to do this, but, strange to say, its head was in front when
it returned. As soon as it had passed, I took to my heels as fast as I
could run, and it was a long time before I ventured down the lane
again at night. When next I met the farmer whose lands were haunted by
it, and whom I had formerly served with fish, he asked me where I had
been lately; and I then told him I had seen the ghost. He replied that
he and his family had seen it often; and that I must not be afraid."
"Never mind about that," I said. "You'll have to do without fish at
night, unless you like to fetch it."
"It was the most hideous thing I ever saw. Its feet went pit-a-pat,
pit-a-pat, with a horrible clanking noise like chains. I wouldn't meet
it again for twenty pounds. I never want to see it again if I live to
be a hundred."
And so on, the different mortals who have seen this terrible spectre
of the yellow hound relate their grim experiences.
The legend is that the ghost-hound must haunt the lanes and fields
about the site of the old farmstead, until the crime for which it is
accursed has been atoned for, when its midnight wanderings will cease,
and the troubled spirit will find rest.