Carnforth, Lancashire 1851

“the supposed sheep aroused itself and as if with indignity at the insult, swelled out as the man affairs, into the size of a house, and then giving him a look of ineffable contempt flew away in a flame of fire.” Lancaster Gazette (25 January, 1851)

Boggarts are pretty commonplace particularly in Lancastrian folklore, used to describe any solitary supernatural being. A fun piece of local dialect also sees the word ‘Feorin’ used to describe these, translating to ‘frightening things’… It makes sense that one of these boggarty nightmares would appear in the form of a sheep.

This tale was written in the Lancaster Gazette way back in 1851, you can find the original article here, but I will modern-ify it in hopefully a more palatable and entertaining way…

Sitting between Bolton-le-Sands and Carnforth is a house, infamous for being haunted. So much so, that this house’s nickname was the ‘Boggart House’. I can imagine they don’t host an awful lot of dinner parties there. The house itself is quite beautiful, but unfortunately for it’s reputation, it was common knowledge that some ‘deed of darkness’ took place in its walls. Some even say that a murder took place here, and the vengeful spirit of the victim can still be seen in the ‘pale glimpses of the moon, making night hideous.’

Those who pass the house on their journey between Bolton-le-Sands and Carnforth have reported feeling a chill spread down their spine at the creaks and rustles of the area, forcing them to have to pluck enough courage up to pass by the house. Travellers have claimed to see various different ghostly beings around the Boggart House, including a headless soldier, a gigantic sheep, or a monster goose. Gasp! These spirits are always up to something mischievous, floating through panes of glass, speaking of other worlds, typical ghost activities.

“However, last week the ‘dobby’ again made its appearance much to the terror of an inoffensive carter, who was proceeding on this way to Kendal market…”

The pedlar was carting a bunch of wheat for Kendal market, when he found himself approaching the Boggart House just after the witching hour… His horse suddenly halted in it’s tracks, shivering with fear. Curious as to what could have spooked his horse so, he dismounted to find a large sheep laying on the road. He grabbed his whip, intending to shock the sheep into moving off his path.

He struck the sheep, probably to see if it was even alive to begin with, and boy was the sheep NOT happy with that. How dare this man come and disturb his laying-on-the-road time?! The sheep roused, insulted by the man’s actions, and began to grow. Larger than any sheep should ever grow, into the size of a house. He huffed his outrage at the man, and then flew away in a ball of fire.

The pedlar was frozen with fear, who knows how long he stood glued to the floor, staring blankly at the empty space before him. The men fell seriously ill, was it from the shock of his experience, or had the sheep boggart cursed him as such?

“Perhaps on the previous evening he had been partaking took freely of the ‘barley bree,’ and his heated imagination magnified the apparition.”

I love that the Lancaster Gazette told this entire story, and then finished with ‘but he could have just been some drunk old man. Who knows.’ Ah, the magic of folklore!