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who fetched milk from the farm, we have frequently heard it said, 

 avowed that he had been stopped from going in a certain direction 

 beyond Eowley by some invisible agency. Other Worsthorne 

 people were quick to allege that they had repeatedly seen super- 

 natural visitors about there, but such sights never excited any 

 fear or apprehension in their minds. Some of them could relate 

 with marvellous exactness the circumstances attendant upon the 

 ••laying" of this Eowley boggart; how by prayer and supplica- 

 tion at the confluence of two streams near Eowley — that is at 

 Netherwood Bridge and at Water Meetings, a little lower down 

 the stream — a treaty with the boggart never again to emerge from 

 spirit land, had been ratified by placing a headstone in the ground 

 as a seal and sign manual of the ceremonial. What it was that 

 caused this ancient lady to come back across the vasty deep so 

 often at Eowley Hall we never heard it said ; but the bent of the 

 popular mind may be easily inferred from what we do know about 

 the boggart of Samlesbury Hall. Old folks at Samlesbury used 

 to tell of a lady in white being seen to pass along the ancient 

 galleries and corridors, and thence go into the quaint old grounds, 

 where she met a handsome young knight, who knelt to her and 

 accompanied her in the walks of the garden. At a certain spot, 

 thought to be the grave of her lover and his friends the apparitions 

 stood still and uttered wailings of despair, embraced each other, 

 and then disappeared into space. Here we find the boggarth as 

 a substantial foundation, for at the end of the 16th century 

 Samlesbury Hall was occupied by Sir John Southworth, whose 

 daughter was in love with the heir of a neighbouring knightly 

 house. The lady's father from his attachment to the religion of 

 his forefathers, forbade her to continue the acquaintance, but she 

 persevering in it the lady's brother one night suddenly appeared on 

 the scene, and slew her betrothed and the two friends by whom 

 he was accompanied. The tradition said that the bodies were 

 buried in the chapel of the Hall, and that the lady died abroad a 

 maniac, with the naine of her lover on her lips. Some years ago, 

 during excavations three human skeletons were found at Samles- 

 bury, and were reasonably enough taken to attest that at the 

 bottom of these old boggart stories there is a ground of actual 

 truth if we only knew how to find it. What historical foundation 

 there may be for the terrible boggart of WycoUar Hall, it is not 

 possible to say. There the form of a lady, dabbed with blood, 

 used sometimes to be seen on dark nights, according to popular 

 fancy, passing in and out of the ancient mansion, wherein the 

 floors of polished oak were shown besmeared with gore. The 

 blood probably had a great deal more to do with cock-fighting than 

 with human gore, for one of the ancient owners of the hall is 

 known to have been so fond of that pastime that when he was too 

 ill to leave his room he or(^ered the birds to be fought in his preS' 



