96 LOOAL SUPERSTITIONS. 
he had to work for his life to keep the voracious animal busy, or 
else he himself would have been devoured. 
Haunted House, Dalton Hill Head.—This place once belonged 
to the family of Hedley, of Newcastle, who sold it to Mr. Col- 
lingwood, of Dissington. Some years ago, a woman, Mary 
Henderson, had sole charge of the house. Her sister was the 
wife of George Stephenson, the engineer. A gardener lived close 
by, and hada mastiffnamed Ball. In the house there was a closet 
which the housekeeper had the most positive orders never to open. 
Her curiosity, however, got the better of her prudence, and she 
told the gardener what she intended to do. He strongly advised 
her against it. She got an axe and broke open the door of the 
closet, and found a quantity of children’s bones, some in hat 
boxes, some wrapped up in clothes. She fastened up the door 
and went to bed. At night she awoke, and heard strange sounds 
of people dancing and singing up stairs, She thought she would 
go and see what all the noise was about. She called the dog 
Ball from under the bed; but he only whined, and was un- 
willing to follow, and showed symptoms of fear, when in general 
he was most courageous ; so she carried him in her arms upstairs 
and proceeded to the room whence the sound came. She entered 
and found the room empty ; an attic window was open. In the 
morning, she told the gardener of these strange doings; he also 
had heard strange noises, and had been much disturbed during 
the night. 
Lockerby Penny.—This is, I am told, an old flat piece of silver, 
about the size of half-a-crown, and is used to cure madness 
among cattle. It is put into water, and stirred about for some 
time, and the animal must drink the water. A cow was bitten 
by a mad dog at H. D., and the cow attacked an ass. A mes- 
senger was despatched to Lockerby for the penny; £50 had to 
be deposited as security, that it might be returned. In this 
case the donkey lived, the cow died. The owner of the pro- 
perty where this occurred told me that he remembers finding a 
quantity of quart bottles, put away in a closet, and labelled 
“‘ Tockerby Water.” Not many years ago, it was sent for by J. 
Brown, of Trewick, near Belsay. This shows how strongly 
