Guest Post - Folklore of Robin Hood's Bay

While I'm away on honeymoon, my dad Graham guest blogs today, talking about the folklore of a little fishing village called Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire in the UK, one of his favourite places in the world, and has at least two extremely good pubs.  That last fact doesn't really have any bearing, I just quite fancy going to one of them.

My dad in one of the extremely good pubs, the Dolphin. Cheers!

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FOLKLORE OF ROBIN HOOD'S BAY...

Now in the old days, especially in rural areas you might just find your horse one morning, hag-ridden, sweating and quite exhausted. Clearly the witches had been abroad, riding egg shells across oceans, flying the airs on broomsticks and having a whale of a time on your horse.

We have no horses!

Actually, I’m pleased that we are horseless, I mean to say you start getting into hag-ridden horses and next thing you know Linger’s ghost is knocking on your door!

Terrible bad luck it is to see Linger’s ghost – I never seen him, honest sweetheart, and even if I did, which I didn’t, I’d still not see him, cross me heart etc gov’nor!

Linger’s ghost?

(for the uninitiated, Lingers ‘Ghost’ was firmly tied up with smuggling in and around Robin Hood’s Bay many, many years ago)

Well I for one be knowing nothing of any Linger’s ghost and that be the truth of it, but I did hear a tale once told to me by some stranger in the Inn one dark night. ‘Ee were a-shivering and a deathly pale colour he was, and he told me he’d seen this ghost all white and ghastly it were, standing looking out to sea up on the cliff tops. An it did a-see him and it gave out a terrible moan and did come for him to take his life an a drag him down into the deeply-dark waters.

Well, ‘e did run for ‘is life and didne stop still ‘ee reached the safety o’ the Inn.

He tole ‘is tale to any who would listen but none would say owt to him, save that it be bad luck to see Linger’s ghost and lest he wants to swim with the fish, he should keep ‘imself to imself in future and stay away from the cliffs at night, cos that be when Linger’s ghost comes a haunting.

Over a mug of ale old blind Jake said that he’d seen the ghost himself not a month ago up on the cliff tops, though everyone knows that’s nonsense, ol’ Jake be as blind as a bat.

Interestin though, the following day the excise men were about the village looking for smuggled goods and they did ask if anyone had seen Linger’s ghost abroad these past nights.

Sure enough no one had seen it – ‘tis bad luck to see Linger’s ghost … and if they did, only a fool would admit it. (like that young idiot Carson years ago, reccon’ed he’d seen the ghost and what happened? He were found at the bottom of the cliff – told ee it be bad luck)

Notes from an old book ….

Robin Hood’s Bay, or Baytown as the locals would have it, is a very strange place. There are men to be found in the local watering places who could buy up three or four of your fashionable city shops on a whim, and there be none of the paupers in the streets here, as so often found in the big cities.

This is a rich place!

I’ve often thought to myself, the modern Baytown does well considering there are only a handful of permanent residents living there now, businesses thrive, endless charity events are ran and if there be bugger all folk living there full time, they do darned well on it.

Of course, there’s no smuggling there now, there hasn’t been any smuggling known of associated with Baytown for .. oh, probably 20 years now!

Feel free to check out my parents mail order business selling all kinds of weird and wonderful magical goodies at www.facebook.com/RavenMagical