The White Lady British Folklore Part 6 #HazardousToYourSanity
I was considering a visit to Bolling Hall
near Bradford in West Yorkshire and when I looked at the website I saw that the
manor house had a ghostly White Lady haunting the medieval building. I wasn’t
surprised. There are a lot of White Ladies around. Out of curiosity, I checked
Wikipedia. Apparently there are White Ladies everywhere.
White Ladies, from what I can tell, are vengeful
female spirits. They come back to haunt usually after being heartbroken. I can
see that being fairly universal. In William Congreve’s play, The Mourning
Bride, there are a few lines that are regularly quoted:
Heav’n has no Rage like Love to Hatred turn’d
Nor Hell a Fury like a Woman scorn’d.
And that does seem to sum up the White Lady. All across the world the spirits of jilted lovers, abandoned wives and heartbroken betrothed stalk those left behind. I suppose it’s the spiritual equivalent of slicing up the Armani suits of a cheating ex-boyfriend.
As these are posts about British Folklore,
I thought I would share the story of an outlier that belongs to the Welsh
tradition. This is Y Ladi Wen or The White Lady. The tradition in Wales
is that these White Ladies were terrifying but may ask for help if you speak to
them.
A well known variation is the White Lady, Y
Ladi Wen of Ogmore Castle in Bridgend. A White Lady haunted the area around
the castle, but when a traveller approached her, she shared the location of a
cauldron of treasure she guarded that was hidden under a stone within the
castle. She graciously allowed the traveller to take half of the treasure
before he left. The traveller was tempted by the sight of the gold in the cauldron
and returned later to get the rest. This, naturally, did not go well and Y Ladi
Wen grew claws and slashed at the traveller. He escaped to tell his tale to
the horror struck locals just before expiring. The rest of the treasure is
still hidden in the stones of Ogmore Castle, according to the story. I’m sure
that there’s a few out there who have had a look for it over the years.
As a writer, these tales are great
inspiration. The ghost of a wronged bride determined to avenge her heartbreak
is a powerful story and I’m sure that it can be adapted to fit all sorts of
stories. Whether it’s on a space station or in a remote Sumerian village, the innate
humanity of love turned to hate and vengeance is something that strikes a chord
in all.
Although, thinking of Y Ladi Wen at
Ogmore Castle, my undisciplined imagination can’t help but imagine a well
written story leaked to an antiquarian society. An accomplice would be ready near
to the castle with a copies of the fake original legend, a map and some shovels,
all available for ready cash. I’m sure that it would be a fun story to write.
And it would be even more fun if Y Ladi Wen actually turned up to complain!
