Fae Cattle and
Other Beasts
In Part 1, I examined the Scottish and Manx water beasts, the kelpie, water horse, and water bull. England has nothing as fearsome or as violent as these Highland beasts. There are, however, fae horses and cattle that share some characteristics with their northern relatives, but they are far milder in their general nature: alarming, admittedly, but not deadly.
It’s important, too, to repeat here that these faery beasts are distinct from any livestock and domestic pets that might be kept by the faeries and mermaids. In fact, there should be no room for confusion, as in England there is very little tradition of faeries keeping their own farm animals; it is a feature primarily of the Scottish accounts. The faeries’ farm animals may have some distinctive markings and a few of their own magical properties, but they are by and large just ordinary livestock reared by our Good Neighbours. An example might be the faery pig of the Isle of Man, a creature called arkan sonney in Manx—”the lucky piggy.” This is a white pig with red ears and eyes that is capable of changing its size but can’t change its shape. They are very attractive creatures, and having one amongst your swine herd will bring you luck. These faery pigs are most often seen by children at dusk in the Patrick area of Man. Another pig is said to appear around Glenfaba and wears a red hat.473
These cattle and other beasts the faeries own are simply livestock: they graze in herds and they give milk. This chapter is concerned with magical beings who may take the familiar form of livestock in the field but in no other respect resemble the habits or behaviour of farmyard beasts. As will be demonstrated, these fae animals can be quite unstable or changeable in form: the bogle called the Hedley Kow discussed earlier can appear as a cow or as a horse, amongst his other shapes. White geese and bears are known too: during the Civil War, for example, a headless bear was sighted at Worcester. These are all faery beasts in the truest sense, being endowed with supernatural powers and traits, and for that reason I shall also refer to them as “fae animals.”474
Fae Cattle
Fae calves and bulls seem to exist mainly to instil fear into travellers without inflicting any great harm upon them. At Brigg in Lincolnshire the Lackey Causey Calf used to haunt a stretch of the highway between Brigg and Wrawby and would emerge at night and try to entice travellers into a small stream; it sometimes appeared headless. Another headless calf was known at Latchingdon in Essex. At Roxby a “shag-foal” (see later) that haunted Boggart Lane could also appear as a white calf; another calf would appear around twilight at Tupholme Priory. At Hethersett in Norfolk, creatures called “faines” lurked around a couple of local roads and would startle nighttime walkers by coming up behind them and whisking them briefly off their feet as they rushed past. The faines were calves with shining eyes like saucers; it was said that they could blow anyone near them off their feet. At Liphook in Hampshire a white calf appeared at night near a stream, making noise, appearing and disappearing and finally shrinking in size to that of a hen and vanishing.475
Several of these creatures seem to be associated with dead people and may even be their ghosts. The so-called “guy trash” of Yorkshire is an evil cow that foretells mortality. A fae cow at Millichope Hall in Shropshire was associated with a former squire who was unhappy about the handling of his will. He manifested as a flayed calf. Not far away from this creature, at Bagbury on the Welsh border, there existed a flayed bull, said to be the ghost of a former owner. It would appear at night with flaming eyes and roaring so loudly that sleep was impossible in the vicinity. This terrifying bull was eventually laid by a communal effort which involved driving it into the church at nearby Hyssington whilst the vicar read biblical passages. The creature progressively shrank until it was small enough to capture in a box, after which it was buried underneath the threshold of the church.476
These enchanted cattle can be linked to hidden riches in a range of ways. A calf at Hackthorpe Hall in Westmorland was guardian of buried treasure and led a farmer to a stone drinking trough for cattle under which a stash of gold was concealed. At Crosby Ravensworth in the same county, a great white bull patrolled a fortified stone tower, protecting the treasure hidden in the cellar of the ruin, and at Goodwood in Sussex a calf stood watch over gold buried in an ancient hill fort. Lastly, at Vayne Castle in Angus in Scotland, a monstrous ox violently chased some intruders out of a concealed dungeon where silver and gold were stashed, disappearing in a blaze of flames that sealed the entrance forever.
Fae cattle can help humans in another way. Once, a famine struck the Hebridean island of Lewis, but a white cow appeared from the sea and told islanders that they could come to her at the Callanish stone circle nightly, when she would provide each household with a pailful of milk. This went on for some time, sustaining the people when they would otherwise have starved, until a witch went to the cow with a sieve instead of a bucket. As her receptacle never filled, she milked the white cow dry and broke the spell. Similar accounts of saviour cows abused by witches are found elsewhere in Britain.477
At Norton near Darlington there was a supernatural white heifer that could transform into a roll of Irish linen. This apparition would then vanish, to be replaced with a “white lass.” From the Scottish border villages of Bowden and Gattonside, there are very limited reports of a sprite called “cowlug” which, as its name suggests, was distinctive for its cow’s ears. We know next to nothing about them, except that they were believed to be abroad in the district on one night a year in particular. Alscot Park near Stratford-upon-Avon, and its surrounding lanes, was the lair of a hideous being that was half-calf and half-man. The hybrid or shifting nature of these creatures fits with many of the other beasts that have been described so far.478
The Aerial Bull
Brief mention should be made of an unusual Scottish faery beast. Details of this particular creature are very scarce, but it is said to appear in the form of an ordinary black bull, except that it is made only of dark cloud. The creature descends from the sky on a strong wind on New Year’s Eve and wanders on the earth’s surface for a while before departing—for which reason it is also sometimes called the “New Year Bull.”479
Fae Horses
The tradition of faery beasts in equine form is very old indeed. The thirteenth century historian Gervase of Tilbury wrote about a fae animal called the “grant,” which looked like a yearling foal, except that it walked on its hind legs alone. It had very bright eyes, and its appearance in village streets was a warning of some imminent disaster such as a fire. What was true in 1211 is still true today.480
There are faery beasts that are always encountered in the shape of a horse and others that seem to be able to vary at will. The Doonie of Nithsdale and the Borders may be seen as an old man, but sometimes he will appear as a brownie and at others as a pony. In Southern England, the “colt-pixy” is a faery who will periodically appear in pony form, leading horses astray and luring walkers into bogs in Hampshire. In contrast, the Somerset colt-pixy acts as a guardian of orchards and scares off apple thieves.481
Rather like the kelpie and each uisge in Scotland, there is some suggestion of a link between these supernatural horses and water: some examples were said, for instance, to appear where the River Trent flowed into the Humber, walking on the surface of the water on moonlit nights. Mostly, though, English fae horses seemed to spend their time scaring hapless locals, as was the case with Hazelrigg Dunnie of Northumberland, whose tricks included taking on the form of farmers’ plough horses and then, having been yoked for a day’s work, suddenly shedding his harness and galloping off at high speed.482
Tatterfoals
There is a particular type of enchanted horse that must be described separately, which is the “tatterfoal” or “shag foal.” This is a good deal more like the kelpie of Scottish legend than many of the fae horses of England. It is a very old apparition, having been described as early as the first decade of the thirteenth century, and it was particularly found across Lincolnshire. The name derives from the animal’s coat, which was distinctively shaggy or tatty, a feature which marks the transition from immature to mature horse. The foal would accost road users, perhaps merely blocking the way and scaring them, but sometimes trying to pull them off their mounts. For example, at Orgarth Hill in Lincolnshire there was a “rough-coated goblin horse” that would suddenly appear and keep pace with travellers, terrifying their own horses. The “Spittal Hill Tut” that haunted the hill outside Freiston in Lincolnshire was a fae horse which would also follow a rider for a distance before vanishing. On at least one occasion, though, it reared up and grabbed the rider with its forelegs, squeezing the breath out of him before letting him go. A closely related shaggy foal would scare pedestrians or drag drunken riders from their saddles at Barton on Humber. Several of these creatures are reputed to be linked to interred murder victims or to buried treasure at the spots they haunt. For instance, at Heage Hall in Derbyshire, the executed Mary Queen of Scots appears mounted on a brown horse whilst the spirit of a former squire who so mistreated his wife that she died appears with two inky black dogs or driving a coach and horses.483
Fae Donkeys
At Montford near Shrewsbury, a large dog haunted the highway, but this would also manifest sometimes as a fae donkey. Once, a man saw it lying by the roadside, and when he went to investigate and cautiously poked it with his foot, it rose up into the air like a cloud of vapour and vanished. At Fitz, also in Shropshire, the ghost of a woman who was robbed of the jewellery in which she had been buried has been known to appear in the form of a young horse called Obrick’s or Obitch’s colt. She might let people ride her and was even seen during daylight.484
At Geldeston in Norfolk there is another supernatural donkey, said to rattle chains and breathe fire. A nearly identical white donkey is known at Horning further north in the county; it has followed travellers at night and, if they tried to flee, would chase them with smoke and flames issuing from its nostrils. It is possible to see through the creature, and it disappears into the churchyard wall. Fae donkeys are also known at Roxby and Kirton in Lindsey in Lincolnshire. On a mountain pass called Clagh Height on the Isle of Man, a donkey has been seen that transforms itself into a huge black dog.485
Fae Felines
The faeries have their own cats, which can be quite intimidating in themselves, but there is a separate tradition of monstrous supernatural cats as well. In Welsh legend, for example, there is the cath palug, a giant cat which is linked with water and becomes one of the “three plagues of Britain.” King Arthur fights it in several stories—sometimes successfully, sometimes fatally.
In more recent folk tradition, white fae cats are reported from time to time: at Reeth in North Yorkshire an unnaturally large cat with fiery eyes lurks beneath the bridge over the River Swale. There is also a widespread story of “The King of the Cats,” which follows a broadly standard plot. A person witnesses a cat’s funeral and returns home to inform their spouse of the curious marvel they’ve seen. As the tale is told, their own cat shows unusual comprehension and interest, and at its conclusion will jump up, declaring, “That means I’m King of the Cats!” and disappear. In an interesting version from Argyllshire, a huntsman shoots a wild cat one day and, before it dies, is told to inform his kitten of its demise. The hunter does this—and the kitten declares, “That was my sister,” swells to monstrous proportions, and kills him in turn.486
Haunting Hares
There are reports of fae beings that are seen as hares or rabbits, small animals which ostensibly are not especially alarming. However, they are always reputed to foretell deaths (as at Kidsgrove and Etruria in Staffordshire) or are associated with the sites of murders and, perhaps, other unpleasant events. Rabbits have been linked to places where bloodcurdling shrieks are heard, and there are reports of injuries inflicted on those who have tried to interfere with them: a man who attempted to catch the Etruria rabbit had his shoulder dislocated, for instance.487
I have described how boggarts and barguests may take on the shape of rabbits at times, but there are also sprites that appear in hare or rabbit form all the time. This ought not to surprise us especially, given that there are also quite a number of modern accounts in which faeries are met with in just this guise. Equally, witches in the guise of hares were a common element of folk belief. At Hoghton in Lancashire the fae link was further cemented because it was said that faeries and rabbits happily cohabited in the same warrens.488
At Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire a fae hare would appear that ran between the legs of people, tripping them up, before vanishing in the dungeons of the ruined keep. Thetford Warren in Norfolk was haunted by a white rabbit with large flaming eyes that moved very quickly and was never caught. It was frequently spotted, but beyond the eerie experience, nothing ever came of merely seeing it. Matters were different, though, if anyone tried to hunt the rabbit: the foolhardy person was certain to be found the next day, mysteriously killed by their own gun. A very similar tale comes from Egloshayle in North Cornwall. A white rabbit haunted the churchyard there, appearing only on the nights of full moons and vanishing into the boundary wall; a young man tried to kill it but again died by his own weapon. A fae rabbit used to appear inside St. George’s Church in York and always disappeared before it could be caught, whilst another in the graveyard of St. Mary’s Church, Rochdale, was invulnerable to bullets, which passed straight through it. A white hare at Humbleton in Northumberland could also never be killed, whilst one at Cromarty Castle would vanish by evaporating in a cloud of smoke.489
Another white rabbit with shining eyes was seen regularly at Caistor in Lincolnshire during late Victorian times, but the purpose of its appearances was unknown. Matters were very different at Crank in Lancashire, where in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries a white rabbit was known to haunt the roads of the district, hopping alongside late-night travellers. Being joined on the highway by this companion was a sure sign of misfortune to follow; the creature was linked with a girl (and her pet rabbit) who had been murdered in the vicinity. At Wheal Vor tin mine near Helston in Cornwall it was believed that a fatal accident in the mine was presaged by the appearance of a white hare or rabbit in one of the engine houses. The miners declared that they had chased these apparitions until they were seemingly hemmed in, but they would still escape. Being of a superstitious nature, it was believed amongst miners that a white rabbit crossing your path on the way to work was likewise a warning not to descend into the pit that day.490
A white hare with bloodshot eyes appeared at Bardsea in Lancashire as companion to a “dobby” (a hob or brownie) who wandered the coast roads on stormy nights. They became associated with the tolling of the church bell after a parishioner had died, marking but not predicting a death in the locality. Like many faery beasts, then, fae hares could foretell events to come. At Airdrie, the Kerr family knew that the appearance of a white hare marked fast-approaching misfortune. On the island of Guernsey, a white hare was only seen in stormy weather. At Looe in Cornwall another such hare was regularly seen as it ran down the hill from the village of Talland and then disappeared in the vicinity of a public house; this was regarded as an ill omen.491
As recently as the 1940s, a magical hare that could not be killed was reported by two men out hunting partridges near Oakley in Bedfordshire. It was shot several times but there was never any trace of a body.492
Conclusions
All the fae animals have two consistent aspects. One is that (with only a couple of exceptions) they maintain their form: supernatural calves and ponies stay in that shape. It may be hard to take seriously the notion of an enchanted hare or foal and to approach it with the appropriate level of caution and respect—whereas a donkey with the body of a hound is instantly identifiable as strange and potentially dangerous. That said, the records of encounters indicate that witnesses tend to sense something eerie or uncanny, even with an animal as ostensibly harmless as a white rabbit.
Secondly, although they may disconcert, scare, and sometimes play tricks on humans, they do not put their lives in danger. It’s true that they often mark a local death, and their appearance may even warn of mortal peril, but they will sometimes help people or guide them to good fortune.
473. See my Faery chapter 5; Douglas, “Restoring to Use Our,” 21–22.
474. Richard Baxter, The Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits Fully Evinced (London: T. Parkhurst & J. Salisbury, 1691), 58; “Bogie Goose,” Yorkshire—Paranormal Database Records, Paranormal Database, accessed May 26, 2020, https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/yorkshire/Pages/yorkdata.php?pageNum_paradata=1&totalRows_paradata=608.
475. Eliza Gutch and Mabel Peacock, comp., Examples of Printed Folklore Concerning Lincolnshire (London: David Nutt, 1908), 51, 53; County Folk-lore 5, 53; Walter Rye, The Recreations of a Norfolk Antiquary (Norwich: Holt, Rounce & Wortley, 1920), 28; “Boy Playing Flute,” Hampshire—Paranormal Database Records, Paranormal Database, accessed May 26, 2020, https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/hampshire/hampdata.php?pageNum_paradata=4&totalRows_paradata=179.
476. Burne, Shropshire Folk-lore, 642, 107.
477. Westwood and Kingshill, The Lore of Scotland, 466.
478. Longstaffe, The History and Antiquities, 15; Aitken, Forgotten Heritage, 27.
479. MacCulloch, The Highlands and Western Islands, vol. 4, 331.
480. Gervase of Tilbury, Otia Imperialia: Recreation for an Emperor, ed. and trans. S. E. Banks and J. W. Binns (Oxford Medieval Texts: Clarendon Press 2002), part 3, section 62.
481. Aitken, Forgotten Heritage, 27; Briggs, Dictionary of Fairies, “Colt-pixy.”
482. Denham, The Denahm Tracts, Folklore Society 35, London, 1895, 158.
483. County Folklore 5, 50, 55; “Mary Queen of Scots,” Derbyshire—Paranormal Database Records, Paranormal Database, accessed May 26, 2020, https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/derbyshire/derbdata.php?pageNum_paradata=7&totalRows_paradata=268.
484. Burne, Shropshire Folk-lore, 105–6.
485. Adams, In the Footsteps, 190; Westwood and Simpson, The Lore of the Land, 499; County Folklore 5, 56; Day, Here Are Ghosts and Witches, 160; Gill, A Third Manx Scrapbook, chapter 2.
486. “Collecteanea,” Folklore 27 (1916): 309; Katherine Briggs, The Fairies in Tradition and Literature (London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1967), 72.
487. Westwood and Simpson, The Lore of the Land, 668, 663.
488. “Fairy Tunnels,” Fairies and Little People, Paranormal Database, accessed May 26, 2020, https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/reports/fairydata.php?pageNum_paradata=6&totalRows_paradata=214.
489. County Folk-lore 5, 54; Kent, The Land of the, 89; Westwood and Simpson, The Lore of the Land, 517; “Northumberland—Paranormal Database Records,” Paranormal Database, accessed May 26, 2020, www.paranormaldatabase.com/northumberland/nhumdata.php; “White Rabbit,” Haunted Churches and Other Myths & Legends, accessed May 26, 2020, https://paranormaldatabase.com/reports/church.php?pageNum_paradata=26&totalRows_paradata=672; “Rabbit,” Yorkshire—Paranormal Database Records, Paranomral Database, accessed May 26, 2020, https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/yorkshire/Pages/yorkdata.php?pageNum_paradata=30&totalRows_paradata=753; “Hare,” Northumberland—Paranormal Database Records, Paranormal Database, accessed May 26, 2020, https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/northumberland/nhumdata.php?pageNum_paradata=3&totalRows_paradata=86; “Baum Rabbit,” Lancashire—Paranormal Database Records, Paranormal Database, accessed May 26, 2020, https://paranormaldatabase.com/lancashire/lancdata.php?pageNum_paradata=19&totalRows_paradata=554.
490. Westwood and Simpson, The Lore of the Land, 441; Terence W. Whitaker, Lancashire’s Ghosts and Legends (London: Robert Hale Ltd., 1980), 194–196; R. Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England—Second Series, 125.
491. Westwood and Simpson, The Lore of the Land, 389; “Hare,” Reports of Haunted Inns from the Paranormal Database, Paranormal Database, accessed May 26, 2020, https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/reports/inns.php?pageNum_paradata=11&totalRows_paradata=427; “White Hare,” Reports of Curses and Cursed Places in the UK and Ireland, Paranormal Database, accessed May 28, 2020, https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/reports/curse.php; Bowker, Goblin Tales, 152–158.
492. Laurence Meynell, Bedfordshire (London: Robert Hale, 1950), 139.