Dark Folklore by Mark Norman and Tracey Norman

Author:Mark Norman and Tracey Norman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press

In the wonderfully named village of Coffinswell, an unnamed lady is buried for reasons unknown, but no doubt sinful, beside the village’s holy well rather than in the consecrated ground of the churchyard. Her story is useful to highlight the real-world logical flaws in the motif of the cockstride ghost. Once a year (and again at midnight on New Year’s Eve), she is permitted to rise and try to gain the churchyard at the rate of a cockstride.

The woman’s story was recorded by the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould towards the end of the nineteenth century. It is said that it will take until Judgement Day to reach her destination, but as usual, she will find salvation when she gets there. It is interesting that the motif is strong enough that the story lives on in this case even though the name of the protagonist is lost.

How does this case highlight the improbable nature of many of these legends? If we think about it carefully, we must assume that if she will eventually reach her destination and so gain salvation, then she is progressing along a path. Each year she rises from her grave to take her cockstride. So, what is happening to the grave? Is it moving with her and if so, why has nobody noticed? Or does she get some free distance each year, so that after ten years she rises from her grave and gets ten free cockstrides before her allotted one?

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