Vampires by Dr. Bob Curran

Author:Dr. Bob Curran
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Career Press
Published: 2005-03-17T05:00:00+00:00

The Gwrach y Rhibyn

In Welsh folklore, the Gwrach y Rhibyn was somewhere between a fairy, a warning, and a vampire. She was sometimes seen at crossroads, weaving and bobbing on her ragged shawl as if waiting to attack those who passed by. At other times, she was glimpsed beside rivers or by secluded forest pools, engaged in some unseen act. At other times, she appears as a ball of light, like the flame of a candle, drifting between houses late in the evening. This is to merge the idea of the vampire/banshee with the other Welsh notion—the Canwyll Corph, or corpse candle. This eerie phenomenon resembled either a globe of bluish-white light or else a flickering “flame” and was usually seen around graveyards and places where people had died perhaps in tragic circumstances. Corpse candles are regarded as harbingers of inevitable doom, but they are also associated with darkness and evil, so it is not inconceivable for the hag to be connected with them.

Besides warning of impending death (sometimes by wailing or keening in the old Celtic manner, although usually her very appearance was enough), the Gwrach y Rhibyn was also sometimes believed to attack individuals as they slept. She was particularly fond of small children, whose blood she drank—usually in small measure, leaving them pale, irritable, and sick. If a baby failed to thrive, in some areas it was believed that it was due to the attentions of the Hag of the Dribble. In some representations of the evil crone, her mouth is portrayed as being caked with dried blood—the blood of innocents. It is unclear as to how she drank the blood. Some legends say that it was through hollow teeth (or a hollow, gobber tooth); others say that it was with a long, barbed, dark tongue, but none are sure. It is thought that, when it did drink blood, the creature only did so in very small quantities, returning several times to do so and allowing the victim to deteriorate slowly as if from a wasting disease—the classic vampire motif.

Besides small children, the Gwrach y Rhibyn attacked the old, who were usually unable to defend themselves against her advances. Bedridden people were especially at risk. And the most favored time for the Crone to attack was late at night and on the night of a full moon. Like certain ancient goddesses, the hag was connected to the moon and was said to draw supernatural strength from it. Thus most of the appearances occurred when the moon was high in the sky and weird shadows fell across the land. It was then that travellers on lonely roads might see an old woman crouching down near the roadside, or a flickering ball of light dogging their steps.

There are a number of tales, scattered throughout rural Wales of travellers being attacked by the hag and having to fight her off (the only means of dispelling her seems to have been by physical force) in some isolated spot. For example, from

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