| Kernow: Land of Myths |
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Page 3 of 8 Ghosts Where do we begin? Not for nothing has Cornwall been called the most haunted part of the British Isles; every village, pub, moor or cliff seems to have its own tale, many have more than one. But when we consider the many sailors, minors and others who died eking out a living in what must have been an extremely harsh environment, perhaps it is not surprising that there are so many tales. Ghost stories are after all, a way of dealing with death, grief and loss. The numerous stories that arose from tough lives and sometimes dramatic deaths are, in their own way, a tribute to the Kernowans of yesteryear. There are some fantastically gruesome and haunting tales to be savoured. One of my favourites is the story of the ghost of Annie Treeve. In the early part of the 19th century Annie was Landlady at the First and Last Inn at Sennen, the most westerly pub on the Kernow peninsular. She supplemented the pubs meager takings heading up the local smuggling and wrecking gang. The gang was eventually caught and in return for her freedom Annie did the unthinkable: she turned on her former comrades and gave evidence to convict them. Her ‘freedom’ however was to be short-lived. The locals exacted a nasty revenge; they staked Annie Treeve in the sands on Sennen beach and waited for the tide to come in. Her spirit still haunts the pub.  The First and Last Inn, Sennen, said to be haunted by Annie Treeve. Picture by Tom Dymond. It is not just the ghosts of smugglers, pirates and lovelorn maidens that haunt Kernow. There are many tales of whole ships haunting the coastline, hardly surprising when you consider the hundreds of wrecks that litter the ocean floor around the peninsular. These ships sail out of the mists, sometimes as omens or harbingers of doom, but sometimes to warn of imminent storms and dangerous conditions. Indeed, there are several cases where the ghosts of ships or drowned sailors appear to actively help the living. Not so the ghosts of smugglers and pirates, who in most tales seem hell-bent on either protecting their treasure, or else have lost it and return to earth, to haunt the cliffs, castles and beaches until they are reunited with their precious booty. It has been suggested that the hoarders themselves dreamt up such tales to keep the curious away from ‘their’ treasure. Festivals These are hardly legend - several festivals exist today in at least a semblance of their original form; think of Lafrowda Day in St Just, Mazey Day in Penzance or Padstow’s Mayday celebration - I mention them here because I believe they tap into the same primeval beliefs that feed myth, legend and ghostly tales. Pagan festivals were once a vital part of the community calendar (indeed, they were the calendar!). Customs involving dance and drama, rites of fertility and even sacrifice were practised to mark the passing of the seasons, to induce fertility and to appease and contain the forces of nature to ensure good harvests. Such festivals held great social, religious and agricultural significance. Throughout the British Isles many of these customs have long since disappeared, absorbed into the Christian calendar of events, banned, or simply forgotten. Yet in Kernow they not only survive, but thrive. A small piece of trivia: many readers will be familiar with the cult film The Wicker Man, which features pagan beliefs and practices, including human sacrifice at a midsummer festival. The film is set in a remote Scottish island but the source for the script writers was a novel called Ritual by David Pinner, which was set in…you guessed it: Kernow. |
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