Welsh Death Omens

British Goblins: Welsh Folk Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions (1881) Book 2 Chapter 7

by Wirt Sikes

Welsh Death Omens includes the Welsh Banshee or Gwrach y Rhibyn, crying spirits, the groaning spirits as well as corpse candles and the chirping of a bird at the door of a person about to die. Taliesin predicted the frightful monster known as the Fad Felen which comes from the marsh with hair, teeth and eyes like gold and brings death in its wake. Sikes also talks about the frightful female spectres, banshees and black maidens familiar across the Celtic World as harbingers of death.

Running Order:

• Cambrian Death Portents 1:33
• The Corpse-Bird 2:48
• The Tan-Wedd 4:00
• Listening at the Church Door 6:12
• The Lledrith 7:27
• The Gwrach y Rhibyn 9:22
• The Llandaff Gwrach 12:08
• Ugliness of this Female Apparition 15:03
• The Black Maiden 15:13
• The Cyhyraeth, or Crying Spirit 16:45
• Its Moans on Land and Sea 17:55
• The St. Mellons Cuhyraeth 21:22
• The Groaning Spirit of Bedwellty 23:05

Names Used in this Section

All proper names, and words in Welsh or other languages, are recorded here in the show-notes and we've done our best to get the pronunciations right for you.

Tan-Wedd Lledrith Gwrach y Rhibyn Llandaff Gwrach Cyhyraeth St. Mellons Cuhyraeth Bedwellty The Banshee Mr. Baring-Gould Tolaeth Cwn Annwn Cwn y Wybr Canwyll Corph Teulu Aderyn y Corph Warwickshire Mr. Davis to Mr. Baxter Walter Watkins Neuadd, parish of Brecknockshire Taf Fechan Chapel Llewelyn Sion of Llangewydd Fad Felen Rhos Church Maelgwyn Gwynedd Taliesin Mallt y Nos Rev. D. R. Thomas Archaeologia Cambrensis Croker Ceffyl heb un pen Marw coel Y mae mor salw a Gwrach y Rhibyn Fy ngwr (my husband) Fm ngwraig (my wife) Fy mlentyn bach (my little child) Och Dduw! Cardiff Cow and Snuffers Inn Benshi Sir Walter Scott Hermes Black Maiden Caerleon Peredur Avagddu Glamorganshire Prophet Jones David Prosser, of Llanbyther Parish 'Woolach!' Joshua Coslet Towy Carmarthenshire Inis Cenin Non, mother of St. David Llan-non, Church of Non Monmouthshire Mary Morgan Crumlyn Bridge 'O Dduw, beth a wnaf fi?' (O God, what shall I do?) Meredith Thomas Thomas Edward Morgan Anthony Aaron William Harry Rees

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