Research source

Whenever I see a barrow, tumulus or druidical, circle, I scent the probability of phantasms--phantasms of a…

Date of account: Published 1911
Source: Byways of Ghost-Land
Reference: Byways of Ghost-Land · selected passage 39
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Whenever I see a barrow, tumulus or druidical, circle, I scent the probability of phantasms--phantasms of a peculiar sort

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

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Whenever I see a barrow, tumulus or druidical, circle, I scent the probability of phantasms--phantasms of a peculiar sort. Most ancient burial-places are haunted, and haunted by two species of the same genus: the one, the spirits of whatever prehistoric forms of animal life lie buried there; and the other, grotesque phantasms, often very similar to vagrarians in appearance, but with distinct ghoulish propensities and an inveterate hatred to living human beings. In my _Ghostly Phenomena_ I have referred to the haunting of a druidical circle in the North of England, and also to the haunting of a house I once rented in Cornwall, near Castle on Dinas, by barrowvians; I have heard, too, of many cases of a like nature. I have, of course, often watched all night, near barrows or cromlechs, without any manifestations taking place; sometimes, even, without feeling the presence of the Unknown, though these occasions have been rare.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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