Porlock
Porlock is the setting for a tale of ghost-laying reported by the Somerset folklore collector Ruth Tongue in the 1960s, the ghost being that of a local pirate named Lucott or Luckett – an evil man, but a rich one, who was given Christian burial because of his wealth after his ship was sunk in battle. But the ghost would not rest, and even appeared in Porlock church during a service. Twelve priests tried to lay him, but fled from him in terror. So the priest from Watchet was sent for; he engaged Lucott in a riddle contest and defeated him with a question he could not answer. He then forced Lucott to mount a donkey and ride to Watchet. The ghost still had some power left, for on the way he knocked out the eye of a man who laughed at his plight. But at Watchet the priest ordered him to enter a small iron box, and hurled it out to sea.
SEE ALSO:
SOURCE:
Haunted England : The Penguin Book of Ghosts – Written by Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson –
Copyright © Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson 2005, 2008
