Stranger than Fiction: Tales from the Byways of Ghosts and Folk-Lore

Mary L. Lewes’s collection brings together reported hauntings, Welsh supernatural traditions and local beliefs gathered from personal sources and correspondents. Its principal subjects include Welsh ghosts, corpse-candles and the toili, a death-related apparition or omen, alongside accounts of fairies, wise men, witches and family curses.

The stories range from haunted houses and apparitions to traditional tales associated with rural communities. Lewes also records material connected with Lledrod folklore and considers how older beliefs were being lost or altered in the early 20th century. An introductory chapter places ghost belief in a wider historical context, while the concluding section reflects on the evidence and significance of the accounts presented.