The Torrent Spectre
: FAIRY, OR MYTHIC ANIMALS.: Welsh Folk-lore
This spectre was supposed to be an old man, or malignant spirit, who
directed, and ruled over, the mountain torrents. He delighted in
devastating the lands. His appearance was horrible to behold, and it was
believed that in the midst of the rushing stream his terrible form could
be discerned apparently moving with the torrent, but in reality remaining
stationary. Now he would raise himself half out of the water, and ascend
like a mist half as high as the near mountain, and then he would dwindle
down to the size of a man. His laugh accorded with his savage visage,
and his long hair stood on end, and a mist always surrounded him.
Davies, in his Mythology of the Druids, says that believers in this
strange superstition are yet to be met with in Glamorganshire. Davies
was born in the parish of Llanvareth, Radnorshire, in 1756, and died
January 1st, 1831.
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