Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Lledrith
Sikes describes the Lledrith as the spectre of a person appearing before death. It never speaks and disappears if addressed, making silence one of its distinguishing features. A miner’s tale shows him his own mangled body in a phantom tram, surrounded by ghostly miners and drawn by a phantom horse. The later fatal accident repeats the earlier scene within the narrative.
Also known as Welsh wraith
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalSikes describes the Lledrith as the spectre of a person appearing before death. It never speaks and disappears if addressed, making silence one of its distinguishing features.
Further detail
TraditionalA miner’s tale shows him his own mangled body in a phantom tram, surrounded by ghostly miners and drawn by a phantom horse. The later fatal accident repeats the earlier scene within the narrative.
Context & interpretation
The entry follows Sikes’s account of the Welsh wraith and the particular miner story he quotes. The sequence is a narrative of anticipation, not evidence that apparitions can establish a person’s future.
Original passages
Source 1
British Goblins
it never speaks, and vanishes if spoken toOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 230
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0230
- Original scan leaf
- 231
- Recorded leaf number
- 231
- Current Reader position
- 229
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
British Goblins
himself lying dead and horribly maimed in a phantom tram-carOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Wirt Sikes, British Goblins (1880), active reader leaf 230
Exact passage checked against active scan text and its original-leaf mapping; whitespace and scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0044-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0044-E001-P0230
- Original scan leaf
- 231
- Recorded leaf number
- 231
- Current Reader position
- 229
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Fad Felen
A golden-featured monster that Sikes reads as a legendary image of plague.
Same subject and traditionCyhyraeth
An unseen groaning spirit whose threefold cry is heard before death.
Same subject and traditionGwrach y Rhibyn
A winged apparition whose terrible call names the person expected to die.