Derwen is a small village on the hills at the head of the Vale of Clwyd, known for its fine medieval churchyard cross. In the 19th century young men of the district had an unkind May Eve custom called fixing penglogau. A young man who had been turned down by a girl would creep up to her house in the night and nail a sheep's skull to her door as an insult.
Two young farmers had been out doing exactly that and were walking home from Derwen late at night. Their way took them over a bridge across the River Clwyd. As they came onto it, one of them saw something enormous crossing the bridge towards them: a phantom of gigantic size, carrying on its shoulder an entire tree in full leaf. As he watched, it heaved the tree over the parapet into the river below, where it landed with a tremendous splash.
His friend heard the splash clearly. He saw nothing at all.
Elias Owen had the story from the Rev. John Williams and put it in his 1886 book on the stone crosses of the Vale of Clwyd. He explained the difference between the two men by an old belief that only people born under certain planets could see spirits, though the noises spirits made could be heard by anyone. Retellers since have taken the phantom as a rebuke for the young men's behaviour. Which bridge is meant is not recorded; Curious Clwyd suggests one south of Derwen on the road towards Bryn Saith Marchog.
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