Llangernyw is a small village in the hills south of Abergele, and its church of St Digain stands in a churchyard dominated by an enormous yew, reckoned to be several thousand years old. The parish had its own version of a belief found across Wales and the borders: that on one night of the year the names of the coming year's dead could be heard.
Here the voice belonged to a spirit called the Angelystor. On Nos Galan Gaeaf, the eve of All Saints, it was said to speak from the altar and announce who would die before the next Hallowe'en. Anyone brave or anxious enough could stand below the east window outside and listen.
The story that went with it concerns Shon Robert, a tailor with a reputation as a wit, who said openly that he did not believe a word of it. One Hallowe'en he went to the church a little before midnight to prove the thing a myth. As the hour came he heard a voice from inside call out "Shon ap Robert". "Hold, hold! I am not quite ready!" he cried. Ready or not, he died that year.
Elias Owen, who collected the tale, set it alongside other beliefs about spirits haunting churches. Modern accounts often link the Angelystor to the ancient yew, and the tree gives the story its setting, but Owen's text places the voice at the altar. It is a traditional tale, not a report of any recent experience.
Comments