Note 183 — Chapter XIII

In an article ("From the Heart of the Wolds") contributed to the Cornhill Magazine of August 1882, the following is stated with regard to the traditions of this part of Lincolnshire:—"Ghosts, bogies, and the supernatural generally have utterly vanished from this commonplace district before schools and newspapers. Even an old lady more than ninety years old said to us, 'Fairies and shag-boys! lasses are often skeart at them, but I never saw none, though I have passed many a time after dark a most terrible spot for them on the road at Thorpe.'" The identity of "shag-boy" with "hog-boy" (as used in Orkney) is asserted by the writer of the Cornhill article; who also states:—"In an adjoining field [near Beelsby] lingers one of the few legends of this prosaic district. A treasure is supposed to be hidden in it, and at times two little men, wearing red caps, something like the Irish leprechauns, may be seen intently digging for it." These little "red-caps" are not identified with the "shag-boys," but popular tradition generally would pronounce them to be the same people.