Vol 6 - Dumfriesshire & Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian ...

TwoTransactions. 9September last I received from Newton-Stewart a siiecimen of ashark called the Porbeagle Shark. It was 9 feet in length andweighed about 400 lb?. It is described as being rare, or at leastvery seldom seen upon our shores.This one was caught in Lochryan,having got entangled in some fishermen's nets, and Avas withdifficulty brought to land. It has three rows of very sharp teethin the upper as well as in the under jaw, and is said to be veryvoracious, having been known to attack men in a small boat andtear their clothes off their backs. It lives upon other fishes,and will have no difficultymouthful.in swallowing a fish two feet long at aIt was not a very agreeable subject to handle.in. Folk Lore in Tynron. By Mr James Shaw.An old farmer who died three years ago in Tynron related tome his experience with a witch in Closeburn when he was a boy.He was carting freestones from a neighbouring quarry, when hishorse came to a standstill opj^osite the witch's door.. othercarters passed him, and only jeered both at the witch and theboy, when the former, to whom he had always been civil, cameforward and with a slight push adjusted the ponderous stone whichhad slipped and -was stopping the wheel. " Now, go," she said," thou wilt find them at the gate below Gilchristland." At thatvery spot he found the perplexed carters standing, both horsestrembling and sweating, sothat he easily went past them and gotto his goal first. The same individual could name a person atwhose glance the milk being drawn from the udders of the cowsbecame blood, while his sister was milking them.I have observedhorse-shoes nailed up against his stable wall to scare away uncannyinfluence. A dairywoman who resided beside me about fifteen yearsago informed me that when young she had resided in Kirkconnel,Tynron, and that the house was haunted. At night strange facespeered in at the window, and eldritch laughter was heard. Herfather once saw a red figure at dusk on the ledge of the bridge,near the house,which appeared of human shape, but disappearedas he approached. He also on one occasion saw my informant'ssweetheart on the road coming to see her, although at the time hewas several miles off. A housekeeper I had, who died a few yearsago, assured me that, while she was a servant with a medical manin Moniaive, strange foot-falls were frequently heard in an upperroom. The doctor, after a while, suddenly took ill, lay down on asofa and died, over the very spot on the floor where these alarming