Bogs and Spirits
The bogs of the New Forest are truly infamous, rumoured to swallow both walker and beast if given half the chance. Significant tracts of bog are marked on Forest maps as morass or mire, and many place names in the Forest include the word ‘more’ or ‘moor’ in their name, meaning ‘area of marsh’.
The bogs play a big part in New Forest folklore. Wet ground can be particular and known to be haunted by the Colt Pixy, a local trickster spirit that entices travellers into the bogs. A similar legend exists elsewhere in the UK, involving the trickster spirit Poake (Puck) who leads unsuspecting travellers to their demise. Once they are thoroughly stuck, he ‘sets up a loud laugh and leaves them quite bewildered in the lurch’. The traveller is said to have been ‘poake-ledden’ (Puck-led).
The Will-o’-the-Wisp (or ignis fatuus, Latin for ‘foolish fire’) is another such Forest spirit seen on the moors and believed to entice people towards the mire by impersonating a lamp. This effervescent pixie-light is often described as a fine, blue-white flame that draws a traveller towards it but then either becomes intensely bright or suddenly extinguishes, causing them to blunder into a bog.
The pixie William is believed to carry the ‘Wisp’ of light (i.e., ‘Will with a Wisp’). William also appears as the spirit Jack (Jack-o-Lantern) or Puck (Pwca/Pooka) who Shakespeare describes as transforming into fire.
– Vikki Bramshaw, author of the book ‘New Forest Folklore, Traditions & Charms’
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