Abstract

Folk legends of brave clergymen confronting terrifying apparitions in fields and houses can be heard all throughout rural England. Situated in the early modern period, these tales establish the archetype of the ‘conjuring parson’ and perpetuate the spiritual tradition of ‘ghost-laying’: the exorcism of ghosts. Clerical ghost-laying, however, is a spiritual tradition without a well-founded historical or theological precedent. The few extant sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literary depictions of this practice are largely satirical or polemical in nature. Tales of early modern clergymen exorcising restless spirits actually originate from the pens of Victorian authors who developed the sensationalist folkloric exploits of conjuring parsons to fulfil their own literary or political agendas. Through a comparison of early modern and Victorian literary accounts—focusing on the Botathen Ghost haunting—this article illustrates that the genre of clerical ghost-laying lacks any substantial claim to historical, literary, or theological legitimacy.

摘要

勇敢的牧师在田野和房屋中对抗可怕幽灵的民间传说在英格兰乡村随处可见。这些故事发生在现代早期，建立了“召唤牧师”的原型，并延续了“鬼魂驱魔”的精神传统：驱鬼。然而，神职人员埋鬼是一种精神传统，没有充分的历史或神学先例。现存的十六世纪和十七世纪的文学对这种做法的描述大多是讽刺或争论性的。现代早期牧师驱除不安灵魂的故事实际上源自维多利亚时代作家的笔下，他们发展了召唤牧师来实现自己的文学或政治议程的耸人听闻的民俗功绩。