Satin

A short story for the Christmas season.

Mr Aloysuis Greaves fondles a long slender glove. The satin catches on the rough skin of his fingers. His nose draws in the leftover evening scent and his breathing halts. Over watery pupils, his eyelids close, thick with lashes. The tufted eyebrows lift with pleasure.

      With trembling lips, he kisses the smooth fabric, then lays it down on the cheap second-hand bedside cabinet. He smooths out the glove with his palms, makes it into a flat black shadow of his Julianna. Wiping his brilliantined hair back from his forehead, Mr Aloysuis says good night to his first love as he has for thirty years.

       He switches off the light and waits to hear her footsteps again.

Bridesmaids

The modern bride often has attendants of many different ages and dressed in different styles. Once she would not have done so. She would try to make all her maidens look the same as herself to confuse evil spirits. The bridesmaids would even have veils like her to set the demons a puzzle.

It could be trouble just being the bridesmaid  without demons. Some superstitions say that if a young woman is a bridesmaid three times, she won't get to be a bride herself - unless she can manage seven outings.
Similarly, a bridesmaid who stumbled on the way up the aisle was supposed to remain an 'old maid'.

And of course, straining to catch the bride's bouquet so you will wed next could lead to an accident.

There are some other oddities. Apparently in Kentucky:

If a bridesmaid goes to bed backward with her hand over her heart, she will be married before the year is out, provided the first man she sees in the morning is an old one.

Another is all the bridesmaids signing the bottom of the bride's shoe - the one whose name wears most will marry next.

In some places, bridesmaids might sleep with a piece of cake under their pillow and hope to dream of their own groom.

Some modern women might like this one:

If the bride wishes to be the dominant partner in the marriage, she must be the first to buy something after the wedding.  The quickest way to do this was to buy a pin from the chief bridesmaid when changing out of her bridal dress into her travelling outfit.

 Yet still I come back to the idea of evil spirits wanting to ruin the marriage - I find this quite haunting.

Murdered Brides

My friend and colleague Diane McIlmoyle pointed me in the direction of a haunting by a murdered bride, knowing it was just my thing. Her account of the hauntings at Armboth House is on her excellent site on Cumbrian History and Folklore. Few things better than mysterious glowing lights on Halloween! (though I would say that scientists are still undecided about the cause of will o' the wisps)

She is now drowned in Thirlmere Reservoir

Here's one - a traditional story from American Folklore, with a headless bride for extra scariness. This one seems rather forlorn, still hoping for her groom to come.

The bride on Route 26 Maine never even makes it to her own wedding. She's a kind of spectral hitch hiker - though we don't know if she was murdered or an accident victim. Report from Strange Maine .

The disappointed bride of Waterworks Valley, St Lawrence, Jersey re-enacts her wedding procession. She takes out her loss on passers by, it seems.

You may hear the spectral coach rumbling up behind you.

Finally, how about this from the splendidly named Weddington Castle site? Not only is there the original story but a recent update - with photos. There's also a link to more information about the historical case which is worth a look.

Now only a ghostly memory itself...