Jane K. Marshall
“The Son Murdered by his Parents” (Motifs: justice/ proper burial, unnatural act of familial murder)
Two old people lived in a dilapidated house. They could no longer stay in the house for it was filled with strange noises at night, and the parson could not expel the ghost. Some years prior, their only son had gone to seek his fortune in Australia.
One day an old woman offered to sit up all night and confront the ghost. It appeared at first in the shape of a monstrous pig. When she asked it to reappear in its natural form, it complied.
A young man stood before her and stated that he was the ghost of the son of the owners of the house. He had come back from Australia to find that his parents did not recognize him. Wishing to carry off a joke, he decided not to tell them right away of his identity. As his parents were poor and desperate, they decided to kill their “lodger” for his gold and bury him behind the house.
The ghost finally explained that he was haunting the house because he desired burial in consecrated ground. The old woman agreed to see to this, and the ghost was seen no more.
“Little Rosy” (Motifs: justice/wicked stepmother punished)
Rosy, the step-daughter of a good-for-nothing and wicked woman, was killed one day doing her stepmother’s work. The top of a chest fell upon her, severing her head. The evil stepmother cut up the body and served it in a pie to Rosy’s father and sisters.
Rosy, transformed into a ghostly bird, returned to the family and sang a song which revealed the stepmother’s doings. The father and sisters ran from the house in horror, leaving the stepmother alone. The neighbors, thereafter, would have nothing to do with her and she died “lonesome”.