The Skeletal Scarecrow of the Cotswolds

The Skeletal Scarecrow 

The Area known as the Cotswolds contains many Legends and superstitions, but today I will focus primarily on the little known tale of the Skeletal Scarecrow said to haunt a field outside a idyllic little village called Broadway.

The Cotswolds is a region that can be found in the southwest of England, it is largely rural with a few pretty villages and towns dotted around. Most of the houses are made from the famous local, golden-coloured Cotswold Stone. It has been designated an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,’ and if you ever get a chance to visit, and see the rolling hills and meandering rivers you will understand why.

Ephraim Rolfe was a simple-minded young boy, he worked as a ‘Bird Scarer.’ Bird Scarers where like human scarecrows, the job involved standing in a field often with a device called a clapper which they used to frighten away birds so they did not eat all the crops and seed. The job was usually given to young boys, (in my day youngsters got a paper round) who would be out from dawn till dusk whatever the weather, spooking the local fowl. by all accounts the pay was meager (so in that sense very similar to a paper round.)

Ephraim Rolfe may have a been a simple youngster, but he was well loved in Broadway village for his kindness to youngsters and his affinity to animals. At dusk one evening the local squire was out patrolling his land looking for hated poachers, he saw a suspicious figure lingering in one of his fields, and being a man of action he took the decision to shoot first, ask questions later. Sadly the person he shot was not a poacher, as you have probably guessed it was young Ephraim Rolfe, about his business scaring the local wildlife. It begs the question how was stupid was the squire? It was his field, and he had hired Ephrim to scare in it, so why shoot…. (sigh) never mind.

Ever since then villagers walking past that field on wild nights, when the moon emits its spectral glow through the clouds, have claimed to see the ghost of young Ephraim - a skeletal scarecrow, standing a silent lonely vigil. Legend does not identify exactly which field this phantom guards, but it is said to be next to the road leading towards Evesham. So if you feel brave enough and you find yourself in Broadway, and at lose end, why not have a evenings ramble over the fields, who knows what you may encounter.

If you enjoy folklore, ghost stories, and tales of weird monsters why not check out my book ‘Fireside Horror.’ Link below -