creatures tracking what of well - wordpress.com
TRANSCRIPT
ISBN
978-0-900616-87-7
10730900616877
Mikeyprites
WhataeUE?4
||Well
ifyou
reallywant
to||
know,
thisbooklet
willanswer
all,wellsome,ofyour
questions.
Ray
Loveday
has
spenttwo
||years
trackingdown
theseelusive
creaturesandpresents
here
the
resultsof
his
research.
A‘must
have’
for
the
|enthusiast
ofthings
Norfolk.
i?DINOS] VC: ERARIOEl
eyLi)
-9g)
caeMs
nie.ElEYZA2A42-àES,©5 Mikey
4
DA
heVer
0)aLT
Hraditi
RayLoveday
Publishedby
E.Ray
Loveday,54c
Pottergate,Norwich,
Norfolk,NR2
1DY.
©E.
Ray
Loveday2009
Allrights
reserved.Nopart
of
thispublication
may
bereproduced,
storedin
aretrieval
system,or
transmittedin
anyform
orby
anymeans,
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orotherwise,
withoutthe
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thecopyright
owners.
ISBN978-0-900616-87-7
Copiesof
thisbooklet
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beobtained
fromthe
publisherat
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addressat
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of£5
includingpostage.
Typesetin
Bembo,Delphin
&Stuyvesant
Printedand
Designedby
Geo.R.
ReeveLtd.
9-11Town
Green,Wymondham,
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OBD.
Telephone01953602297
Conlents
Preface
Dedication
Introduction
TheQuest—My
Methods
WhatareThey
called?
What
areThey?
Supernatural
Natural(but
notentirely
so)
Human
TheHikey
SpriteIntervenes
inHuman
Affairs
ACreature
ofthe
Night
AWarning
tothe
Naughty
TheHikey
Spritesas
Portrayedin
TheHikey
SpritesDistribution
inNorfolk
WeKnew
theHikey
Sprites
Hilary’sStory
TheHikey
SpritesToday
SomeFinalHikeyThoughts
ANight-time
WoodlandEncounter
Figure1:Variants
ofthe
Name
Figure2:Map
of1984
locations
Figure3:Map
of2008/9
locations
ND 01
10121213141619
21232532353637392830
Aaa
Preface
NEVER
WIDESPREAD,THE
HYTER
SPRITE,that
elusivemember
of
our
Norfolkfolklore
canon,isnow
indanger
ofextinction.
Thisbooklet
sets
out,just
intime,
torecord
somememories
thatremain
ofthe
HyterSprite
tradition.Compiledfrom
therecollections
ofmany,
mainlyelderly,
Norfolk
people,it
willhopefully
offerahelping
hand
tothe
HyterSprites
and
give
them
afoothold
intothe
future.May
italso,
atthe
same
time,promote
a
greaterknowledge
of these,
usuallyoverlooked
and
oftenmisunderstood,
entities.There
isfact
andspeculation
inthe
followingpages.
Ifyou
disagree
with
thespeculation
Ihope
you
will,at
least,accept
thevalidity
ofmy
researchand
findsomethingofinterest.
Dedication
THISBOOKI
SDEDICATED
TOTHEHUNDREDSofNorfolk
folkwho
answered,with
patience,understanding
andsupport,
mymany
questionson
theHyter
Sprites.|owethem
allunqualified
thanksand
gratitude.My
chatswith
thesegood
people,mainly
intheir
seventiesand
eighties,were
adelightful
and
unexpectedby-product
ofthis
project.To
thosewho
tookthe
troubleto
writeor
telephoneIowespecial
thanks.Tothe
handfulof
peoplewhofound
my
questioningannoying
orintrusive
Ioffer
my
sincereapologies.
Inthis
work
Ihave
usedforenames
onlyin
orderto
respectmy
informant’sanonymity.
Ages,addresses,
surnames
were
oftenoffered
and
havebeen
recorded,but
agesonly
areused
inthis
account.
AN
RS
ZFHBG
LANE.
Introduction
INAPRIL2008
IBEGANMY
QUEST
tofind
outwhat
remained,
inthe
localoral
tradition,of
theNorfolk
Hyter
Sprite.It
soonbecame
clearthat
thename
Hyter
Spriteis
asomewhat
academic,bookish
term,most
peoplepreferring
Hikey
Spriteor
one
oftwenty
orso
othervariants,Myfieldworkcontinued
foreighteen
months,during
whichtime
Imet
wellover
ahundredand
twentyNorfolk
peoplewith
Hikey
lore.This
book
recordsthe
statusofthe
Hikeytradition,
asIuncovered
it,in
thefirst
decade
ofthe
twenty-firstcentury.
Myresearchcontinues
somaybeyou,
my
reader,can
addto
itwith
asnippet
ortwoofinformation.
How
didmy
questbegin?
In1980
aletter
appearedin
theEastern
DailyPress
on
behalfofa
researcherDaniel
AllenRabuzzi
appealingfor
informationon
theHyter
Sprites,aname
Ihadnot
heardof
untilthen.
Iasked
my
parents,then
intheir
seventies,if
theyknew
thewordandboth
declaredthey
did.In
theirchildhood
inSwaffhamand
EastDereham
theirparents
hadwarnedthem
ofthe
interventionof
theHikey
Spriteif
theymisbehaved.
Neithermy
brothernor
myselfhadheard
themmentioned
inour
childhood.This
breakin
thetradition,
whichwasnot
uncommon,I
willexplore
later.Mr.
Rabuzzi
subsequentlycame
toNorfolk
in1981
toundertake
fieldworkand
publishedhis
findingsin
anarticle
entitled‘In
Pursuitof
Norfolk’sHyter
Sprites’in
thejournal‘Folklore:
volume
95’in
1984.Thisi
san
excellentreview
ofthe
subjectand
isessential
reading.My
fieldwork,begun
twenty-fiveyears
later,was
tosee
ifanything
ofthe
traditionhad
lingeredon
until2009.While
therehad
been
amarked,
but
expected,decline
inthe
traditionin
thatperiod,
Iuncovered
morethan
Ithought
possible.This
book
putson
recordmyfindings.
Acknowledgements
Iwould
liketo
thankthe
FolkloreSociety
andthe
EasternDaily
Press.
a
he
Quest—M,Methods
IALWAYS
FELTMY
BESTMETHOD
togarner
informationwould
bedirect
contact.Throughout
theyear
Iattended
country,village
andchurch
events,
flowershows,
craftfairs,
ploughingmatches,
open
gardenweekends,
agriculturalshows,
etc.The
WorsteadFestival
in2008
broughtme
into
contactwith
severalpeople
withHikey
lore.Church
and
chapelcoffee
mornings,held
onmarket
days,were
alsorewarding
especiallyAcle,
Aylsham,
FakenhamandDereham.
Inthe
earlymonths
ofthe
projectIplaced
appeal lettersin
severalfree
papers,but
hadonly
acouple
of replies,informative
oneshowever.
Iplaced
cardsamong t
he
advertisementsin
many
villageshop
windows,but
hadno
response.Village
shopsthoughwere
greatplaces
tomeetpeople
and
itwas
therethat
Imademany
contacts,both
withstaff
andcustomers.
Latein
theproject
aletter
was
publishedin
theE.D.P.
appealingfor
informationwhichproduced
fiveinteresting
replies.Later
many
peopleI
askedabout
theHikey
Sprites,revealed
theyhad
readabout
them
inthe
E.D.P,those
veryletters.
An
appearanceonRadioNorthNorfolk
failedto
produce
informationbut
againcreated
interest,Hikey
Spriteswere
being
talkedabout.
Faceto
faceworked
well.Iwould
listenfor
aNorfolk
speakerthen,
at
anappropriate
moment,introduce
myselfas
someonekeenon
oldNorfolk
words.Theresponse
wasalmost
entirelywarmand
friendly.Asked
if theyhad
spenttheir
childhoodin
Norfolkproduced
thereply,
“Bornandbred
and
proudofit!”
Ibegan
byasking
whichNorfolk
wordwould
theyuse
fora
snail.Several
versionswere
given;dodman,hod-me-dod,dodamanandhob-
nee-dob.I
continued,with
a
littleinformal
quiz—mawkin?
pishmere?sally?
bishybarnybee?Confidenceand
rapportestablished,
Ithen
askedthe
vital
question,“Haveyouheard
ofthe
Hikey
Sprites?”
Many
peopleanswered
straightaway,
othersonly
afteraperiod
ofdeep
reflection.Some
expressedpleasure
thatthey
hadbeen
ableto
tap
something,long
languishingin
therecesses
oftheir
minds.Nigel,
metat
the
NorfolkShow,
wastypical.
“Ithought
nothingabouti
t’til
you
spoke,”he
said,“itstirred
somethinginmymind”.Twop
eoplethought
theywerealone
inknowingabout
theHyter
Sprites.AsNicky
saidover
thetelephone,
with
obvious
satisfaction,“I
didn’tknow,
’tilI
readyour
letterin
theNorth
WalshamTimes,
thatanyone
elseknewabout
them”.
Othersremembered
theword,
Iwasc
ertainthey
did,but
couldgive
me
no
furtherdetails.Manyweretouchingly
disappointedthat
theywere
unable
tohelp,
mostseemedhappy
tohave
had
theencounter
withme.
Everyone
who
had
somethingto
saydirectly
orindirectly,
orby
letteror
telephone,
havecontributed
tothis
book.Theya
re
thereal
authorsand
Iam
gratefulto
them.My
sourceswere
almostentirely
primary,only
one
ortwo
were
influencedby
materialthey
haveread,
two
offeredpure
speculation,these
havebeen
omitted.Ofmy
informantswomenslightly
outnumberedmen.
Figure
1.
THETWENTY-
TwoVARIANTS
OFTHENAME
MYSTERIOUS
INFORMATION
SUPERNATORAL
co CREATURE
PHEN OMENON
SOMETHING
NATURAL
NICKNAMES
HIGH
SPRITE
HIKE
SPIKE
HIKE
SPRIKE
|4
{
HIKE
SPRITE
{I
HIKERSPRITE
|
||
2
HIKEYo
[lol|(|
|
.
HIKEY
PIKE
I
HIKEYSPRITEMAN
|
HIKEYSPIKE
||
HIKEY
SPRIKE
||
HIKEYSPRITE
506
L6
|66
[HIKEYSTRIKEY
||+
HOIGHTYTolqHT
||
HYDRA
SPRITE
||
HYPER
SPRITE|
{
HYTE
SPRITE
il|
l|
|Ih
HYTERSPRITE
4|
|b
HYTY
SPRITE
51|G
ligutyseame
[1|
[KEY
SPRITE
3|
à