Lating the Witches

On Hallowe’en a party led by an old woman went round the bigger houses near Longridge Fell asking for lating candles, one for each person in the household. Between eleven and midnight the candles were carried lit about the fell. A candle that stayed alight meant its owner was safe from witches for the season; one that went out was a bad omen. Annie Milner, writing to Hone in 1831, remembered it from her childhood and thought it had almost died out.