The “Crinjar”

Description

Extract from an interview with Francis Thomas, Carno.

The “crinjar” or conjurer was a man with supernatural powers that enabled him to lift curses and reveal the identity of the person responsible. When any bad luck occurred, such as a strange illness, the loss of a valuable item, or farm animals failing to thrive, the conjurer was consulted to discover who had done the "witching".

The Llangurig area, in the old Montgomeryshire, was noted for its conjurers. One of them was Evan Griffiths, Pantybenni. Listen to a story about him told by the late Mr Francis Thomas, Carno.

A farmer believed someone had put a curse on him, because his horses were dying. This is what Evan Griffiths told him to do:

[Translation of the audio]

“Go home and take the mare's heart out, and put it on a large plate in front of the fire. Right in front of the fire. And as the heart heats up, the person who has cursed you will come nearer to the house.”
And if you know Plas Pennant, the house lies across the road, and there is a gate across the top of the farmyard, and at the bottom of the yard there is a gate leading out to the road. And he looked out of the window, and damn it, straight away this Dot from Ceulan came down past the gate. She walks past it, and past it again, just as the heart was getting hotter. And then, at last, she ventures through the gate and half way up the yard. And the old farmer said:
“Good God!” he said like that. “Take the heart away! I don't want to see the devil inside this house!”