A brief and lesser-noted account preserved among monastic relations of northern England records that, in the late fourteenth century, unusual lights were reported near the grounds of Byland Abbey in Yorkshire. Witnesses described a moving glow seen at night along the outer fields and near the burial ground. The phenomenon was observed on several occasions by members of the monastery and nearby villagers. No natural cause was confirmed in the surviving notices, and the matter was not extensively recorded beyond short mention in local testimony.
Below is the tale according to how the locals may have experienced it.
The fields lay quiet beyond the abbey walls. Night had settled, and no wind moved across the grass.
Then a light appeared.
It did not fall from the sky, nor rise from the earth, but moved low above the ground as though carried by an unseen hand. It passed slowly along the outer field, pale and steady, without flame, without smoke, without sound.
Those who saw it did not approach. From the cloister edge they watched as it turned toward the burial ground and lingered among the stones, drifting where no path lay. No figure walked beside it. No voice followed it. Only the light moved, and the darkness gave way before it.
For a time it remained, neither brightening nor fading. Then, without sign or trace, it was gone.
On other nights it was seen again, always silent, always alone, crossing the same ground where no fire burned and no lantern was carried.
Nothing was found where it had passed. No mark remained. Only the memory endured, and the quiet fields returned to stillness.
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