A friend of mine mentioned that he had heard that Bert Lloyd reckoned that there was no 'trad anon' English (as opposed to Irish or Scottish) ballad that had anything about the supernatural in it. I thought about that idea, and I suggested 'King Henry' but my friend said, Scottish origin. Could be claimed for any ballad to make the point, I suppose, but an interesting point. Can anyone come up with some more English ghost ballads (apart from night visiting songs)?
By ballad I would mean narrative verse set to a tune, but it's very difficult to define. Good ballad singers make you listen to the story while using the often very plain tune almost as a rhythm device rather than a carrier for the story. Great example a few months ago, when a trio playing as background music in our local brought the bar to near silence with 'Mattie Groves' at ten minutes to closing time.