Cauld Lad of Hylton

One story states that the stable boy was caught courting Baron Hylton's daughter, and was killed.

Another version says that the baron ordered that his horse be prepared for an important journey, but Skelton had overslept.

The enraged baron was said to have either decapitated the boy, stabbed him with a nearby pitchfork, or hit him on the back of the head with a riding crop, striking a spot that had been injured (and weakened) the day before, causing a fatal blow.

An unseen person would take hot ashes from the fires, and lie on them, leaving an imprint of a body.

Other versions of the tale describe the Cauld Lad as an elf, barghest[3] or brownie who is under a spell from which he can only be released by being given a gift.