ISBN

978-0-900616-87-7

10730900616877

Mikeyprites

WhataeUE?4

||Well

ifyou

reallywant

to||

know,

thisbooklet

willanswer

all,wellsome,ofyour

questions.

Ray

Loveday

has

spenttwo

||years

trackingdown

theseelusive

creaturesandpresents

here

the

resultsof

his

research.

A‘must

have’

for

the

|enthusiast

ofthings

Norfolk.

i?DINOS] VC: ERARIOEl

eyLi)

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caeMs

nie.ElEYZA2A42-àES,©5 Mikey

4

DA

heVer

0)aLT

Hraditi

RayLoveday

Publishedby

E.Ray

Loveday,54c

Pottergate,Norwich,

Norfolk,NR2

1DY.

©E.

Ray

Loveday2009

Allrights

reserved.Nopart

of

thispublication

may

bereproduced,

storedin

aretrieval

system,or

transmittedin

anyform

orby

anymeans,

electronic,mechanical,

photocopying,recording

orotherwise,

withoutthe

priorwritten

permissionof

thecopyright

owners.

ISBN978-0-900616-87-7

Copiesof

thisbooklet

may

beobtained

fromthe

publisherat

theabove

addressat

thecost

of£5

includingpostage.

Typesetin

Bembo,Delphin

&Stuyvesant

Printedand

Designedby

Geo.R.

ReeveLtd.

9-11Town

Green,Wymondham,

Norfolk,NR18

OBD.

Telephone01953602297

Conlents

Preface

Dedication

Introduction

TheQuest—My

Methods

WhatareThey

called?

What

areThey?

Supernatural

Natural(but

notentirely

so)

Human

TheHikey

SpriteIntervenes

inHuman

Affairs

ACreature

ofthe

Night

AWarning

tothe

Naughty

TheHikey

Spritesas

Portrayedin

Print

TheHikey

SpritesDistribution

inNorfolk

WeKnew

theHikey

Sprites

Hilary’sStory

TheHikey

SpritesToday

SomeFinalHikeyThoughts

ANight-time

WoodlandEncounter

Figure1:Variants

ofthe

Name

Figure2:Map

of1984

locations

Figure3:Map

of2008/9

locations

ND 01

10121213141619

21232532353637392830

Aaa

Preface

NEVER

WIDESPREAD,THE

HYTER

SPRITE,that

elusivemember

of

our

Norfolkfolklore

canon,isnow

indanger

ofextinction.

Thisbooklet

sets

out,just

intime,

torecord

somememories

thatremain

ofthe

HyterSprite

tradition.Compiledfrom

therecollections

ofmany,

mainlyelderly,

Norfolk

people,it

willhopefully

offerahelping

hand

tothe

HyterSprites

and

give

them

afoothold

intothe

future.May

italso,

atthe

same

time,promote

a

greaterknowledge

of these,

usuallyoverlooked

and

oftenmisunderstood,

entities.There

isfact

andspeculation

inthe

followingpages.

Ifyou

disagree

with

thespeculation

Ihope

you

will,at

least,accept

thevalidity

ofmy

researchand

findsomethingofinterest.

Dedication

THISBOOKI

SDEDICATED

TOTHEHUNDREDSofNorfolk

folkwho

answered,with

patience,understanding

andsupport,

mymany

questionson

theHyter

Sprites.|owethem

allunqualified

thanksand

gratitude.My

chatswith

thesegood

people,mainly

intheir

seventiesand

eighties,were

adelightful

and

unexpectedby-product

ofthis

project.To

thosewho

tookthe

troubleto

writeor

telephoneIowespecial

thanks.Tothe

handfulof

peoplewhofound

my

questioningannoying

orintrusive

Ioffer

my

sincereapologies.

Inthis

work

Ihave

usedforenames

onlyin

orderto

respectmy

informant’sanonymity.

Ages,addresses,

surnames

were

oftenoffered

and

havebeen

recorded,but

agesonly

areused

inthis

account.

AN

RS

ZFHBG

LANE.

Introduction

INAPRIL2008

IBEGANMY

QUEST

tofind

outwhat

remained,

inthe

localoral

tradition,of

theNorfolk

Hyter

Sprite.It

soonbecame

clearthat

thename

Hyter

Spriteis

asomewhat

academic,bookish

term,most

peoplepreferring

Hikey

Spriteor

one

oftwenty

orso

othervariants,Myfieldworkcontinued

foreighteen

months,during

whichtime

Imet

wellover

ahundredand

twentyNorfolk

peoplewith

Hikey

lore.This

book

recordsthe

statusofthe

Hikeytradition,

asIuncovered

it,in

thefirst

decade

ofthe

twenty-firstcentury.

Myresearchcontinues

somaybeyou,

my

reader,can

addto

itwith

asnippet

ortwoofinformation.

How

didmy

questbegin?

In1980

aletter

appearedin

theEastern

DailyPress

on

behalfofa

researcherDaniel

AllenRabuzzi

appealingfor

informationon

theHyter

Sprites,aname

Ihadnot

heardof

untilthen.

Iasked

my

parents,then

intheir

seventies,if

theyknew

thewordandboth

declaredthey

did.In

theirchildhood

inSwaffhamand

EastDereham

theirparents

hadwarnedthem

ofthe

interventionof

theHikey

Spriteif

theymisbehaved.

Neithermy

brothernor

myselfhadheard

themmentioned

inour

childhood.This

breakin

thetradition,

whichwasnot

uncommon,I

willexplore

later.Mr.

Rabuzzi

subsequentlycame

toNorfolk

in1981

toundertake

fieldworkand

publishedhis

findingsin

anarticle

entitled‘In

Pursuitof

Norfolk’sHyter

Sprites’in

thejournal‘Folklore:

volume

95’in

1984.Thisi

san

excellentreview

ofthe

subjectand

isessential

reading.My

fieldwork,begun

twenty-fiveyears

later,was

tosee

ifanything

ofthe

traditionhad

lingeredon

until2009.While

therehad

been

amarked,

but

expected,decline

inthe

traditionin

thatperiod,

Iuncovered

morethan

Ithought

possible.This

book

putson

recordmyfindings.

Acknowledgements

Iwould

liketo

thankthe

FolkloreSociety

andthe

EasternDaily

Press.

a

he

Quest—M,Methods

IALWAYS

FELTMY

BESTMETHOD

togarner

informationwould

bedirect

contact.Throughout

theyear

Iattended

country,village

andchurch

events,

flowershows,

craftfairs,

ploughingmatches,

open

gardenweekends,

agriculturalshows,

etc.The

WorsteadFestival

in2008

broughtme

into

contactwith

severalpeople

withHikey

lore.Church

and

chapelcoffee

mornings,held

onmarket

days,were

alsorewarding

especiallyAcle,

Aylsham,

FakenhamandDereham.

Inthe

earlymonths

ofthe

projectIplaced

appeal lettersin

severalfree

papers,but

hadonly

acouple

of replies,informative

oneshowever.

Iplaced

cardsamong t

he

advertisementsin

many

villageshop

windows,but

hadno

response.Village

shopsthoughwere

greatplaces

tomeetpeople

and

itwas

therethat

Imademany

contacts,both

withstaff

andcustomers.

Latein

theproject

aletter

was

publishedin

theE.D.P.

appealingfor

informationwhichproduced

fiveinteresting

replies.Later

many

peopleI

askedabout

theHikey

Sprites,revealed

theyhad

readabout

them

inthe

E.D.P,those

veryletters.

An

appearanceonRadioNorthNorfolk

failedto

produce

informationbut

againcreated

interest,Hikey

Spriteswere

being

talkedabout.

Faceto

faceworked

well.Iwould

listenfor

aNorfolk

speakerthen,

at

anappropriate

moment,introduce

myselfas

someonekeenon

oldNorfolk

words.Theresponse

wasalmost

entirelywarmand

friendly.Asked

if theyhad

spenttheir

childhoodin

Norfolkproduced

thereply,

“Bornandbred

and

proudofit!”

Ibegan

byasking

whichNorfolk

wordwould

theyuse

fora

snail.Several

versionswere

given;dodman,hod-me-dod,dodamanandhob-

nee-dob.I

continued,with

a

littleinformal

quiz—mawkin?

pishmere?sally?

bishybarnybee?Confidenceand

rapportestablished,

Ithen

askedthe

vital

question,“Haveyouheard

ofthe

Hikey

Sprites?”

Many

peopleanswered

straightaway,

othersonly

afteraperiod

ofdeep

reflection.Some

expressedpleasure

thatthey

hadbeen

ableto

tap

something,long

languishingin

therecesses

oftheir

minds.Nigel,

metat

the

NorfolkShow,

wastypical.

“Ithought

nothingabouti

t’til

you

spoke,”he

said,“itstirred

somethinginmymind”.Twop

eoplethought

theywerealone

inknowingabout

theHyter

Sprites.AsNicky

saidover

thetelephone,

with

obvious

satisfaction,“I

didn’tknow,

’tilI

readyour

letterin

theNorth

WalshamTimes,

thatanyone

elseknewabout

them”.

Othersremembered

theword,

Iwasc

ertainthey

did,but

couldgive

me

no

furtherdetails.Manyweretouchingly

disappointedthat

theywere

unable

tohelp,

mostseemedhappy

tohave

had

theencounter

withme.

Everyone

who

had

somethingto

saydirectly

orindirectly,

orby

letteror

telephone,

havecontributed

tothis

book.Theya

re

thereal

authorsand

Iam

gratefulto

them.My

sourceswere

almostentirely

primary,only

one

ortwo

were

influencedby

materialthey

haveread,

two

offeredpure

speculation,these

havebeen

omitted.Ofmy

informantswomenslightly

outnumberedmen.

Figure

1.

THETWENTY-

TwoVARIANTS

OFTHENAME

MYSTERIOUS

INFORMATION

SUPERNATORAL

co CREATURE

PHEN OMENON

SOMETHING

NATURAL

NICKNAMES

HIGH

SPRITE

HIKE

SPIKE

HIKE

SPRIKE

|4

{

HIKE

SPRITE

{I

HIKERSPRITE

|

||

2

HIKEYo

[lol|(|

|

.

HIKEY

PIKE

I

HIKEYSPRITEMAN

|

HIKEYSPIKE

||

HIKEY

SPRIKE

||

HIKEYSPRITE

506

L6

|66

[HIKEYSTRIKEY

||+

HOIGHTYTolqHT

||

HYDRA

SPRITE

||

HYPER

SPRITE|

{

HYTE

SPRITE

il|

l|

|Ih

HYTERSPRITE

4|

|b

HYTY

SPRITE

51|G

ligutyseame

[1|

[KEY

SPRITE

3|

à